SEMESTER TWO OBJECTIVES:

In Semester Two, the coursework shifts focus. Content creation is the main focus of this semester (and the following). Students will begin work on their Thesis, which is the creation of a Story World or Franchise. This Franchise will be constructed around at least three media explored in the program (more if the student so chooses). Early in the semester, the students will develop a Franchise idea, which will dovetail into their work in various media explored during semester two. This media includes Sequential Art (comics, manga, and graphic novels) and Interactive Narrative (games). The coursework also includes practical work in the Business of Content Creation – which will explore the self-starting nature of the media in this program, as well as Audience Building and Crowdfunding – which teaches methods of using today’s social media landscape to promote or even explore your story world, as well as the tools to crowdfund your projects, both in the program and in the future.

SEMESTER TWO LEARNING OUTCOMES:

At the end of Semester Two, students will know how to:

• Examine entertainment industry methods, practices, and players by following the trades.
• Develop ideas for the new media landscape working with its special artistic considerations.
• Plot and write a story for sequential art.
• Conceive a board game, card game, or videogame.
• Research and build rules for the worlds of their stories.
• Crowdfund a startup project.
• Manage their brand.
• Use social media to engage their target audience.
• Use social media to expand or explore their Story World.

SEMESTER TWO PRODUCTION GOALS:

At the end of Semester Two, students will have produced:

• A proposal for an original comic book, graphic novel, or manga.
• A script for the first issue or chapter of a comic book, graphic novel, or manga.
• A Game Proposal for a board, video, roleplaying, card, or other game containing a playtested prototype or a lookbook.
• A non-linear game script from a shared-world project.
• A detailed world presentation for their thesis, Transmedia Franchise.
• A detailed Franchise Proposal defining their project, its world, and all its component parts across multiple (at least 3) media.

SEMESTER THREE OBJECTIVES:

In Semester Three, the coursework is defined as working in production-heavy media. The program shifts to classes that focus on fewer in-class sessions and more production work done on student time, designed to hit deadlines that will allow each project built to fold into the Transmedia Franchise if needed. Thesis II focuses on building a Transmedia Franchise Presentation, and every project connected to this Franchise will be built into the presentation. This presentation can include any material generated last semester or in this one. In Web Series, Podcasts, Comics, Games, Immersive Experiences, and even Unscripted Content, students will build aspects of their story world or independent projects. Each project that ties into the story world will be brought back into Thesis II and the Franchise Presentation. Most Thesis work will be pulling these projects together and deciding the best way to include them in a multimedia presentation (from sizzle reels to playtests to lookbooks… any way that best represents what each medium adds to the story world as a whole). At the end of the semester (and the end of the program), the students will present their Franchise to a panel of industry guests who work across all the media covered in the program. This will be their final Thesis presentation, but also their first foot forward into the entertainment world that they are now ready to join.

SEMESTER THREE LEARNING OUTCOMES:

At the end of Semester Three, students will know how to:

• Pitch and present their stories at a professional level.
• Edit their own work and promotional material for it.
• Direct and produce their own web series pilot.
• Create and produce a podcast.
• Develop concepts for Unscripted Television.
• Create a Pitch Deck.
• Design, write, and stage an immersive experience, theatrical or otherwise.

SEMESTER THREE PRODUCTION GOALS:

• A full proposal for a web series.
• A produced and edited web series pilot.
• A full proposal for a podcast.
• A produced and edited podcast pilot.
• A pitch deck and sizzle script for an unscripted concept.
• A concept for a fully immersive experience or script for an immersive play.
• A recording of the staging of at least one component of their immersive experience.
• A Transmedia Franchise Proposal that includes proposals and materials from at least (3) of the media built in other classes, which are full parts of the Franchise and Story World.
• A presentation of their Transmedia Franchise and all its component parts.