Collab: Immersive Documentary
PSAM 5550 C, fall 2016
Melanie Crean creanm@newschool.edu, Dan Archer dan@empatheticmedia.com
Wednesday 3:50 – 6:30
2 W13th St, room 500
This studio explores design techniques for developing a range of immersive narrative forms; and critically assesses their use in documentary, journalism and social narrative projects. The course will investigate immersive storytelling as a social design practice for conveying multiple perspectives of stories told about and through space. The class will be taught in partnership with journalist Dan Archer from Empathetic Media, whose work employs virtual reality, augmented reality and graphic journalism to investigate political conflict.
The first half of the course will involve experimentation with a variety of forms to produce proof of concept prototypes, including flip books, twine narrative, 360 video, and interactive spatial work. Discussion, readings and guests will focus on precedents and methods derived from art, gaming, urban intervention and journalism. Workshops will be geared toward design development of character, story structure and interface in immersive spaces, and developing these environments in Unity. During the second half of the course, students will develop a class wide project told across space, focusing on ideation, design development, UI / UX and technical production for immersive experience. Basic familiarity with Unity is helpful, though not required.
Learning Outcomes
After taking this course, students will:
- Understand basic principles of immersive storytelling, and constructing stories in space
- Become familiar with important art and design precedents involving immersive storytelling and exchange/li>
- Develop a set of design principles for creating immersive storytelling for documentary projects, and translate those ideas and methods into a project based response
- Collaborate with outside partners to create and iterate prototypes facilitating new forms of spectatorship, point of view, and engagement through immersive storytelling.
Final Deliverables
For each group: send us the url for a play-through video of your project, and a pdf with a 1-2 paragraph description, plus 1-2 images. The play though video doesn’t need to be fancy, just a good representation of the story flow and interaction, with basic titles that include the project name, course name, year, and crew names. You can include a brief spoken intro if you think it’s necessary to understand the work.
Final Grade Calculation
- Prototypes: Flipbook, 360 Video, VR UX; 30%
- Midterm: final project pitch, 2 prototypes, group MOU; 20%
- Final Project: production, presentation, deliverables; 50%
Criteria for evaluating final work:
Students will be assessed on ideation, design development, UI / UX, on-boarding experience, storytelling, aesthetics, arc of experience and technical production for immersive experience. Please keep in mind:
— The on-boarding experience should be as self-contained as possible
Users shouldn’t need to be prompted, design for people experiencing the work w/out the creator present
Is the first prompt easy and clear enough?
— Story, what is going on should be clear
Provide clear feedback
This might mean using text overlays, or having proper cues
Design for the experience to be guided but as exploratory as possible
Good to have some kind of conclusion to know when the piece is over
Good to have a title screen
— UI
Design with consistent clues to encourage people walk, and to know that something is live
— Be hardware ready
Be prepared with extra equipment: external power sources, google cardboards, over the ear head phones
Make sure controllers are working smoothly
Load builds on as many iPhones as possible and / or 2nd laptops
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Resources
The university provides many resources to help students achieve academic and artistic excellence. These resources include:
• The University (and associated) Libraries: http://library.newschool.edu
• The University Learning Center: http://www.newschool.edu/learning-center
• University Disabilities Service: www.newschool.edu/student-disability-services
In keeping with the university’s policy of providing equal access for students with disabilities, any student with a disability who needs academic accommodations is welcome to meet with me privately. All conversations will be kept confidential. Students requesting any accommodations will also need to contact Student Disability Service (SDS). SDS will conduct an intake and, if appropriate, the Director will provide an academic accommodation notification letter for you to bring to me. At that point, I will review the letter with you and discuss these accommodations in relation to this course.
Grading Standards
[What follows is Parsons’ grading standards. You should articulate your own policy for work taking other forms (e.g. presentations, critiques, visuals.) Use clear criteria, specifying how both you and your students will know whether they have achieved the learning outcomes].
Undergraduate
A student’s final grades and GPA are calculated using a 4.0 scale. Please note that while both are listed here, the 4.0 scale does not align mathematically with the numeric scale based on percentages of 100 points.
A [4.0; 95 – 100%]
Work of exceptional quality, which often goes beyond the stated goals of the course
A- [3.7; 90 – <95%]
Work of very high quality
B+ [3.3; 87 – <90%]
Work of high quality that indicates higher than average abilities
B [3.0; 83 – <87%]
Very good work that satisfies the goals of the course
B- [2.7; 80 – <83%]
Good work
C+ [2.3; 77 – <80%]
Above-average work
C [2.0; 73 – <77%]
Average work that indicates an understanding of the course material; passable
Satisfactory completion of a course is considered to be a grade of C or higher.
C- [1.7; 70 – <73%]
Passing work but below good academic standing
D [1.0; 60 – <70%]
Below-average work that indicates a student does not fully understand the assignments;
Probation level though passing for credit
F [0.0; 0 – <60%]
Failure, no credit
Graduate
A Work of exceptional quality
A- Work of high quality
B+ Very good work
B Good work; satisfies course requirements
Satisfactory completion of a course is considered to be a grade of B or higher.
B- Below-average work
C+ Less than adequate work
C Well below average work
C- Poor work; lowest possible passing grade
F Failure
GM Grade missing for an individual
Grades of D are not used in graduate level courses.
Grade of W
The grade of W may be issued by the Office of the Registrar to a student who officially withdraws from a course within the applicable deadline. There is no academic penalty, but the grade will appear on the student transcript. A grade of W may also be issued by an instructor to a graduate student (except at Parsons and Mannes) who has not completed course requirements nor arranged for an Incomplete.
Grade of Z
The grade of Z is issued by an instructor to a student who has not attended or not completed all required work in a course but did not officially withdraw before the withdrawal deadline. It differs from an “F,” which would indicate that the student technically completed requirements but that the level of work did not qualify for a passing grade.
Grades of Incomplete
The grade of I, or temporary incomplete, may be granted to a student under unusual and extenuating circumstances, such as when the student’s academic life is interrupted by a medical or personal emergency. This mark is not given automatically but only upon the student’s request and at the discretion of the instructor. A Request for Incomplete form must be completed and signed by student and instructor. The time allowed for completion of the work and removal of the “I” mark will be set by the instructor with the following limitations: [You should include one the following standards, depending on the level of your course].
Undergraduate students: Work must be completed no later than the seventh week of the following fall semester for spring or summer term incompletes and no later than the seventh week of the following spring semester for fall term incompletes. Grades of “I” not revised in the prescribed time will be recorded as a final grade of “WF” by the Office of the Registrar.
Graduate students: Work must be completed no later than one year following the end of the class. Grades of “I” not revised in the prescribed time will be recorded as a final grade of “WF” (for Parsons and Mannes graduate students) or “N” (for all other graduate students) by the Office of the Registrar. The grade of “N” does not affect the GPA but does indicate a permanent incomplete.
Divisional, Program and Class Policies
● Responsibility
Students are responsible for all assignments, even if they are absent. Late assignments, failure to complete the assignments for class discussion and/or critique, and lack of preparedness for in-class discussions, presentations and/or critiques will jeopardize your successful completion of this course.
● Participation
Class participation is an essential part of class and includes: keeping up with reading, assignments, projects, contributing meaningfully to class discussions, active participation in group work, and coming to class regularly and on time.
● Attendance
Parsons’ attendance guidelines were developed to encourage students’ success in all aspects of their academic programs. Full participation is essential to the successful completion of coursework and enhances the quality of the educational experience for all, particularly in courses where group work is integral; thus, Parsons promotes high levels of attendance. Students are expected to attend classes regularly and promptly and in compliance with the standards stated in this course syllabus.
While attendance is just one aspect of active participation, absence from a significant portion of class time may prevent the successful attainment of course objectives. A significant portion of class time is generally defined as the equivalent of three weeks, or 20%, of class time. Lateness or early departure from class may be recorded as one full absence. Students may be asked to withdraw from a course if habitual absenteeism or tardiness has a negative impact on the class environment.
Whether the course is a lecture, seminar or studio, faculty will assess each student’s performance against all of the assessment criteria in determining the student’s final grade.
● Canvas
Use of Canvas may be an important resource for this class. Students should check it for announcements before coming to class each week.
● Delays
In rare instances, I may be delayed arriving to class. If I have not arrived by the time class is scheduled to start, you must wait a minimum of thirty minutes for my arrival. In the event that I will miss class entirely, a sign will be posted at the classroom indicating your assignment for the next class meeting.
● Electronic Devices
The use of electronic devices (phones, tablets, laptops, cameras, etc.) is permitted when the device is being used in relation to the course’s work. All other uses are prohibited in the classroom and devices should be turned off before class starts.
● Academic Honesty and Integrity
Compromising your academic integrity may lead to serious consequences, including (but not limited to) one or more of the following: failure of the assignment, failure of the course, academic warning, disciplinary probation, suspension from the university, or dismissal from the university.
Students are responsible for understanding the University’s policy on academic honesty and integrity and must make use of proper citations of sources for writing papers, creating, presenting, and performing their work, taking examinations, and doing research. It is the responsibility of students to learn the procedures specific to their discipline for correctly and appropriately differentiating their own work from that of others. The full text of the policy, including adjudication procedures, is found at
http://www.newschool.edu/policies/# Resources regarding what plagiarism is and how to avoid it can be found on the Learning Center’s website: http://www.newschool.edu/university-learning-center/student-resources
The New School views “academic honesty and integrity” as the duty of every member of an academic community to claim authorship for his or her own work and only for that work, and to recognize the contributions of others accurately and completely. This obligation is fundamental to the integrity of intellectual debate, and creative and academic pursuits. Academic honesty and integrity includes accurate use of quotations, as well as appropriate and explicit citation of sources in instances of paraphrasing and describing ideas, or reporting on research findings or any aspect of the work of others (including that of faculty members and other students). Academic dishonesty results from infractions of this “accurate use”. The standards of academic honesty and integrity, and citation of sources, apply to all forms of academic work, including submissions of drafts of final papers or projects. All members of the University community are expected to conduct themselves in accord with the standards of academic honesty and integrity. Please see the complete policy in the Parsons Catalog.
● Intellectual Property Rights: http://www.newschool.edu/policies/#