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university of california, santa cruz / department of film & digital media

fundamentals of digital media production

f i l m  &  d i g i t a l   m e d i a   1 7 0 a

   

professor: 

warren sack <wsack@ucsc.edu>

times & places: 

tuesdays & thursdays: 9:15am - 11:45am (porter college room d245)
thursdays (lab): noon - 1:30pm (porter college room d240)

   

description: 

This course is a hands-on introduction to digital media technologies. Students will learn a number of tools and programming languages including HTML, XML, Javascript, Activescript, Photoshop and Flash. This term the focus will be on digital media that are similar to or extensions of prior forms of sequential visual art, like film and video. The emphasis is on understanding digital technologies as new media and not simply as new tools. What are media? In general, media are technologies and practices that mediate between people: The "media" of "digital media" need to be understood in at least two ways: (1) as a set of practices; and, (2) as a set of technologies that mediate between people. As a practice, a medium influences or determines a repertoire of social, political, economic, legal, and cultural activities. As a technology, a medium provides a mechanism and material form for a set of relations between people. We will explore digital media experimentally by designing and implementing a series of new media technologies.