Overview
The Immersive 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
*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.