Sharing our secret sauce and building out our community.

At Walking Cinema we often get asked by people who take our walks, how can I build one of my own?  In 2023, Walking Cinema began to answer this question by building out a curriculum called “History Around Us” to teach all kinds of people both in person and remote how to make location-based stories. The curriculum is modular and can support workshops as short as three hours or up to 3 months.

Clients so far have included the California College of Art, The Oakland Unified School District, Northwestern University, and independent producers and artists around the globe.  Click “Contact Us” to sign up for a class or inquire about a custom workshop for your conference, school, or business.

Impact

Developed a flexible curriculum that led to 5 different workshops from commissioned by school districts, universities, and industry professionals.     

Pilot audio/AR projects developed around the world, leading to grants, community impact, and follow on collaborations.  

Students gave glowing reviews, rated the impact of the course average 9/10 stars.

Backed by 7 years teaching and 8 semester-long immersive storytelling courses at the California College of Arts.

About the Experience

“Storytelling is my profession. And these types of experiences are the present and future of my work..” 

-  Film Professor/Student of History Around Us

 The course allows all kinds of students and professionals to learn the basics of location-based audio/AR storytelling.  No technical skills required.  The course will introduce you to “scripting with a landscape,” that is, finding stories in historic and everyday environments.  Then students build a prototype audio/AR walk.  This may be a paper prototype or a fully functional audio/AR app for mobile devices, depending on length of the course and students’ media creation experience level.  The prototypes and are then tested, presented, and critiqued by classmates, the teacher, and visiting critics.

Technology

“The introduction to new and useful technology and the hands-on practical aspects proved to be the most inspiring and educational.” 

-   Documentary photographer and curator

The course uses off-the-shelf Adobe products to to develop mobile-based experiences.  Students learn the basics of audio editing with Adobe Audition, focusing on the organization and audio elements of a site-based walk.  The course also covers the basic of Adobe Aero and how to create site-specific AR content and handle audio through the Aero player.  The course also touches upon Adobe Photoshop to prepare AR assets for Aero.

Augmented Reality

GPS

Audio Tour

Media Sample

Testimonial from Daniella Lake, a podcaster and senior at UC Berkeley.  She took the 4-week course in the Fall of 2023.

Participant Testimonials

  • “In a condensed, two-day period, we were able to talk about a wide range of issues, ranging from narrative strategies (very "humanities") to how to set up an AR experience (very "tech"). It was a great overview of the many considerations that go into making a tour -- but also making a lot of different things associated with digital humanities. “

    - Kate Masur, Professor of History, Northwestern University

  • “I loved seeing the "returns" on rigor/time invested at each step of the process. For example, understanding that really knowing your site can open up better writing; how good writing can lead to a richer walking experience….”

    - Melody Chang, Independent Producer

  • “We are saturated with media creation tools. But to channel and refine those tools into an immersive storytelling experience is an art. I'm a supporter of workshops and classes that push you to put pen to paper and get things done––and that's exactly what you'll do in this class. It's high paced and rewarding. Come prepared with an idea and buckle up to dig deep, fast!”New List Item

    - Andrea A. Gluckman, Photographer and Curator

  • “Michael taught me how to turn my knowledge of a place of history into an engaging and lively story that would attract visitors. For that reason, the course History Around Us is a true milestone in my professional career in the field of audio-guided visits of heritage spaces.”

    - Julien De Muynke, PhD Student and Spatial Audio Specialist

  • “Michael was wonderful, very knowledgeable, and encouraging. I loved all the opportunities we were offered to BOTH explore/experience the use of AR in already existing projects AND discuss them with Michael and the group.”

    - Francesca Tataranni, Distinguished Professor of Instruction of Classics and Director of the Latin Program, Northwestern University

Photo Gallery

  • A Two-week Version of The Workshop

    High School media teachers from the Oakland Unified School District to an intensive two-week version of the workshop as part of an externship to learn new skills. Here they review on students pilot project on the history of a skate park.

    PHOTO CREDIT: WALKING CINEMA, 2023

  • Plant Wisdom

    “Plant Wisdom” a class project by independent artist Laura Nova in lower Manhattan. The project features talking plants and a forgotten African American history buried deep in the roots of a community garden.

    PHOTO CREDIT: WALKING CINEMA, 2023

  • Barna Szasz’s Project

    Clip from Barna Szasz’s project on the Jewish experience in Budapest, Hungary during World War II. Barna is a filmmaker and professor of new media who took the course to gather storytelling and AR strategies for a project currently in production.

    PHOTO CREDIT: WALKING CINEMA, 2023

  • Teachers from Oakland

    Teachers from Oakland test a Walking Cinema project as a means of understanding the format before creating their own prototypes.

    PHOTO CREDIT: WALKING CINEMA, 2023

History Around Us Team

Michael Epstein, Instructor, and curriculum developer

Michael is the founder and artistic director of Walking Cinema and Adjunct Faculty at the California College of Arts. He developed and taught the initial round of workshops.

Elissa Mardiney, Project Manager

Elissa helped gather the materials and do research for he curriculum development stage of the project.

Dave Yanofsky, Co-Author

Dave Yanofsky is a high school “Linked learning” specialist, focused on making coursework more linked to industry and relevant to students. He helped write and the curriculum and assisted with teaching the Oakland Unified School District courses.

Rachel Berger, Co-Author

Rachel is a Professor of Graphic Design at the California College of Art and has a background in both community outreach, visual design pedagogy and researching the visual environment. She helped write the curriculum for the project.

Want to Learn more about the project?