GMU:Immersive Essays

From Medien Wiki

Lecturer: Jörg Brinkmann
Credits: 6 ECTS, 4 SWS
Date: Thursdays, 13:15 – 16:00
Venue: Digital Bauhaus Lab
First meeting: 20.10.22, 13:15

Description

While looking at online platforms like YouTube or Vimeo you might have come across videos that could be described as video essays. A video essay is a piece of video content that, much like a written essay, advances an argument. Video essays take advantage of the structure and language of film to create a thesis statement. While the general concept has its roots in academia, it has grown dramatically in popularity with the beginning of online video sharing platforms.

As a relatively new media form, video essays have yet to conform to any structural guidelines. At first glance a video essay could be described as an online video which cuts together footage from one or more films in order to reveal new insights about them. But when looking further you realise, that it doesn’t always have to be about the original content. Footage from different sources can also be used to illustrate an argument that is not directly concerned with the meanings or intensions the original material is referring to. This is also what makes this form of analytic framework interesting. There aren’t any rules, or rather there is no firm set of such rules. Video essayists tend to make up the rules as they go along.

In the course we want to take the concept of a video essay and translate it to an immersive environment. How can we work with found footage like pictures, film, sound, 3D objects or text for example in a virtual space, created with the help of VR-glasses like the HTC Vive ? How can we illustrate an argument in a 3-dimensional world based on found footage? The practical part will be an Introduction to the game engine Unity 3D and an introduction to working with HTC Vive VR-glasses. Furthermore, students will work on their individual immersive essays that will be presented at the end of the semester.

Registration

Send an e-mail until October 11th to joerg.brinkmann@uni-weimar.de. Please include the following information:

Subject/title of your e-mail:
Immersive Essays

Content

  •  your full name
  •  program and semester
  •  matriculation number
  •  describe in a few sentences why you want to take the course
  •  If you have any material about your creative work online or digitally available, please send links or attach files to the email

Criteria for passing

In order to successfully participate you will have to develop and document your own project on the GMU Wiki. Also, regularly attend to the sessions and participation is mandatory.

Please read carefully:
If you don’t apply on time or don’t get accepted, you can’t participate in the class

Criteria for passing

In order to successfully participate you will have to develop and document your own project on the GMU Wiki. Also, regularly attend to the sessions and participation is mandatory.

Student works from the past semester

Syllabus

Dropbox folder with our class material
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3lbhjzw8wsl6g53/AADCkg7UI8y1qGMhzvCjALIVa?dl=0

VR TOOLBOX

Software

  • Unity 3D - cross-platform game engine (proprietary)
  • Blender - 3D modeller with many features (open source)
  • Autodesk FBX Converter – convert OBJ, DAE, and 3DS files to or from multiple versions of the FBX format (proprietary)
  • MeshLab - system for processing and editing 3D triangular meshes (open source)
  • Meshroom - Photogrammetric Computer Vision framework for 3D Reconstruction and Camera Tracking (open source)
  • MakeHuman tool for making 3D characters (open source)
  • Meshmixer - "Swiss Army Knife" for 3D meshes (proprietary)
  • Open Broadcaster Software - streaming and recording program (open source)

Online Tools

3D Models (for download and use)

Unity 3D Tutorials

Unity 3D Assets

Blender Tutorials

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