Film & Media Studies

The course is part of the Laurea Magistrale Program and is intended for advanced level students who have the appropriate background. Places for incoming exchange students are restricted and primarily reserved for students enrolled in art related programs at their home university. This course is designed to identify the broad issues that are shaping visual culture in the 21st Century. Students are introduced to foundational aspects of visual culture theory through a discussion on the social role of images in contemporary culture, with particular attention to the impact of prosumer technologies, the Internet, and emerging forms of artificial intelligence. The course takes into account pictures produced within a diversified set of increasingly interconnected fields, including contemporary art, mainstream media, social movements, speculative design, and visual communication. Most of the case studies discussed elicit the dichotomy between pictures that are the expression of power systems and pictures produced as counter-discourses. Students develop the methodological tools to analyze the visual experience and recognize the main characters of the communication through various media.

This course examines the role of translation in social media communication. It contemplates how wide-ranging multilingual digital contents are circulated on social media via translation, how genres, user experiences, visual styles, business models and technologies harnessed by digital enterprises and platforms are impacting on legacy media and traditional means of mediated communication, and where the diverse user-generated content continue to innovate and transform social media communication.

This is a special studies course involving an internship with a corporate, public, governmental, or private organization, arranged with the Study Center Director of Liaison Officer. Specific internships vary each term and are described on a special study project form for each student. A substantial paper or series of reports is required. Units vary depending on the contact hours and method of assessment. Graded P/NP only.