Production Courses

COM 251 Introduction to Moviemaking

Introduces basic concepts of time-based visual media (film, video, digital) with an emphasis on the perception, operation, and experience of moving images, kinesics, and the structure and aesthetics of cinematic language. Students will learn how to work with cameras, audio equipment, and post-production equipment. 
Meets general academic requirement AR. Meets EXC requirement CE.

COM 351, 352 Video Production

Refines an understanding of video/television concepts and operations through the application of advanced production techniques. Provides hands-on experience beginning with the development of a professional project, treatment, script, and storyboard. Focusing on production tools and skills, class workshops, and outside exercises that facilitate becoming comfortable with camera and editing equipment and with the overall production process. Conceiving, coordinating, shooting, and editing the project, production teams will encounter real-time pressure and problem-solving situations.
Required lab.
Prerequisite(s): COM 251 - Introduction to Moviemaking. Meets general academic requirement AR and IL when 352.

COM 367 Studio Workshop in Television & Film

Beginning with a survey of the promise and demands, historical, economic, and political circumstances surrounding community television, this course broadens students' exposure to television formats beyond mainstream commercial media. The course examines the history and innovation of community television in the United States and overseas. The course provides students an opportunity to explore how to channel ideas into practice by expanding students' established skills (research, writing, scripting, producing, directing, multi-camera and audio strategies, staging and lighting, postproduction). Toward that goal, the course engages students in the production of a regular series of documentary, narrative, and experimental television and film projects that will be realized during a multi-week intensive studio experience. Multimedia and interdisciplinary projects involving theatre, art, dance, and music will be welcome. 
Prerequisite(s): COM 251 Introduction to Moviemaking recommended.

COM 467 Advanced Video Production

Students explore the convergence of video and digital media while studying the problems of constructing narrative and documentary texts within emerging experimental formats.  Through their research-production projects, students learn to work with more advanced visual and organizational concepts and tools.  Legal and ethical issues involved in media production are considered.  Students present ongoing work and final projects in either an online or broadcast venue.
Pre-requisite: COM 351, Video Production. Meets general academic requirement AR.

ENG 226 Introduction to Screenwriting

Examination of screenwriting fundamentals: story structure (theme and plot), character, dialogue, scene description and development, and script formats.  Students will prepare character profiles, treatments, and at least one screenplay. 
Meets general academic requirement AR. Meets EXC requirement CE.

ENG 364 Advanced Screenwriting Workshop

Students will conceptualize, outline, and write a feature-length screenplay, focusing on story structure, character development, conflict, dialogue, and resolution.  Writers will comment on each other’s work in a workshop setting.  Students should start conceptualizing their ideas well in advance of the start of the semester. 
Prerequisite(s): ENG 226 - Introduction to Screenwriting or permission of instructor. 

FLM 281 ST Writing the TV Spec Script

Writers seeking work in the television industry generally complete a "spec script," a complete script for an episode of a program that already exists. The challenge is to tell a new story using existing characters without changing any of the fundamentals of the show. In this course, students will study and write a spec script for an existing show of their choice.
Prerequisite(s): COM 240 - Introduction to Film Analysis, COM 251 - Introduction to Moviemaking, FLM 201 - Film History I: 1895-1950, FLM 202 - Film History II: 1950-Present.

FLM 288 ST Directing and Performance for Film

This is an introductory-level course in directing and acting for camera, focusing on philosophies of screen acting, the ability to work within the technical requirements of screen media, and the development of productive and respectful working relationships on set. Students will both direct and act in this course, but no previous directing or acting experience is required. 

FLM 380 ST Pre-Production : Planning and Design

Students will learn the process of film and videomaking from idea stage to the day before shooting begins. We will focus on generating compelling subjects, scripting and storyboarding, casting and location scouting, and all of the work that goes into creating engaging images in front of a camera. 

FLM 356 Cinematography

A hands-on advanced production workshop that aims at deconstructing the technical, perceptual, and theoretical elements behind the use of the motion picture camera as a tool to communicate ideas. This class is built as a creative and collaborative laboratory in order to conceive and shoot exercises in preparation for the shooting of a short film at the end of the semester. Prerequisite(s) - The student has taken any of the following courses: COM 251 - Introduction to Moviemaking, COM 351 - Video Production, COM 365 - Hypermedia, COM 467  Advanced Video Production, FLM 380  Spc: Pre-Prod: Plan/Design, FLM 380 - Special Topic: Postproduction.

FLM 382 ST Writing the TV/Web Series

This course introduces students to a range of contemporary queer cinema from across the globe as well as key questions in queer film studies. Through close engagement with theoretical readings and film texts, we'll consider questions like what constitutes queerness, how does the definition shift accross cultural contexts, and is there a queer aesthetic? Screenings will include Happy Together, by acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai, Fire, a lesbian love story by the Indian-Canadian director Deepa Mehta, French filmmaker Céline Sciamma's coming-of-age tale featuring a gender non-conforming protagonist, Tomboy, and many more.

FLM 384 ST Short-Form Screenwriting

   In this intensive screenwriting workshop, students will start with an idea or script-in-progress and refine it to have a treatment for a short-form (under 15 minutes) film or  a finished script. Through editing exercises and class table reads, students will workshop the character development, story structure, and dialogue of their scripts.

FLM 387 ST Art of Video Editing

   While editing was historically seen as merely a nuts-and-bolts technical pursuit, it has increasingly proven indispensable to the artistic process. Applying theoretical and practical frameworks, we will consider pacing, rhythm, sequencing, continuity, sound, color, and other elements in an editor's arsenal, to explore the many ways that editing contributes to story and concept development. How, for example, can an edit align with and accentuate the dynamics of a scripted scene? What are the demands of nonfiction editing, and in what ways might these two modes align? Students will explore the art of editing through hands-on exercises using Adobe Premiere Pro  

FLM 389 ST Lighting for Film & Video

This course will explore the craft, history and creative/aesthetic aspects of lighting for motion picture films with a focus on RAW technology and the Black Magic workflow.  Previous experience with DSLR cameras and video production is highly recommended for this course. Through technical readings, film screenings and hand on workshops, students will learn about exposure, qualities of light, color theory, grip equipment, lighting set protocols and how to use professional lighting instruments.  Working in small teams, students will complete several group lighting exercises as well as a larger, end of the semester final project. Prerequisite(s): COM 251 - Introduction to Moviemaking or COM 351 - Video Production, or permission of the instructor

FLM 480 ST Senior Thesis Fim l

This course is the first half of a two-semester filmmaking sequence in which students will complete a single project over the course of the year. The first half will focus primarily on pre-production, including script writing, location scouting, casting, rehearsals, fundraising, and a marketing plan for the finished project. Students should plan to take FLM 481 - Special Topic: Senior Thesis Film II in the spring

FLM 481 ST Senior Thesis Fim ll

This course is the second half of a two-semester filmmaking sequence in which students will complete a single project over the course of the year. This second half will build on the work completed during part I of the Senior Thesis.  Students will complete their projects and will primarily focus on the production, post-production and distribution of their films

THR 423 Advanced Acting: Acting On-Camera

This upper-level acting course is designed to introduce students to the skills required to work effectively on camera. Using material drawn from the professional world, students will work in a variety of on-camera genres. Genres that may be taught include commercials, daytime, primetime (sitcom and drama), and film. Class time will be divided equally between shooting and viewing, and students are expected to engage critically with both their own work and their classmates. Analytical viewing assignments from each of the genres explored will be required.
Prerequisite: THR 341 - Intermed Acting: Shakespeare, THR 350 - Acting Classical Verse, THR 351 - Commedia dell'Arte, THR 352 - Experiments in Acting, THR 357 - Int Act: Acting Political/Fem, THR 363 - Int Act: Contemporary Scene Study, THR 365 - Intermediate Acting: Meisner, THR 367 - Int Act:Stanislavski's Psycho/Physical Tech., THR 413 - Adv. Acting: The Actor, the Writer.