Transmedia Practice: Courses

After posting about university departments that have people who are studying transmedia, there began to be some interest in practice-oriented courses. There are more of those then there are for theory because transmedia is not yet an established area of research. Either way, there is a growing interest in actually learning how to DO transmedia. When I looked around about 7 years ago to find any information about how to do transmedia there was nothing around. Now it is popular and so courses are sprouting up around the globe. The following list is not curated and so I cannot attest to their quality. Let me know about your course!

:: AUSTRALIA::

GEN TV – Diploma of Screen & Media

GEN TV is QPIX’s ground-breaking new concept in screen industry training. Students in GEN TV work with QPIX to produce shows designed and made for broadcast. Students train for a Diploma of Screen & Media with a specialisation in multi-platform television, but the focus is on the show. The show is real and the deadlines are real. The training just seamlessly falls into place for the student in the heat of production. There is no course like this in the country, and it won’t stop here. QPIX has a catalogue of show designs ready for the future.

Graduate Certificate in Multi Platform Content – AFTRS

This course provides a systematic and practical approach to multiplatform content creation in order to provide emerging producers with skills to initiate and mange these projects. Students will learn to tailor content for emerging media platforms such as convergent television, broadband web and mobile devices and focus on alternate reality games, episodic social media and other emerging entertainment formats which utilise a combination of platforms to engage audiences. A comprehensive overview of media technologies, platforms and formats is provided in addition to real world exercises and briefs culminating in a final project that can be used by students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills.

The Multiplatform Screen Producer – Metroscreen

This accredited Advanced Diploma of Screen and Media [CUF60107] combines theory with practice through intensive workshops where participants deliver to deadline and overcome production time-critical challenges. The course structure and focus reflects the industry need for producers to now work across all screen platforms and equips them with the skills to deliver

::CANADA::
Interactive Art & Entertainment Program – Media Lab at the Canadian Film Centre
“The broader scope of this program is on designing interactive works (installation to web-based) and they do have a module on trans/cross media storytelling” (from Siobhan O’Flynn)

::HONG KONG::
Learn Film Asia has a course “Transmedia for Indie Filmmakers” (this info through, and by Robert Pratten!)

::UK::

Cross-Platform Production Course for New TV Talent [PDF]

Crossover is a FREE seven-month course, supported by Skillset’s TV Freelance Fund, in which 38 participants from across the UK will design creative interactive experiences for television while taking part in practical workshops, seminars and masterclasses delivered by industry professionals at Skillset Academies. The course will start at the Sheffield Doc/Fest, Britain!s main TV and on-line conference and market, where you will receive a Golden Ticket designed to let you see first-hand how the industry operates and learn about the latest breakthroughs in digital broadcasting. Then comes a week in your home Academy, in which producers and commissioners will give you an insiders’ view on the ins and outs of producing TV across multiple platforms.

Pervasive Media Creative Producer – Pervasive Media Studio,  UWE Digital Cultures Research Centre

Developing the necessary skills and confidence to become a producer can be hard. Managing creativity and business across different media can be especially challenging. This intensive five day course at the Pervasive Media Studio, run by the UWE Digital Cultures Research Centre, is aimed at those who have some experience working in digital media and want to explore using context aware platforms to deliver a project. Taught by established practitioners from interdisciplinary cutting-edge research and practice, it comes with the opportunity to work with creative media companies linked to the Pervasive Media Studio in Bristol.

Transmedia Storytelling (online course)

Transmedia storytelling is to fragment stories, offering multiple windows of opportunity to find out more and ‘drill deeper’ into the storyworld. Stories are spreading and migrating from the page and tv/cinema screens to a multitude of platforms, offering choices of how readers and audiences receive the story, participate or collaborate. Publishers are interested in harnessing ‘e’ to give a wider and deeper transmedia experience, writers are now ‘story architects’ and advertising agencies are utilising a transmedia concept to firmly place brands at the heart of story. This is an introduction to transmedia storytelling which is suitable for beginners or writers keen to find new ways to reach readers.

::USA::

New York Film Academy

Jeff Gomez will be teaching film and transmedia starting March 2010.