CINE 211 - What is Media?

FC ARHU

4 credits
Paintings, newspapers, novels, photographs, magazines, motion pictures, radio broadcasts, television shows, music files, art installations, podcasts, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, the Internet these are some examples of what we think of, loosely, as media. These forms enable exchanges of information, ideas, emotions, and stories at global and personal levels. They profoundly shape our understanding and experience of the world. Indeed they stand, in meaningful ways, between the world and us. The purpose of this course is to explore, in both creative and critical ways, the in between to study what mediates the relations among, for example, authors and readers, artists and audiences, filmmakers and spectators, friends and lovers, you and me. We will consider how media are composed and gain influence, what (literally) they are made of, and why they matter. In short, we will make and study media in order to become more reflective not only about the forms that structure our world, but about our own actions as creators and consumers of those forms.
This course is appropriate for new students.