Communications, Media and Advertising (running until all currently enrolled students will have completed their studies) (Academic Year 2015/2016)

Knowledge of the Italian language and films/TV series viewing on a regular basis are required.

The course aims to provide students with the knowledge and basic tools to interpret the forms and languages of both performing arts and audiovisual media in the contemporary era. At the end of the course students will be able to situate both theatrical oeuvres and authors and audiovisual products historically; to describe and analyze the formal and linguistic aspects of theatrical oeuvres, television series and film; to contextualize theatrical oeuvres and audiovisual media in the social scenario.

Module I – Forms and languages of theatre

The module consists of a selection of video lessons, taught by Italian dramatist and director Maurizio Scaparro, on the fundamentals of history and language of theater and its relationship with other media (literature, cinema, radio and television). The module concludes with some reflections on the "society of the spectacle" (Enrico Menduni).

Module II – Forms and languages of audiovisual media

The second module focuses on the forms and languages of audiovisual media, notably cinema and television. A first section aims at introducing and discussing main aspects in the current multimedia landscape (Ruggero Eugeni). The second section analyses the cultural functions of fiction and the language of seriality (Milly Buonanno). The third section discusses the linguistic development of cinema after the advent of digital technologies and multimediality (Elio Girlanda). The forth section focuses on the relationships between audiovisual media – cinema, television, advertising – and religion and includes case studies offered by professionals of audiovisual multimedia production (Nicola Salvi and Elisabetta Sola).

I module
Recommended (NOT mandatory) readings:

·         Allegri Luigi, Prima lezione sul teatro, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2012

·         Balzola Andrea, La scena tecnologica. Dal video in scena al teatro interattivo, Dino Audino, Roma 2011

II module
Mandatory readings:

·         Eugeni Ruggero, La condizione postmediale, La Scuola, Brescia 2015

·         Buonanno Milly (ed.), Tempo di fiction. Il racconto televisivo in divenire, Liguori, Genova 2013

·         Girlanda Elio (ed.), Il precinema oltre il cinema. Per una nuova storia dei media audiovisivi, Dino Audino, Roma 2010

-         Dario E. Viganò et al., readings provided by the instructor (see Didactic Material).

Specific guidance on the exam bibliography will be provided during the tutoring activities.

Exercises on the analysis of media products and experiences will be proposed during the course.

Video lectures of well-known theater and cinema professionals drawn from UniNettuno TV archive (e.g.  Giorgio Albertazzi, Pupi Avati, Mario Monicelli, Ennio Morricone, Lina Wertmüller) will be proposed as suggested supplementary material.