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Program Overview
MULTIMODAL NARRATIVES
Course Description
The course analyzes new forms of storytelling, from videogames to multimedia shows, from installations to narrative museums. It compares narratological theories from Aristotle to Genette, questioning techniques, ideologies, and methods of narrative structures.
Aims and Content
Learning Outcomes
The aim of the course is to provide essential interpretative tools for understanding the meanings and perspectives of multimedia technologies and to rethink traditional artistic forms historically, critically, and creatively.
Aims and Learning Outcomes
The course will enable students to:
- Understand the main morphological structures of a narrative text
- Understand how these structures are applied in intermedial and hypermedia contexts
- Employ the structures learned in collaborative projecting interactive multimodal narrative experiences
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge for understanding a narrative in linguistic and/or visual form
Teaching Methods
Lectures (both in presence and synchronously online) and seminar workshops for the shared design of multimodal interactions.
Syllabus/Content
- Introduction to main narratological concepts:
- Narrator, reader, description, storytelling levels
- Order, rhythm, frequency, characters, space, focus, visual stories
- Events, actors, time
- Analytical application of these narratological principles to the analysis of visual media, visual and interactive installations
- Design of an Interactive multimedia multimodal interaction using the narratological tools deepened in 1 and 2.
Recommended Reading/Bibliography
- Mieke Bal, Narratology in Practice, Univ of Toronto Press 2021
- Mieke Bal, Narratology. Introduction to the theory of Narrative, Univ of Toronto Press 2017
- Jonathan Culler, Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford 2011
- Nezami, Khosrow and Shirin, Penguin 2025
Teachers and Exam Board
Teacher
NICOLA FERRARI
- Office hours: On Monday (by appointment), 11-12 AM
Exam Board
- NICOLA FERRARI (President)
- GUALTIERO VOLPE
- ANTONIO CAMURRI (President Substitute)
Lessons
Lessons Start
Lessons will start on the second semester
Class Schedule
The timetable for this course is available on the Portale EasyAcademy.
Exams
Exam Description
The final exam will consist of: a) The discussion of a written narratological analysis dedicated to one of the multimodal installation/experience, presented in the course b) The discussion of the interactive and multimodal cooperative projects developed and presented in the course.
Assessment Methods
The exam will evaluate:
- Skills and ownership in the use of the main narratological categories
- The ability to transfer classical narratological categories in a personal and original way in contexts of multimodal and interactive storytelling
Exam Schedule
| Date | Time | Location | Degree Type | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08/01/2026 | 09:00 | SAVONA | Orale | |
| 22/01/2026 | 09:00 | SAVONA | Orale | |
| 09/02/2026 | 09:00 | SAVONA | Orale | |
| 10/06/2026 | 09:00 | SAVONA | Orale | |
| 26/06/2026 | 09:00 | SAVONA | Orale | |
| 10/07/2026 | 09:00 | SAVONA | Orale | |
| 26/08/2026 | 09:00 | SAVONA | Orale |
Further Information
Non-attending students could arrange with the teacher their personal program. Students with disabilities or learning disorders are allowed to use specific modalities and supports that will be determined on a case-by-case basis in agreement with the Delegate of the Engineering courses in the Committee for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities.
