Outline may change, please check back regularly
Featured Vlogs
Jan 31/Feb 2: Week 1
1.1
review syllabus, schedule, UBlearns
watch Abuela Grillo, The Animation Workshop, vimeo, info
1.2
Introduction
Feb 7/9: Week 2
2.1 and 2.2
MATERIAL for both classes here
Topic: How Media Represents: focus on Games
Media: Oiligarchy, 2008 Molleindustria: World without oil, 2007, Ekland, McGonigal et al.
Reading for this week: Klein, TCE, chapter 1
Assignments:
- Journal Post: Question – Are games a good way to make social commentary? Why?
- Quiz – see UBlearns – it is on Klein chapter 1
- Group Video Blog: Topic – introduce your group
Feb 14/16: Week 3
3.1
Media: Gasland, 2010, Josh Fox (102 mins)
Reading for this week: Klein, “This Changes Everything” (TCE), chapter 1
Assignment: Journal Post: Question on Gasland: What most struck you about the movie? story, image, frame, person, information, camera style – be as specific as possible.
3.2
Media: Gasland (cont)
How media represents: focus on Documentary
Assignments: Quiz (see UBlearns), Group Video Blog: Topic : What are the current state of frack acts in US, in NY state? Find out and report.
Feb 21/23: Week 4
4.1
Media: When the Levees Broke, Part I, 2006, Spike Lee, (~ 1 hr)
Reading for this week: Klein, TCE, chapter 3
Assignment: Journal Post: Question on When the Levees Broke: What most struck you about the movie? story, image, frame, person, information, camera style – be as specific as possible.
4.2
Media representations of Environmental Disasters
Assignments: Quiz, Group Video Blog: Topic: Is the climate of Buffalo changing? Are the winters on average less severe? Find out and report. Include some kind of representation of the data.
Feb 28/ Mar 2: Week 5
5.1
Media Art and Environmentalism, E-waste
Reading for this Week: Klein, TCE, chapter 4 AND Gabrys, Digital Rubbish, chap 2, Ephemeral Screens, electronic version available on library course reserve:
Assignment: Journal Post: Question: Which art project shown today were you must interested in and why? Analyze how/why the art project worked or did not work. Be as specific as possible.
5.2
Cognition, psychology, media
Assignments: Quiz, Group Video Blog: Topic
Chibeom (Andy) Bae: How much trash is actually in the cycle of the Pacific Ocean and how long would it actually take to clean all the trash from the ocean? Is it actually a possible to remove all trash or is it an impossible problem?
Or
Various: In the project The Hive, how does the connection between the bees and the installation work? Are the bees harmed?
Mar 7/9: Week 6
6.1
Devastation and Beauty : Reattuning the Mind
Reading for this week: Klein, TCE, chapter 5 AND MacDonald, “The ecocinema experience,” in Ecocinema Theory and Practice, pp 18-20, electronic version available on library course reserve:
Assignment: Journal Post: Question: Scott McDonald argues that retraining our perception is a precondition for environmental consciousness but David Ingram suggests that the films McDonald promotes are only accessible for trained viewers and can never be popular – who do you agree with and why?
6.2
Media: Deseret (~1 hr 20) by James Benning, 1995 CLASS ONLINE
Assignments: Quiz, NOTE: will include questions on Deseret
Group Video Blog: Topic find an advertisement that uses nature to sell its products OR find social media campaigns messages that promote environmental awareness and post them. You DO NOT need to make a video of your own this week.
Mar 14/16: Week 7
7.1
Media: Ads, social media campaigns
Reading for this Week: Klein, TCE, chapter 6
Assignment: Journal Post: Question: Pick one of the advertisements that we looked at in class (default is the Monsanto advertisement), to make its meaning/impact, what specific references, connotations, associations did it use? Did it appeal to affect, emotion, reason and specifically how?
Student Ad Choices
7.2
Communicating climate change: Media Campaigns: Greenwashing
Assignments: Quiz, Group Video Blog: Topic TBA
SPRING BREAK
Mar 28/30: Week 8
8.1
Media: Mad Max: Fury Road, 2015, George Miller (2 hours)
Reading for this week: Klein, TCE, chapter 7 (?) AND The Ecofeminism of Mad Max by Sarah Mirk: OPTIONAL Mad Max Fury Road: A Savage Masterpiece of Eco-feminist Violence by faustusnotes.
Assignment: Journal Post: Question: Pick an example of Mass Media (Movie, TV, Game) that has an environmental message/theme/slant and explain how the media work constructed this theme both in terms of content and form. You cannot use Mad Max Fury Road.
8.2
Mad Max (cont’d)
Ecofeminism. Mass Media and the Environment.
Assignments: Quiz, Group Video Blog: Using the “retraining perception” style that Scott McDonald identifies (week 6) shoot a video that draws attention to the environmental damage done by vehicles that burn fossil fuel.
April 4/6: Week 9
9.1
Media: BBC Beautiful Minds: James Lovelock, 2011, (60 minutes)
Reading for this week: Klein, TCE, chapter 8
Assignment: Journal Post: Question: We have watched and experienced a variety of media works with very different tactics for bringing environmental issues to an audience. Compare and contrast some of the pros and cons of trying to raise awareness about ecological problems using mass media, traditional documentary, art projects, experimental forms, games? (choose 2)
9.2
Role of Media in Earth System Science, Geoengineering,
Assignments: Quiz, Group Video Blog: Using a quick cutting, consume-as-many-images-per-second-as-possible style, to shoot 15 seconds that demonstrates mass consumption is an environmental problem. You can use found footage, but the cuts have to be yours.
April 11/13: Week 10
10.1
Media: The Yes Men Fix the World, 2009 (1:25 start at 8.59)
Reading for this week: Klein, TCE, chapter 9
Assignment: Journal Post: Question: What do you think of the Yes Men’s activist tactics? Frame your answer with specific reference to a scene in the movie, citing the minute you are referring to.
*** START Playing: Never Alone ***
10.2
Media and Eco-Activism
Assignments: Quiz, Group Video Blog: Topic No Video This Week
April 17/19: Week 11
11.1
Media: BBC, Planet Earth, Episode 1 (50 mins), Alastair Fothergill, 2006
Reading for this week: Klein, TCE, chapter 10
Assignment: Journal Post: Question: During the semester we have considered a number of ways to analyze media: the ways meaning is made through context and reference (how media makes meaning); norms, and choices about those norms, in documentary practice (how media makes meaning); using some concepts from cognitive film theory (cognition, psychology media); thinking about how to reattune the mind of the audience; mental models and emotional frameworks (communication and environmentalism); ecofeminism; and narrative structure. Use language and concepts from one or more of these approaches, write a short analysis of BBC, Planet Earth Episode 1. For this week only the required word count for the blog post is changed – 200 word minimum, 400 word maximum
11.2
Sensing and Simulation
Assignments: Quiz, Group Video Blog:Topic: The importance of water was a major topic in the documentary we saw this week and in your reading. Make a short video that addresses issues around climate change and water . You may not use talking heads.
April 24/26: Week 12
12.1
Media: Tambien La Lluvia, 2010, Icíar Bollaín (1 hr 42)
Reading for this week: Klein, TCE, chapter 11
Assignment: Journal Post: Question: Tambien La Lluvia is constructed of films within a film: describe the different films briefly and talk about why you think the director choose this structure.
12.2
Media: Tambien La Lluvia (cont)
Environmental Justice, Media
Assignments: Quiz, Group Video Blog:Topic: Make a short video about an environmental issue that effects people locally. Go out into the field to capture footage and/or to interview people.
For this week only the video can be from 15 -60 secs long and you will have an additional week to complete the assignment. It is therefore due on May 9th at 11:59 PM.
May 2/4: Week 13
13.1
Media: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, 1984, Hayao Miyazaki, (1 hr 58)
Reading for this week: Klein, TCE, chapter 12
Assignment: Journal Post: Question: In what ways can Nausicaa be considered an environmentalist film? What parallels can you draw between the film and some of Naomi Klein’s concerns?
13.2
Media: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (cont)
microbes, food, soil
Assignments: Quiz, Group Video Blog:Topic: see week 12
May 9/11: Week 14
14.1
Media: Never Alone, E-line Media (2015)
Reading for this week: Klein, TCE, chapter 13
Assignment: Journal Post: Question: In what ways can Never Alone be considered environmentalist media?
14.2
Wrap Up
Assignments: Quiz,
Reading Week
We will not have an exam, but you can review the material you have submitted to get maximum points.
All quizzes will be re-opened.
Check through your journal:
- add any posts you missed
- check your posts answer my questions AND provide a comment/question of your own
- revise any posts that I commented on for full points.
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