Expanded Media
Expanded Media – Experience Design for Immersive Spaces and Narrative Engagement
In three semesters, our students have the opportunity to create innovative social, interactive and immersive media experiences that have the power to change people’s lives for good.
Overview
| Semester | 3-4 Semester |
| Study location | Dieburg |
| Start of studies | Winter semester/summer semester |
| Instruction language | EN |
| Form of admission | * |
Program Specializations:
The program offers specialization in three core areas:
- Expanded Storyworlds
- Expanded Sound & Music
- Expanded Realities
The future of Media
What will it feel like? How will the variety of media platforms merge and develop together (the Internet, television, social media, and experiences in real and virtual spaces), to create new forms of play, learning and growth?
Our current way of consuming media is a lonely affair. When we watch films or series, we are essentially gone from the group, away from our friends and family. But we are seeing something new happen – and we believe it’s important – that was first picked up by Henry Jenkins in his book „Participatory Culture“. People want to step inside the worlds of the stories – and take their friends with them. They want to enjoy media as a social experience.
What is the Expanded Media programme about?
A new, social and immersive dimension of media consumption.
We prepare media professionals to design entertainment products that cater to this growing demand for immersion, interaction, and participation.
Specifically, we are preparing students for jobs in new media agencies that focus on immersive, spatial design with present-day applications for events, e.g. trade shows, festivals, theatre, or museums, with an eye towards augmented reality (AR) and the Metaverse (convergence in spatial interfaces).
Focus Areas
Expanded Realities
Students develop complex, research-based applications and productions in the field of expanded realities. They combine numerous strategies of conception, design, computer science and media technology to create immersive, narrative interactive 3D scenarios for Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality.
Expanded Sound & Music
The program explores the evolving relationship between media and audio, emphasizing immersive technologies like 3D audio, Next Generation Audio, AR & VR experiences and Machine Learning. Students create complex audio projects and interactive soundscapes, preparing for roles bridging artistic, technical, and production aspects in modern music industries.
Expanded Storyworlds
In this area of focus, students create characters, settings and plotlines in linear and non-linear scenarios, bringing complex, immersive, interactive and participatory worlds to life.
Expanded Storyworlds fuses narrative, game and interactive principles of classic and immersive media in an innovative transmedia environment.
The emphasis of the programme lies on experience design, i.e. the conception of experiences in above the line positions (writer, director, lead designer, creative director). The technical skill to implement these concepts is considered a prerequisite to enter, although students will have a chance to complement their area of specialisation while working in interdisciplinary teams.
Within the three focus areas – Expanded Storyworlds, Expanded Sound & Music and Expanded Realities – students are given the opportunity to develop their individual strategies to offer their users a personal & impactful experience.
Rooted in h_da’s tradition of technology leadership, students create extraordinary pieces of media that would be impossible to conceive elsewhere, going well beyond the limits of traditional film & design schools. With access to cuttting-edge technology in over 30 different labs, students from all over the world collaborate on interdisciplinary projects.
„With its interdisciplinary, user-oriented focus, the Expanded Media program occupies a special position in the university landscape – as a unique laboratory in which prototypes for the future of event culture can be dreamed and tried out.“
Jakob Bilabel
Founder Green Music Initiative Berlin, Chair at Consumer Information Lab Berlin
Semester Overview
A detailed description of the course content can be found in the module manual (German).
1st semester
Students focus on combining strategies from different media formats in a transmedia architecture based on the principles of experience design, using digital storytelling and design thinking methods.
2nd semester
This semester is about exploring and refining innovative conception and production strategies within a chosen focus area (Expanded Realities, Expanded Sound & Music, Expanded Storyworlds).
Students who are enrolled in the 3-semester program proceed with the master module.
All other students use the 3rd semester to further gain practical skills during an industrial placement. Please refer to the FAQ section to see, if you are eligible to enroll in the 3 or 4-semester program (with or without an Industrial Placement).3rd/4th semester
The final semester consists of the development & production of a master project.
1. Semester | 2. Semester | 1./2./3. Semester | 3./4. Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| Experience in Media, 5 CP | Media Science and Scientific Methods, 5 CP | Industrial Placement, (bei einem Bachelorstudiengang mit 180 CP) | Master Project,
|
| Expanded Media Project 1, 15 CP Konzeption, Anwendung und Reflektion von Fachkompetenzen in interdisziplinärer, inter- und transmedialer Projektarbeit (Gruppenarbeit) | Expanded Media Project 2, Konzeption, Anwendung und Reflektion von
| ||
| Electives, 10 CP | Electives, 10 CP |
Course Structure
Expanded Media Project (15 CPs)
In this project, you will be working in a diverse, multicultural and interdisciplinary team with approx. 5 students to develop an expanded media project, designing and realizing a story-driven, immersive, interactive and participatory experience for events or applications in:
- the cultural sector (e.g. museums, theatres)
- the entertainment sector (e.g. multiplayer game events, Alternate Reality Games)
- the marketing sector (e.g. trade shows, PR events)
- the educational sector (e.g. learning institutions, serious games)
- the scientific sector (e.g. social sciences, psychology)
Concepts aim to bridge the real and the virtual, with participation via online channels or social VR/AR/MR expanding the scope of the real-world event.
During the whole semester, your group work will be facilitated using Design Thinking as an overall framework. Thus, you will be guided step-by-step through the entire design process, with individual coaching sessions by faculty members. Additional impulse lectures cover design strategies & technology. Towards the second half of the semester, a tool week will be offered, where you will get the opportunity to update your tech skills and prepare you for the prototyping/production phase of your project.
All teams will present their design concept in a midterm and final presentation, providing convincing arguments for their choices and demonstrating the targeted experience in a prototype and experience trailer.
Experience in Media (5 CPs)
The course provides a unified design framework for the creation of engaging experiences in transmedia story worlds accessed in live and virtual events. You will be introduced to strategies for experience design and narrative design from the fields of drama (film & television dramaturgy), user/audience experience design, games and Virtual & Augmented Reality.
This semester is about exploring and refining innovative conception and production strategies within a chosen focus area (Expanded Realities, Expanded Sound & Music, Expanded Storyworlds).
Students who are enrolled in the 3-semester program proceed with the master module.
All other students use the 3rd semester to further gain practical skills during an industrial placement. Please refer to the FAQ section to see, if you are eligible to enroll in the 3 or 4-semester program (with or without an Industrial Placement).
Expanded Media Project (15 CPs)
For the second semester project, you will be building upon your acquired skill set of the previous semester, adding an emphasis on spatial experience design and working for live audiences.
Again, you will be working on a semester challenge in an interdisciplinary team. As part of this module, you will also be joining a master class in your chosen focus area (Expanded Realities, Expanded Sound & Music, Expanded Storyworlds), to support your team as an emerging expert in your focus area.
Science in Media and Scientific Methods (5 CPs)
The module Science in Media and Scientific Methods provides you with the skills to research, prototype and evaluate your own projects in an objective, user-centred design process. Meant to serve as a preparation for your master thesis, you will also learn to how to approach a scientific publication and write the exposé for your master thesis.
Master Project (30 CPs)
In your master thesis project, you will find an opportunity to employ all your project-based learnings in your own project, working your way to a professional and innovative Expanded Media product in a reasoned and systematic design process that demonstrates your understanding of the unique opportunities and challenges in Expanded Media design, particularly in your chosen focus area or Expanded Story Worlds, Expanded Sound & Music or Expanded Realities.
Electives (5 CPs)
Each semester you are free to choose from a wide range of electives. We recommend to attend two electives during the 1st semester and two electives during the 2nd semester but you can of course take more.
The program changes every semester, so the following list is merely exemplary:
- Scenography in Science & Art Communication – from VR to analog stage design
- Music and Spaces – staging music videos as special experiences
- Experimental 3D Audio
- Dialogue and Space
- Addicted to Light
- Art sneaking into capitalism – Playful tryouts on the idea of self-making
- Virtual Brands and artist personas for playful and subversive self-promotion
- Media & Emotions
- Disruptive & Innovative Media Technology – A journalistic Foray
- Virtual Environments for Storytellers – An introduction to Unreal Engine 4
- Worldbuilding for Storytelling and Character Development
- The Art of Threads and Traits – Course in Serial Storytelling
- Leadership & Agile Project Management in Start-ups
- Deep Dive Design Thinking
- Designing Your Life: Using Design Thinking Principles for You
Innovation: Emerging Technology, Advanced Creativity, Systemic Management
What can I do after I’ve obtained my Master’s degree?
Rather than preparing students for specific technologies or formats (such as ‘VR’, ‘mobile game’ or ‘feature films’), we aim to endow our alumni with lasting core competencies (agile teamwork, storytelling and experience design) that will enable them to strive in an increasingly fluid media industry, wherever their future might take them.
While rapid technological innovations will continue to disrupt the economy, we train you to focus on the eye in the storm: the human heart. To satisfy the increasing demand for socially and personally meaningful experiences, consumer brands, cultural and educational organisations will increasingly turn to media agencies that have an understanding of user-centred design and a special sensitivity for their audience’s deeper needs.
The Expanded Media master program thus prepares students for jobs in new media agencies that focus on immersive, spatial design, with present-day applications for events, e.g. trade shows, festivals, theatre, or museums, and future applications in augmented reality (AR) and the Metaverse (convergence in spatial interfaces).
The program’s unique mix of skills and people, combining sound & music with storytelling and immersive technologies, is geared to endow our alumni with a special advantage when it comes to offering deep experiences of change, growth and transformation.
Please note that if you are seeking a job in UX/UI design for traditional websites and apps, you may find better programmes elsewhere.
Typical jobs and fields of occupation in agencies or freelance positions
- Planning, direction & production of immersive media installations e. g. for trade shows, museums or festivals
- Screenwriting, direction and production of transmedia experiences, with storyworlds spanning multiple types of media, e.g. social media, websites, games, TV VR, AR and MR
- Conception & production of music-driven applications and events, such as interactive stage shows, musicals or concerts
- Conception & production of immersive, narrative 3D scenarios for Virtual/Augmented/Mixed Realities
- Conception & development of technical solutions for Virtual/Augmented/Mixed Realities, such as new Mixed Reality services and apps.
Got a question for us?
Media campus
Adress:
Max-Planck-Str. 2
64807 Dieburg
Expanded Media Department
Get to know the professors, teachers & staff
Overview of Lecturers & Staff