170128 UE Practical Course "Media Analysis" (2016W)

Content and methods: According to an excluding definition, everything that is not part of theater or film analysis must be belong to the domain of media analysis. As a result, the range of phenomena studied by media analysis may potentially include everything from TV to image, texts, social media and user interfaces. We will try to delimit this potpourri of phenomena with the use of the concept of ‘haptic visuality’. Originally coined by Viennese art historian Alois Riegl (1858-1905) sollte, the term referred to visual art that did not fall into the regime of (farsighted) perspectival representation, but rather (nearsighted) addressed the sense of touch. Accordingly, the discussion of haptic films and haptic images can be position in contrast to narrative film analysis. Riegls distinction was adopted by many researchers, e.g. in film studies (Lant, Marks, Barker), web studies (Campanelli) and interface studies (Andersen & Pold). We are going to trace this theoretical career using texts and analytical examples, using the concepts ‘haptic films’ as a point of departure to conduct analyses beyond filmic narrativity. A special focus will be on the question how we can analyze and describe whatever reveals itself and which media techniques we’ll have at our disposal to do so.
Aim: Students who have completed this seminar will be able to organize heterogeneous material and analyze and describe it using appropriate methods and theories.