Category Archives: IMA Electives (Legacy Structure – Media & Entertainment)

Courses that count in IMA’s Media & Entertainment category

XR (Extended Reality) Studio: Designing Games for Headsets (GAMES-UT 324)

The spectrum of Extended Reality (XR) – encompassing Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) – brings with it several opportunities for new possibilities for game design, interactive storytelling, and more. While implementations of these technologies and associated theory have existed for a number of years, the recent technical and commercial resurgence means that developing skills in critical thinking and creative aptitude with regards to AR and VR is incredibly timely. To this end, rather than studying only contemporary discourse around XR technologies which frames it as a new development or passing fad, this class will also look at more well-established principles of both AR and VR – such as object presence and other aspects of existing theory. Furthermore, it analyses such technologies through a theoretical and critical lens, placing them within the wider history of the arts.

Game Design (Undergraduate)
2 credits – 7 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2025)


GAMES-UT 324-000 (17675)01/21/2025 – 03/11/2025 Wed,Fri8:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Khandaker, Mitu

Universe in a Blender (COART-UT 508)

Blender is a dynamic tool that can be used to design real world sets, physical objects and virtual assets for various media and live performance. It can render robust animations and impose visual effects on recorded video. It has the capacity to interface easily with interactive softwares like Unity and Unreal, while having the potential to output hi-fidelity renders for print. But beyond that it’s just a software. The ability to create any believable world comes from you. In this class we will explore a variety of techniques to create living, breathing fictional worlds while honing the skills in Blender to bring them to life. Students will be asked to create food, buildings, clothing, people and traffic signs from their fictional universe – building consistency of aesthetic, narrative allusion, and the fine details that make any world “believable”. The class will involve dissecting and discussing media on this world building, technical tutorials and instruction in Blender, and hands on workshops that tackle the conceptual questions of world building while exploring how to interface Blender with an outside medium: (3D printing, Pattern Making, Asset Development, Unity, Unreal, After Effects, recorded video). Students will be expected to watch technical tutorials and read short pieces on these topics for homework. Students will also complete weekly deliverable assignments.

Undergraduate

Code Lab 2: Code Literacy (GAMES-GT 303)

Code Lab 2 is a continuation in exploring how to craft game with programming. In Code Lab, we examined how to make games in openFrameworks, starting from scratch. This class will be a workshop, building off of that knowledge, but focusing on learning how to work with code that is already written. Students will learn to work with a new Integrated Development Environment (IDE), eclipse, learn to work with a version control system, and work in depth with Java and Processing. Over the course of the class, students will be given several versions of classic games (Pong, Space Invaders, Asteroids, etc.) that are incomplete or have an obvious bug. They will learn to read the code, identify how to correct the issue with the game, and then eventually modify it to make their own new version of the game. These skills are essential to work with code from other developers, whether they are members of the same team, open source projects, or examples provided in tutorials and readings.

Game Design (Graduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2024)


GAMES-GT 303-000 (21771)09/03/2024 – 12/12/2024 Fri11:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Parker, Matthew

Playful Performance Props (COART-UT 505)

In this class, we’ll learn TouchDesigner, a powerful software hub for live audiovisual content, and control it with DIY props and digital interfaces that we’ll build to connect to our art directly from the stage. With a cutting-edge buffet of inputs and outputs at our disposal, what new, evolved, or remixed types of performance can we create? If you’re a musician, you’ll build and play instruments that didn’t exist before. If you’re a dancer, your movements will become the music and visuals, instead of the other way around. If you’re a filmmaker, you’ll shoot a real-life scene with a virtual camera or light a physical set with real-time VFX. If you’re a visual artist, you’ll warp color, distort images, and push pixels to the brink of destruction. If you’re all of the above, you’ll have fun in this class. To connect to TouchDesigner, we’ll build hardware props using Arduinos, tiny computers that we can hook up sensors, buttons, and LEDs to, and create unique thematic interfaces that augment our performances and interactive installations. Weekly assignments explore AI tools, electronic circuits, fabrication, camera input and livestreams, 3D models and procedural animation, and more. Midway through the semester we’ll begin performing live using our connected props for DJ/VJing and projection-mapped interactive spaces, with the class culminating in a final public performance bringing together the best of student work. No previous coding or performance experience necessary. There is a lab fee for the hardware we’ll use to build our devices.

Undergraduate

Devising & Documentary (OART-UT 144)

Note this class is called “Devised Theater: History and Practice.” This intensive focuses on both historic evolution of ritual-based/early theater models through contemporary theater philosophies (accentuating history of Futurist/Dada theater innovations to present), and on anatomizing the nature of performer, performance, story and storytelling via the non-traditional philosophies and methods of contemporary experimental theater. The class will be rigorously participatory in terms of discussing/physicalizing these experimental methods and will culminate in the creation and performance of simple class collaboration-generated stage narratives. Students will investigate the meaning and application of physical/environmental ’neutrality’ on stage as they simultaneously investigate and define for themselves the most essential markers needed for the viewer to perceive ‘story’ in performance. As the staged pieces are constructed from these anatomized building blocks of performance and story, more complex qualities of character, identity, archetype, mannerism, linguistic disfluencies (verbal and non-verbal) and psychological subtext will be introduced as tools for each performer’s role in the story. In the final phases of piece creation, simple analog elements of music, sound, light, mask, craft materials, dance, virtuosic/specialized skill, props will be introduced as tools. The final performance will aspire to clear and effective applications of the performance/story elements discussed (or discovered) in class. Techniques and exercises derived from the worlds of Futurism/Dada, Richard Maxwell, Blue Man Group, Elevator Repair Service, Ann Bogart, Joshua Fried, and others will be discussed and employed.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
1 credits – 16 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)


OART-UT 144-000 (15799)

New Portraits (ITPG-GT 3042)

Credits: 2
Duration: 6 Weeks
Dates: Thu

“””Portraiture stands apart from other genres of art as it marks the intersection between portrait, biography, and history. They are more than artworks; when people look at portraits, they think they are encountering that person,”””” says Alison Smith, chief curator at the National Portrait Gallery in London. For thousands of years, artists have used cutting-edge tools and resources to create portraiture, giving viewers a glimpse into the subject’s life. A successful portrait embraces technology to bring the viewer closer to the subject but is not overshadowed by it. In this course, we will delve into portraiture through the lens of volumetric capture using the Depth Kit system. Through hands-on assignments, students will learn the entire pipeline of volumetric capture, from configuring the system to capturing our subjects and final output. Simultaneously, we will focus on fundamental aspects of portraiture, such as lighting, storytelling, production techniques, and historical foundations. The course will explain the techniques and considerations involved in creating volumetric portraits. We will explore various approaches to capturing subjects, employing advanced technologies to record their presence in 3D. Students will gain proficiency in the Depth Kit system to produce high-quality volumetric portraits that can be integrated into different mediums, including game engines, augmented reality (AR), or traditional 2D outputs.”

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 6 Weeks

Live! (ITPG-GT 3004)

This course focuses on designing, developing and delivering multimedia live performances via a virtual platform. The class will have an emphasis on experimenting with different possibilities of virtual performances, pushing the boundaries of the performative medium, and using emerging technologies to create experiences that allow for the unfolding of engaging narratives, and/or generate compelling visuals in real time. We will look at various examples of both online and offline performances, explore how we can apply the technologies we have learned to design performative systems, and discuss methods we can use to make our performances more engaging. Students will practice quickly coming up with ideas and performing in class. A few weeks into the course, students will propose final project ideas and then develop the performances in the following weeks with support from the instructor. The class will culminate in a virtual event featuring solo and/or group performances by the students.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 6 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2025)


ITPG-GT 3004-000 (11430)01/22/2025 – 03/05/2025 Wed6:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Evening)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Wang, Carrie

Documenting the African City (ANTH-UA 9087)

Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Tue

This interdisciplinary course combines ethnographic readings, representations, and interpretations of city and urban cultures with a video production component in which students create short documentaries on the city of Accra. The interpretative classes will run concurrently with production management, sights and sound, and post-production workshops. The course will have three objectives: (1) teach students the documentary tradition from Flaherty to Rouch; (2) use critical Cinema theory to define a document with a camera; and (3) create a short documentary film.

Anthropology (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Documenting The African City (SCA-UA 9124)

Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Tue

This interdisciplinary course combines ethnographic readings, representations, and interpretations of city and urban cultures with a video production component in which students create short documentaries on the city of Accra. The interpretative classes will run concurrently with production management, sights and sound, and post-production workshops. The course will have three objectives: (1) teach students the documentary tradition from Flaherty to Rouch; (2) use critical Cinema theory to define a document with a camera; and (3) create a short documentary film.

Social and Cultural Analysis (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Composing Music with Max (OART-UT 1097)

The foundations of Max, a powerful visual programming language for music and multimedia, will be covered in this course. We will examine how computers can be utilized to create situations for music creation, performance, and collaborative improvisation as well as applied to building interactive, generative music. In addition to learning Max’s fundamental building blocks, we will also use fundamental music theory as a tool to better understand music making. We will create programs that examine rhythm, melodies, chords, scales, and recognize other qualities of music like timbre, texture, and dynamics while taking into consideration the principles of harmony, melody, and rhythm defined in basic music theory. The final will require you to develop a collaborative piece of interactive computer music, a collaborative performance environment, or another final project that has been discussed and agreed upon together. This class does not require any prerequisite programming skills or prior music theory knowledge.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)


OART-UT 1097-000 (18705)09/02/2025 – 12/11/2025 Wed5:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Aguilar, Gustavo

Applied Audio for Video (MPATE-UE 1225)

Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue

A continuation of MPATE-UE 1010. This is an advanced & detailed study of the audio-visual production & post-production process including digital recording techniques, with special emphasis on synchronization & the interfacing of SMPTE time code. Sound design, advanced Foley topics, * creative workflow in audio post production will also be discussed.

Music Technology (Undergraduate)
3 credits – 15 Weeks

Sound Design and Spatialization at IRCAM (MPATE-UE 9055)

This course focuses on three important areas in music technology: spatialization, computer aided composition, analysis & synthesis techniques. In each area, concepts & implementations will be explored in a variety of artistic & technological contexts. Students will work with the latest technologies including IRCAM Tools, Spat plugin, Max Bach library, Ambisonics, & Wave Field Synthesis. The course includes a 3-hour weekly lecture, 3-hour studio lab, & workshops at IRCAM. This course is taught in collaboration with IRCAM in Paris, one of the world leading institutions in computer music and acoustics.

Music Technology (Undergraduate)
6 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2025)


MPATE-UE 9055-000 (2385)at NYU Paris (Global)Instructed by

Game Design & the Psychology of Choice (ITPG-GT 3028)

“As game and interaction designers we create systems and choices that can either prey upon our psychological foibles or help us avoid decision pitfalls. It is our responsibility to understand how we decide, to consider the ethics of the systems we create and to practice designing systems in a purposeful manner. Game Design & The Psychology of Choice will provide interaction and game designers with an understanding of the factors that influence behavior and decision-making by looking at the intertwining of cognitive psychology and economics through the development of behavioral economics. These disciplines study behavior on the individual and group level, often revealing some of the why behind the rules of thumb and folk wisdom that game designers come to intuitively. But understanding the why—why we fall into decision traps; why certain tradeoffs tax our brain more than others; why we are overconfident about our abilities; why certain decisions make us uncomfortable—allows us to more purposefully apply our design craft, both in and out of games. Finally, as a class, we will take what we learn about how we think and create series of game experiences based around key cognitive science concepts. Assignments may include: •Mod a cognitive science experiment into a game or experience •Analyze and present a game through the lens of cognitive science and behavioral economics •Create game or experience based around a particular insight from cognitive science or behavioral economics”

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)


ITPG-GT 3028-000 (11391)09/03/2025 – 12/10/2025 Wed6:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Evening)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Parker, Matthew

Outside The Box: Site-Specific Immersive Explorations (ITPG-GT 3029)

This course introduces students to modalities for creating site-specific and immersive art and performance. Assignments will examine the work of artists who challenge the limitations of the physical, psychological and transactional spaces that have come to define conventional production models. Students will regularly receive prompts from which collaborative work will be workshopped, generated and presented. The sites and practices explored will de-center script/text as spine, institutional space as gathering place, linear storytelling as narrative, and separation between audience and artist as social contract. Through group performance projects and presentations, students will investigate how Site evokes Narrative and Event differently in brick & mortar, virtual, historic, liminal, dead, found, contested, democratized and community spaces. Our work will unpack the challenges and opportunities presented when we relinquish creative control of such unfixed elements as serendipity, impermanence, improvisation, audience agency, public space, weather, and pandemic.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)


ITPG-GT 3029-000 (21888)09/11/2023 – 12/11/2023 Mon6:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Evening)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Rovegno, Mia

Multisensory Storytelling in Virtual Reality and Original Flavor Reality (ITPG-GT 3026)

“In this course, we will explore how to create narratives that leverage our lesser used senses like touch, taste and smell as well as lesser-known ones like space, time, balance and scale. We will dig into the history of experiential storytelling, starting from immersive theater and Smell-O-vision to cutting-edge haptics and mind-bending illusions of proprioception. To help center this back in practical applications, we will also explore how this evolving art is commonly used in exhibition design, experiential marketing and brick and mortar retail. The class will be a healthy mixture of game theory as well as experienced based learning (meaning there will be a couple field trips and multisensory VR projects to explore). A basic knowledge of game engines is ideal but not mandatory because we will be using predesigned templates in Unreal engine to be experienced and manipulated in real-time through virtual reality hardware.”

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)


ITPG-GT 3026-000 (11390)09/04/2025 – 12/11/2025 Thu3:00 PM – 5:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Porter, Winslow

Hedonomic VR Design: Principles & Practices (ITPG-GT 3025)

To be a VR creator, it’s not enough to learn the hard skills—it’s also our responsibility to prime ourselves for the human impact of our work. As a means to design VR that is both enjoyable and accountable, this class proposes we borrow design principles from Hedonomics, a branch of ergonomic science that facilitates pleasurable human-technology interaction. Through the Hedonomic Pyramid, we’re able to section our thinking off into regions (Safety, Function, Usability, Pleasure and Individuation) and map out industry-tested VR design guidance for each. The result is a hierarchical checklist of proven principles, specifications and practices—that promote a culture of inclusive and holistic design—built to serve as a quickstart guide to designing accountable VR interfaces and systems. This class, divided into units that represent each level of the Hedonomic pyramid, will unpack both technical and conceptual strategies for creating VR, from visual interface fidelity to avoiding locomotion cybersickness to designing safer social VR spaces.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)


ITPG-GT 3025-000 (11389)09/04/2025 – 12/11/2025 Thu9:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Cortese, Michelle

Alter Egos: Assuming New Identities Through Costume and Performance (ITPG-GT 3024)

Throughout history, musicians have channeled their creativity into outrageous fashion statements and invented personas: think MF DOOM, Sun Ra, Ghostface Killah, Daft Punk, Leikeli47 and Rammellzee. By embracing their alter egos in extreme and outlandish ways, artists have found their authentic creative voices. This course will introduce participants to the art of masquerade using their resourcefulness to create costumes from found materials, and performance as an exploration in creative expression using new media and technology. Students will be introduced to ideas surrounding abstract storytelling, experimental audio video production, and A/V performance using a combination of technical and hands-on approaches. This course requires CL: Hypercinema or equivalent experience. Prerequisite: CL: Hypercinema (ITPG-GT 2004)

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 13 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)


ITPG-GT 3024-000 (11388)09/08/2025 – 12/08/2025 Mon12:00 AM – 2:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Santana, Ali

MoCap for the Archive (ITPG-GT 3021)

“How can motion capture (MoCap) be used to archive, preserve, and share intangible heritage forms, such as performing arts, rituals, and other social practices and traditions? This course approaches motion capture through the lens of ethnography — drawing on techniques of observation, participation, and qualitative design research. This class will offer an overview of different motion capture technologies, such as 2D-3D pose estimation and depth mapping, with a practical focus on learning the OptiTrack system at ITP. We will start by covering the basics of OptiTrack and build up to other workflows and techniques used across animation, game design, and virtual production (e.g. OptiTrack to Unreal Engine or Unity).” Prerequisite: CL: Hypercinema (ITPG-GT 2004)

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 6 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)


ITPG-GT 3021-000 (11385)09/03/2025 – 10/15/2025 Wed6:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Evening)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Mehta, Ami

The Medium of Memory (ITPG-GT 3019)

“What is the medium of memory? In this 14-week studio class, we will dig into this question through creative storytelling. Starting from a lens-based practice, this class will introduce traditional and bleeding-edge documentary methods to inform our own varied approaches to activating archival material. Through weekly “readings” (articles, podcasts, films), written reflections, and creative assignments, we’ll explore: • how technology has impacted our relationship to memory; • how visual interventions can can surface alternative narratives; • how to make under- and unrecorded histories visible, and call into question the power dynamics embedded in “official” records; and • how we might recast objects and sites of memory-keeping, like heirlooms, journals, and memorials, as a mode of engaged preservation. Mid-way through the course, students will identify either personal or collective histories to open up to their own individual creative reexamination, memorialization, or transformation––each producing a final project with the technology and approaches of their choosing that serves to answer the question we started with––what is the medium of memory?”

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 6 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)


ITPG-GT 3019-000 (11384)09/03/2025 – 10/15/2025 Wed9:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Salvo, Simone