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Narrative Lab Spring 2010 Syllabus Wiki

Narrative Lab Spring 2010 Week One 
Intro
Lab: Knock-Knock Week Two 
Aristotle, Will and the Arc
The Poetics by Aristotle – online here: classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.html
 Arc, turning point. Rationality. Cause. Sense.
 Lab: Knock-Knock Week Three 
Cause and Effect
 Read: Backwards and Forwards by David Ball. You must buy/borrow this book. (and read or watch Hamlet, if possible) 
 also recommended: Lalos Egri: The Art of Dramatic Writing
 Lab: Tell Story #1 (and I cried and cried and cried/screamed/laughed) Week Four: 
Story 
Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting, by Robert McKee (Excerpt) 
Lab: Tell Story #2 Week Five: Structure becomes religion.
 A Doll’s House – read play, any translation Gutenberg Version Here
 then read : Shaw: The Quintessence of Ibsenism
 from page 213 to end of book (p 240) page 212 appears at this link: www.archive.org/stream/quintessenceofib00shaw#page/212/mode/2up Do: Beat structure of entire play. Lab: Watch A Doll’s House (Ibsen/Hampton) for linear narrative, and its departure Week Six 
Alienation and Meta-story
 Brecht on Theatre – Organum: pdfdatabase.com/download_file_i.php?file=7625722&desc=brecht+organum+.pdf
 Watch or read either: Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, or Existenz
Lab: Bring, describe, or demonstrate a meta-narrative moment Lab: form groups, originate project ideas. Week Seven 
Sequential Narrative and Point of View
 Handout from: Sandy Mackendrick on Film Grammar (who was Mackendrick?) 
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
Sequence as Story. Negative space. 
Lab: Pose plastique. AND Proposals for 2-3 person Group Projects. Week Eight 
Happening
 Handouts: 1.Kaplow on Happenings and additional handouts, from
Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality, Expanded Edition, by Randall Packer
more at www.artmuseum.net/w2vr/index.html
 2. Huizinga – introduction to Homo Ludens Meet in groups before this week’s class to create rule sets for Happenings. 
Lab: Happenings. Discuss projects on as-needed basis. Week Nine 
New Structures
 Handout from Marie-Laure Ryan, Narrative as Virtual Reality.
(students encouraged to tackle rest of book)
 Find example of an interactive narrative project to show to class, such aswww.thebuildersassociation.org
 Handout from Rushkoff, Exit Strategy. 
Lab: Group one review. Week Ten 
State of the Art 
First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game – handout/excerpt
additional discussion at :www.electronicbookreview.com/v3/threads/threadtoc.jsp?thread=firstperson
 Lab: Group two review (and we alternate from now on) Week Eleven 
Lab: Final Presentation group one. Week Twelve 
Lab: Final Presentation group two.