Class Photography and Cinema II

The course deepens the use of photography and film as practices of research, creation, and communication within the context of contemporary design. Through the development of individual and collaborative projects, students explore still and moving images as tools for observation, interpretation, and the construction of visual narratives. The course integrates analogue and digital processes, studio practice, and fieldwork, fostering experimentation, critical reflection, and engagement with archives, institutions, and invited professionals. Benefiting from access to specialised laboratories, studios, and professional equipment, students develop the technical, conceptual, and methodological competences required to integrate photography and film into a wide range of communication design contexts.  

Not applicable

Photography and film as practices of research in design. Development of individual and collaborative projects. Methodologies of observation, documentation, and the construction of visual narratives. Techniques of still and moving image production, including image capture, lighting, cinematography, sound, editing, and montage across analogue, digital, and hybrid environments. Critical exploration of the relationships between photography, film, publishing, installation, and digital media. Studio-based experimentation and fieldwork. Collaboration with institutions, archives, and invited professionals. Production, public presentation, and critical documentation of the projects developed throughout the semester.

The course adopts Project-Based Learning (PBL) and Research through Design (RtD) methodologies, emphasising iterative processes of observation, experimentation, production, and critical reflection. Analogue and digital technologies, professional tools, DIY processes, and artificial intelligence are combined as instruments for research and prototyping. Teaching activities integrate workshops, fieldwork, collective critiques, tutorial supervision, collaboration with external institutions, and engagement with invited artists and professionals, fostering an active, situated, and practice-based learning environment.

Barthes, R. (2020). Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. Vintage Classics. (1.ª ed. 1980). Berger, J. (2008). Ways of Seeing. Penguin Books. Block, B. (2020). The Visual Story: Creating the Visual Structure of Film, TV and Digital Media (4th ed.). Routledge. Bordwell, D., Thompson, K., & Smith, J. (2023). Film Art: An Introduction (13th ed.). McGraw-Hill. Brown, B. (2021). Cinematography: Theory and Practice: Image Making for Cinematographers and Directors (4th ed.). Routledge. Flusser, V. (2000). Towards a Philosophy of Photography. Reaktion Books. Mascelli, J. V. (2020). The Five C's of Cinematography. Silman-James Press. Sontag, S. (2008). On Photography. Penguin Modern Classics.