Film Studies

This course serves as an introduction to the study of film and related visual media, examining fundamental issues of aesthetics (mise-en-scene, editing, sound), history (interaction of industrial, economic, and technological factors), theory (spectatorship, realism, and indexicality), and criticism (auteurist, feminist, and genre-based approaches). The course also investigates how digital media change has been productive of new frameworks for moving image culture in the present.  Discussion section FILM UN1001 is a required corequisite.

Co-requisite discussion section for FILM UN 1000 INTRO TO FILM & MEDIA STUDIES.

Co-requisite discussion section for FILM UN 1000 INTRO TO FILM & MEDIA STUDIES.

Co-requisite discussion section for FILM UN 1000 INTRO TO FILM & MEDIA STUDIES.

Co-requisite discussion section for FILM UN 1000 INTRO TO FILM & MEDIA STUDIES.

Co-requisite discussion section for FILM UN 1000 INTRO TO FILM & MEDIA STUDIES.

This course examines major developments and debates in the history of cinema between 1930 and 1960, from the consolidation of the classic Hollywood studio system in the early sound era to the articulation of emergent ;new waves; and new critical discourses in the late 1950s. Our approach will be interdisciplinary in scope, albeit with an emphasis on social and cultural history - concerned not only with how movies have developed as a form of art and medium of entertainment, but also with cinemas changing function as a social institution. Discussion section FILM UN 2021 is a required co-requisite.

Co-requisite for FILM UN 2020 Cinema History II.

Co-requisite for FILM UN 2020 Cinema History II.

Co-requisite for FILM UN 2020 Cinema History II.

By closely watching representative classics from countries including Italy, Poland, Russia and Argentina, we will study the distinctive trends and masters of this vibrant era. Special attention will be paid to the French New Wave (60s); the New German Cinema (70s); the reformulation of Hollywood studio filmmaking in the 70s (Altman, Cassavetes, Coppola), and the rise of the independent American cinema (80s). Discussion section FILM UN 2031 is a required co-requisite.

By closely watching representative classics from countries including Italy, Poland, Russia and Argentina, we will study the distinctive trends and masters of this vibrant era. Special attention will be paid to the French New Wave (60s); the New German Cinema (70s); the reformulation of Hollywood studio filmmaking in the 70s (Altman, Cassavetes, Coppola), and the rise of the independent American cinema (80s). Discussion section FILM UN 2031 is a required co-requisite.

Co-requisite discussion section for FILM UN 2030 Cinema History III: 1960-90.

Co-requisite discussion section for FILM UN 2030 Cinema History III: 1960-90.

Co-requisite discussion section for FILM UN 2030 Cinema History III: 1960-90.

Co-requisite discussion section for FILM UN 2030 Cinema History III: 1960-90.

This course surveys the first century of the American Western film genre, and its relation to American imaginings and ideologies of the “frontier,” with in-depth readings of key precursor texts, including memoirs, histories, novels, and essays. We will consider the evolution of the genre and its changing place within the film industry, and study exemplary films that established and challenged the genre’s narrative, aesthetic, and ideological conventions. We will explore how films engage with the history and myth of the American West. We will also be analyzing the politics of the Western, in particular how films articulate configurations of race, class, nation, sexuality and gender. And we will study the way Western films and filmmakers themselves interrogate the analytic categories we use to study them -- categories such as “genre” and “auteur” – with specific attention to the work and career of John Ford. Please note: the course requires sustained engagement with and analysis of written texts as well as films, so please be prepared for a bit more reading than what you might expect from a typical film survey course.

Discussion section for FILM2134UN.

Discussion section for FILM2134UN.

Discussion section for FILM2134UN.

Lab in Writing Film Criticism, Fall 2021

Prof. Caryn James

This course will focus on writing fresh, original criticism, on developing an individual voice, and on creating strong arguments supporting your ideas (qualities that translate to many areas, from reviewing to pitching a film project). Screenings in and outside class, with an emphasis on recent films, will be followed by discussion and in-class writing exercises. How do you choose an effective critical approach? How do you make your opinions vivid and convincing on the page? We will also analyze and evaluate recent criticism. Students will write short reviews and longer essays. Prerequisite: Instructor’s permission. Submit a short sample to cj2374@columbia.edu . Note: because permission is required, on-line registration may say the course is full when it is not.

This lab is limited to declared Film and Media Studies majors.  Exercises in the writing of film scripts.

This lab is limited to declared Film and Media Studies majors.  Exercises in the writing of film scripts.

This lab course is limited to declared Film & Media Studies majors.  Exercises in the use of video for fiction shorts.

Chantal Akerman (1950-2015), a major contemporary filmmaker and artist started filming in 1968 in Brussels, Belgium, and lived in Paris and NY where she made films under the influence of European Art cinema and American Avant Garde. Her assertive use of extended duration in cinema, and the tight link she establishes between temporality and attention to a woman’s dailyness has been a marker of feminist cinema, as well as central to critical considerations on slow and queer cinema. Over the years her prodigious experimentation across different media (writing, installations and film); formats, modes and genres (from short to feature; documentary to narrative traversing musical, comedy and tragedy) has been a ferment of new critical thinking for scholars and artists alike. A number of contemporary directors and artists—Kelly Reichardt, Jarmusch, Todd Haynes, Gus Van Sant, Tsai Ming Liang, Tina Barney, Tacita Dean, Sharon Lockhart--have acknowledged her influence.

This seminar explores Chantal Akerman’s aesthetics placing her in the context of 1970s feminism and other major artistic and filmic currents up to the present. We will examine the relation of her work to structural cinema, to minimalist and hyperrealist art; her representation of a woman’s dailyness.

A major focus of the course is Akerman’s take on displacement, on autobiographical expression; on the centrality of her mother and of questions of Jewish identity in her work. We will discuss her layered aesthetics in cinema, moving art installations and her processes of adaptations, or “adoption” of parallel worlds (Proust, Conrad). We discuss how her work bridges documentary and fiction; her forms of address, her writing and concept of performance.

This seminar will encourage modes of comparative analysis as well as further discussion on Akerman’s reception (how the critical discourse on her work has shifted over the decades; how she herself developed in reaction to contemporary parallel art.

Independent study

Prerequisites: FILM BC3201 or equivalent. Enrollment limited to 12 students. Priority is given to Film Studies majors/concentrations in order of class seniority. Corequisites: (Since this is a Film course, it does not count as a writing course for English majors with a Writing Concentration.)

This course is ideal for writers of their FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD screenplays. The first several weeks will focus on STORY: What it is, what it isn’t, how to recognize the difference. How to find your own individual stories that nobody else in the universe can tell.

From there we will make the transition to the highly individualized techniques, the strengths and limitations, the dynamics of telling a SCREEN STORY; what to leave in, what to leave out. As Michelangelo puts it—starting with a block of marble and chipping away everything that isn’t David.  Through studies of existing screenplays and films in coordination with and hands-on writing exercises which we will share in class, we will develop our skills in all aspects of screenwriting; building fascinating characters, dialogue, story construction (The BIG PICTURE) and scene construction (The Small Picture)

Perfection is not the goal; but rather it is to be able to say truly at the end of each day’s writing, “I did the best I could with what I had at the time. (Phillip Roth quoting heavyweight champion Joe Louis)

Prerequisites: Open to first-year students.

We derive much of our information about the world from visual media. Social networks, television, cinema: all shape our aesthetic sensibilities and our political visions. Yet we often lack a basic understanding of what could be called “visual literacy.” This introductory course gives students the critical tools to analyze how film and other visual media really work – in order to appreciate their artistic and social achievements, as well as to guard against their insidious manipulative devices.

In the first part of the semester, we focus on film analysis through a detailed study of the different production phases of filmmaking – from screenwriting and mise-en-scène to editing and film scoring. We pay special attention to the way in which certain stylistic and narrative choices have particular ideological effects. The second part of the course looks at film history through a comprehensive, chronological overview of its main movements and periods, including the coming of sound in Hollywood cinema, post-war Italian Neorealism, the emergence of world auteurs, New Waves of the 1960s and 1970s, etc. Students will use the hermeneutical tools learnt in film analysis to intellectually engage with some masterworks of film history. In the third and final part of the semester, we study the major debates of film theory from perspectives such as auteurism, formalism, psychoanalysis, Marxism, feminism, postcolonial and queer studies, etc.   

Required screenings include Nanook of the North (Flaherty, 1922), Sunrise (Murnau, 1927), Man with a Movie Camera (Vertov, 1929), Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942), Bicycle Thieves (De Sica, 1948), Rashomon (Kurosawa, 1950), Breathless (Godard, 1960), Belle de Jour (Buñuel, 1967), The Hour of the Furnaces (Solanas, 1968), Seven Beauties (Wertmüller, 1974), Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986), Paris Is Burning (Livingstone, 1990), and Children of Men (Cuarón, 2006).

Digital Production offers visual storytellers an incredible medium to connect and build an audience. It is an inexpensive, accessible platform to launch micro-budget concepts. Developing the storytellers voice  inexpensively is critical to the evolution of any student, no matter their starting point. The Digital Series course is intended to take students from story ideation through creation of an independent digital series. Emanating from a writers room setting, all steps of the process will be explored and supported by in-class discussion, examples and workshops. This hands-on class revolves around the TV series production model: breaking story, writing pages, preproduction planning, filming and post-production review. We will emphasize the writers voice, construction of series storytelling, and establishing realistic scopes of production.

In 1952, the British Film Institute’s prestigious journal Sight - Sound polled the world’s leading film critics to compile a list of the best motion pictures of all time. It was one of the first attempts to establish an authoritative film canon at an international scale. Since then, dozens of magazines, cinematheques, and festivals around the globe publish their “best movies” lists every year. These polls tend to reproduce a canonical selection of “classics” that includes Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941), Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958), The Godfather (Coppola, 1972), and other familiar titles among contemporary film audiences. The canon itself would not be worth bothering with if it hadn’t been so influential in academic circles. University film programs often integrate this selection without questioning the ideological motivations behind it. In this class, we study “unseen masterworks” of world cinema that have been usually marginalized in conventional analysis of film. We challenge the standard, anglo-centric, sexist, heteronormative, and racist-by-omission film history in order to articulate a critique of cultural hegemony – and its tendency to depoliticize film as a medium. For that purpose, we look at a series of paradigmatic features in terms of their 1) explorative approach to film style, and 2) politically subversive narrative. In-class screenings include The World of Apu (Ray, 1959), The Exterminating Angel (Buñuel, 1962), Woman in the Dunes (Teshigahara, 1964), Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Paradjanov, 1965), The Red and the White (Jancsó, 1967), Mandabi (Sembene, 1968), Johnny Got His Gun (Trumbo, 1971), Oh Lucky Man! (Anderson, 1973), Seven Beauties (Wertmüller, 1975), and ...but the clouds... (Beckett, 1977). Required readings include Amos Vogel’s Film as a Subversive Art (1974), seminal texts by film directors, and excerpts from Gilles Deleuze’s The Movement Image (1983), The Time-Image (1985), and “The Exhausted” (1992).

In 1987, shortly after the death of Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986), Akira Kurosawa said: “His unusual sensitivity is both overwhelming and astounding. It almost reaches a pathological intensity. Probably there is no equal among film directors alive now.” That same year, Ingmar Bergman wrote in his book The Magic Lantern: "Tarkovsky for me is the greatest of all directors. All my life I have hammered on the doors of the rooms in which he moves so naturally.” But… who was Andrei Tarkovsky? Why was he considered such a master filmmaker by his peers? And how might we approach his enigmatic cinema today? 

Following Gilles Deleuze’s idea that film directors may be compared with philosophers, this course examines the complete filmography of Tarkovsky through an analysis of his main “philosophical motifs” – loss of childhood, failure of familial bonds, aesthetic ecstasy, madness, physical redemption, apocalypse, etc. To understand how Tarkovsky visualized in film his “own patterns of thought about the external world” (his own words), we start by studying his student films at VGIK –The Killers (1958) and The Steamroller and the Violin (1960)– and his first feature, Ivan’s Childhood (1962), winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. We then focus on Tarkovsky’s works made within the Soviet film system: Andrei Rublev (1966), Solaris (1972), The Mirror (1974), and Stalker (1979). Special attention is paid to the director’s troubled relationship with authorities at Mosfilm studios. The last part of the semester we follow the filmmaker in exile, first to Italy –Voyage in Time (1983) and Nostalgia (1983)– and then to Sweden, where he directed his last film, The Sacrifice (1986). 

Throughout the semester we study in depth Tarkovsky’s own aesthetic treatise Sculpting in Time: Reflections on the Cinema, originally published in Berlin in 1986. Excerpts from his diaries between 1970 and 1986, posthumously published as Martyrology (1989), as well as several interviews with the director, are also available to the students as primary sources for this course.

Faculty supervised independent study for undergraduate Film & Media Studies majors.  Must have faculty approval prior to registration.

Faculty supervised independent study for undergraduate Film & Media Studies majors.  Must have faculty approval prior to registration.

Faculty supervised independent study for undergraduate Film & Media Studies majors.  Must have faculty approval prior to registration.

Faculty supervised independent study for undergraduate Film & Media Studies majors.  Must have faculty approval prior to registration.

A seminar for senior film majors planning to write a research paper in film history/theory/culture. Course content changes yearly.

Advanced Film Production Practice is an advanced production and lecture course for students who wish to obtain a deeper understanding of the skills involved in screenwriting, directing and producing.  Building on the fundamentals established in the Labs for Fiction and Non-Fiction Filmmaking, this seminar further develops each student’s grasp of the concepts involved in filmmaking through advanced analytical and practical work to prepare Thesis film materials.

A seminar for senior film majors. Students will complete a step outline and minimum of 30 pages of their project, including revisions. Through reading/viewing and analyzing selected scripts/films, as well as lectures, exercises and weekly critiques, students will expand their understanding of dramatic writing and narrative-making for film and TV, including adaptations. They will learn appropriate structure for each specific screen-writing form, and endeavor to apply their understanding of drama, character, theme, and structure to their chosen narrative project.

This course offers a historical and critical overview of film and media theory from its origins up to the present.   

Co-requisite undergraduate discussion section for FILM GU 4000 Film & Media Theory.

Co-requisite undergraduate discussion section for FILM GU 4000 Film & Media Theory.

Co-requisite undergraduate discussion section for FILM GU 4000 Film & Media Theory.

The first international celebrated and influential Latin American film movement, Brazil’s Cinema Novo—“new cinema”—emerged in the late Fifties dedicated to making the cinema an important part of contemporary cultural production, as well as to create an intervention on the increasingly polarized discussions about that country’s future. Known for its use of dynamic, hand-held camera, aggressive sound tracks and hybrid narratives that combined myth, documentary and fiction, Cinema Novo offered a politically and aesthetically approach to cinematic modernism. Works by Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Glauber Rocha and Eduardo Coutinho will be included, as well as discussions of then-contemporary Brazilian theater, visual arts, music and architecture. 

Discussion section registration required for undergraduates enrolled in the GU4020 Brazilian Cinema class.  The first international celebrated and influential Latin American film movement, Brazil’s Cinema Novo—“new cinema”—emerged in the late Fifties dedicated to making the cinema an important part of contemporary cultural production, as well as to create an intervention on the increasingly polarized discussions about that country’s future. Known for its use of dynamic, hand-held camera, aggressive sound tracks and hybrid narratives that combined myth, documentary and fiction, Cinema Novo offered a politically and aesthetically approach to cinematic modernism. Works by Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Glauber Rocha and Eduardo Coutinho will be included, as well as discussions of then-contemporary Brazilian theater, visual arts, music and architecture. 

Discussion section registration required for undergraduates enrolled in the GU4020 Brazilian Cinema class.  The first international celebrated and influential Latin American film movement, Brazil’s Cinema Novo—“new cinema”—emerged in the late Fifties dedicated to making the cinema an important part of contemporary cultural production, as well as to create an intervention on the increasingly polarized discussions about that country’s future. Known for its use of dynamic, hand-held camera, aggressive sound tracks and hybrid narratives that combined myth, documentary and fiction, Cinema Novo offered a politically and aesthetically approach to cinematic modernism. Works by Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Glauber Rocha and Eduardo Coutinho will be included, as well as discussions of then-contemporary Brazilian theater, visual arts, music and architecture. 

An advanced film theory "workshop" in which we shall avoid reading film theory in favor of a selection of other texts, taken mainly from the domains of art history, philosophy, and literature. Our central question will be: What can we, who have grown up in the age of cinema and digital media, learn from discourses about vision and its relation to narrative that pre-date the cinema, or that consider the cinema only marginally? In this course, we shall begin to approach some of the major topics of contemporary film theory -- narrativity, subject-construction, the relation of words to images -- through the lens of texts that have remained largely outside the network of citations and references we normally associate with the work of professional media theory. We might begin the groundwork for an "opening up" or critique of some of the blind spots of current theory; at the very least, we shall be reading works that challenge our usual ways of theorizing.

This course examines themes and changes in the (self-)representation of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people in cinema from the early sound period to the present. It pays attention to both the formal qualities of film and filmmakers’ use of cinematic strategies (mise-en-scene, editing, etc.) designed to elicit certain responses in viewers and to the distinctive possibilities and constraints of the classical Hollywood studio system, independent film, avant-garde cinema, and world cinema; the impact of various regimes of formal and informal censorship; the role of queer men and women as screenwriters, directors, actors, and designers; and the competing visions of gay, progay, and antigay filmmakers. Along with considering the formal properties of film and the historical forces that shaped it, the course explores what cultural analysts can learn from film. How can we treat film as evidence in historical analysis? We will consider the films we see as evidence that may shed new light on historical problems and periodization, and will also use the films to engage with recent queer theoretical work on queer subjectivity, affect, and culture.

The rapid democratization of technology has led to a new wave of immersive storytelling that spills off screens into the real world and back again. These works defy traditional constraints as they shift away from a one-to-many to a many-to-many paradigm, transforming those formerly known as the audience from passive viewers into storytellers in their own right. New opportunities and limitations offered by emergent technologies are augmenting the grammar of storytelling, as creators wrestle with an ever-shifting digital landscape. New Media Art pulls back the curtain on transmedial works of fiction, non-fiction, and emergent forms that defy definition. Throughout the semester well explore projects that utilize Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and the Internet of Things, alongside a heavy-hitting selection of new media thinkers, theorists, and critics. The course will be co-taught as a dialogue between artistic practice and new media theory. Lance Weiler, a new media artist and founder of Columbia’s Digital Storytelling Lab, selected the media artworks; Rob King, a film and media historian, selected the scholarly readings. It is in the interaction between these two perspectives that the course will explore the parameters of emerging frontiers in media art and the challenges these pose for existing critical vocabularies.

Grad section for FILM UN 2190 Topics in American Cinema.  

This course surveys the American film genre known as film noir, focusing primarily on the genre’s heyday in the 1940s and early 1950s, taking into account some of its antecedents in the hard-boiled detective novel, German Expressionism, and the gangster film, among other sources. We will consider a number of critical and theoretical approaches to the genre, and will also study a number of film noir adaptations and their literary sources.

A lecture and discussion course on the basics of feature-length screenwriting. Using written texts and films screened for class, the course explores the nature of storytelling in the feature-length film and the ways in which it is an extension and an evolution of other dramatic and narrative forms. A basic part of Film’s first year program, the course guides students in developing the plot, characters, conflict and theme of a feature-length story that they will write, as a treatment, by the end of the semester.

In this introductory workshop, students write several short screenplays over the course of the semester and learn the basics of the craft.  Character, action, conflict, story construction, the importance of showing instead of telling, and other essential components are explored.

In this introductory workshop, students write several short screenplays over the course of the semester and learn the basics of the craft.  Character, action, conflict, story construction, the importance of showing instead of telling, and other essential components are explored.

In this introductory workshop, students write several short screenplays over the course of the semester and learn the basics of the craft.  Character, action, conflict, story construction, the importance of showing instead of telling, and other essential components are explored.

In this introductory workshop, students write several short screenplays over the course of the semester and learn the basics of the craft.  Character, action, conflict, story construction, the importance of showing instead of telling, and other essential components are explored.

In this introductory workshop, students write several short screenplays over the course of the semester and learn the basics of the craft.  Character, action, conflict, story construction, the importance of showing instead of telling, and other essential components are explored.

In this introductory workshop, students write several short screenplays over the course of the semester and learn the basics of the craft.  Character, action, conflict, story construction, the importance of showing instead of telling, and other essential components are explored.

In this introductory workshop, students write several short screenplays over the course of the semester and learn the basics of the craft.  Character, action, conflict, story construction, the importance of showing instead of telling, and other essential components are explored.

This course surveys the first century of the American Western film genre, and its relation to American imaginings and ideologies of the “frontier,” with in-depth readings of key precursor texts, including memoirs, histories, novels, and essays. We will consider the evolution of the genre and its changing place within the film industry, and study exemplary films that established and challenged the genre’s narrative, aesthetic, and ideological conventions. We will explore how films engage with the history and myth of the American West. We will also be analyzing the politics of the Western, in particular how films articulate configurations of race, class, nation, sexuality and gender. And we will study the way Western films and filmmakers themselves interrogate the analytic categories we use to study them -- categories such as “genre” and “auteur” – with specific attention to the work and career of John Ford. Please note: the course requires sustained engagement with and analysis of written texts as well as films, so please be prepared for a bit more reading than what you might expect from a typical film survey course.

Weekly lectures will introduce film grammar, textual analysis, staging, the camera as narrator, pre-visualization, shot progression, directorial style, working with actors and editing. Lectures by all members of the full time directing faculty anchor the class, highlighting a range of directorial approaches with additional lectures on the techniques and aesthetics of editing. Each lecture will be supported by visual material from master film directors as well as the examples of the short films students will be required to produce in their first two semesters. For the final 7 weeks of the term, a student fellow will be available to mentor students through the planning of their 3-5 films.

Each week, outstanding shorts from Sundance, Cannes, Tribeca, Aspen, and other international festivals will be screened and discussed. (You might see a few duds as well, for comparison purposes.) The emphasis in the first two weeks will be on shorts under six minutes, in preparation for the “3-to-5” project. The second two weeks will be devoted to films between 8 and 12 minutes long, in preparation for the “8-to-12”. The final weeks will include a variety of narratives the size of Columbia thesis films. Altogether, over forty films will be shown and discussed.

Students explore the grammatical rules and narrative elements of cinematic storytelling by completing a minimum of three short, nondialogue exercises and two sound exercises, all shot and edited in video. Emphasizes using the camera as an articulate narrator to tell a coherent, grammatically correct, engaging, and cinematic story. Technical workshops on camera, lighting, sound, and editing accompany the workshops, as well as lectures that provide a methodology for the director.

Students explore the grammatical rules and narrative elements of cinematic storytelling by completing a minimum of three short, nondialogue exercises and two sound exercises, all shot and edited in video. Emphasizes using the camera as an articulate narrator to tell a coherent, grammatically correct, engaging, and cinematic story. Technical workshops on camera, lighting, sound, and editing accompany the workshops, as well as lectures that provide a methodology for the director.

Students explore the grammatical rules and narrative elements of cinematic storytelling by completing a minimum of three short, nondialogue exercises and two sound exercises, all shot and edited in video. Emphasizes using the camera as an articulate narrator to tell a coherent, grammatically correct, engaging, and cinematic story. Technical workshops on camera, lighting, sound, and editing accompany the workshops, as well as lectures that provide a methodology for the director.

Students explore the grammatical rules and narrative elements of cinematic storytelling by completing a minimum of three short, nondialogue exercises and two sound exercises, all shot and edited in video. Emphasizes using the camera as an articulate narrator to tell a coherent, grammatically correct, engaging, and cinematic story. Technical workshops on camera, lighting, sound, and editing accompany the workshops, as well as lectures that provide a methodology for the director.

Students explore the grammatical rules and narrative elements of cinematic storytelling by completing a minimum of three short, nondialogue exercises and two sound exercises, all shot and edited in video. Emphasizes using the camera as an articulate narrator to tell a coherent, grammatically correct, engaging, and cinematic story. Technical workshops on camera, lighting, sound, and editing accompany the workshops, as well as lectures that provide a methodology for the director.

Students explore the grammatical rules and narrative elements of cinematic storytelling by completing a minimum of three short, nondialogue exercises and two sound exercises, all shot and edited in video. Emphasizes using the camera as an articulate narrator to tell a coherent, grammatically correct, engaging, and cinematic story. Technical workshops on camera, lighting, sound, and editing accompany the workshops, as well as lectures that provide a methodology for the director.

Students explore the grammatical rules and narrative elements of cinematic storytelling by completing a minimum of three short, nondialogue exercises and two sound exercises, all shot and edited in video. Emphasizes using the camera as an articulate narrator to tell a coherent, grammatically correct, engaging, and cinematic story. Technical workshops on camera, lighting, sound, and editing accompany the workshops, as well as lectures that provide a methodology for the director.

A workshop in which the student explores the craft and vocabulary of the actor through exercises and scene study as actors and the incorporation of the actor's vocabulary in directed scenes. Exploration of script analysis, casting, and the rehearsal process.

A workshop in which the student explores the craft and vocabulary of the actor through exercises and scene study as actors and the incorporation of the actor's vocabulary in directed scenes. Exploration of script analysis, casting, and the rehearsal process.

A workshop in which the student explores the craft and vocabulary of the actor through exercises and scene study as actors and the incorporation of the actor's vocabulary in directed scenes. Exploration of script analysis, casting, and the rehearsal process.

A workshop in which the student explores the craft and vocabulary of the actor through exercises and scene study as actors and the incorporation of the actor's vocabulary in directed scenes. Exploration of script analysis, casting, and the rehearsal process.

A workshop in which the student explores the craft and vocabulary of the actor through exercises and scene study as actors and the incorporation of the actor's vocabulary in directed scenes. Exploration of script analysis, casting, and the rehearsal process.

A workshop in which the student explores the craft and vocabulary of the actor through exercises and scene study as actors and the incorporation of the actor's vocabulary in directed scenes. Exploration of script analysis, casting, and the rehearsal process.

A workshop in which the student explores the craft and vocabulary of the actor through exercises and scene study as actors and the incorporation of the actor's vocabulary in directed scenes. Exploration of script analysis, casting, and the rehearsal process.

This online class explores the creative and narrative principals of editing through the editing of students' 8-12 minute films and / or other footage. Instructors are professional editors who will provide lecture and individual based instruction.

This online class explores the creative and narrative principals of editing through the editing of students' 8-12 minute films and / or other footage. Instructors are professional editors who will provide lecture and individual based instruction.

This online class explores the creative and narrative principals of editing through the editing of students' 8-12 minute films and / or other footage. Instructors are professional editors who will provide lecture and individual based instruction.

This online class explores the creative and narrative principals of editing through the editing of students' 8-12 minute films and / or other footage. Instructors are professional editors who will provide lecture and individual based instruction.

This online class explores the creative and narrative principals of editing through the editing of students' 8-12 minute films and / or other footage. Instructors are professional editors who will provide lecture and individual based instruction.

Practical Production 1 teaches students best practices regarding film production and technology in the integrated first year of the MFA Film Program through lectures, discussions, pre-production meetings, multi-hour shoots on set and an end-of-the-semester screening. This class is required for all first-year students. Throughout the Fall, students will work in small production groups to prep and shoot a short script in the Prentis studio.  Each week one group will organize a pre-production meeting and then produce a four-hour shoot. The professor will be in attendance and two de-briefing sessions will occur throughout the production to reiterate best film production practices.  Additional assignments will include the creation of various pre-production, production and wrap paperwork and tech deliverables. Additional mandatory production and risk management workshops will be given. The last class will be a screening of all group films and prep/discussion for the 3-5 exercise shot over Winter Break. Required for all first-year students.

REQUIRED TECH ARTS LAB SESSIONS:

3 Workshop-sized sections taught evenings for 6 weeks

Week beginning:

October 25 Nash Prod. Ctr 6pm-9pm

KEY TECHNICAL CONCEPTS – CINEMA AUDIO

Listening and recording techniques. Equipment overview – microphones (boom

and lavalier), digital recording devices and audio deliverables

November 1 Nash Prod. Ctr 6pm-9pm

HANDS-ON TEAM WORK FOR CINEMA AUDIO RECORDING AND CRITIQUE

Small teams record three different “audio scenarios” and bring back to class for

workshop critique

November 8 Nash Prod. Ctr 6pm-9pm

KEY TECHNICAL CONCEPTS – CAMERA AND LENSES

Camera and lens properties. Topics include depth of field (shallow and deep),

camera shutter, ISO, Codes and white balance

November 15 Nash Prod. Ctr 6pm-9pm

HANDS-ON TEAM WORK FOR CAMERA AND LENSES AND CRITIQUE

Small teams record three different “shoot set-ups” and bring back to class for

workshop critique

November 29 Nash Prod. Ctr 6pm-9pm

KEY TECHNICAL CONCEPTS – GRIP AND ELECTRIC

Types of lighting set-ups including interior three-point lighting and exterior

lighting. Delineation between lighting and grip equipment and proper usage. How

to use a light meter

December 6 Nash Prod. Ctr 6pm-9pm

HANDS-ON TEAM WORK FOR GRIP AND ELECTRIC AND CRITIQUE

Small teams record three different “lighting and set-ups” and bring back to class

for workshop critique

REQUIRED TECH ARTS LAB SESSIONS:

3 Workshop-sized sections taught evenings for 6 weeks

Week beginning:

October 25 Nash Prod. Ctr 6pm-9pm

KEY TECHNICAL CONCEPTS – CINEMA AUDIO

Listening and recording techniques. Equipment overview – microphones (boom

and lavalier), digital recording devices and audio deliverables

November 1 Nash Prod. Ctr 6pm-9pm

HANDS-ON TEAM WORK FOR CINEMA AUDIO RECORDING AND CRITIQUE

Small teams record three different “audio scenarios” and bring back to class for

workshop critique

November 8 Nash Prod. Ctr 6pm-9pm

KEY TECHNICAL CONCEPTS – CAMERA AND LENSES

Camera and lens properties. Topics include depth of field (shallow and deep),

camera shutter, ISO, Codes and white balance

November 15 Nash Prod. Ctr 6pm-9pm

HANDS-ON TEAM WORK FOR CAMERA AND LENSES AND CRITIQUE

Small teams record three different “shoot set-ups” and bring back to class for

workshop critique

November 29 Nash Prod. Ctr 6pm-9pm

KEY TECHNICAL CONCEPTS – GRIP AND ELECTRIC

Types of lighting set-ups including interior three-point lighting and exterior

lighting. Delineation between lighting and grip equipment and proper usage. How

to use a light meter

December 6 Nash Prod. Ctr 6pm-9pm

HANDS-ON TEAM WORK FOR GRIP AND ELECTRIC AND CRITIQUE

Small teams record three different “lighting and set-ups” and bring back to class

for workshop critique

REQUIRED TECH ARTS LAB SESSIONS:

3 Workshop-sized sections taught evenings for 6 weeks

Week beginning:

October 25 Nash Prod. Ctr 6pm-9pm

KEY TECHNICAL CONCEPTS – CINEMA AUDIO

Listening and recording techniques. Equipment overview – microphones (boom

and lavalier), digital recording devices and audio deliverables

November 1 Nash Prod. Ctr 6pm-9pm

HANDS-ON TEAM WORK FOR CINEMA AUDIO RECORDING AND CRITIQUE

Small teams record three different “audio scenarios” and bring back to class for

workshop critique

November 8 Nash Prod. Ctr 6pm-9pm

KEY TECHNICAL CONCEPTS – CAMERA AND LENSES

Camera and lens properties. Topics include depth of field (shallow and deep),

camera shutter, ISO, Codes and white balance

November 15 Nash Prod. Ctr 6pm-9pm

HANDS-ON TEAM WORK FOR CAMERA AND LENSES AND CRITIQUE

Small teams record three different “shoot set-ups” and bring back to class for

workshop critique

November 29 Nash Prod. Ctr 6pm-9pm

KEY TECHNICAL CONCEPTS – GRIP AND ELECTRIC

Types of lighting set-ups including interior three-point lighting and exterior

lighting. Delineation between lighting and grip equipment and proper usage. How

to use a light meter

December 6 Nash Prod. Ctr 6pm-9pm

HANDS-ON TEAM WORK FOR GRIP AND ELECTRIC AND CRITIQUE

Small teams record three different “lighting and set-ups” and bring back to class

for workshop critique

Tech Arts: Post Production delivers a practical introduction to modern post production workflows. The course will cover the process of moving efficiently from production to post production, the techniques of non-linear editing and ultimately the process of professionally finishing a film for modern distribution. Students will learn foundational post terminology, how to create the best workflow for your film, how to manage data/footage in the edit room, and offline and online editing.  Additionally, the class will explore other key steps in the post production process including audio syncing, transcoding, exporting and mastering.  The hands-on lessons and exercises will be conducted using the industry-standard non-linear editing system (NLE), Avid Media Composer, and will serve as a primer for other professional systems, including Adobe Premiere and Davinci Resolve.  Students will also learn about Columbia Film’s shared storage system and cloud editing systems, Avid Nexis and Avid Media Central. The course is necessary and required for Columbia Film MFA students as it prepares them for post production, an unavoidable component of the most essential part of the Film MFA, filmmaking.

This course focuses on the necessary and often undiscussed role of ethics and inclusivity in storytelling and story creation. This course will provide space, as requested by the students, faculty and staff, for facilitated discussion around narrative ownership, comedy, history of on-screen portrayals, intersectionality, the business of inclusion and other related topics so that students walk away with a personal inclusive storytelling plan and a greater level of cultural competency as they continue their creative journeys.  The instructors are professionals in the entertainment space with deep knowledge and practical Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) experience.

An introduction to issues and cases in the study of cinema century technologies. This class takes up the definition of the historiographic problem and the differences between theoretical and empirical solutions. Specific units on the history of film style, genre as opposed to authorship, silent and sound cinemas, the American avant-garde, national cinemas (Russia and China), the political economy of world cinema, and archival poetics. A unit on research methods is taught in conjunction with Butler Library staff. Writing exercises on a weekly basis culminate in a digital historiography research map which becomes the basis of a final paper

Minstrelsy is one of America’s original forms of popular entertainment, and its formal, thematic, and narrative elements continue to reverberate throughout popular culture to this day. Indeed, given the close relationship between stage performance and the development of screen cultures, it should come as little surprise that many of the tropes and representational strategies that film and media adopted to portray blackness bore, and continue to bear, close relation to minstrelsy and blackface. This seminar will examine the ways that minstrelsy has played a crucial role in the evolution of American popular culture, especially in film and media. The course will focus on the complex function and legacy of minstrelsy, whether from the perspective of Jewish artists trying to establish their racial identities in early Hollywood, or African American artists attempting to subvert dominant representational modes.

A two-semester intensive screenwriting workshop with one instructor.  The Screenwriting 3 and Screenwriting 4 class sequence allows for the careful and more sustained development of a feature-length script.  In the fall semester, students further develop an idea for a screenplay and write the first act (approximately 30 pages).  In the spring semester, students finish writing the script and, time permitting, begin a first revision.

A two-semester intensive screenwriting workshop with one instructor.  The Screenwriting 3 and Screenwriting 4 class sequence allows for the careful and more sustained development of a feature-length script.  In the fall semester, students further develop an idea for a screenplay and write the first act (approximately 30 pages).  In the spring semester, students finish writing the script and, time permitting, begin a first revision.

A two-semester intensive screenwriting workshop with one instructor.  The Screenwriting 3 and Screenwriting 4 class sequence allows for the careful and more sustained development of a feature-length script.  In the fall semester, students further develop an idea for a screenplay and write the first act (approximately 30 pages).  In the spring semester, students finish writing the script and, time permitting, begin a first revision.

A two-semester intensive screenwriting workshop with one instructor.  The Screenwriting 3 and Screenwriting 4 class sequence allows for the careful and more sustained development of a feature-length script.  In the fall semester, students further develop an idea for a screenplay and write the first act (approximately 30 pages).  In the spring semester, students finish writing the script and, time permitting, begin a first revision.

Students explore more deeply the range of skills and techniques necessary to direct both short and feature films including script breakdown of sequences, scenes, turning points and beats as well as advanced study of actor and camera staging. Students will hone their directing skills by preparing, shooting, and editing, in video, a minimum of three significant scenes from published or original work, depending on priority of the instructor. When taken concurrently, at least one of these scenes will be presented in Directing the Actor workshops. Students should also be working on a first draft of a short screenplay for their second-year project if they intend to take Directing 4.

Students explore more deeply the range of skills and techniques necessary to direct both short and feature films including script breakdown of sequences, scenes, turning points and beats as well as advanced study of actor and camera staging. Students will hone their directing skills by preparing, shooting, and editing, in video, a minimum of three significant scenes from published or original work, depending on priority of the instructor. When taken concurrently, at least one of these scenes will be presented in Directing the Actor workshops. Students should also be working on a first draft of a short screenplay for their second-year project if they intend to take Directing 4.

Students explore more deeply the range of skills and techniques necessary to direct both short and feature films including script breakdown of sequences, scenes, turning points and beats as well as advanced study of actor and camera staging. Students will hone their directing skills by preparing, shooting, and editing, in video, a minimum of three significant scenes from published or original work, depending on priority of the instructor. When taken concurrently, at least one of these scenes will be presented in Directing the Actor workshops. Students should also be working on a first draft of a short screenplay for their second-year project if they intend to take Directing 4.

Students explore more deeply the range of skills and techniques necessary to direct both short and feature films including script breakdown of sequences, scenes, turning points and beats as well as advanced study of actor and camera staging. Students will hone their directing skills by preparing, shooting, and editing, in video, a minimum of three significant scenes from published or original work, depending on priority of the instructor. When taken concurrently, at least one of these scenes will be presented in Directing the Actor workshops. Students should also be working on a first draft of a short screenplay for their second-year project if they intend to take Directing 4.

More sophisticated principles are applied and more challenging scenes are presented. Collaboration with a writer is a requirement.  Required for Screenwriting and Directing concentrates.

More sophisticated principles are applied and more challenging scenes are presented. Collaboration with a writer is a requirement.  Required for Screenwriting and Directing concentrates.

More sophisticated principles are applied and more challenging scenes are presented. Collaboration with a writer is a requirement.  Required for Screenwriting and Directing concentrates.

More sophisticated principles are applied and more challenging scenes are presented. Collaboration with a writer is a requirement.  Required for Screenwriting and Directing concentrates.

An overview of the business side of theatrical motion pictures, from the Hollywood major studios to small independents and self-distribution. Covers all the ancillary markets (cable, home video) and their relationship both to the theatrical success of the film and to its bottom line.  Required for all second-year Creative Producing students. Available as an elective for Directing/Screenwriting students.

An exploration of the process and the various options for developing feature film scripts and ideas. The course covers option deals, copyrights, dealing with agents, lawyers and managers, working with writers, guild requirements and the selling process. There is a particular emphasis on learning pitching skills in order to effectively communicate the essence of a project to potential collaborators, financiers and end users. Required for all second-year Creative Producing students and only open to students in that concentration.

This is a specialized course designed to provide prospective producers with a nuanced framework for understanding the screenwriting process.  The course will explore all the ways a producer might interact with screenwriters and screenplays, including coverage, script analysis, notes, treatments, and rewrites.  Each student will complete a series of writing and rewriting assignments over the course of the semester. Required for all second-year Creative Producing students and only open to students in that concentration.

This is a specialized course designed to provide prospective producers with a nuanced framework for understanding the screenwriting process.  The course will explore all the ways a producer might interact with screenwriters and screenplays, including coverage, script analysis, notes, treatments, and rewrites.  Each student will complete a series of writing and rewriting assignments over the course of the semester. Required for all second-year Creative Producing students and only open to students in that concentration.

Pre-Production of the Motion Picture teaches Creative Producing students how to breakdown, schedule and prep all aspects of a low budget independent feature film.  Using one shooting script as a case study, the class will learn to think critically and master each step of the pre-production process. Students will prepare script breakdowns, production strip boards, call sheets and a full production binder.  Topics will include state tax incentives, payroll services, union contracts, deal memos/hiring paperwork, casting, labor laws, hiring BTL crew, legal, insurance and deliverables. Additionally, students will become proficient in Movie Magic Scheduling. Required for all second-year Creative Producing students and only open to students in that concentration.

This class is an intensive introduction to Post Production, with a specific focus on the role of the producer and post-production supervisor. We will examine the different components of Post-Production (Editing, Sound Design/Mixing, Music, Picture finishing, VFX, Titles) from Pre-Production through Delivery. Throughout the course, post department heads will come in as guests, and we will attend site visits to local post facilities.  Required for all second-year Creative Producing students and only open to students in that concentration.

This class is an intensive introduction to Post Production, with a specific focus on the role of the producer and post-production supervisor. We will examine the different components of Post-Production (Editing, Sound Design/Mixing, Music, Picture finishing, VFX, Titles) from Pre-Production through Delivery. Throughout the course, post department heads will come in as guests, and we will attend site visits to local post facilities.  Required for all second-year Creative Producing students and only open to students in that concentration.

This class will look at the history of conspiracy theories in American culture from the 50s and 60s (UFOs, the red scare, JFK’s assassination) to the 21st century (from 9/11 truthers to Covid conspiracies and QAnon) with particular attention to cinematic representation. What is the lure of conspiracy theories? Are there particular reasons that conspiracy theories thrive in American culture?  Do different media forms and platforms encourage the spread, and even transform the content, of conspiracies?  What is the difference between theory in the social sciences and humanities and conspiracy theory?  We will read a range of theoretical material including writings by Richard Hofstadter, Fredric Jameson, Jean Baudrillard, Eve Sedgwick, Sianne Ngai, and many others.  Films will include: Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Parallax View, Videodrome, The Matrix, Get Out, and others.

The course investigates how streaming media platform impacts the production, distribution, and reception of serial narratives in China and the US, the two leading countries in content-production and circulation. It examines the nature of serial narratives and how they differ from other narrative forms and how they adapt to emergent distribution models and audience desires within the Sino-US context. It examines the impact of globalization on serial narratives and addresses cross-fertilizations of serial narratives in both countries.

With the pilot as a focal point, this course explores the opportunities and challenges of telling and sustaining a serialized story over a protracted period of time with an emphasis on the creation, borne out of character, of the quintessential premise and the ongoing conflict, be it thematic or literal, behind a successful series.

Early in the semester, students may be required to present/pitch their series idea. During the subsequent weeks, students will learn the process of pitching, outlining, and writing a television pilot, that may include story breaking, beat-sheets or story outline, full outlines, and the execution of either a thirty-minute or hour-long teleplay. This seminar may include reading pages and giving notes based on the instructor but may also solely focus on the individual process of the writer.  

Students may only enroll in one TV Writing workshop per semester.

With the pilot as a focal point, this course explores the opportunities and challenges of telling and sustaining a serialized story over a protracted period of time with an emphasis on the creation, borne out of character, of the quintessential premise and the ongoing conflict, be it thematic or literal, behind a successful series.

Early in the semester, students may be required to present/pitch their series idea. During the subsequent weeks, students will learn the process of pitching, outlining, and writing a television pilot, that may include story breaking, beat-sheets or story outline, full outlines, and the execution of either a thirty-minute or hour-long teleplay. This seminar may include reading pages and giving notes based on the instructor but may also solely focus on the individual process of the writer.  

Students may only enroll in one TV Writing workshop per semester.

With the pilot as a focal point, this course explores the opportunities and challenges of telling and sustaining a serialized story over a protracted period of time with an emphasis on the creation, borne out of character, of the quintessential premise and the ongoing conflict, be it thematic or literal, behind a successful series.

Early in the semester, students may be required to present/pitch their series idea. During the subsequent weeks, students will learn the process of pitching, outlining, and writing a television pilot, that may include story breaking, beat-sheets or story outline, full outlines, and the execution of either a thirty-minute or hour-long teleplay. This seminar may include reading pages and giving notes based on the instructor but may also solely focus on the individual process of the writer.  

Students may only enroll in one TV Writing workshop per semester.

With the pilot as a focal point, this course explores the opportunities and challenges of telling and sustaining a serialized story over a protracted period of time with an emphasis on the creation, borne out of character, of the quintessential premise and the ongoing conflict, be it thematic or literal, behind a successful series.

Early in the semester, students may be required to present/pitch their series idea. During the subsequent weeks, students will learn the process of pitching, outlining, and writing a television pilot, that may include story breaking, beat-sheets or story outline, full outlines, and the execution of either a thirty-minute or hour-long teleplay. This seminar may include reading pages and giving notes based on the instructor but may also solely focus on the individual process of the writer.  

Students may only enroll in one TV Writing workshop per semester.

FILM AF 8131 Intro to Pilot: Comedy

With the comedy pilot as a focal point, (and by comedy, that could also include dramedies like Transparent and Insecure) this course explores the opportunities and challenges of telling and sustaining a serialized half-hour story over a protracted period of time with an emphasis on the creation, borne out of character, of the quintessential premise and the ongoing conflict, be it thematic or literal, behind a successful series.

Early in the semester, students may be required to present/pitch their series idea. During the subsequent weeks, students will learn the process of pitching, outlining, and writing a television pilot, that may include story breaking, beat-sheets or story outline, full outlines, and the execution of a thirty-minute teleplay. This seminar may include reading pages and giving notes based on the instructor but may also solely focus on the individual process of the writer.  

Students may only enroll in one TV Writing workshop per semester.

This course serves as a hands-on introduction to both the aesthetics and craft of cinematography geared for the non-cinematographer. The syllabus is designed to deepen students' understanding of the craft and develop the communication skills that enhance a filmmaker's collaboration with a Cinematographer.

The course seeks to bridge two intimately related studies that currently exist within the Film Program: 1. intensive academic analysis of filmmaking practices/principles and, 2.  the practitioner’s creative/pragmatic application of those practices/principles in their own work. Students will study, through screenings, lectures and personal research, an overview of various directing forms/methodologies (conventional coverage, expressive directing, comedy directing, subjective directing, objective directing, multiple-protagonist narrative, etc.) with a primary focus on the Western classic narrative tradition. The visual grammar, axiomatic principles, structural necessities of a variety of directing forms/genres will be analyzed and compared with works of art from other disciplines (poetry, painting, sculpture, etc.) and cultures.  The ultimate goal is student implementation of these principles in their own work, exposure to and examination of some works of the established canon, as well as a greater understanding of the context in which creation occurs.

What does interaction have to do to storytelling? How do we tell stories within media that are non-linear, including games, virtual reality, and immersive theater? How can we craft narratives that emerge from the dynamics of interaction, narratives experienced through exploration and choice? What design strategies exist regarding an understanding of character, plot, drama, time, space, and event within interactive fictions? This course will take a close look at the mechanics of storytelling within dynamic media, exploring connections between interactivity and narrative experience. The course will examine examples ranging from the design of Live Action Role Playing games to massively multi-player experiences, from hypertext to tarot cards, from Oculus to Punchdrunk. Content will be delivered through lectures, reading, discussion, case studies, and small studio-based exercises. Elective open to all SOA students.

Through the process of developing, pitching, researching, and writing a treatment for a documentary short, students will develop an overview of the documentary process from development through distribution. The course will touch on research, story, production and post production logistics, legal, financing, budgeting, distribution, and ethical issues in the creation of documentary films.

Tech Arts: Advanced Post Production covers advanced techniques for picture and sound editing and the post production workflow process. The goal of the course is to give you the capabilities to excel in the field of post production. We will focus extra attention to concepts and workflows related to long-form projects that can contain a team of technical artists across the post production pipeline. We will cover preparing for a long-form edit, digital script integration, color management and continuity, advanced trimming, and advanced finishing. The hands-on lessons and exercises will be conducted using the industry-standard Non-Linear Editing Systems, Avid Media Composer, and Davinci Resolve.

Each week’s class will consist of hands-on demonstrations and self-paced practice using content created by the students and provided by the program.

Tech Arts: Advanced Post Production covers advanced techniques for picture and sound editing and the post production workflow process. The goal of the course is to give you the capabilities to excel in the field of post production. We will focus extra attention to concepts and workflows related to long-form projects that can contain a team of technical artists across the post production pipeline. We will cover preparing for a long-form edit, digital script integration, color management and continuity, advanced trimming, and advanced finishing. The hands-on lessons and exercises will be conducted using the industry-standard Non-Linear Editing Systems, Avid Media Composer, and Davinci Resolve.

Each week’s class will consist of hands-on demonstrations and self-paced practice using content created by the students and provided by the program.

MFA Film students in their 3rd, 4th and 5th years register for this class to maintain full-time enrollment status.

MA Film & Media Studies students register for this class in their thesis semester to maintain full-time enrollment.

Screenwriting concentrates who are focusing on Screenwriting MUST take Screenwriting Thesis Workshop with their advisor at least once during Research Arts matriculation in order to graduate. Students may take this class with their advisor whenever it is offered.  They should consult with their advisor if they are considering taking Thesis Workshop at the same time as Script Revision or TV Revision.

Screenwriting concentrates who are focusing on Screenwriting MUST take Screenwriting Thesis Workshop with their advisor at least once during Research Arts matriculation in order to graduate. Students may take this class with their advisor whenever it is offered.  They should consult with their advisor if they are considering taking Thesis Workshop at the same time as Script Revision or TV Revision.

Screenwriting concentrates who are focusing on Screenwriting MUST take Screenwriting Thesis Workshop with their advisor at least once during Research Arts matriculation in order to graduate. Students may take this class with their advisor whenever it is offered.  They should consult with their advisor if they are considering taking Thesis Workshop at the same time as Script Revision or TV Revision.

Screenwriting concentrates who are focusing on Screenwriting MUST take Screenwriting Thesis Workshop with their advisor at least once during Research Arts matriculation in order to graduate. Students may take this class with their advisor whenever it is offered.  They should consult with their advisor if they are considering taking Thesis Workshop at the same time as Script Revision or TV Revision.

FILM AF 9120 TV Revision

The goal of TV Revision is to bring in a completed pilot and then completely revise it in one semester. Students will initially present their full scripts for feedback in class discussion, then map a plan for rewriting with their instructor. Deadlines throughout the semester will focus on delivery of revised pages.

The work can range from an intensive page 1 rewrite to focus on selected areas in a script. Reading of all scripts in the workshop and participation in class discussion is required.

There is an application process to select students for the class.

FILM AF 9120 TV Revision

The goal of TV Revision is to bring in a completed pilot and then completely revise it in one semester. Students will initially present their full scripts for feedback in class discussion, then map a plan for rewriting with their instructor. Deadlines throughout the semester will focus on delivery of revised pages.

The work can range from an intensive page 1 rewrite to focus on selected areas in a script. Reading of all scripts in the workshop and participation in class discussion is required.

There is an application process to select students for the class.

This fourteen-week elective, open to Research Arts Screen & TV Writing students, will provide vital directing advisement to Portfolio films. It covers pre-production and director’s prep.

This course will serve to provide an opportunity for Students who are Directing Concentrates to develop their thesis projects within a structured environment.  The course may be taught in every week or alternating week formats. Students will be encouraged to submit ideas, treatments, scripts, rough cuts and fine cuts of their thesis films.  The class is collaborative and serves as a base from which Directors can try out concepts and ideas, and receive input from fellow students as well as their thesis advisor.

This course will serve to provide an opportunity for Students who are Directing Concentrates to develop their thesis projects within a structured environment.  The course may be taught in every week or alternating week formats. Students will be encouraged to submit ideas, treatments, scripts, rough cuts and fine cuts of their thesis films.  The class is collaborative and serves as a base from which Directors can try out concepts and ideas, and receive input from fellow students as well as their thesis advisor.

This course will serve to provide an opportunity for Students who are Directing Concentrates to develop their thesis projects within a structured environment.  The course may be taught in every week or alternating week formats. Students will be encouraged to submit ideas, treatments, scripts, rough cuts and fine cuts of their thesis films.  The class is collaborative and serves as a base from which Directors can try out concepts and ideas, and receive input from fellow students as well as their thesis advisor.

This course will serve to provide an opportunity for Students who are Directing Concentrates to develop their thesis projects within a structured environment.  The course may be taught in every week or alternating week formats. Students will be encouraged to submit ideas, treatments, scripts, rough cuts and fine cuts of their thesis films.  The class is collaborative and serves as a base from which Directors can try out concepts and ideas, and receive input from fellow students as well as their thesis advisor.

This course will serve to provide an opportunity for Students who are Directing Concentrates to develop their thesis projects within a structured environment.  The course may be taught in every week or alternating week formats. Students will be encouraged to submit ideas, treatments, scripts, rough cuts and fine cuts of their thesis films.  The class is collaborative and serves as a base from which Directors can try out concepts and ideas, and receive input from fellow students as well as their thesis advisor.

This course will serve to provide an opportunity for Students who are Directing Concentrates to develop their thesis projects within a structured environment.  The course may be taught in every week or alternating week formats. Students will be encouraged to submit ideas, treatments, scripts, rough cuts and fine cuts of their thesis films.  The class is collaborative and serves as a base from which Directors can try out concepts and ideas, and receive input from fellow students as well as their thesis advisor.

This course will serve to provide an opportunity for Students who are Directing Concentrates to develop their thesis projects within a structured environment.  The course may be taught in every week or alternating week formats. Students will be encouraged to submit ideas, treatments, scripts, rough cuts and fine cuts of their thesis films.  The class is collaborative and serves as a base from which Directors can try out concepts and ideas, and receive input from fellow students as well as their thesis advisor.

This class explores the creative and narrative principals of editing through the editing of students' 8-12 minute films and / or other footage. Instructors are professional editors who will provide lecture and individual based instruction.  This  version of the course is noncredit and for Research Arts students only.

This class explores the creative and narrative principals of editing through the editing of students' 8-12 minute films and / or other footage. Instructors are professional editors who will provide lecture and individual based instruction.  This  version of the course is noncredit and for Research Arts students only.

This class explores the creative and narrative principals of editing through the editing of students' 8-12 minute films and / or other footage. Instructors are professional editors who will provide lecture and individual based instruction.  This  version of the course is noncredit and for Research Arts students only.

This class explores the creative and narrative principals of editing through the editing of students' 8-12 minute films and / or other footage. Instructors are professional editors who will provide lecture and individual based instruction.  This  version of the course is noncredit and for Research Arts students only.

Meets one Tuesday every month from June 2021 through May 2022, from 6-9pm. Dates are listed below, but there may be times when class dates will have to change.

All classes will be taught via Zoom.

Overview:

The class will meet once monthly and will focus on the following:
1)   Students’ thesis work - class will analyze, advise, give notes on, support, and discuss each person’s work over the year during the development, prep, production, post-production, and marketing periods of work for each thesis project.

2)   Exploration of skills necessary to transition to working in the film industry after graduation.  Topics include resume workshops, web site creation, film festival strategy, financing strategies, rights clearance, and press kit creation.

3)   CU alums and other guest speakers will discuss their transitions from film school to working in the film industry, and will discuss their areas of expertise:  TV producing, feature film producing, development, representation, networks and studios, teaching as a career, etc.  

Meets one Tuesday every month from June 2021 through May 2022, from 6-9pm. Dates are listed below, but there may be times when class dates will have to change.

All classes will be taught via Zoom.

Overview:

The class will meet once monthly and will focus on the following:
1)   Students’ thesis work - class will analyze, advise, give notes on, support, and discuss each person’s work over the year during the development, prep, production, post-production, and marketing periods of work for each thesis project.

2)   Exploration of skills necessary to transition to working in the film industry after graduation.  Topics include resume workshops, web site creation, film festival strategy, financing strategies, rights clearance, and press kit creation.

3)   CU alums and other guest speakers will discuss their transitions from film school to working in the film industry, and will discuss their areas of expertise:  TV producing, feature film producing, development, representation, networks and studios, teaching as a career, etc.  

Meets one Tuesday every month from June 2021 through May 2022, from 6-9pm. Dates are listed below, but there may be times when class dates will have to change.

All classes will be taught via Zoom.

Overview:

The class will meet once monthly and will focus on the following:
1)   Students’ thesis work - class will analyze, advise, give notes on, support, and discuss each person’s work over the year during the development, prep, production, post-production, and marketing periods of work for each thesis project.

2)   Exploration of skills necessary to transition to working in the film industry after graduation.  Topics include resume workshops, web site creation, film festival strategy, financing strategies, rights clearance, and press kit creation.

3)   CU alums and other guest speakers will discuss their transitions from film school to working in the film industry, and will discuss their areas of expertise:  TV producing, feature film producing, development, representation, networks and studios, teaching as a career, etc.  

Students work in teams to design, build and deploy a digital storytelling experience which is staged for the public at the end of the semester. The course
combines project work, mentors, and collaborative methods to create a dynamic hands-on learning environment that mixes story and code.

Interested students should contact the instructor for details on applying to the course.

So, you’ve written a draft of a script (TV pilot or feature) and you’re not quite happy with it. Deep down inside you believe the script has potential, but you also know that it needs a lot of work. This class is here to help! The goal of this writing workshop is to help you complete a revision of a script (either a TV pilot or a feature film screenplay). Most importantly, the goal is to help your script realize its potential! Through a workshop process, I and your fellow students will provide you with helpful feedback to identify your script’s story problems and help you devise and implement solutions. By the end of the semester, you will come away with a NEW AND IMPROVED VERSION OF YOUR SCRIPT! REQUIREMENTS

MA Film & Media Studies students register for this class to receive academic credit for their thesis work.

Internship for Film Research Arts Students Only

Internship for Film Research Arts Students Only

Internship for Film Research Arts Students Only

Internship for Film Research Arts Students Only