Immersive Storytelling Minor

Overview

The Immerisve Storytelling minor is offered through Parsons School of Design.

How can we craft narratives drawing on the dynamics of interaction and visual and sonic immersion? What design strategies exist to shape character, plot, drama, time, space, data, and event within linear and non-linear interactive fictions? This minor takes a close look at the mechanics of immersive storytelling within dynamic media and equips students with tools and technologies to make their story an immersive experience.

Students in this minor explore experiential and immersive storytelling in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality, data visualization, 360 spherical film, and interactive theater.

Students are exposed to various thought processes, design strategies, and production pipelines such as narrative design, systems and new technologies of interaction, and digital asset creation and implementation. Many of the skills used in film, video, game, 3D modeling, and computer animation production can be adopted for this new ground. Students learn to apply their knowledge to a variety of hybrid practices at the intersection of traditional, computer-based, and commercial and noncommercial design and art practices. Students have an opportunity to design the minor according to their personal interests and orientations. The contributions of students of many different backgrounds will create a productive incubator for innovation in media viewing and experience design.

Immersive storytelling encompasses the creation of motion for animate and inanimate objects and visual patterns. With these new technologies, we create the opportunity for participants to interact with and affect immersive worlds, characters, and stories with physical (smell/touch), visual, and sonic multi-modal experiences.

Curriculum

Subject Area	Sample Courses	Credits
Framing Conceptual Ideas Through Visual Media*	PUFY 1005 Critical Studio PUFY 1030 Drawing/Imaging PUFY 1202 Drawing: Ideation/Imagination PSAM 1800 Exploration in Drawing PUFY 1221 Games 101 PSCE 5034 Light-Space Art PSAM 5742 Narrative and Dynamic Systems PSDS 2301 Narrative Space PUFY 1222 Virtual Objects and Environments	0-3
Introduction to Main Concepts, History, and Theory	ULEC 2960 Immersive Storytelling	3
Current and Historical Professional Practices	PLVS 2016 Film Aesthetics PLSD 2003 History and Theory of Temporary Environments PSAM 1050 Intro to Photography NFDS 3615 Food and Film NFLM 3489 Art and History of Documentary ULEC 2034 Filmmakers of Color PSAM 3005 CD Studio: Word as Images PLAH 2013 Futurism: Art and the Future PSAM 4830 Landscapes and Space	3
Craft	PSAM 2211 Digital Asset Creation: 3D PSAM 2210 Digital Asset Creation: 2D PSAM 2605 CG 1 PSAM 3606 CG 2 PSAM 2301 Animation I PSAM 2204 Sound Design PSCE 2110 Kinetic Modeling PNNY 2206 Digital and Physical Model Making PAID 1200 Lighting PUFY 1226 Constructive Sketching PSDS 3506 Digital Modeling PUFY 1030 Drawing/Imaging PUFY 1202 Drawing: Ideation/Imagination PSAM 1800 Explorations in Drawing	3–6
Storytelling and World Building	PSAM 3533 Illustration in Performance PSAM 3263 Projected Environment PSAM 3742 Exploration as Narrative LCST 3460 Post-Cinematic Aesthetics PSAM 3274 Digital Development: Extended Reality NCOM 3115 Digital Storytelling PUDM 2700 Information Visualization NMDS 5597 Immersive Narratives PSAM 3315 Experimental Animation	3–6

*Students who have already completed one of these courses, or will do so for their major, should instead select another course in the subject area 2D/3D/4D Techniques and Processes.

Learning Outcomes

A student who has completed this minor should be able to demonstrate the following skills in the following areas:

Immersive Experiences (Main Concepts)—Develop an understanding of narrative principles and systems and experiment with these findings to create interactive immersive experiences on the designated technology and media platforms
Current and Historical Professional Practices—Demonstrate an understanding of the history and theory of media technologies and the creation of immersive experiences in virtual spaces, theater, cinema, and emerging hybrid/augmented forms
Craft—Competently use various media production methods to design and craft digital and analog scenes such as sets, landscapes, and architecture, including audio, music, and sound FX and projection techniques for creating interactive digital and analog imagined and immersive realities
Storytelling—Tell compelling stories through principles of engagement, interaction, navigation, narrative strategies, dynamic characters, and the invention of visual and sonic cues and devices to copy and advance cinematic continuity for 360-degree immersion
World Building—Develop user experience and interaction design skills for digital immersion (surround projection and head-mounted displays) and haptic technologies (clothing, gesture, gloves, tangible interfaces, brain interfaces) as well as eye tracking and develop skills and knowledge of production pipelines for sound, dramatic performances, digital 3D asset modeling, rigging, animation, and exporting files and materials to appropriate hardware and venues

Eligibility

Minors are available to all undergraduate students at The New School. For questions regarding this minor's curriculum, including requests for course substitutions, please contact Kyle Li, associate professor, at [email protected].

How to Declare or Change a Minor

General guidelines for declaring a minor are available here. Current students can declare or change a minor by logging in to my.newschool.edu, clicking on the Academics tab, and then clicking on the link to Major/Minor Declarations.

Take the Next Step

Contact your Student Success advisor to discuss how a minor will fit with your degree requirements.

Declare or change a minor on my.newschool.edu in the Academics tab.

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Immersive Storytelling (Minor)