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New Media Studies

Requirements & Courses

Areas

New Media Studies at Alma is organized into three areas. They overlap, crossover, and entangle each other constantly. In fact, this would probably be a better representation of them:

All students work across the three areas and develop foundational skills in them. At the same time, our students are encouraged to follow what they love and dig deeper into one or more areas with their advanced work. The expertise they develop stretches into areas like:

 

Working closely with an NMS faculty advisor, majors create individualized learning paths with the common goal of building flexibility, innovative approaches, and expertise. Access to cutting-edge resources and applied learning experiences help students align their coursework with their career goals.

  • Major Requirements

    Thirty-six credits which must include:

    1. Core: NMS-101 and eight additional credits from CSC-118 or 120, NMS-120, 130, 140, and 160
    2. Context: At least twelve credits from upper level NMS courses
    3. Capstone: Complete an internship (NMS-385), taken for a total of 4 credits; Senior Seminar (NMS-449) and Senior Studio (NMS-450)
  • Departmental Honors

    Completion of all NMS major requirements, 3.5 GPA in the major, an AB or above in Senior Capstone sequence (NMS-449 and NMS-450), and presentation of an NMS project at Honors Day. 

  • Minor Requirements

    Twenty-four credits which must include:

    1. Core: NMS-101 and an additional eight credits from CSC-118 or 120, NMS-120, 130, 140, and 160
    2. Context: At least eight credits of any upper level NMS courses
    3. Capstone: Senior Studio (NMS-450)

Courses

  • NMS
    101
    .
    Introduction to Digital Media
    4 credits
    Introduction to technical, social, and cultural aspects of new media. Topics include media convergence, interactivity, social networking, and participatory culture. Includes lab work exploring basic principles of effective communication employing a variety of digital media for designing and delivering graphics, audio and video.
  • NMS
    114
    .
    Introduction to Web Development
    4 credits
    This course provides an introductory examination of the theory and practice of communication in a digital format, including text, hypertext, visual, audio and video. Stresses application of digital media principles to authoring for the Web. Surveys the technologies underlying the World Wide Web, including Web page construction and JavaScript programming. Laboratory.
  • NMS
    120
    .
    Two-Dimensional Design
    4 credits
    Investigation of foundational elements and principles of visual design as the basic building blocks for visual art and communication. Critical thinking skills, as they apply to studio art, are explored using traditional and digital techniques. Course fee.
  • NMS
    125
    .
    Introduction to Film Theory
    4 credits
    In this course, we will study a wide variety of films; we will also study characteristics of the film/video medium and see how they are illustrated by the films studied in the course. Emphasis will be on the expressiveness of film techniques, fictional films, alternatives to the live-action fictional film, and how viewers understand films.
  • NMS
    130
    .
    Interactive Media
    4 credits
    In our society, interactivity has become a key component of media. We try to make our messages compelling and memorable, whether designing ad campaigns, websites, or Facebook profiles. Interactivity is widely debated, even within a single medium, and so the various approaches to it will make up the core inquiry for this course: what makes a piece of media interactive? How does meaning get communicated in interactive media? How can we design media using interactivity to deepen communication? Students will focus on social media, transmediation, and games, and will compose digital projects and deliver presentations, both individually and collaboratively.
  • NMS
    140
    .
    Camera Media
    4 credits
    This course addresses the importance of the camera in the twenty-first century and prepares students for advanced production and critical work with its media. Through readings, discussions, and hands-on activities, students develop fluencies in three areas: camera histories, camera techniques, and camera rhetorics (the camera’s persuasive power). Course fee.
  • NMS
    145M
    .
    Backpack Filmmaking
    4 Credits
    When we stuff the power of a production studio into a backpack, we transform as travelers. Mobile video gives us the opportunity not just to tell undiscovered stories, but to rethink our own position in them: how we interact with new people, explore unfamiliar places, and find our way in foreign communities. As the course winds a path around foreign lands, students take the lead on projects using advanced video and photographic techniques. Along the way, they build a deeper understanding of the communities they visit, the stories they tell, and the camera's unique impact on memory and identity. Students cannot count both NMS-145 and 345 for credit.
  • NMS
    160
    .
    Sound Design
    4 credits
    This course presents an overview of digital audio and video applications and the workflows designed to produce and manipulate digital sound and moving images. This includes music and sound for video, animation, and using audio and video on the Web. Additional topics will include the basics of sound design, syncing of audio and motion video and the rudiments of audio and video production systems. Students will also be introduced to important media standards such as NTSC, HDV, MIDI, QuickTime, MPEG and various SD and HD formats. (Formerly MUS 201)
  • NMS
    180
    .
    Topics in New Media Studies
    1 credit
    Selected topics in new media innovations, issues and effects. May be taken more than once for credit. Course fee.
  • NMS
    180M
    .
    Topics in New Media Studies
    1 credit
    Selected topics in new media innovations, issues and effects. May be taken more than once for credit. Course fee.
  • NMS
    210
    .
    Motion Graphics and Animation
    4 credits
    Introduction to 2D and 3D visual effects, animation and compositing. Critical study and theory of motion and animation principles; concepts of key framing, applying behaviors, tweening animations, symbols, generators and particle emission, chroma keying and rotoscoping.
  • NMS
    215
    .
    Audio Recording Studio
    2 credits
    Overview of the impact of computers and technology in the music professions. Topics include design of recording studio and lab environments, MIDI technology, fundamentals of audio technology, multimedia applications and using sound/music on the Web. Cross-listed with MUS-215. (Offered every year)
  • NMS
    220
    .
    Intro to Media Programming & Computation
    4 credits
    Write programs to manipulate images, sounds and movies, developing knowledge and skills in problem solving, data representation, data manipulation, and programming principles including recursion and object-oriented design. Introduction to basic ideas in hardware, software and computing.
  • NMS
    221
    .
    Intimacy and Technology
    4 credits
    Explore the way communication technologies impact and influence our relational lives. Focus on both old and new media, examining the way specific communication channels shape our romantic, platonic, familial and professional relationships. Through readings, discussion, film and scrutiny of their own technology usage, students will investigate the relationship between intimacy and technology.
  • NMS
    225
    .
    Applied Film Theory
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: NMS-125 or Permission
    Applied Film Theory will offer students a study in the theory of film and applied filmmaking. Course topics will include the inspirations, source materials, historical context, production process, and existing critical analyses of important films from the last century. This course combines analysis of film with hands-on digital media projects and is designed to complement other courses in the New Media Studies major.
  • NMS
    230
    .
    Game Design I
    4 credits
    Video game development is a burgeoning creative field that requires collaboration of experts with a variety of skill sets. Students in this course will take on the intense task of designing a video game from concept through storyboarding to prototyping and playtesting a paper model. Students will develop a game design document outlining the game’s mechanics and story and will create art assets for game. Each student will demonstrate proof of concept for their game in a presentation using the assets they developed. No coding experience is necessary for this course, and no coding will be required in the course.
  • NMS
    230M
    .
    Game Design I
    4 credits
    Video game development is a burgeoning creative field that requires collaboration of experts with a variety of skill sets. Students in this course will take on the intense task of designing a video game from concept through storyboarding to prototyping and playtesting a paper model. Students will develop a game design document outlining the game’s mechanics and story and will create art assets for game. Each student will demonstrate proof of concept for their game in a presentation using the assets they developed. No coding experience is necessary for this course, and no coding will be required in the course.
  • NMS
    232
    .
    Digital Imaging
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: NMS-120 or ART-121; ART 126 recommended
    Exploration of aesthetic and technical relationships between still images, multiple prints and montage as they are presented in the form of the digital straight print, narratives, and/or series. Course fee.
  • NMS
    233
    .
    Tabletop Role-Playing Games
    4 credits
    The past several decades have seen an explosion of innovative board games, card games, miniature games, and pen-and-paper games, many of which involve role-playing (which is when players act out personas other than their own). Using theory, exposure to numerous games, and actual play, students will explore the design, mechanics, and social elements of non-digital, tabletop role-playing games. Course fee.
  • NMS
    233M
    .
    Tabletop Role-Playing Games
    4 credits
    The past several decades have seen an explosion of innovative board games, card games, miniature games, and pen-and-paper games, many of which involve role-playing (which is when players act out personas other than their own). Using theory, exposure to numerous games, and actual play, students will explore the design, mechanics, and social elements of non-digital, tabletop role-playing games. Course fee.
  • NMS
    240
    .
    Digital Film Production
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: NMS Major or Permission
    Students are introduced to fundamentals of filmmaking and produce their own films. Elements covered include pre-production (financing, screenwriting and scheduling); production (cinematography, sound recording and directing); and post-production (editing, basic effects, marketing and distribution). Must be an NMS major or receive instructor permission to register for this course. Course fee.
  • NMS
    244
    .
    Video Editing
    4 credits
    An intermediate course in film editing. Students analyze and practice techniques in narrative, documentary, commercial and experimental editing. All footage will be provided.
  • NMS
    253
    .
    Environmental Media
    4 Credits
    Conflicts over water resources, petroculture, food safety, pollution, and climate change are some of the biggest challenges humans face, and environmental humanities address these concerns through analyses of representations, rhetorics, and media production. Through examination of readings, videos, documentary film, advertisements, television programs, video games, and social media, students will explore representations of environments and environmental issues from an intersectional perspective, developing textual analysis skills and building a foundation of theory from the environmental humanities. Students will also produce a piece of media with an environmental message.
  • NMS
    260
    .
    Visual Communication
    4 credits
    Focus on understanding images in culture from a psychological, photojournalistic and communication perspective. Work from a range of disciplines, including anthropology, communication, media and cultural studies, sociology, psychology and design.
  • NMS
    280
    .
    Topics in New Media Studies
    2-4 credits
    Selected topics in new media innovations, issues and effects. May be taken more than once for credit. Students may need to buy materials for their projects at a cost up to $100.
  • NMS
    299
    .
    NMS Independent Study
    1 credit
    Requires instructor permission.
  • NMS
    300
    .
    Media Theory and Culture
    4 credits
    Survey key benchmarks and texts in the history of media and new media technologies, while also introducing critical readings of 20th and 21st century media culture, both from the theoretical field of media studies and the creative works of artists, filmmakers and writers.
  • NMS
    310
    .
    Social Media
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Sophomore standing
    Our networked, digital age has seen the rise of a new kind of social and political engagement based in websites, crowd sourcing campaigns, social media platforms, and community-based video games. This course will pick apart several of the most popular social media platforms giving voice to business and identity politics in the US. We will look at best practices for managing social media for business. We will also look at trends in digital cultures including security, privacy, cyber bullying, and harassment, talk about ways individuals and corporate entities express themselves, and examine social movements with a focus on audience and visual rhetoric.
  • NMS
    330
    .
    Game Design II
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: NMS-230
    Video game development is a burgeoning creative field that requires collaboration of experts with a variety of skill sets. Students in this course will build on their experiences in Game Design I to undertake a more thorough and developed game design. Students will develop a game design document and partial game walk-through outlining the game’s mechanics and story and will create art assets for the game using Adobe Illustrator. The end-game of the course is for each student to demonstrate proof of concept for their game in a studio-style pitch/presentation using the assets they developed. No coding experience is required for the course, no coding will be required in the course.
  • NMS
    330M
    .
    Game Design II
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: NMS-230
    Video game development is a burgeoning creative field that requires collaboration of experts with a variety of skill sets. Students in this course will build on their experiences in Game Design I to undertake a more thorough and developed game design. Students will develop a game design document and partial game walk-through outlining the game’s mechanics and story and will create art assets for the game using Adobe Illustrator. The end-game of the course is for each student to demonstrate proof of concept for their game in a studio-style pitch/presentation using the assets they developed. No coding experience is required for the course, no coding will be required in the course.
  • NMS
    345M
    .
    Backpack Filmmaking
    4 Credits
    When we stuff the power of a production studio into a backpack, we transform as travelers. Mobile video gives us the opportunity not just to tell undiscovered stories, but to rethink our own position in them: how we interact with new people, explore unfamiliar places, and find our way in foreign communities. As the course winds a path around foreign lands, students take the lead on projects using advanced video and photographic techniques. Along the way, they build a deeper understanding of the communities they visit, the stories they tell, and the camera's unique impact on memory and identity. Students cannot count both NMS-145 and 345 for credit.
  • NMS
    347
    .
    Postworlds
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: NMS-101, NMS-140, or permission
    An advanced course in visual effects and speculative design. VFX techniques are used to create possible and impossible worlds that critique modern culture. Students shoot original footage and make use of stock libraries.
  • NMS
    380
    .
    Topics in New Media Studies
    2-4 credits
    Prerequisite: NMS-101 or Permission
    Selected topics in new media innovations, issues, and effects.
  • NMS
    381
    .
    Advanced Documentary
    2 credits
    Combines theory, history and practice, exploring documentary video production through an overview of the history and major styles, field exercises, screening, discussion and critique. Participating in collaborative work with classmates, students are exposed to a range of storytelling, production, aesthetic, and artistic issues. Hands-on demonstrations, field exercises, screenings, readings, lectures and discussion prepare students to produce short documentary videos.
  • NMS
    382
    .
    Advanced Mixing and Mastering
    2 credits
    Prerequisite: NMS-204
    In-depth, project-oriented class that explores the creative and technical issues involved in multitrack sound editing, mixing and mastering. Topics include mono, stereo and multichannel audio formats, understanding mixing consoles, signal flow and busses, sound analysis and metering plug-ins, controlling levels and gain, advanced EQ, compression and “brick wall” limiting, automation and time-based effects. Tools include popular DAW applications Logic Pro, Pro Tools and Reason.
  • NMS
    385
    .
    New Media Studies Internship
    1 credit
  • NMS
    399
    .
    NMS Independent Study
    1 credit
    Requires instructor permission.
  • NMS
    449
    .
    Senior Seminar
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Senior standing, completion of NMS 101
    The first part of a two-course, senior-year capstone sequence aligned with the NMS mission to marry theory and practice. This course emphasizes conceptual and critical skills through discussion, research, writing, oral presentation, and project planning. Students engage the theoretical context of their specializations in NMS and build deeper communication fluencies in them. A thesis lays the groundwork for an applied project in the subsequent NMS 450 studio.
  • NMS
    450
    .
    Senior Studio
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Senior Standing
    This capstone studio serves as a bridge between work at Alma and a professional post-graduate career. Students will independently plan and execute a capstone project that applies their specialized skills in new media to a challenging problem. The goal is to develop projects with lasting impacts while deepening the students’ own methods of design. Course also addresses how these skills might fit into post-graduate life through resume and portfolio workshops, as well as seminar discussions about new media’s role in the world. At the end of the term, capstones are assessed by a panel of faculty and industry judges at a public exhibition, which the class organizes and hosts.
  • NMS
    480
    .
    Topics in New Media Studies
    2-4 credits
    Prerequisite: NMS-101 or Permission
    Selected topics in new media innovations, issues, and effects.
  • NMS
    499
    .
    NMS Independent Study
    1 credit
    Requires instructor permission.
  • NMS
    500
    .
    Studies Senior Thesis
    2-4 credits
    Prerequisite: Senior Standing and Permission
    Development and completion of original scholarly/creative work. May be applied, interpretive, critical, empirical or theoretical. Required for departmental honors. Requires senior standing and permission.