Digital Media Practices

COORDINATE MAJOR IN DIGITAL MEDIA PRACTICES

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.

Courses

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:

• DMPC 2001 Digital Filmmaking Fundamentals I
• DMPC 2002 Digital Filmmaking Fundamentals II
• DMPC 5550 Advanced Digital Filmmaking I
• DMPC 5560 Advanced Digital Filmmaking II
• COMM 3150 Film Analysis

Electives

The full list of courses available for elective credit in the Digital Media Practices major are as follows:

DMPC:
            DMPC 1110  Intro to Creative Industries
           
            Any DMPC 3000 or 4000 level course.  For example:
            DMPC 3220  Digital Production Non-Profits
            DMPC 3030  TV & Film Sound Design
            DMPC 3040  Lighting and Cinematography
            DMPC 3910  Special topics in DMPR
            DMPC 3910  Color Grading and Digital Image Correction
            DMPC 3911  Introduction to Screenwriting
            DMPC 3913  Introduction to Documentary Filmmaking
            DMPC 4070  Contemporary Film as Art and Industry
            DMPC 4910  Independent Study          

Art:
            ARST 1550   Foundations of Art: Digital Arts I
            ARST 2550   Digital Arts II
            ARST 1350   Foundations of Art: Photography
            ARST 2350   Intermediate Photography
            ARST 3550   Time Based Media

Music:
            MUSC 2300  Introduction to Computer Applications in Music
            MUSC 2310  History of Electronic Music
            MUSC 2218-03  Composition for Electronic Media
            MUSC 3213-03  Composition for Electronic Media
            APMS 2210/3210  Voice/Vocal Jazz
            APMS 3330  Music For Film
            MUSC 4400  Music and Digital Signal Processing
            MUSC 4410  Music Performance Systems
            MUSC 4420  Algorithmic and Computer Music

English:
            ENLS 4750  New Media Theory
            ENLS 3610  Creative Writing
            ENLS 4660  Topics in Adv Creative Writing
           
Theater:
            THEA 2100   Fundamentals of Acting
            THEA 2110   Beginning Acting
            THEA 3210   Directing I
            THEA 3340   Production and Design I
            THEA 6110   Acting for Other Media

Dance:
            Dance 4600  Choreography and Media
           
Communications:
            COMM 2700  Visual Communication
            COMM 3650  Feminist Doc & new Media
            COMM 3825  Digital Media in Theory and Practice  
            COMM 4170  U.S. Film History
            COMM 4850  Cinema Technology Modernity

Computer Science:
            CPMS 1500  Introduction to Computer Science I
            CPMS 1600  Introduction to Computer Science II