ENGFLM 1766 - 3D MEDIA

Minimum Credits: 3
Maximum Credits: 3
Long Description 3D media employs stereoscopic techniques to produce bifurcated image streams that match the bi-ocular physiology of the human nervous system. This information-rich form of visual media feed the nervous system depth information in order for the brain to re-construct full spatial scenes instead of flat imagery. From stereoscopic cinema to Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality to AI-driven visuality and robot vision, the future of image-making and -viewing, and thus storytelling, is increasingly stereoscopic. In order to consider the future of mediated visuality, this class will take you on a historical adventure through almost 200 years of 3D media. Stereoscopy was discovered even before photography was invented, and quickly rose to dominate 19th century visuality (especially in photography and entertainment media) in Britain, France, and the United States. At one time, 3D was the most common form of photography! What happened? How did artificially flat imagery, so alien to human perception, come to dominate visual culture in the 20th century? We'll explore this question, as well as various attempts to add depth to mainstream media culture in the 1930s, 1950s, 1980s, and 2010s. We'll view large collections of 19th century and early 20th century stereo cards, 3D cinema from the 1920s to the 2010s, 3D comic books, 3D photography, and 3D video games. Our goals will be to unlock the tumultuous history of 3D media during those times, to acquire a conceptual vocabulary for understanding and discussing 3D imagery and narrative, and to become adept composers of 3D images in the form of medium format stereo photography. To that end, you'll not only analyze existing historical media, but also work in small groups to produce a series of high-end 3D photographs, videos, or games in a series of assignments designed to help you to develop an intentional, creative approach to examining space and composing relationships in visual media. This form of embodied visuality is likely to prompt in you a new way of seeing yourself in relation to your environment, and a new way of understanding image making in both depth and flat modalities. By the end of this class you'll have a new understanding of the history of visual media, a critical vocabulary to analyze both stereoscopic visual culture and interactive spatial design, and some creative tools for designing the stereoscopic media of the future, including 3D cinema, VR, AR, and other 3D games, stereoscopic still images, and stereoscopic machine vision. This is a class about visual culture, which includes an analysis of both the cultural forces that have produced certain regimes of viewing (flatness or depth, realism or fantasy, documentary or fiction, as well as the visibility and spatial coding of cultural dynamics such as gender, race, class, and relationship to environment) and the historically specific ways that the technical affordances of media have influenced the broader society in which they perform their mediation. This is a Critical Studies course with Production elements and counts for Category III towards the Film and Media Studies major and minor. It also counts as an elective course for Digital Narrative and Interactive Design majors.
Academic Career: Undergraduate
Course Component: Lecture
Grade Component: LG/SNC Elective Basis

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