The creative industries are an important part of New Orleans culture and its economy. The Digital Media Practices Major gives students the opportunity to develop and refine their skills in digital media as they relate to the creative industries. Students pursue fundamental coursework in content creation, storytelling, and media manipulation before choosing from one of five focus areas for a year-long senior Capstone project. Coursework available exclusively to our majors focuses on the art of practical filmmaking. Our program offers courses covering industry standard use of cameras, lighting, cinematography, editing, color grading, sound and music for video, screenwriting, directing, and producing.
In addition to the coursework offered exclusively to our majors. Our program relies on its relationships to several other coordinating departments on campus. Students choose electives from a wide variety of courses to prepare for their senior exercise. For example, the Narrative Filmmaking aspects of our program are closely aligned with the theater department, including courses in storytelling, directing, acting, lighting, and producing. Our Documentary Filmmaking focus area allows our students to pursue digital media expertise as it relates to faculty specialization in the Communications, History, and Anthropology departments. Our Sound Practice focus area is aligned closely with Music and Communications department faculty interest areas. Our developing Interactive Media and Creative Coding focus areas allow students to take advantage of faculty expertise in the Computer Science, Digital Art, Photography, Music Technology, and Digital Design departments.
Many of our students choose to create fully produced narrative short films. However, our program also wants to be surprised by the projects students choose to pursue, whether these projects are documentary short films, full length screenplays, multi-episode podcasts, radio dramas, interactive media exhibitions, experimental video games or a combination of all of these elements. Our program gives students the opportunity to work closely with experienced and supportive faculty interested in allowing students’ imaginations to help to define their goals.
Capstone Senior Project Options and Course Scheduling Advice
The coordinate major in digital media practices first requires students to declare a major in another discipline before declaring the DMPC coordinate major. The program is an interdisciplinary, 30 credit program that can include courses from Music, Theatre and Dance, Communication, Art, or English. Students will take 5 required courses and 5 electives:
And one of the following:
The full list of courses available for elective credit in the Digital Media Practices major are as follows:
Rick Snow
200 Dixon Hall
rsnow@tulane.edu
Listen to a DMP student-edited podcast about the 2022 Bobby Yan Lectureship in Media and Social Change, featuring The Atlantic editor & Floodlines podcast host Vann R. Newkirk II.