General entry requirements + English 6.

The course can normally be included as a part of a general degree at basic level.

The course is divided into three parts:

1. Storytelling, figure constellations. Text analysis for character design and useful creative writing methods. Properties of medial canals and elements of their storytelling. Basics of copyrights and other relevant media laws (7,5 credits).
2. Individual project in character design for one specific medium (chosen in dialogue with supervisor) (4 credits).
3. Film/drama/literary/media theory, and graphic storytelling (3,5 credits).

Part 1 contains a short introduction to the basics of storytelling in media, starting with technical aspects, forms of narration, and artistic practice. This part of the course offers practical and theoretical issues. Students analyse and reflect on results reached and put them into relation to the course's literature/reading obligations. Characters/figures and visual material are produced experimenting with tools, styles, and medial canals. This part of the course develops practical competences of character design, narrating, layout of individual aspects of figures/characters, digitalisation, production. Results are presented in seminars.

Part 2 is dedicated to one individual project that has to be developed for usage in a previously agreed on performance or publication in a mass-medium (e.g. comic, film or game). The topic and medium are chosen by the student in dialogue with her/his supervisor. The project-work is done independently, with limited supervision. It is used for further analysis and development in the final paper.

Part 3 runs parallel to the entire course and consists of lectures, group-discussions, and written/drawn/built exercises. Theory is integrated in the practical elements and the students continuously describe their reflections and analyses in oral or/and written form. The whole course completes with a written reflection on the practical development of a set of figures/characters for a specific narrative use (usually: comic, film, play, or game).

Knowledge and understanding

After completing the course, the student should:

1. display knowledge on storytelling in general and in individual media;

2. display knowledge on storytelling traditions and stereotypes;

3. display knowledge on the role and importance of visual storytelling in contemporary media landscapes;

4. display knowledge on publication of characters/figures and their copyrights implications;

5. display knowledge of forms of character design and their application.

Skills and abilities

After completing the course, the student should:

6. demonstrate ability to develop figures/characters for comics and/or storyboards, for film, games or other visual narrative media;

7. demonstrate ability to critically assess and analyse their own and others' work in word and writing.

Judgement and values

After completing the course, the student should:

8. display ability to reflect on limitations and possibilities in the visualisation of character and its development;

9. display ability to reflect and judge figures/character designs of their own and by others in relation to content, form, and choice of expression in word and writing.

The course depends on the students' activity and learning. Teaching forms used during the course are lectures, seminars, workshops, excursions or study visits, group work and individual projects under supervision.

• Written assignment (4 credits, learning outcomes 1-4)
• Oral Presentation (3,5 credits, learning outcomes 5-8)
• Individual Project (4 credits, learning outcomes 6-7)
• Final Report (3,5 credits, learning outcomes 9)

• Facial Expressions of Emotions (Microexpressions): https://practicalpie.com/facial-expressions-of-emotions/

• Gombrich, E. H. (2002). Art and illusion: a study in the psychology of pictorial representation. 6. ed. London: Phaidon Press

• Grant, E.C. (1969) ‘Human Facial Expression’, Man, 4(4), pp. 525–692. doi:10.2307/2798193.

• Importance of Facial Expressions in Communication. [Electronic resource].

• Paris, Bernard J (1997). Imagined human beings : a psychological approach to character and conflict in literature [Electronic resource].

• Padua, Sydney: A matter of Proportion. [Electronic resource].

• Salen, Katie & Zimmerman, Eric (red.) (2006). The game design reader a rules of play anthology. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press [Electronic resource].

• Schweinitz, Jörg. (2010). Stereotypes and the narratological analysis of film characters. [Electronic resource].

Video material:

• Campbell, Joseph: The Hero’s Journey [Electronic resource].

• Dean, Russel: Puppets and Perception [Electronic resource].

• Solomon, Pat: What is the Hero's Journey?: Pat Soloman at TEDxRockCreekPark, [Electronic resource].

Additional material, max 200 pages, will be added and made available to students via the course's learning platform.

Links to electronic resources are distributed via the course learning platform.

Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).

If a course is no longer offered, or has undergone significant changes, the students must be offered two opportunities for re-examination based on the syllabus that applied at the time of registration, for a period of one year after the changes have been implemented.

If a student has a Learning support decision, the examiner has the right to provide the student with an adapted test, or to allow the student to take the exam in a different format.

This is a translation of a Swedish source text.