Digital Media Teaching Archive

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Welcome to the Digital Media Teaching Archive! Right now we only have syllabi, but please submit your syllabi, assignments, and teaching ideas so we can all share the knowledge of this burgeoning field of pedagogy.

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OPPORTUNITIES AND GENERAL RESOURCES

Digital Theatre Resources – A Google Sheet of useful programs, websites, manufacturers, and more for everyone to share their go-to tools.

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Syllabus: Projection and Media Design (THEA 475)

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Course Description: The study and exploration of the projection design process, and the creation and execution of digital media for theatrical projection and multimedia/performance integration.
Course Objectives and Goals: Developing a basic understanding of digital media integration with live performance, including process, paperwork, content, and execution. This course will include advanced application of theatrical projection design practice, principals, and technology. By the end of this course, the successful student will have:

  • an understanding of the projection design process for theatre, and the art of projection design.
  • a practical understanding of tools and technology of mounting a design.
  • a practical understanding of media creation and manipulation.

Course Topics:

  • History and Industry Standards – Examples. Design process – paperwork and such.
  • Sound and lighting integration / Live video – Analog and Digital Capture Switching and scan converters.
  • Media Creation – software, media types, resolutions.
  • Images – Photoshop and media types and resolution.
  • Video – After Effects, Premiere.
  • File types, resolution, FPS.
  • Content procurement and file conversion.
  • Execution – technology – software, hardware.
  • Playback – Qlab, Watchout, Isadora, TouchDesigner.
  • Still images – Moving images – Video – Kerning – Mapping – Live video.
  • Projectors – Lumens, throw ratios, lenses, dowsing.
  • Media servers Moving projectors LED and other formats.
  • Projection – Front, Rear Other surfaces TVs Multi-Screen – dividing, mapping, edge blending.
THEA 475 Projection and Media Design Syllabus Spring 2023Download
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Syllabus: Motion Tracking for Live Performance (TH3310.01 Special Topics)

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Motion Tracking for Live Performance (TH3310.01 Special Topics)

Instructor: Matt Kizer, Professor of Theatre

Course Description: Each student should become able to discuss moving lights, projections, motion-tracking, and cueing in the context of a production, and to contribute to a collaboration using the technologies introduced in this class in one or more roles as a theatre professional.

Course Objectives and Goals:

  • Discuss moving lights, projections, motion-tracking, and cueing in the context of a production
  • Contribute to a collaboration using the technologies introduced in this class in one or more roles as a theatre professional.

Course Topics:

  • Program moving light sequences
  • Acting within moving lights
  • Creating narratives for moving lights
  • Designing projections
  • Creating cues for projections
  • Changing scenery with projections
  • Cueing all of these
TH3310 Motion TrackingDownload
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Syllabus: Technical Theatre Media (TD314M)

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Instructors: Jackson Cobb (he/they) Sydney Sousa (she/her)

Course Description: The Media technology section of TD314M is an introductory survey of the media design process. In this section, we will focus on three primary areas:
How media is created.
How media is displayed.
How media playback systems function.

Course Objectives and Goals: Through the creation, understanding, and execution of a simple design and system, each student will gain practical experience as an assistant designer, animator, and programmer.
The goal of this section is to provide you with a basic appreciation for the technical and design needs of a media design. Should you choose, it will also provide you with the fundamental knowledge and skills to be an effective crew member in the future.

Course Topics:
Class 1: Introductions, 10 pts
Lecture: Intro to Media Design
Assignment: Share notes on media designs, Introduce Final Project Complete: Technology Survey, 5 pts (due at midnight, same day as Class 1); Media Quiz #1: The Basics, 10 pts; Choose Scene for Final
Class 2: Content Creation: Photoshop, 10 pts
Lecture: Getting to Know Photoshop
Assignment: Photoshop Demo; Begin creating still graphics for final project; Creating still graphics for final (graphics due before Class 5)
Class 3: Content Creation: After Effects, 10 pts
Lecture: Getting to Know After Effects
Assignment: After Effects Demo, Begin creating motion graphics for final project, Creating motion graphics for final (graphics due before Class 5)
Read: Reading a System Diagram
Class 4: Diagrams, Cables, and Show Control, 10 pts
Lecture: Cables and System Diagrams, Behind-the-Scenes Tour 1
Complete: Media Quiz #2: Cables, 10 pts; Graphics for final project
Class 5: Programming with QLab, 10 pts
Assignment: QLab Programming Demo, Begin programming final project Complete: Programming for final project
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9t91hAXs0o
Class 6: Final Project Presentations, 20 pts
Activity: Mapping Model Boxes
Assignment: Final Project Presentations
Complete: Decompress! Breathe! Party! You did it!!
Complete: Section Reflection (anonymous), 5 pts

Syllabus-Technical Theatre Media-TD314MDownload
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Syllabus: Performance, Art and New Technologies in Society (THTR 3895)

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THTR 3895:0001 Cross References: DANC 3895 | INTM 3895
Spring, 2020 || M & W: 3:30p – 5:20p

Instructor: Daniel Fine, Assistant Professor of Digital Media in Performance

Course Description: Survey of major technological innovations that have deeply impacted society and live performance in the late 20th and early 21st century, and the future of the rapidly evolving technological world; students examine theoretical texts and performances that address the impact of technology on the human condition, as well as create original applied live performances and installations; a variety of technologies are explored and adapted for live performance as they relate to the following categories of original human experience—telepresence, liveness, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, big data, and transhumanism.

Course Objectives and Goals:

  • Understand the basic concepts, theories, history and the practical artistic applications of telepresence, liveness, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, transhumanism, and big data.
  • Develop applied knowledge by creating, designing and realizing projects with various analog, digital and new media technologies for a variety of student generated artistic/technological experiences.
  • Be able to rapidly prototype ideas using Isadora, Max and/or other softwares and use and manipulate various hardware technologies.
  • Work collaboratively across disciplines to investigate multimedia approaches to contemporary live experiences and new modes of storytelling.
  • Cite and discuss prior and related work.
  • Expand upon organizational, artistic, and technical skills necessary to successfully design and implement projects.
  • Improve teamwork and communication skills.
  • Critique and evaluate work.

Course Topics:

  • Liveness, telepresence
  • Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, Extended Reality (AR, VR, XR)
  • Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Post-Humanism
Performance, Art, & New Technologies in Society_3895_S2020_SyllabusDownload
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Syllabus: Producing and Directing Digital Video (THTR 3890)

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THTR 3890:0001 Cross Reference: DANC 3890:0001 | INTM 3890:001
Fall, 2019 || T&TH: 3:30p-5:20p

Instructor: Daniel Fine, Assistant Professor of Digital Media in Performance

Course Description: An introduction to the basic concepts, theories and practical applications of digital video production for multiple distribution streams, with a focus on aesthetic and technical principles, that is open to students from any department. The primary focus of the course is for students to develop proficiency in contemporary approaches to digital media production, by understanding the production pipeline, from Ideation to Pre-Production, Production, Post-Production and through to Distribution. Emphasis will be placed on developing skills in writing, producing, directing, shot composition, lighting, location sound recording, non-linear editing and other skills necessary to create a compelling and engaging digital video. Working in groups, students will be assigned practical projects using professional grade media software and hardware.

Course Objectives and Goals:

  • Understand the basic concepts, theories and practical applications of digital video production for multiple distribution streams.
  • Understand the production pipeline of digital video production.
  • Develop skills in writing, producing, directing, shot composition, lighting, location sound recording, editing and other skills necessary to create a compelling and engaging digital video.
  • Operate digital video production gear, including a DSLR camera package, sound package, lighting gear, and grip packages.
  • Be able to perform basic video editing, compositing and fundamental sound editing.
  • Develop the organizational skills necessary to successfully produce digital video projects.
  • Learn how to make digital videos on a small or non-existent budget using guile, guts and problem-solving techniques.
  • Improve teamwork and communication skills.
  • Collaborate across disciplines.
  • Critique and evaluate work.

Course Topics:

  • Intro, check-outs, studio, reservations
  • Camera, A+B, Vimeo
  • Workflow & pipeline
  • Copyright, fair use, creative commons
  • Who does what
  • Audio gear
  • Audio editing with Audition
  • Lighting gear, grip
  • Style, design
  • Animation, keyframes
  • Inclusion and casting
  • Script, budgeting, scheduling
  • Pitches, ideation, visualizing
  • Shooting & editing greenscreen
Producing & Directing Digital Video_Fine_THTR3890_F2019_Syllabus copyDownload

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Syllabus: Video for Performance (THTR 3876)

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THTR 3876:0001 Cross References: DANC 3876 | CINE 3876 | INTM 3876 | DIGA 3876
Spring, 2020 || T & TH: 3:30p – 5:20p Studio: ABW250 || Computer Lab: ABW360

Instructor: Daniel Fine, Assistant Professor of Digital Media in Performance

Course Description: An introduction to the aesthetics and practical applications of digital media design for live performance, including content creation, system design and content optimization for media servers. Open to students from any department with an interest in designing, creating, and displaying digital media for theatre, dance, concerts, corporate events, gallery installations, VJ sets, and architectural projections. Working with professional software (Adobe Creative Cloud including Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Audition, and After Effects) students learn how to create digital art work and integrate it into live performance and entertainment events via projections, media servers and digital displays.

Course Objectives and Goals:

  • Understand the basic concepts, theories and practical applications of incorporating video into live performance.
  • Develop applied knowledge of creating video by designing and realizing projects with various analog, digital and new media technologies for a variety of live experiences.
  • Understand the meaning making, workflow, process, technology and creative process for implanting video into live performance.
  • Work collaboratively across disciplines to investigate multimedia approaches to contemporary live experiences and new modes of storytelling with video.
  • Develop skills in manipulating digital assets such as photos, videos, text, and live video streams.
  • Operate computer, video, projection, sensor, and camera equipment.
  • Be able to perform basic-intermediate, media server skills in QLab and basic-intermediate content creation in After Effects CC.
  • Develop the organizational and artistic skills necessary to successfully design and implement video into live performance.
  • Improve teamwork and communication skills.
  • Critique and evaluate work.

Course Topics:

  • Intro, gear, space
  • Content creation, research, design concept, cueing
  • After Effects (Compositing)
  • After Effects (Shapes, Animate On)
  • After Effects (Perfect loops)
  • QLab
  • Projectors & Media Servers
  • Process, workflow, integrating into the team
  • Masks
  • Surfaces
  • Projection Mapping
  • Cameras & Displays
  • Systems & Lensing
Video for Performance_3876_S2020_SyllabusDownload
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Syllabus: Installations and Interactive Performance (THTR 3880)

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THTR 3880:0001 Cross Reference: DANC 3880:0001
Spring, 2021 || M&W: 3:30p-5:20p

Instructor: Daniel Fine, Assistant Professor of Digital Media in Performance

Course Description: An introduction to the aesthetics, techniques and practical possibilities of fusing together theatre, dance, music/sound, art, design, cinema, gaming, human computer interaction, and engineering. Students will learn the foundations of creating interactive experiences that use digital photos, video, text, real-world objects, sensor data, live bodies moving in space, Kinect 2 sensors, cameras, and multiple video outputs such as projectors and LED displays. The interactive, node-based programming software Isadora, will be used to create immersive mediated performances, interactive installations, embodied user based experiences and user manipulated virtual environments.

Course Objectives and Goals:

  • Understand the basic concepts, theories and practical applications of incorporating interactive digital media into installations, live performance and user based experiences.
  • Develop applied knowledge of creating interactive media installations and live performance by designing and realizing projects in various analog, digital and new media.
  • Cite and discuss historical and contemporary artists and companies.
  • Work collaboratively across disciplines to investigate multimedia approaches to contemporary live experiences and new modes of storytelling.
  • Develop skills in manipulating digital assets such as photos, videos, text, live video streams and data.
  • Operate computer, video, projection, sensor, and camera equipment.
  • Be able to perform basic-intermediate, node-based programming skills in Isadora.
  • Develop the organizational and artistic skills necessary to successfully produce installations, interactive performance and user based experiences.
  • Improve teamwork and communication skills.
  • Critique and evaluate work.

Course Topics:

  • Intro, gear, check-out, studio, system, in-class assignments
  • Isadora (Networks, Video)
  • Isadora (Sound)
  • Isadora (Camera, Displays)
  • Isadora (NDI, Syphon, Zoom integration)
  • Isadora (Control)
  • Isadora (Generative Art)
  • Isadora (Projection Mapping)
  • Isadora (Data Visualization)
  • Isadora (Kinect)
Installations & Interactive Performance_Fine_Dan_3880_S2021_SyllabusDownload
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Syllabus: Performing with Technology (THTR 3875)

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Topics in Digital Performing Arts: Performing with Technology: THTR 3875:0001 Cross Reference: DANC 3875:0001
Spring, 2021 || T&TH: 3:30p-5:20p

Instructor: Daniel Fine, Assistant Professor of Digital Media in Performance

Course Description: Advanced techniques in virtual/online performance with established and new technologies including live cameras, audio, greenscreen, special effects, and controlling digital avatars.

Course Objectives and Goals:

  1. Understand the basic concepts, theories and practical applications of performing in virtual/online platforms.
  2. Develop applied knowledge of creating virtual/online performance.
  3. Cite and discuss historical and contemporary artists and companies working in virtual performance.
  4. Work collaboratively across disciplines to investigate performance approaches to virtual/online and new modes of storytelling.
  5. Develop skills in manipulating digital assets and operating virtual platforms.
  6. Operate computer, camera, and sound equipment and virtual platforms.
  7. Improve teamwork and communication skills.
  8. Critique and evaluate work.

Course Topics:

  • Intro, gear, check-out, studio, system, in-class assignments
  • Zoom interface
  • Sound
  • Camera
  • Greenscreen
  • Special Effects
  • Avatars
  • Pitches
  • Virtual Performance Technology
Performing with Technology_Fine_Daniel_3875_S2021_SyllabusDownload
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Syllabus: Projection Design (TH617)

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TH617: Projection Design, Section 001, Spring 2020

Instructor: Matt Reynolds

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Lecture, discussion, and projects, training in theatrical projection design; 3 cr. Provide the graduate level design & technical student an in-depth understanding of the design methods of stage projection, including workflow; generation/acquisition of imagery; visual effects; video production; video systems; hardware; surfaces; and control.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will utilize key creative programs to achieve artistic goals. Students will display professional behavior in learning and presentation. Students will execute vital calculations and coordinate technical paperwork. Students who succeed in this course should be able to fulfill the duties of a Projection Designer at the University level.

CLASS OBJECTIVES: The professor will discuss and demonstrate theatrical projection terminology, workflow, design techniques, implementation, and paperwork.

COURSE TOPICS:
  • Digital Media History, Careers, Skills
  • Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, Word
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Collaboration
  • Workflow
  • Adobe AfterEffects
  • Design Principles & Media Attributes
  • Content & Video Production
  • Adobe Premiere
  • Animation & Effects
  • Figure 53 QLab
  • Video Signals & Media Servers
  • Projectors
  • Dataton Watchout
  • Surfaces & Cameras
  • Networks & Sensors
TH617 Projection Design-Syllabus 2019-05-19Download
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