Co-Creating Critical Media Futures

Course goals

1. Acquiring basic knowledge of AV technology 

2. Understanding the applicability of these techniques to different narrative forms 

3. Understanding the dramaturgical effect of film language 

4. Translating the objective of the assignment into a creative audiovisual concept 

5. Completing assignments in a timely and independent fashion 

6. Understanding the importance of efficient collaboration and networking 

7. Identifying one’s own capacities, talents, and ambitions 

8. Understanding core technical and professional terminology 

9. Understanding aspects of how self-identity and sense of belonging is interwoven with everyday digital media creation and consumption. 

Content

In this course, students will gain insight into how film and new media language works by participating in the creative production process. By working to produce materials that align with the goal of imagining alternative media futures, they actively contribute to efforts to enable social change and build stronger digital media and future-oriented literacies in times of continuous technological impacts on everyday life, learning, and work.  

The course employs creative methods for fostering greater critical awareness around the personal and societal impacts of data, digital platforms, and AI in everyday life, identity formation, and work practices. This is critical in times of rapid AI deployment across all sectors of society.  To address this, the course seeks to build classroom-based experiences facilitating creative public engagements, community-engaged learning, and arts-based interventions.  

For this practice-based course, students will participate in classroom-based assignments and complete two creative assignments: 1) A short midterm individual video related to the goals outlined above (“My Online Identity”); 2)  A longer final team video related to the goals of fostering literacy for others (“Our Counter Narrative”).    

By completing these two video assignments, participants will gain a basic level of familiarity with various technical and organizational aspects of audio/visual production processes. Their work is aided by attending conceptual lectures on aspects of storytelling and media making process, attending technical instructions sessions to use camera, sound, lighting and editing equipment, completing various technical exercises given during the course, and completing production plans and other documentation.     

Technical instructions will be provided by audiovisual support staff of the Faculty of Humanities. Lectures, feedback on exercises, and discussion of creative processes are led by the course coordinators.

This course is the first course in the specialisation track Participatory Cultures, Media production and Sustainable Futures.

Additional information

Priority rules
This course has priority rules and a waiting list. Your enrolment is guaranteed if you
- are a student in the BA Media and Culture and this course is part of your specialisation (verdiepingspakket)
- are a student in the BA Liberal Arts and Sciences or Taal- en Cultuurstudies and this course is part of your specialisation (kernpakket)

In all other situations, you will be placed on a waiting list if you enrol in this course. For any remaining slots in the course, lots are drawn among the students on the waiting list.