Penn State University - School of Visual Arts
Fall 2013
A&A 110 Interdisciplinary Digital Media Studio I
Professor: Eduardo Navas (ean13@psu.edu)

Mondays & Wednesdays 2:30 - 5:30 PM

Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 10 AM by Appointment
Please contact at: ean13@psu.edu

Syllabus:
Online
PDF

Project 1: Analysis of First Transmedia Project (The Matrix) 25%
Project 2: Analysis of Second Transmedia Project (In Cold Blood Capote) 30%
Project 3: Production of Transmedia Project (by students) 35%

Research Methodology

 

ASSIGNMENTS WEEKLY SITES

Week 17:

December 16, 2013
Due: Final Project with all adjustments

 


Week 16:

Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Make adjustments to Project as discussed during critique

Monday, December 9, 2013
Final Project Critiqued


Week 15:

Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Work on Project 3: meet individually to discuss details of final assignment

Monday, December 2, 2013
Due:
Presentation of concept sketches/design and research for final project. In Class Critique

Assignment: Finish reading Convergence Culture, and continue discussing previous chapters online

 


Week 14:

Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Thanksgiving

Monday, November 25, 2013
Thanksgiving


Week 13:

Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Weekly Project of how to analyze videos (from week 12) reviewed in class
Lecture on Transmedia: discuss Jenkins's chapters

Weekly Assignment: Work on preliminary presentation (concept sketches and research) of final analysis, due on Monday, December 2. (More details to be released at the beginning of week 13)

Read over the break: Convergence Culture, pp. 206 - 260, and continue discussing previous chapters online

 

Monday, November 18, 2013
Work Day | Continue discussing Readings online
Read: Convergence Culture, pp. 131 - 205, and continue discussing previous chapters online

 


Week 12:

Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Lecture on Transmedia | Work Day | Discuss readings online
Assignment: Weekly Project

Read: Convergence Culture, pp. 60 - 130

Weekly Assignment: How to analyze videos following lecture of November 11, 2013


Monday, November 11, 2013
Lecture on how to develop a Transmedia project | begin working on third and last project of class | Discuss chapters of Convergence culture

Activities for November 11, 2013:
Data Mine Images to discover patterns for comparative analysis.
Homework: Choose images/videos to data mine on your own.
Design a presentation of your images/videos.
Download assignment sheet and tutorial available on Angel.

Download ImageJ to your own computer: http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij/


 


Week 11:

Wednesday, November 6, 2013
In Class critique of Analysis of Second Transmedia Project (In Cold Blood/Capote)

Read: Convergence Culture, pp. 1 - 59


Monday, November 4, 2013
Trouble-shoot for Second Major Project: work day


Week 10:

Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Discuss the Concept Design for Capote (book and film) | in class critique

Assignment: Redesign visualization on the books and the films for Second Major Analysis on Capote and In Cold Blood. Second Major Analysis due on November 6.


Monday, October 28, 2013

Go over the image stills and animation of Capote. Discuss them in relation to the PDF of Gerald Clarke's book.

 


Week 9:

Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Assignment Due Wednesday October 30: Run the Capote PDF through the Voyant site and look for similarities and differences between the book and the film by the same name. Begin to develop design sketches on how to visualize the way the story is told in the book and the film (follow the same procedure as you did for In Cold Blood). Note that this process will be part of your Second Major Analysis.


Monday, October 21, 2013
Analysis of Second Transmedia Project (In Cold Blood Capote) 30% due date moved to November 4.

Discuss Capote in Class | Participate in Forums | Briefly Review re-designs of visualization of In Cold Blood (book/film)

Assignment: Read Capote: 305 - 451




Week 8:

Wednesday, October 15, 2013
Review weekly assignment

Assignment: Continue Reading Capote | Participate in online Forums |

Assignment: Weekly Project: Rework the visualizations of your weekly assignment (sketches concept/deisgn for In Cold Blood) based on the feedback by peers. Make note of what was discussed during your critique and improve your design. We review your redesign on Monday October 21.


Monday, October 13, 2013
View film in class | Continue reading Capote, the biography and discussing on forum in relation to the film.

Assignment: Read Capote, pp. 150 - 304

 


Week 7:

Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Continue reading Capote, the biography, and begin discussing on forum | Review weekly Assignment

Assignment Due Wednesday October 15: Run the In Cold Blood PDF through the Voyant site (see links for this week) and look for similarities and differences between the book and the film. Begin to develop design sketches on how to visualize the way the story is told in the book and the film. Note that this process will be part of your Second Major Analysis.

(Capote Film to be viewed in class on October 13)


Monday, October 7, 2013
Assignment: Finish discussing the book In Cold Blood in relation to the film.
Assignment: Begin Reading, Capote, the Biography, pp. 1 - 149.

 


Week 6:

Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Assignment: Finish reading In Cold Blood, the book by Monday, October 7. Continue discussion on forum: pp. 230 - 343.

Weekly Assignment due October 9: Develop an image, a sound, and a sentence that represent the three following actions:

eating
running
sleeping

You will have a total of 9 separate elements to upload.

The image, sound and text cannot show, mention, or have sounds of the actual actions. They must instead make evident what the actions are by pure connotation.

You are to upload the material to the corresponding forum on Wednesday, October 9. We will review the material in class.

 

 

Monday, September 30, 2013
Assignment: Begin discussing the book In Cold Blood on Angel forum, continue reading the book: pp. 111 - 231
View in class In Cold Blood, the film.

 


Week 5:

Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Due: Analysis of First Transmedia Project (The Matrix) 25%

Discussed In class

Assignment: Read In Cold Blood, Pages 1 - 110.

Monday, September 23, 2013
Lecture on Transmedia and Interdisciplinary | Discuss in class "The Matrix Possibility" and "Neo-Materialism and the Death of the Subject" | Work on Analysis of First Transmedia Project due on September 25



Week 4:

Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Lecture on transmedia, storytelling and writing | Workday
Prepare for Project 1, final analysis on The Matrix.


Monday, September 16, 2013
Weekly Project Due
Assigned: Preliminary concept proposal for Final Project, Due Monday September 21.

Reading Assignment on The Matrix: "The Matrix Possibility" by David Nixon, 28 - 40, "Neo-Materialism and the Death of the Subject," by Daniel Barwick, 75 - 86 (Summary of these and previous readings to be included in the written summary of final analysis)


Week 3:

Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Critique of Weekly Project | Lecture on The Matrix
Assignment: Make sure to post on all forums that are currently active--especially the one on the texts by Bassham and Grisworld.


Monday, September 9, 2013
Weekly Project due. Upload to Angel. Critique to take place on Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Assignment: Chapters from The Matrix and Philosophy

Read From The Matrix and Philosophy: "Happiness and Cypher's Choice," by Charles Grisworld Jr. pp 126-137. "The Religion of The Matrix and the Problems of Pluralism, " by Gregory Bassham, pp 111-125.

 


Week 2:

Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Online Discussion of First Reading. (Online discussion on the film The Matrix begins on September 3)

Assignment: Weekly Project due on Monday, September 9.

Develop a story: beginning middle and end. The story is open to your interest. It can be a love story, a horror story, a thriller, mistery, etc. For ideas, see the selection of short stories by Lesley Stern from The Smoking Book, available on Angel.

Part one:
Each section should be written in under 150 characters (similar to Twitter--but you don't have to upload it to Twitter).

Part two:
Write three paragraphs for each respective section, which develops the story a bit more. The total of 250 words.

Part Three: Develop an image that represents the story you wrote. (The image could be a collage of preexisting images, if so, you need to provide a list of sources.)

Part four: Choose a song that represents somehow, or would be a good soundtrack of sorts for the story you wrote.

Upload to the corresponding Angel forum for discussion

 

Monday, September 2, 2013
Labor Day, no class

 


Week 1:

Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Assignment: Begin reading Philosophy and The Matrix:
"New Holes but the Same Old Bullshit" by Cynthia Freeland, pp. 205 - 215;
"The Matrix Simulation and the Postmodern Age" by David Weberman, pp. 225 - 239.

View The Matrix in class, and if necessary on your own, available on reserve at the library.

 

Monday, August 26, 2013
Introduction to Class | Lecture on Interdisciplinary Practice and Transmedia | Assignment: Read "The Precession of Simulacra" by Jean Baudrillard (PDF). Film is to be discussed beginning Tuesday September 3.| Lecture on Transmedia and Interdisciplinary practice

 

 

Week 12:

Sites for the Week of November 11, 2013

"Bert is Evil"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_is_Evil
Dino Ignacio Buzzfeed:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/dinoi
Dino Ignacio on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/DinoIgnacio
Dino Ignacio Wikipedia Page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dino_Ignacio

Survivor Spoiler Forum:
http://survivorsucks.yuku.com/forums/65#.Un-ibZTk-PU

Twin Peaks Fan forum:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alt.tv.twin-peaks

Cultural Influence of Star Trek:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_influence_of_Star_Trek

The Dawn of Modern Transmedia Storytelling: Star Wars
http://storyhobby.com/node/283

StoryHobby Channel Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsmJ3NYNIik

Transmedia Storytelling 01
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Om5GmI6Vrw

 


Week 9:

Sites for the Week of October 21, 2013

Excerpt from Capote, the Biography
http://navasse.net/pennstate/AA110_F13/AA110_F13_
Assig/CapoteExcerptSmall.pdf

 


Week 8:

Sites for the Week of October 13, 2013

Top 20 Data Visualization Tools
http://www.creativebloq.com/web-design/top-data-visualisation-tools-9122832

Infographics:
http://infogr.am/
http://visual.ly/
http://dailyinfographic.com/

 


Week 7:

Sites for the Week of October 7, 2013

Voyant Tools:
http://voyant-tools.org/

Many Eyes:
http://www-958.ibm.com/software/analytics/manyeyes/

Data-mine the novel with the toosl above:
http://www.kkoworld.com/kitablar/trumen_kapote_soyuqqanliliqla-eng.pdf

If you are technically inclined, data-mine the film using Shot-detect:
http://johmathe.name/shotdetect.html

Infographics:
http://dailyinfographic.com/

 


Week 6:

Sites for the Week of September 30, 2013

Don't rely on notes like these; you will do a disservice to yourself:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/incoldblood/
Do your own work instead. You can certainly look at such notes after you have done your own analysis. It will help you develop skills necessary for any field in the arts, design and communcation.

Dick and Perry may be guilty of other murders in Florida:
" 'In Cold Blood' Killers Exhumed, Investigators Hope to Solve 53-Year-Old Cold Case":
http://abcnews.go.com/US/cold-blood-killers-exhumed-investigators-
hope-solve-53/story?id=18007706

Fact Checking "In Cold Blood"
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2013/03/
fact_checking_in_cold_blood_what_the_new_yorker_
s_fact_checker_missed.html

Capote Classic 'In Cold Blood' Tainted by Long-Lost Files
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732395
1904578290341604113984.html


Week 5:

Sites for the Week of September 23, 2013

Honest Trailers - The Dark Knight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u843KNE-exo

Honest Trailers - The Dark Knight Rises
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQJuGeqdbn4

Honest Trailers - World War Z
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2cS5Fv5xIQ

Honest Trailers - Iron Man 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3r4FklA4gI

Honest Trailers - Star Trek into Darkness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B22Uy7SBe4

Honest Trailers - Breaking Bad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDqGAUvWKkU

Honest Trailers - X-Men Wolverine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA576VinXT0

Honest Trailers - The Avengers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDajL441mZc

 

 


Week 4:

Sites for the Week of September 16, 2013

Projects that look like "The Real Thing"

Foucault and Giddens Action Figures
http://www.theory.org.uk/action.htm

Theory Trading Cards (not real):
http://www.theorycards.org.uk/main.htm

Theory Trading Cards (actually printed):
http://www.theory.org.uk/david/theorycards.htm

Black People Love Us
http://www.blackpeopleloveus.com/

The Museum of Jurassic Technology
http://mjt.org/

The Yes Men NY Times:
http://theyesmen.org/hijinks/newyorktimes
New York Times Hoax - The Yes Men Fix The World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoZQNgAnvqs

 

 


Week 3

Sites for the week of September 9, 2013

Reviews and games to play: Activity for Monday, September 9, 2013


Below are some reviews of The Matrix Online Game.

1) Read the reviews and provide your opinon on how you think these games extended the concepts in the film onto gaming.
2) Play The Matrix Games listed below and share your experience. Do you think that the games have some inherent element of The Matrix, or they are merely using the name to sell a basic game mod? What do you think of this?
3) Share a different game of The Matrix of your choice, or one that clearly is part of the genre. Share your views on your selection.

(See corresponding forum on Angel for actual postings by the class)

Games to play for the Matrix:

The Matrix Online:
http://www.giantbomb.com/the-matrix-online/3030-9124/

The Matrix Online PC Games Review - Video Review
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0E7_xgqGwI

The Matrix Ever-Loaded: Online Game for the Committed
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/25/technology/25matrix.html?_r=0

Matrix Bullettime Fighting Online Game:
http://www.mofunzone.com/online_games/matrixbullettimefighting.shtml

Matrix Rampage:
http://www.freeonlinegames.com/game/matrix-rampage

 


Week 2

Sites for the Week of September 4, 2013

eXistenZ (1/10) Movie CLIP - Getting a Bio-Port (1999) HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1fkINKMwHA
eXistenZ (2/10) Movie CLIP - Gas's Betrayal (1999) HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdU-6bKqhzk
eXistenZ (3/10) Movie CLIP - Bio-Pod Surgery (1999) HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt5LAZa7LAU
eXistenZ (4/10) Movie CLIP - The Micro-Pod (1999) HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfym2Neaz4c
eXistenZ (5/10) Movie CLIP - eXistenZ is Paused! (1999) HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qq785V7JOU
eXistenZ (6/10) Movie CLIP - I Need to Kill our Waiter (1999) HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssM67LXOwQw
eXistenZ (7/10) Movie CLIP - Deadly Spores (1999) HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zJ3a0K2DP0
eXistenZ (8/10) Movie CLIP - Have I Won? (1999) HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tmMMXTmM9o
eXistenZ (9/10) Movie CLIP - tranCendenZ (1999) HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89hYiDNscBE
eXistenZ (10/10) Movie CLIP - Are We Still In the Game? (1999) HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3f521sUTaE


Week 1

Sites for the Week of August 26, 2013

Transmedia, Convergence Culture, Immersive Storytelling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOf7T7GYnNY

Everything is a Remix and The Matrix:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrW3E6BN5Dg

Philosophy and the Matrix - Baudrillard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3tr0gSNBx4

Desert of the Real: Jesus, The Matrix, and Hyper-Reality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbFceASpvbY

Slavoj Zizek on the Matrix and video games
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RynFTJdyldg

Transmedia and Remix:
http://remixtheory.net/?p=457

Decoding a transmedia classic, Enter the Matrix: http://www.transmedialab.org/en/the-blog-en/case-study-en/decoding-a-transmedia-classic-enter-the-matrix/

The Matrix & Avatar:
http://convergenceishere.weebly.com/the-matrix-and-avatar.html