Screenwriting Minor

The process of writing narrative screenplays will be introduced through writing exercises, screenplay readings, film viewings and discussion. Writing exercises will explore creativity, individual voice and practical skills. Writing in screenplay format will also be covered. Students will finish with at least one complete short screenplay ready for production. This course provides a foundation for further study in screenwriting.

Full course description for Beginning Screenwriting

Through writing exercises and screenwriting assignments students will explore and practice writing in a variety of forms including adaptations, webisodes, scripted series, or other emerging episodic forms. Films and screenplays will be analyzed and discussed for critical and historical perspectives. Professional development opportunities will be introduced.

Full course description for New Screenplay Forms

The course introduces the principles and practices of electronic filmmaking as a personal and creative art form. Students will engage in exercises and projects to explore and understand editing, camera work, light, composition, and sound. A variety of cinematic forms will be examined. Student screenplays may be produced. Students will film and edit individual creative projects.

Full course description for Film Production and Editing I

This course centers the cinematic art from communities historically excluded from mainstream American cinema: Indigenous Cinema, Black and African-American Cinema, Women-led Cinema, Asian-American Cinema, Latinx-American Cinema, Queer (LGBTQ+) Cinema, Disability Cinema, among many others. The major goal of this course is to consciously and radically shift perspective in contemporary cinema studies away from the traditional film school canon to the above. We will discuss the causes of this suppression, study reports and statistics, discuss intersectionality, explore the effects this exclusion has had on American society, and analyze the barriers to inclusion. Past the history into the present, we will study films from the New Wave of Diversity in 21st Century American Cinema, explore their equitable aesthetics, and highlight equitable producing, financing and distribution options for filmmakers who are disabled as well as for Women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ filmmakers. Significant focus is…

Full course description for Excluded Voices of American Cinema

This course investigates the dramatic essence, creative demands, and craft of feature length screenwriting. Originality and distinctive voice will be analyzed and explored through readings and writing exercises. Students will write a rough draft feature length screenplay. Films and screenplays will be analyzed and discussed for critical and historical perspectives. Professional development opportunities will be presented.

Full course description for Advanced Screenwriting

In a supportive workshop environment, students will complete a market ready screenplay and prepare a portfolio of previous work. Students will also participate in community engagement opportunities such as attending film festivals and related professional networking events. Career development strategies will be presented. This is an opportunity to enhance screenwriting skills at an advanced level, reflect, and participate.

Full course description for Senior Capstone: Portfolio Prep

Subject matter for this course varies, as it is designed to allow in-depth analysis of unique topics relating to films and their audiences. Topics could include a analysis of a specific film genre, periods of historical film development, the productions of a unified group of film authors or films focusing on a subject matter. Students should consult the Class Schedule for particular topics and descriptions. Some of the courses are cross-listed with other departments.

Full course description for Topics in Film Studies

This course uses currently playing films as entry points into a study of wider issues around film as an art form, cultural phenomenon and industry. Students attend various screenings of Hollywood blockbusters, low-budget art films and experimental works, and then analyze them and their significance relative to topics in film theory and aesthetics.

Full course description for Contemporary Cinema

This course explores the ways identities are presented, fantasized, manipulated and politicized in popular films. We will look at how images of self and other are constructed according to social, cultural, ethnic, and gendered meanings within film narratives through categories of race, sex, class, and gender. Students will be introduced to the vocabulary and primary theories of film analysis and focus on both sociological and psychoanalytical film theories and conduct an analysis of a film of their choice. The aim of this course is to give students the critical tools for analyzing how film both constructs and presents identities, which affects how we define ourselves, experience enjoyment, and relate to others.

Full course description for Cinema, Self and Other

In this course, students will learn strategies for analyzing and creating game worlds, levels, and characters that are consistent, compelling, and fluent. Students will focus on what makes compelling and engaging video game dialogue, settings, backstories, and more. This theory- and writing-focused course will let students create and/or expand on all the writing that goes into a good video game story as well as explore games as a humanistic field. There will be a particular focus on creating characters, stories, and scenes with an anti-racist perspective in response to the industry¿s history representing marginalized characters, stories, and lore. No programming knowledge is assumed.

Full course description for Game, Level, and Character Design

In this course, students will learn the unique style of writing and storytelling used in an interactive environment. In this production-focused course, students will produce a video game (or slice of a video game), interactive story, or interactive website prototype by the end of the course. Students will focus on creating a continuity of experience across a system, writing compelling prompts, writing and thinking in decision trees, and anticipating audience input. Students will conduct usability testing/playtesting and revision of their constructed environments. No programming knowledge is assumed.

Full course description for Writing in Interactive Environments