Spring 2025 Cinematic Arts Courses of Interest
Every Semester, the School of Cinematic Arts offers a selction of courses available to all students at the University of Southern California. Any USC student with an interest in film, media studies, animation, screenwriting, game development, the entertainment industry or digital art can explore how cinematic art is made in one of these courses.
To register for courses go to USC Web Registration
View our Non-Major Frequently Asked Questions
View our Minor Frequently Asked Questions
*Please note that some of these courses will require D-Clearance. To learn more see http://cinema.usc.edu/studentaffairs/nonMajor.cfm
Animation & Digital Arts:
FEATURED CLASS:
CTAN 200g: The Rise of Digital Hollywood (4 units)
17960R
An overview of the evolution of computer graphics in modern media.
CTAN 497L : Procedural Animation (2 units)
Section Number: 17921D
Comment: Limited seats are available at this time.
Introduction to software packages and practices exploring current animation techniques that leverage simulation systems. Artificial intelligence as a tool for animation.
Prerequisite: CTAN 452
Minor Course: [3-D Animation in Cinematic Arts Minor]
CTAN 508 : Live Action Integration with Visual Effects (2 units)
Section Number: 17925D
Comment: Limited seats are available at this time.
Survey of the digital techniques required to successfully marry live action shooting with CGI elements and green screen footage.
Prerequisite: CTAN 462
Minor Course: [3-D Animation in Cinematic Arts Minor]
CTAN 509 : Environment Modeling (2 units)
CTAN 510 : Inside Story: Creative Development for Animation (2 units)
Section Number: 17947R
A creative development workshop for animated pitch storytelling, supported by an introduction to character development and story structure fundamentals.
CTAN 511 : Demystifying the TV Animation Pipeline (2 units)
Section Number: 17929D
The practical aspects of producing a 2-D animation series. Identifying and understanding the 2-D pipeline.
Minor Course: [3-D Animation in Cinematic Arts Minor]
Industry Relations (CNTV):
CNTV 475 : How to Make (2 units)
Section Number: 17825R
Explores creating film and television projects, starting from the initial stages of sourcing material to the final stages of marketing and advertising.
Minor Course: [Entertainment Industry]
Cinema & Media Studies:
FEATURED CLASS:
CTCS 190g: Introduction to Cinema (4 units)
18000R
Rated one of the top six USC classes you cannot afford to miss and fulfilling the GE-A requirement, this course explores the formal properties of movies and their social context: literary design, performance, art direction, cinematography, post-production, sound design, genre, style, and the production process. If you enroll, you will learn how movies are made, how they work their magic on us, how we can improve our perceptive abilities when it comes to filmgoing, and how the wider cultural, sociopolitical, and industrial environment of film shapes our perceptions of the world. A perennial favorite, open to all majors.
Professor: George Carstocea
Multiple Sections: This course has an additional lab or lecture section you may need to add.
Minor Course: [Cinema-Television for the Health Professions (CNHP)] [Cinematic Arts] [Entertainment Industry]
FEATURED CLASS:
CTCS 192gm: Race, Class, and Gender in American Film (4 units)
18070R
This course analyzes how issues relating to race, class, and gender have been addressed and depicted in American film, and how the cinematic representations of those topics have affected opinions and attitudes in mainstream U.S. culture. By studying historical representations alongside more contemporary images, the course aims to explain the role cinema plays in creating and influencing ideas around American identity. This course satisfies USC’s General Education requirement.
Screenings may include: Imitation of Life (1934), Rocky (1976), Creed (2015), Enter the Dragon (1973), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), Gun Hill Road (2011), Pariah (2011), Thelma & Louise (1991), Sorry to Bother You (2018), and The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019) among other titles.
Professor: Kara Keeling
Note: This course is included in the Visual Culture minor. Refer to the USC Catalogue for more information.
Multiple Sections: This course has an additional lab or lecture section you may need to add.
Minor Course: [Media and Social Change]
FEATURED CLASS:
CTCS 464: Film and/or Television Genres - Science Fiction (4 units)
18160R
No one nation owns the future, and in this course we will survey sci-fi as a global genre. We will watch one movie a week during the class session, and you will often watch a paired film as homework, in addition to a few connected readings. Likely screenings include Metropolis, Blade Runner, Akira, Stalker, Annihilation, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Arrival, World on a Wire, Ghost in the Shell (Oshii), Godzilla (Honda), The Host, Attack the Block, Strange Days, Asteroid City, Moon, Alphaville, The Aerial, Starship Troopers, and Another Earth.
Professor: George Carstocea
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts]
FEATURED CLASS:
CTCS 469: Film and/or Television Style Analysis - Fashion and Media Synergies (4 units)
18138R
This course is your backstage pass to uncover the powerful relationship between the fashion and media industries, from iconic films and TV shows to digital platforms and their intermedial connections with the printed press. In Fashion and Media Synergies, we will explore how fashion has been portrayed using moving images to understand how it became a global cultural and economic force. We will trace key moments in fashion and media to discuss the rise of fashion journalism, the impact of silent cinema on consumer culture, the glamour of Hollywood’s Golden Age, the boom of celebrity culture and fashion product placement, and how social media has democratized style to explore how actors, models, designers, editors, and influencers shape consumer culture. Situating fashion within its specific socio-political and cultural context is crucial in understanding how it reflects and shapes the zeitgeist of an era. By analyzing fashion’s role in cinema, television, and beyond, you will gain insight into how fashion has been mediated throughout history. Through lectures, readings, discussions, screenings, and engaging projects, we will critically reflect upon issues of consumerism, class, gender, race, labor, sustainability, cultural appropriation, branding, and celebrity culture to gain a fresh perspective on the fashion world and the media that amplifies it.
Professor: Elizabeth Lunden
Multiple Sections: This course has an additional lab or lecture section you may need to add.
Minor Course: [Game Studies] [Cinematic Arts]
FEATURED CLASS:
CTCS 469: Film and/or Television Style Analysis - The Films of Quentin Tarantino (4 units)
18139R
This course will study and analyze the work of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, one of the most compelling and controversial filmmakers to emerge in Hollywood since the 1990s. Specifically, the course will focus on Tarantino’s unique, dialogue heavy style across his celebrated body of work, a style that often involves the appropriation and remixing of various genres such as Blaxploitation, Spaghetti Westerns, Martial Arts, and Grindhouse cinema, among other genres. Additional topics and themes of the course will include; the auteur, pop culture, revenge narratives, film criticism, retro, hipness, spectacle, and the various controversies that have emerged around Tarantino’s films, in addition to other topics. Screenings include: Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003), Inglorious Basterds (2009), Django Unchained (2012), and Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood (2019) among other titles.
Professor: Todd Boyd
Multiple Sections: This course has an additional lab or lecture section you may need to add.
Minor Course: [Game Studies] [Cinematic Arts]
CTCS 191 : Introduction to Television and Video (4 units)
Section Number: 18061R
What was television, what has it become, and what does this transformation mean for the future? What is the relationship between objects, technologies, institutions, narratives, aesthetics, audiences, and viewing practices? To discuss these questions, this course uses the prism of contemporary programming to reflect on TV history, theory, and practice. Our goal is to develop a historical and critical framework for understanding television and to become critically informed viewers, scholars, and makers (and hopefully to enjoy TV even more...).
Professor: Nitin Govil
Multiple Sections: This course has an additional lab or lecture section you may need to add.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts]
CTCS 394 : History of American Cinema since 1960 (4 units)
Section Number: 18142R
From the ‘60s through the new millennium, this course narrates U.S. filmmaking after Classical Hollywood by charting technological change across cinematic form, cultural history, and commercial and independent production practices. Topics will include: the Counterculture, New Left, and Cold War on film; race, gender, and labor in New Hollywood; the L.A. Rebellion; New Queer Cinema; megaplex theaters and 1999 at the movies; transmedia storytelling, new media technologies, and music videos; CGI and digital animation; and environmental concerns for the U.S. film and media industry. Screenings may include: Seconds (Frankenheimer, 1966), Night of the Living Dead (Romero, 1968), Wanda (Loden, 1970), Klute (Pakula, 1971), Killer of Sheep (Burnett, 1973), My Own Private Idaho (Van Sant, 1991), You’ve Got Mail (Ephron, 1998), and Southland Tales (Kelly, 2006).
Professor: Thomas Pringle
Note: this course is listed on the American Popular Culture, Narrative Structure, and Visual Culture minors. Please refer to the USC Course Catalogue for more information.
CTCS 407 : African American Cinema (4 units)
Section Number: 18143R
This course is a historical survey of African American cinema from the 1960s through the present. While the course is mindful of pre-1960s film history, the focus will be on the last sixty years of Black film history in America. The course will highlight various films, filmmakers, actors, other creative figures, aesthetics, themes, and controversies, while linking this historical approach to the social, cultural and political issues that have evolved in American society over this sixty-year period. Further, the course will use developments in Black cinema as a broader framework for discussing American social, cultural, and political history, from the era of the Civil Rights Movement through the very recent present.
Screenings to include: Malcolm X, In the Heat of the Night, Shaft, Coffy, The Spook Who Sat by the Door, Coming to America, A Soldier’s Story, Fruitvale Station, Mudbound, Judas and the Black Messiah, and One Night in Miami, among other titles.
Professor: Todd Boyd
Note: this course is listed on the Cultural Studies and Narrative Structure minors. Please refer to the USC Course Catalogue for more information.
Minor Course: [Media and Social Change] [Cinematic Arts]
CTCS 464 : Film and/or Television Genres - Reality TV (4 units)
Section Number: 18160R
Section Number: 18121R
This course offers an exploration of reality television as a dynamic and influential form of entertainment media that features the (ostensibly) unscripted experiences of “ordinary” people in serialized dramatic form. Students will study the genre’s evolution, production techniques, and impact on popular culture and audience engagement. Our investigations will traverse a range of subgenres--from survival competitions and dating shows to makeover challenges and social experiments--toward understanding how reality TV constructs “reality,” commodifies personal narratives, and influences public discourse. We will think about the ethical and legal implications of portraying “authentic” situations that are often produced by strategic editing, staged scenarios, and the manipulation of narrative to craft compelling storylines. Through theoretical readings, screenings, research/practice-based projects, and interactions with industry practitioners, students will develop a nuanced understanding of reality television as an entertainment genre that both reflects and produces contemporary culture.
Professor: Kiki Benzon
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts]
CTCS 466 : Theatrical Film Symposium (4 units)
Section Number: 18125R
Theatrical Film Symposium, taught by world-renowned film critic Leonard Maltin, brings you face-to-face with leading film directors, writers, producers, and actors working today. Each week, students watch sneak previews of upcoming movies, followed by exclusive Q&As with the creative teams behind the films. Recent semester screenings included: Killers of the Flower Moon, The Killer, Fair Play, Bottoms, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3., John Wick: Chapter 4, Turning Red, Missing, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Babylon, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Woman King, Bros, Do Revenge, and The Fabelmans. Guests in recent years have included: Emma Seligman, Rian Johnson, Rostam Batmanglij, Julia Cox, Erik Messerschmidt, Alexander Payne, Cord Jefferson, Sebastian Silva, Chad Stahelski, Kevin Feige, Stephen Williams, Kenya Barris, Damien Chazelle, Elvis Mitchell, Sanaa Lathan, Ryan Coogler, Chloé Zhao, Matt Reeves, Kogonada, Nicholas Britell, Stephen Chbosky, Robert Eggers, Alice Brooks
Professor: Leonard Maltin
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts] [Entertainment Industry]
CTCS 467 : Television Symposium (4 units)
Section Number: 18126R
Taught by Mary McNamara, Pulitzer-prize winning TV Critic and Cultural Editor for the LA Times. Each week, students meet with current TV Creators and Showrunners for Q&As about writing and producing their shows. Recent guests include: Jon Favreau (The Mandalorian), Adam McKay (Succession), Alena Smith (Dickinson), Stephen Williams (Watchmen), Chris Mundy (Ozark), Susannah Grant (Unbelievable), David Mandel (Veep), Steven Canals (Pose), Sam Levinson (Euphoria), Raphael Bob-Waksberg & Kate Purdy (Undone), Joel Karsberg & Jesse Daniels (Surviving R. Kelly), Aline Brosh McKenna (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Marti Noxon (Sharp Objects), David Kajganich (The Terror), Tanya Saracho (Vida), Matt Duffer & Ross Duffer (Stranger Things), Liz Flahive & Carly Mensch (Glow), Hiro Murai (Atlanta), Noah Hawley (Fargo), Ron Moore (Outlander), Kenya Barris (black-ish), Prentice Penny (Insecure), Lang Fisher (Never Have I Ever), and Sarah Paulson and Jay Roach (Coastal Elites).
Professor: Mary McNamara
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts]
Interactive Media & Games Division:
FEATURED CLASS:
CTIN 488: Game Design Workshop (4 units)
Are you interested in making games, but don't know where to start? In Game Design Workshop students of any background learn the fundamentals of interaction design and collaboration as they make a series of board games with other students.
Note: this course is included in the Communication Technology Practices and Platforms Minor. Please refer to the USC Course Catalogue for more information.
Multiple Sections: This course has an additional lab or lecture section you may need to add.
Minor Course: [3-D Animation in Cinematic Arts Minor] [Documentary] [Game Audio] [Game Design] [Game Entrepreneurism] [Game Studies] [Immersive Media] [Themed Entertainment] [Media and Social Change] [Screenwriting] [Entertainment Industry]
FEATURED CLASS:
CTIN 499: Special Topics - Games as a Service and Live Operations (GLO) (4 units)
18426R
Get invaluable hands-on experience working on a live service game and shipping content to an audience! USC Faculty will guide you through conceptualizing, designing, developing, and releasing a content pack for a living game.
CTIN 291 : Crew for Advanced Game Project (2 units, max 4 units)
Section Number: 18408R
Comment: Limited seats are available at this time.
Do you want to be a part of making something special the world can see? Join Advanced Game Project crew and help create a polished playable video game with a large team as a part of the USC Games Studio.
Note: this course is included in the Video Game Production minor. Please refer to the USC Course Catalogue for more information.
Minor Course: [Game User Research]
CTIN 391 : Fundamentals of User Research and Experience (2 units units)
CTIN 420 : Tabletop Roleplaying Games (2 units)
Section Number: 18409D
Do you love to play Dungeons and Dragons, or other tabletop roleplaying games? Have you ever wanted to understand how they work, and how to design them and design content for them? Students of any experience level who wish to play, study, and make roleplaying games are welcome.
Minor Course: [Entertainment Industry]
Division of Film & Television Production:
FEATURED CLASS:
CTPR 386: Film and Television Case Study (4 units)
18518R
The course studies the anatomy of a current film or television release by analyzing its development, from conception through critical reception, to develop an understanding of it as art, craft, and industry. The class includes guest speakers involved in the making of the production. Films and television shows previously studied include The Avengers and The Sessions.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts] [Entertainment Industry]
CTPR 288 : Originating and Developing Ideas for Film (2 units)
Section Number: 18469R
Class offers exercises in observation, imaginative association, visualization, etc., that deepen the creative process, leading to ideas, stories, characters, and images for narrative, documentary, and experimental films.
CTPR 327 : Motion Picture Cinematography (3 units)
Comment: Limited seats are available at this time.
The course focuses on the magic of creating images using high-definition motion picture equipment to explore the fundamentals of shot design, movement, and lighting to understand better the role of cinematography in interpreting story. The class involves hands-on group projects, putting theory into practice
Multiple Sections: This course has an additional lab or lecture section you may need to add.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts]
CTPR 335 : Motion Picture Editing (3 units)
Comment: Limited seats are available at this time.
The class covers theory, techniques, and practices in motion picture editing, including the use of standard editing equipment. Assignments include individual projects in editing.
Multiple Sections: This course has an additional lab or lecture section you may need to add.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts]
CTPR 340 : Creating the Motion Picture Sound Track (2 units)
Comment: Limited seats are available at this time.
Course covers general techniques and aesthetics for recording production sound, editing dialogue, sound effects, music, Foley and preparing for the mix for film, television, and other media.
Multiple Sections: This course has an additional lab or lecture section you may need to add.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts]
CTPR 371 : Directing for Television (4 units)
Section Number: 18502R
Comment: This course is almost full as of 12/9/24.
The class covers general preparation duties during the pre-production stage for television directors, emphasizing the directorial role of production leader and visionary. Students will work in teams creating short scenes in various formats, including traditional drama, episodic and situational comedy.
Minor Course: [Comedy] [Cinematic Arts]
CTPR 385 : Colloquium: Motion Picture Production Techniques (4 units)
Section Number: 18515R
The class offers the opportunity to shoot and edit a short digital video project from idea and script. The class takes on a hands-on approach and introduces both the creative side and the basic technical side of the filmmaking process.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts]
CTPR 404 : Practicum in Podcast Production (2 units)
The course covers the basics of podcast production, including creating an idea, researching and writing the script, hosting, casting, recording and promoting a podcast episode
Multiple Sections: This course has an additional lab or lecture section you may need to add.
Minor Course: [Documentary] [Cinematic Arts]
CTPR 407 : Sound Design for Podcasting (2 units)
Section Number: 18536R
Explores the nature of storytelling through sound, and the technical skills necessary to create vibrant and intriguing soundscapes for these stories to live in.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts]
CTPR 409 : Trojan Vision, Live Television Production (1, 2, or 4 units)
The class offers a variety of television shows that live stream weekly from a television multi-camera studio. Students are offered wide-ranging experiences from planning to producing and crewing on a television set.
Multiple Sections: This course has an additional lab or lecture section you may need to add.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts]
CTPR 410 : The Entertainment Industry: From Idea to Audience (2 units)
Section Number: 18525R
Examination of the industry from story ideas, through script development, production and exhibition; evaluation of roles played by writers, agents, studio executives, marketing and publicity. Guest speakers and lectures discuss and cover the role of the writer, agent, studio executive, producer, director, as well as address the topics of marketing, publicity, and distribution.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts] [Entertainment Industry]
CTPR 422 : Makeup for Motion Pictures (2 units)
Section Number: 18535R
The course offers an introduction to the craft of makeup for film, TV, and other media. Students learn through lectures, demos, and hands-on workshops the different kinds of makeup styles and procedures, including the study of glamour, old age, gore, fantasy, and prosthetic techniques.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts]
CTPR 423 : Introduction to Special Effects in Cinema (2 units)
Section Number: 18538R
Introductory workshop in the aesthetics and practices of special effects, embracing both the classical and contemporary modes.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts]
CTPR 425 : Production Planning (2 units)
Section Number: 18544R
Theory, discussion, and practical application of production planning during pre-production and production of a film. From script to screen: practical application of methods and tools for the scheduling, budgeting, and planning of a film.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts] [Entertainment Industry]
CTPR 426 : The Production Experience (2 units)
Section Number: 18546R?
To provide students with basic working knowledge of both the skills of the motion picture set and production operations through classroom lectures and hands-on experience. Learn the fundamentals of episodic TV drama and participate in the shooting of an episode written and directed by students. Positions available in producing, camera, sound, production design, or editorial.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts]
CTPR 431 : Developing the Documentary Production (2 units)
Section Number: 18548R
The tools and skills necessary to turn an idea into a documentary story, using sample reels, pitches, and writing to develop a professional proposal. Course is designed to teach students the knowledge, skills, insight and judgment needed to research, develop and create pitch materials for a documentary production.
Minor Course: [Documentary] [Cinematic Arts]
CTPR 448 : World Building Design Studio (2 units)
Section Number: 18556R
The course is designed for students to bring together visual and scenario designs to construct diverse worlds as containers for storytelling across genres: documentary, drama, fiction, and fantasy, as well as, experimental immersive experiences.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts]
CTPR 454 : Acting for Film and Television (4 units)
Section Number: 18555R?
Intensive examination of skills and techniques necessary for successful performances in film and television. Practical application through in-class exercises and assigned projects. Learn and apply prominent theories of performance and how they relate to film and television. Students gain understanding of the tools of performance, as derived from the stage, and how they translate to film and television.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts]
CTPR 456 : Introduction to Art Direction (2 units)
Section Number: 18561R
Introduction to drafting, set design, set decoration and creating models for students with diverse abilities. Guest lectures, group discussions and hands-on workshop.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts]
CTPR 460 : Film Business Procedures and Distribution (2,4 units)
Section Number: 18564R
Financing, budgeting, management as applied to films; problems of distribution, including merchandising, cataloging, evaluation, and film library management. Introduces film economics, exhibition, distribution, and production. Budgets, financing, television/non-theatrical and theatrical films, production and distribution agreements, copyright and legal considerations will also be covered.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts] [Entertainment Industry]
CTPR 461 : Managing Television Stations and Internet Media (2 units)
Section Number: 18569R
Managing electronic media, including radio and television stations, broadcast and cable networks, and the internet. In a period of unprecedented growth and change in media, students focus on how managers of TV, cable, radio and digital mass media are facing the challenges of the era. The class includes guest speakers, field trips and studies in mass media financing, marketing and history.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts] [Entertainment Industry]
CTPR 470 : Practicum in On-Screen Direction of Actors (4 units)
Concentration on the basic skills in working with actors from a director’s point of view. Students learn to experiment and discuss the many choices in directing actors, including laboratory and scene analysis. The course also breaks down a script from the emotional point-of-view of the actor.
Minor Course: [Cinematic Arts]
CTPR 474 : Documentary Production (4 units)
Pairs produce, direct, shoot, and edit a short documentary on a subject of their choice. Finished projects will be suitable for broadcast/festivals. Students are encouraged to form pairs before class; individual students form partnerships at the beginning of the term. Students must come prepared with two to three documentary ideas. The finished films will be approximately fifteen minutes in length.
Minor Course: [Documentary] [Cinematic Arts]
CTPR 491 : Viral Comedy (2 units)
Section Number: 18607R?
Translating traditional storytelling tools into short form comedy that stands out online. Writing, directing and producing creative projects designed for current online platforms. Learn how to translate storytelling into short form comedy that will stand out online. Students explore newer avenues, such as YouTube, IGTV and TikTok as outlets for their creative voices with projects they will write, direct and perform in.
Minor Course: [Comedy] [Cinematic Arts] [Entertainment Industry]
John Wells Division of Writing for Screen & Television:
FEATURED CLASS:
CTWR 431: Screenwriters and Their Work - A Touch of Evil: Noir and Neo-Noir (2 units)
19350R
Join Professor Howard A. Rodman in exploring the origins and evolution of writing the noir genre, and its transformation from fedora-and-painted-hat nostalgia to a vital genre for investigating and mirroring dominant social issues of our current moment.
Minor Course: [Comedy] [Screenwriting]
FEATURED CLASS:
CTWR 432: Television Writers and Their Work - #1 on the Call Sheet: Female Lead (2 units)
19406R
Join Alexa Alemanni in exploring the female leads in television drama who have broken boundaries, redefined their genres, and charted new ways forward; from Buffy to Olivia Pope to Maisel and more.
Minor Course: [Comedy] [Screenwriting]
FEATURED CLASS:
CTWR 541: Dreams, the Brain, and Storytelling (2 units)
19312R
Join Writing Division Chair Mary Sweeney at the nexus of art and science, exploring brain research and the poetry of cinematic dreamscapes. You will watch feature and short films, TV episodes, and music videos, listen to guest lectures from neuroscientists and filmmakers, and discuss assigned readings, writings, and podcasts. It is a dive into the dream of cinema, while exploring sensory intelligence, perception, and consciousness.
CTWR 303g : From Page to Screen: Adapting Stories for Film and TV (4 units)
Section Number: 19152R
A detailed investigation into the choices TV and film writers make translating the source material to your favorite series or feature film. Through lectures, special guests, and reading, we’ll examine how the material changes and what liberties Hollywood takes in that process. **CTWR 303g is a GE-A in “The Arts” category.
Minor Course: [Comedy] [Screenwriting]
CTWR 409 : Fundamentals of Screenwriting: Character, Conflict and Story (4 units)
Introductory workshop course open to all majors across the University to learn the fundamentals of writing compelling scenes, creating authentic characters, and structuring a feature screenplay. **Students who successfully complete CTWR 409 can apply to the BFA in Writing for Screen and Television and, if accepted, complete the degree in 3-years from date of acceptance.
Multiple Sections: This course has an additional lab or lecture section you may need to add.
Minor Course: [Comedy] [Screenwriting] [Cinematic Arts]
CTWR 411 : Television Script Analysis (2 units)
Section Number: 19205R
In-depth analysis of the structure of television. Through lectures and guests, we’ll examine the elements of good TV from premise to character to structure to story engine.
Multiple Sections: This course has an additional lab or lecture section you may need to add.
Minor Course: [Screenwriting] [Cinematic Arts] [Entertainment Industry]
CTWR 416 : Motion Picture Script Analysis (2 units)
Section Number: 19359R
In-depth analysis of the structure of feature films. We’ll examine the elements of good storytelling, 3-act structure, character development, and theme.
Minor Course: [Screenwriting] [Cinematic Arts] [Entertainment Industry]
CTWR 417 : Script Coverage and Story Analysis (2 units)
Section Number: 19206R
Evaluation of completed scripts prior to their production. Coverage and analysis of scripts as potential properties from the perspective of a production company.
Minor Course: [Screenwriting]
CTWR 422 : Creating the Dramatic Television Series (2 units)
Section Number: 19432R
How do you create a world that can sustain several seasons of television? What makes SWAT different from NCIS? The Good Doctor from Grey’s Anatomy? This is Us from Shameless? In television, your world is as much a character as your protagonist. In this class, you will examine and create several different worlds for the dramatic hour-long television landscape and create characters to populate those concepts. You’ll leave this class with a detailed outline for one of your concepts you can further develop into an original hour-long pilot.
Minor Course: [Screenwriting]
CTWR 516 : Advanced Motion Picture Script Analysis (2 units)
Section Number: 19449R
Critical analysis of the structure of films from the classics to current award winners. Students will learn how to identify key story concepts and break down three act structure in finished films and scripts.
Media Arts + Practice Division:
FEATURED CLASS:
IML 499: Special Topics - DIY Music Videos: From Critique to Creation (4 units)
37458R
Comment: This course is almost full as of 12/9/24.
Examining the music video’s history of experimentation in emerging media forms, modes of storytelling, and social critique to help students create their own music videos. Using readily available tools and techniques, students will follow the entire process of identifying song/musician, ideation, scripting, storyboarding, shooting, and editing, culminating in an end-of-semester screening.
Minor Course: [Digital Studies] [Future Cinema] [Media and Social Change]
FEATURED CLASS:
IML 520: Graduate Media Arts Research Lab (2 units)
37465R
A graduate-level course for aspiring and intermediate filmmakers looking for a highly supportive space in which to develop their documentary skillset for use in creative and scholarly work. This class is great for students desiring guided practice, or for those already working on a project looking for structure to keep their process on track.
IML 201 : The Languages of Digital Media (4 units)
Section Number: 37402D
Introduction to media, art and technology in the context of various academic and professional disciplines. Students will study the history and theory of digital media while also gaining hands-on media authoring skills. Counts as a requirement for the minor in Digital Studies.
Minor Course: [Digital Studies]
IML 295Lm : Race, Class and Gender in Digital Culture (4 units)
Section Number: 37406D
Comment: This course is almost full as of 12/9/24.
Critical analysis of the categories of race, class and gender within the diverse digital spaces of contemporary culture, from video games to the digital divide. Students will produce media projects that analyze their own attitudes about diversity and inclusion and argue that living in a diverse society can function as a form of social and cultural enrichment.
Minor Course: [Media and Social Change]
IML 423 : Remixing the Archive - Media Ethnography, Living Archives (4 units)
Section Number: 37434R
This course approaches archived material from multiple perspectives, in order to develop new avenues of expression, education, and research. Students will develop audio and video remix projects with source material from existing media archives and collections.
Minor Course: [Digital Studies] [Media and Social Change]
IML 425 : Narrative Across Media (4 units)
Section Number: 37436R
Exploration of traditions and emerging practices in multimedia storytelling, including narrative convergences of literature, film, television, comics, mixed reality, videogames or physical/virtual environments. Students will examine this expanding space and use their skills as media-makers and storytellers to imagine new narratives across these media forms.
Minor Course: [Digital Studies] [Future Cinema] [Media and Social Change]
IML 453 : Design Fiction and Speculative Futures (4 units)
Section Number: 37443R
Designing fictional stories, images and worlds to imagine possible futures as a form of speculative design and critical inquiry. Students will design videos and physical prototypes as tools for exploring contemporary social, political and ethical life.
Minor Course: [Digital Studies] [Future Cinema] [Media and Social Change]
IML 456 : Nature, Design and Media (2 units)
Section Number: 37445R
Investigation of the impact of natural patterns on digital media design. Explores the relationships among chaos, harmony, beauty, proportion, spirituality, holistic systems and shaped experience.
Minor Course: [Digital Studies] [Future Cinema]
IML 475 : Media Arts Research Lab - World Building, Narrative Design and Design Visualization (4 units)
Section Number: 37452R
Comment: This course is almost full as of 12/9/24.
Students will imagine and collaborate to co-create a distant-future world by establishing rules, developing narratives in time and space, building environments, defining communities and establishing multiple points of view from which journey, place, character, artifacts and the stories of the world will emerge.
Minor Course: [Digital Studies] [Future Cinema]
IML 575 : Graduate Media Arts Research Lab - Creative Critical AI (4 units)
Section Number: 37477R
Section Number: 37476R
This course is designed to foster artistic research and informed experimentation grounded in ethics. Proponents of generative AI believe its promise lies in “democratizing” creative capability, shrinking the gap between idea and execution. For artists, storytellers, journalists, and cultural producers who hope to pursue creative production as (part of) their career, this operates at a meta level: generative engines could fill gaps in technical capability, letting them participate across many parts of the production pipeline. The lab aspect of this course will apply this theory: asking learners to try their hand at becoming virtuosic multihyphenates. Throughout our creative making, we will foreground discussions about AI as a geopolitical system rooted in real-world power structures—and the resulting ethical approaches to consider.
Expanded Animation:
CTXA 410 : Audio Design for Animation and Immersive Media (2 units)
Section Number: 19720R
Experimental and traditional audio design practices for animation, culminating in an immersive audio project utilizing acoustic design, surround sound, and professional recording and editing tools.
CTXA 523 : Visualizing Science Production (2 units)
Section Number: 19758R
Principles of 2-D and 3-D digital animation and AI applied to scientific themes and research topics.
CTXA 524 : Contemporary Topics: Animation Dreams and Consciousness (2 units)
Section Number: 19703R
Explores the relationship of science, philosophy and art to new forms of animation and digital media practice, with a focus on dreams and consciousness.