Media Artist and Associate Professor of Cinematic Arts
Teaching

University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts, Interactive Media and Games Division (IMGD)

CTIN 534

Experiments in Interactivity
This course is an introduction to a basic set of skills to formulate compelling work in the field of interactive media. The aim of the course is to convey the necessary technical skills in close combination with the ability to express ideas with images and sound. Beginning with an introduction to linear storytelling and film production the class opens up to non-linearity and an increasing interactive involvement of the viewer. In this structure basic techniques of video production, cinematography, working with actors and directing, video editing, sound recording and design, spatial design, programming, and interface design will be covered. These techniques are applied in four class projects, each of which explores a different approach to storytelling and interactivity. The first three projects are individual projects, conceived as a succession where one project builds on the previous ones. The critique received in the presentations should inform always the next project. The last project is a group project that will be developed over a larger timeframe with intermediate presentations and feedback during the work process.

CTIN 501

Interactive Cinema
New technologies of image making, recording and sensing have transformed how films are made and what we consider cinematic. Emergent cinematic techniques comprise the combination of real and virtual space and a hybridization of cinematic and interactive experiences and abstract information visualization. New forms of authorial control in combination with radically different distribution channels challenge us to see beyond the estbalished paradigms of cinema and interactive media and consider what our creative strategies and techniques will be for those new types of experiences. The course considers how these new forms and technologies change the way we think about cinema and how we work as cinematic media makers. It contextualizes recent techniques of image-making in the history of filmmaking and discusses the work of a series of filmmakers who have ventured into new terrains of storytelling such as Chris Marker, Peter Greenaway and Michael Snow, as well as Chris Milk and others. The class will address areas such as virtual reality, generative and computational cinema, database, real-time, and crowd source cinema, alternate reality, spatial and locationbased cinema, depth filmmaking, all the way to neuronal cinema.

CTIN 499 (Special Topics)

Database Cinema
Flexible and recombinantstructures as creative techniques in the arts, literature and popular culture have fundamentally transformed our ways of storytelling. They open new possibilities for atyistic experiment and for the creation of innovative narrative and cinematic experiences. Through the analysis and discussion of different examples and through hands-on projects students will become familiar with the principles of database narrative and the fouyndational skills of realizing a database-driven project. The class will deliver brief and succinct introductions to these areas of filmmaking and interactive media and provide a hands-on experience with several of the relevant techniques. We will work on one small experimental project throughout the semester exploring aspects of cinema and interactivity. The class project will be conducted in groups or individually, supported by in-class workshops.

CTIN 499 (Special Topics)

Introduction to Embodied Interaction
Interaction with computers is in most cases defined by the technological reality of the computer. We tend to design for established platforms such as desktop computers with keyboards and mice, consoles with game controllers, touch-screen enabled mobile devices, or virtual reality headsets. The technological platform determines the design-space available for the creator of an interactive experience. By putting the focus on technology as the framing parameter we lose sight of the physical reality of the player’s body and the space in which the player is interacting. The course Designing for Embodied Interaction invites to shift this focus. It asks students to engage with diverse discourses, such as visual arts, music, performance, choreography, as well as human computer interaction and engineering to create experimental projects that re-envision how we interact with computers and to build experiences such as dynamic systems, sculptures, performances, and alternative interfaces that we can experience in different and unusual situations.

University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts, interdisciplinary Media Arts and Practice PhD Program (iMAP)

IML 602

Media Arts and Practice
The class IML 602 is a general introduction to the field of practical research and development in media arts at the doctoral level. It introduces the notion of open and hybrid research methodologies spanning the arts, sciences and humanities and provides an overview over examples of applied methodologies in various fields of the arts. The class further introduces technical skills and tools in a series of individual workshops and peer review sessions.

University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts, Media Arts and Practice Division (MA+P)

IML 130

Digital Studio II
Computer code is the foundation of digital media. As the second part of the Digital Studies Studio this course introduces code as a cultural technique and an epistemic device. Code and technology normally come in black-boxes which do not reveal their functioning principles and internal structures. To be able to understand code and to critically reflect on those technologies it is important to understand thier principles and the underlying thought systems and philosophies. The central goal of this class is to open up these black boxes and reflect on the basic functions of code and the ways coded principles shape how we use digital technologies and eventually how we perceive our environment, how we communicate and how we think using those structures. Through a critical discussion of classic texts of pioneers of digital technologies we will understand the philosophical origins and learn how to use digital media as critical and creative tools. This process rests equally on theoretical reflection as well as practical engagement with the technologies.

IML 354

Introduction to 3D Modeling
This course introduces students to the history and theory of spatial representation and conveys foundational authoring skills in modeling and interactive 3D spaces. 3D modeling is the basis for many forms of image creation with digital media, be it for the construction virtual architectures, environments, animation or game asset creation. Understanding and mastering techniques of 3D representation with the computer provides students with foundational knowledge not only to create their own computer-graphics models but also to move on to advanced techniques in computer-aided fabrication such as 3D printing. Building on an introduction that covers the historic role of spatial representation we examine how techniques such as linear perspective impact our perception of the world around us and how they relate to large conceptual shifts in culture, society and art. Through a combination of primary texts such as Leon Battista Alberti’s first treatise on linear perspective and scholarly texts such as Anne Friedberg’s The Virtual Window, the course explores the cultural context of spatial representation and in parallel gives a practical hands-on introduction to modeling techniques.

IML 422

Information Visualization
The growing “data deluge” has brought with it a demand to make information more readily understandable through forms of visualization. From the often dazzling graphics published by The New York Times to complex simulations created by scientists, the visual display of information has expanded exponentially in the last decade, as has the array of software applications designed to facilitate visualization for non-experts. The expanding field brings with it new demands for teaching the critical interpretation of this information, as well as a critical approach to the use of applications for rendering data in visual forms. This course offers an overview of specific forms of information visualization within a historical context, as well as an introduction to several prominent information visualization tools. It explores the interest in what has been dubbed “cultural analytics,” and both the tremendous potential and pitfalls of the visual. Finally, the course articulates a working definition of data visualization literacy, and offers a set of guidelines for the critical interpretation and production of visual information.

IML 440/444

Thesis Production I and II
The 440/444 Sequence is designed to help you complete your thesis project, working from your proposal through to a viable scholarly multimedia project. This class is primarily lab-based; most classes will convene in the IML lab, with occasional meetings held in the conference room. Class time will be split between software tutorials and construction, and class presentations of your works in progress. It is understood that the research for the content of your project is conducted by you as "homework" for the class, since there are no common course readings. You will draw upon the new media theory encountered in your foundational IML coursework and make use of its tenets, either explicitly or implicitly. Throughout the 440/444 sequence you will be workshopping your project (presenting your work in progress and getting feedback) and providing thoughtful input on your peer’s projects. Both of these acts help to hone your mastery of multimodal scholarly work. We will improvise and retool as necessary to help you create the best thesis project possible. There are hard dates for drafts of interface layout, for instance, and departmental advisor approval, which must be met so please keep those in mind as you plan and carry out your work.

IML 101

The Languages of New Media
From the printing press to the personla computer, development in media technologies have fundamentally transformed the ways we perceive, think and communicate. This course investigates the close interrelationshipsamong technology, culture and communication in order to form a solid foundation for scholarly multimedia authoring. We will proceed from the assumption that theories of "old media" can significantly inform our understanding of "new media" and provide insight into the affordances of contemporary technologies. In addition, we will develop a clear understanding of several genres of multimedia scholarship, with the goal of being able to deploy them strategically in a variety pf academic contexts.

University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Design Media Arts (DMA)

DESMA 157

Design for Interactive Media - Game Design
When they were invented in the 1960s computer games started as political action and as an aesthetic experiment. The "abuse" of expensive computers and high-tech equipment to play games was a subversive movement anticipating the hacker culture that formed when computers became more readily available. Since then, games have become one of the fastest growing branches of popular culture and are an important medium of the entertainment industry. With this growth also the professional career possibilities in the game sector have vastly increased. The course gives an overview over central aspects of games and traces their roots as an essnetial part of cultural production. It fosters an open and critical view on the creative aspect of game design, modification and their artistic détournement. In the course students get an introduction to an iterative design process and realize a hand-on project.