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ACTION! On the Filmed City: Video Games
Last Updated: 2026-06-03 00:07:21
Abstract
In the 1970s and 80s, rudimentary video games emerged as entertainment for the middle classes. 40 years later and more ubiquitous than ever before, they are now more than that: an alternative mode of experiencing reality.We will explore various experiments between video gaming, architecture, and audiovisual storytelling to understand how virtual 'gaming' can articulate reality in novel ways.
Objective
Through a combination of practical exercises in video and audio techniques in parallel with the study of seminal observation-driven texts, this course aims to equip students with the basic tools and core principles to create short but complex experiments reflecting on urban space. This semester, the focus falls on the topic of video games, asking students to think about how filmmaking and digital animation skills may be used to tap into the multi-faceted possibilities presented by contemporary video gaming. Using widely available recording tools and editing software, students will turn their fieldwork into short video or audio works of about 3-5 minutes.
Content
Through lectures, practical crash courses in media use and storytelling, and fieldwork sessions, we will conduct experiments in new forms of 'video gaming'. The course will be a laboratory in the creation of short media works that aim to inform the architectural design process, working between the city and the studio in ONA. Students will be expected to complete all required work within the hours that the elective meets, with few requirements outside of the class hours.
Resources
Literature
Seminal texts include: - ‘Mirror Images: Cinematic and Sensory Ethnography for Landscape and Urban Studies (Papanicolaou) - ‘Cross-Cultural Filmmaking’ (Barbash, Castaing-Taylor) - ‘Acoustic Territories’ (LaBelle) - ‘Space Time Play: Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism: The Next Level’ (Davidson) - ‘The Semiotics of Architecture in Video Games’ (Aroni) - ‘Documentary's Expanded Fields: New Media and the Twenty-first-century Documentary’ (Kim)
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- BSC
- Frequency
- Semesterly recurring
Examination
- Type
- ungraded semester performance
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| exercise |
ACTION! On the Filmed City: Video Games
No teaching on October 19 (Seminar Week) and in the last two weeks of the semester.
|
No time listed | 2 h weekly |