Section Number: 17865R

Workshop exploring concept and structure of long and short form animated films through practical writing exercises.

Lecture and laboratory in computer animation: geometric modeling, motion specification, lighting, texture mapping, rendering, compositing, production techniques, systems for computer-synthesized animation.

Note the sections for Non-majors to register for are: 17892 or 17893 or 17895

D-Clearance is required.

Multiple Sections: Check the schedule of classes for more details. This course may have an additional lab or lecture section you may need to add.

Minor Course:  [3-D Animation in Cinematic Arts Minor]

Section Number: 17897R

The art of digital sculpting for animated characters, with visual effects integration. Recommended preparation: CTAN 452 or CTAN 462.

Minor Course:  [3-D Animation in Cinematic Arts Minor]

Section Number: 17900D

Survey of contemporary concepts and approaches to production in the current state of film and video effects work. Digital and traditional methodologies will be covered, with a concentration on digital exercises illustrating modern techniques.

Minor Course:  [3-D Animation in Cinematic Arts Minor]  [Immersive Media]  [Cinematic Arts]

Section Number: 17909R

Concepts, tools and techniques used to create cinematic lighting and rendering in computer-generated imagery (CGI). Prerequisite: CTAN 452 or CTAN 462.

Minor Course:  [3-D Animation in Cinematic Arts Minor]  [Immersive Media]

Section Number: 17911R

An exploration of projection mapping with hands-on learning and projects providing professional skills and workflows for helping students create their own content.

Minor Course:  [3-D Animation in Cinematic Arts Minor]

Explore the creative, technical, and ethical use of artificial intelligence in animation, visual effects, and visual storytelling. Hands-on experience with cutting-edge AI tools.

Recommended Preparation: A general understanding of image making with any available software. A basic understanding of the available tools for image creation with A.I such as Mid-Journey, Dall-e, ChatGPT, etc.

Section Number: 17990R

A creative studio course in producing both a linear cinematic virtual reality short film and associated real-time immersive experience.

Minor Course:  [3-D Animation in Cinematic Arts Minor]  [Immersive Media]  [Future Cinema]

Puppet and set design for stop motion animation while providing guidance on armature rigs that allow the character to be animated effectively.

Section Number: 17997R

Fundamental principles of motion capture technology explored while working through a structured series of assignments based around performance, gesture and motion. Prerequisite: CTAN 452 or CTAN 462.

Section Number: 17958R

A creative 2-D motion graphics course covering animation technique, visual design aesthetics and software skills.

Section Number: 17827R

An overview of the entertainment industry and the tools needed to secure jobs and survive and succeed in the market.

Minor Course:  [Digital Studies]  [Entertainment Industry]

Section Number: 17829R

This course will delve into philosophical, business, ethical, and creative effects of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the entertainment industry and beyond.  

This course provides an introduction to the history, institutions, forms and critical analysis of television and its relationship to the cultures around it, including other media and arts.  It is designed to expand your knowledge of American and global television by exploring issues such as genre, style programming, branding, industrial structures, and the social and cultural significance of television. We look at television programs as cultural artifacts and industrial products that reflect and refract such issues as class, consumerism, gender, race, sexuality, and national identity. The course is intended to help you develop a historical and critical framework for understanding television and to become critically informed television viewers, media scholars, and media makers. Open to all majors. You must also register for a discussion section.

Professor: Aniko Imre

Minor Course:  [Cinematic Arts]

Section Number: 18160

How do we understand a time when cinema was new? This course surveys the first 60 years of world cinema, from the turn of the 20th century to the end of World War II: a tumultuous period full of opportunity, transformation, and upheaval that played out in politics and cultural life. Our lectures, screenings, readings, and discussion will think collectively through cinema’s social, aesthetic, and narrative development during this period of rapid change, as cinematic experimentation and innovation imagined new forms of perception and experience. In particular, we will focus on how new popular film genres – comedy, science fiction, the western, melodrama, crime, the musical, and horror, among others – helped audiences to understand and intervene in the changing world around them. Satisfied the GE-A requirement.

This course examines the historical role of American cinema up to 1960, focusing particularly on the development and influence of the Hollywood studio system, both in its industrial practices and in its cultural output. We will trace the development of the American motion picture industry through Hollywood’s silent, Classical, and postwar eras, exploring the role of censorship, stardom, race, gender, WWII, technology, genre, and style. We’ll also be looking at the contributions of those working outside of (and sometimes against) the system, including the race films industry, the avant garde, and animation. We will screen classic films, explore archival materials from the era, and ultimately think through the connections between this foundational period and the present state of American media. Screenings may include films such as Sherlock Jr., Seventh Heaven, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Gold Diggers of 1933, Now Voyager, Casablanca, In a Lonely Place, The Searchers, and Imitation of Life.

Section Number: 18170R

What is documentary? How do documentaries construct “the real” and produce truth claims? What role do ethics play in documentary filmmaking? How has documentary been used for political and propaganda purposes? How do documentary practices compare around the world and over time? This course will search for answers to these and other questions.

Minor Course:  [3-D Animation in Cinematic Arts Minor]  [Documentary]  [Media and Social Change]  [Cinematic Arts]

90s Television: Industry, Genre, & Identity

The 1990s can be thought of as the last frontier of broadcast television, when Americans watched programs on their television sets and in accord with the linear television schedule. A series of corporate mergers throughout the early ‘90s and the resulting media conglomeration would come to shape the post-network era. Meanwhile, the multichannel landscape led way to the popularity of certain genres like reality TV, the animated sitcom, and the prestige drama. The fragmentation of audiences and new ways of valuing brand loyalty also led to a proliferation of niche channels like BET, Lifetime, WB, Nickelodeon, MTV, ESPN, and Logo. These new cable channels cultivated shared taste communities and created representational space for identity groups that tended to be overlooked by network television. 

Professor: Jennifer Hessler

Minor Course:  [Cinematic Arts]

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]

This course is a critical assessment of prolific filmmaker Martin Scorses and his voluminous body of cinematic work. With a selection of films that span "New Hollywood" cinema nd the 1970s through his most recent film, Killers of the Flower Moon, the course places Scorsese the auteur, within the context of Hollywood's evolving history.

Analyzing the themes, style, critical reception, production history, and cultural impact of Scorsese's substantial catalogue, the class considers the images of American culture and society that emerge when studying his work.

Screenings to include The Wolf of Wall Street, Raging Bull, The Departed, The King of Comedy, GoodFellas, Gangs of New York, Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, and Mr. Scorsese, among other titles.

Professor: Todd Boyd

Minor Course:  [Game Studies]  [Cinematic Arts]

Section Number: 18450
Comment: Limited seats are available.

This course is a production-based exploration of horror films from ideation to their post-release audience reactions. We will explore horror films relation to society and how they break boundaries and make social statements. Classes will include writers, directors, producers, cast, and crew from the movies we are discussing as guest speakers.

Minor Course:  [Cinematic Arts]

Section Number: 19163R

Develop and write an original narrative podcast with an emphasis on auditory storytelling. The final project will involve taking that podcast and creating a pitch for a television series or feature film.

Suggested Listening: Limetown, The Burned Photo, Blackout, Homecoming, The Bright Sessions, Welcome to Night Vale, Passenger List, Next Stop, Unwanted, Electric Easy, Alice Isn’t Dead, Edge of Sleep, The Left Right Game, and others.

Taught by Jeremy Novick, a graduate of the John Wells Division of Writing for Screen and Television. Jeremy has written for TV shows such as USA’s “Queen of the South,” as well as written, directed, and produced award-nominated narrative podcasts such as “Blackout,” “The Burned Photo,” and “Hum."

Minor Course:  [Comedy]  [Screenwriting]

Comment: Counts for credit in CTWR-100g “Character, Conflict, and Catharsis” for major credit, not GE credit.

What’s your story? In CTWR 409, you’ll learn the nuances of writing Hollywood movies and television through small workshop-style classes in character, scene work, and story development. This course is the gateway class into the Screenwriting minor and, if accepted, will allow you to transfer into Year 2 in the BFA in Writing for Screen and Television degree.

All CTWR 409 instructors are professional Hollywood screenwriters. Across the multiple, a sampling of their credits include: Community, Malcolm in the Middle, Star Trek: Prodigy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer, VeggieTales, The King of Fighters, The Simpsons, iCarly, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, Frasier, and others.

Multiple Sections: Check the schedule of classes for more details. This course may have an additional lab or lecture section you may need to add.

Minor Course:  [Comedy]  [Screenwriting]  [Cinematic Arts]

Learn to write coverage of feature-length screenplays and television pilots! In this course, you’ll learn the practical skills to make you an invaluable intern at any production company and how to get noticed for your expert script evaluation skills.

Multiple Sections: Check the schedule of classes for more details. This course may have an additional lab or lecture section you may need to add.

Minor Course:  [Screenwriting]  [Entertainment Industry]

How do you create a world that can sustain several seasons of television? What makes High Potential different from Murder in a Small Town? The Pitt from Grey’s Anatomy? Summer I Turned Pretty from My Life with the Walter Boys? In television, your world is as much a character as your protagonist. You’ll develop multiple original pilot ideas across several dramas all leading up to an outline of your own television series!

Multiple Sections: Check the schedule of classes for more details. This course may have an additional lab or lecture section you may need to add.

Minor Course:  [Screenwriting]

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]

Section Number: 37431R

Creating real social change through multimedia, working in collaboration with a local nonprofit organization. Students explore the nature of civic engagement and strengthen their digital media skills in the pursuit or real world change.

Minor Course:  [Digital Studies]  [Media and Social Change]

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]

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]

Section Number: 37444R

Examination of the history of cinematic experimentation to provide a framework for understanding contemporary virtual reality, augmented reality, interactive installations and large-scale urban screens.

Minor Course:  [Digital Studies]  [Future Cinema]

Section Number: 37452D
Comment: Media Arts Research Lab

A hands-on mentored research lab experience within the context of media art and in association with a real-world project.

In collaboration with a major AR wearables brand, this course will focus on the development of interactive multi-player story experiences for augmented reality glasses and wearable media. You will collaborate with students, faculty, and industry professionals to conduct research, ideate, develop, and playtest prototypes. We seek a wide range of skillsets, including AR and AI programming, 3D modeling, narrative design, UI/UX design, and a strong interest in XR technologies.

Minor Course:  [Digital Studies]  [Future Cinema]

Section Number: 37451R

Examination of art, media, and theatre, to create an immersive, installation-based intervention utilizing the embodied 360-degree docu-narrative form.

Minor Course:  [Digital Studies]  [Future Cinema]  [Media and Social Change]

Section Number: 37461D

Foundational creative and critical competencies across sound, image, and computation. Emphasis on media arts canon. 

Section Number: 37469D

An activist, interventionist approach to working across multiple media platforms. 

Section Number: 37475D
Comment: Graduate Media Arts Research Lab

A hands-on mentored graduate research lab experience within the context of media art and in association with a real-world project.  In conjunction with the World Building Media Lab, students will imagine and co-create and distant-future world. 

Note: this course counts towards a Graduate Certificate in Digital Media and Culture.