Spring 2022 Courses

SCRN Courses

Number	Title	Days	Time	Instructor
AAAS 2410-1	Black Popular Culture	TBA	TBA	E. Birthwright
ART 2050	Digital Art 1	Multiple sections offered. See the course booklet for additional information.
ART 3020-2	Animation Production This highly recommended substitution course requires special approval to count towards Screen degree requirements. Please contact the SCRN Director for more information.	T/Th	12:00-2:50 PM	Joe Nivens
ART 4230	Topics in Digital Art	Multiple sections offered. See the course booklet for additional information.
ART 4240-3	Topics in Digital Art: Virtual Production This highly recommended substitution course requires special approval to count towards Screen degree requirements. Please contact the SCRN Director for more information.	T/Th	12:00-2:50 PM	F. Ostrenko & M. Aubanel
ART 2230-1	Virtual Space	T/Th	9:00-11:50 AM	H. Nam
ART 2230-2	Virtual Space	T/Th	12:00-2:50 PM	H. Nam
ART 4220-1	Advanced Moving Image	M/W	8:30-11:20 AM	F. Ostrenko
CMST 2012-1	Intro to Film	M/W/F	1:30-2:20 PM; Lab- W, 6:00-8:50 PM	J. Lambert
CMST 2060	Intro to Public Speaking	Multiple sections offered. See the course booklet for additional information.
CMST 3012-1	History of Film	T/Th	1:30-2:50 PM; Lab- T, 6:00-8:50 PM	P. Suchy
CMST 3013-2	Topics in Film Genres: Zombie Films	M/W/F	2:30-3:20 PM; Lab- M, 6:00-8:50 PM	N. Bennett
CMST 3040	Performance Composition	Multiple sections offered. See the course booklet for additional information.
CMST 3107-1	Rhetoric of Contemporary Media	M/W/F	10:30-11:20 PM	J. Butcher
ENGL 2005	Intro to Writing Short Stories	Multiple sections offered. See the course booklet for additional information.
ENGL 2029-1	Drama	T/Th	9:00-10:20 AM	C. Connelly
ENGL 2231-1	Reading Film: Gender & Horror	M/W/F	12:30-1:20 PM	L. Nohner
ENGL 2231-2	Reading Film	M/W	3:00-4:20 PM	O. Muenz
ENGL 2231-3	Reading Film	T/Th	10:30-11:50 AM	O. Muenz
ENGL 2231-4	Reading Film	T/Th	1:30-2:50 PM	T. Maguder
ENGL 2231-5	Reading Film: With Teeth-Reading the Horror Film	M/W/F	9:30-10:20 AM	C. Lauder
ENGL 4000-1	Special Project/Creative Writing	T/Th	4:30-5:50 PM	A. Henriquez
FREN 4031-1	The French Film  This course will be conducted entirely in French.	T	6:00-8:50 PM	K. Bongiorni
HNRS 2021-60	Global Cinema  This course requires SCRN Director approval to count towards SCRN degree requirements.	M/W/F	11:30-12:20 PM	T. Khannous
MUS 2745-1	Intro to Computer Music	M/W/F	10:30-11:20 AM	A. Franklin
THTR 4138	Film Practicum	TBA	TBA	I. Pletcher

 

Graduate Minor Courses

SCRN 2001-1: Introduction to Screen Arts

Paul Catalanotto

In this introductory course taught by Artist-in-Residence Paul Catalanotto, students can expect to get a taste of different aspects of filmmaking and video production as well study a variety of filmmakers, styles, and genres. 

SCRN 2001-2: Introduction to Screen Arts

Glen Pitre

This behind-the-scenes look at on-screen storytelling, taught by Artist-in-Residence Glen Pitre, concentrates on feature films, television, and documentaries; how they are pitched, developed, financed, produced, promoted, and brought to a screen; how it works in Hollywood and what’s different in the indie world; where all the money goes and what all those film industry jobs entail. Assignments range from making your own short film (training & gear provided), interviewing industry professionals (contact info provided) to role-playing based on actual on-set problem solving.

No mid-term, no final. Instead of required reading, a roughly hourlong illustrated video lecture is posted every week and each class starts with a brief multiple-choice quiz to test whether you watched it. Course grades are approximately 40% quizzes, 40% assignments, and 20% class participation. The class is fun, but the workload is significant.

SCRN 3001: Global New Waves

Kalling Heck

This class is designed to introduce students to the function and form of "New Wave" filmmaking. It has, since at least 1959, been a tradition in the study of Global Cinema to label new—often youth oriented—films arriving from particular countries in a short span of time "New Waves," a title that seems to highlight their status as a departure from previous styles of filmmaking. But what makes a New Wave? And what is the use of labeling a new group of films as such? This class will explore these questions by examining the aesthetic and industrial configurations of four of these New Wave movements: those from France, Japan, the Czech Republic, and Brazil. Each of these New Waves took place in the 1960s, and each responds to a remarkably different context. The task of this class will be to map the similarities and differences between these various movements in the hope of understanding their respective impacts, but we will also examine what makes a New Wave, and why it might (or might not) be of use to label the disparate films that make up these movements this way. Through this process, students will gain an understanding of film history as well as the effects and outcomes of transnational media flows.

SCRN 3010: Cinematography

Glen Pitre

A mostly workshop course designed to teach motivated beginners how to use digital cameras to tell compelling stories with moving images. Each student works on four successively more ambitious films. Working hands-on with gear (available for check out from Screen Arts), planning and reviewing students’ films, and practicing film industry procedures occupies the bulk of class time.

No mid-term, no final. Instead of required reading, a roughly hourlong illustrated video lecture is posted every week and each class starts with a brief multiple-choice quiz to test whether you watched it. Course grades are approximately 40% quizzes, 40% the films you make (based on effort more than artistry), and 20% class participation. The class is fun, but the workload is significant.

SCRN 3011: Film Editing

Paul Catalanotto

SCRN 3011 explores editing theory and history as well as offering students a chance to learn practical skills on the Adobe Premiere editing platform. The course functions as an in-depth study of the history, concepts, and skills involved in film and video editing techniques. Additionally, students will receive formal instruction and practice in non-linear editing software as a means to gain a better understanding of concepts such as montage, continuity, and narrative.

SCRN 3501: North African Cinema

Touria Khannous

This course is an introduction to contemporary North African cinema covering the period from after the 1960s to the present in countries including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt.  Students will gain not only an expanded knowledge of a broad range of international films from North Africa, but also an increased understanding of films’ aesthetic approaches to a range of issues such as identity, gender, masculinity, and violence. We will analyze the films in light of theoretical essays and key concepts in film studies. 

SCRN 3502: Italian Cinema

Kevin Bongiorni
This course is cross-listed with ITAL 3502-1.

This course as both an Italian and Screen Arts course is designed first to introduce students to Italian culture through film. The course will trace the history of Italian cinema from Neo-Realism beginning in WWII to the 1990s and briefly beyond. Secondly it will expose the students to some of the cultural and cinematic exchange between Italian and American cinemas. At the conclusion of the course through readings in Italian culture and film and by viewing Italian and some American (and an Austrian) films students will learn to see film not only in a national cultural context, as the expression of culture, but in a global and aesthetic context that crosses all national boundaries. So in addition to watching Italian films, in the end, students will watch films in other national cinemas and examine an Italian cinematic connection. Students will develop critical analytical skills through class discussions and assignments. Students will have regular reading and viewing assignments to be completed at home prior to class. These assignments will serve as the basis for discussion. The course requires active student participation in discussion. The course will be divided into 5 basic segments: Neorealism, Federico Fellini, the Spaghetti Western, Commedia All’Italiana and Michelangelo Antonioni. 

SCRN 3503: Classical Japanese Masters

Kathryn Barton

This course offers an introduction to the Classical Master Directors of Japanese cinema. Kurosawa (dir. Seven Samurai), Ozu (dir. Tokyo Story), and Mizoguchi (dir. Ugetsu). An analysis and appreciation of the major works of these very different directors will be explored o gain insight into the era in which they were made. For this term, we will focus on the 1920s through the 1970s. Through secondary readings, lectures, and discussions students will critically examine how Japanese cinema as an institution both responds to and intervenes in the social, cultural, and political history of Japan.

SCRN 3505: Slasher Films

June Pulliam

The slasher film is a subgenre of horror in which a serial killer with almost supernatural abilities uses anything but a gun to murder a series of nubile young women as an implied punishment for stepping outside of rigid gender norms. For this reason, critics have excoriated the slasher film genre as blood-soaked misogyny. However, the slasher film genre is much more complex. Over the past 60 years, the slasher film has evolved to actively critique the everyday violence that women endure. In SCRN 3505, we will trace the slasher film from its beginnings in Hitchcock's Psycho and Michael Powell's Peeping Tom to newer parodies such as Scream (1996) and metageneric slasher films such as The Final Girls (2015) and Halloween Kills (2021).

SCRN 4001: Documentary Storytelling

Zachary Godshall

Q: Who walks the razor's edge between fact and fiction? 

A: The storyteller! 

And never does the storyteller walk a finer line than when making a documentary film. In Spring 2022, we'll learn from some great and not-so-great nonfiction storytellers while we also practice the art of making our own documentary stories. Instead of taking a journalistic approach to documentary storytelling, this course will focus on the "creative nonfiction" film and the cinematic documentary.

ENGL 2009-1: Writing Screenplays

Jason Buch

Want to write a movie? TV Pilot? Learn the form and structure of Screenwriting to bring your ideas to life, while reading, watching, and discussing current films and television programs. Workshop your scripts to get friendly and helpful feedback from your fellow students. You will write your own short script and begin work on a feature film script or television pilot. This course is required for students with a Screenwriting focus in SCRN.

ENGL 2009-2: Writing Screenplays

Mari Kornhauser
100% Web Based

What you will do: learn the fundamentals of writing a feature film script by writing a series of short scripts and the first act of a feature (with the rest of the script outlined). Films will be watched and studied, culminating in a short critical paper. Other forms of writing, such as collaborating with writing partners or writing for web-series and television, may be discussed and/or practiced. Plus you will workshop scripts and critique each other's work. Most of all, it will be fun! This course is required for students with a Screenwriting focus in SCRN.

ENGL 4009: Intermediate Screenwriting Workshop

Mari Kornhauser
Prerequisite: ENGL 2009
100% Web Based

What you'll be doing: writing a pilot for TV or a feature film script. You'll also learn to scene card or outline your scripts as well as critiquing each other's work. You'll watch films or tv shows on your own time and present an analysis of films of tv watched over the semester. This is a workshop, not a lecture course, so having fun is also a requirement! 

ENGL 4109: Capstone in Screenwriting

Zachary Godshall
This course requires SCRN Director approval to count towards SCRN degree requirements.

This is the semester you finish your screenplay. As you hone your craft as a screenwriter and sharpen your critical skills, you'll complete a draft of a feature-length screenplay or teleplay. The course is a discussion-based writing workshop driven by oral and written communication and constructive criticism. You will also learn how to pitch, present, and submit your screenplay in a professional manner.

ART 3020-2: Animation Production

Joe Nivens
This highly recommended substitution course requires special approval to count towards Screen degree requirements. Please contact the SCRN Director for more information.

A workshop course on building a short film from scratch. The students will start with a summary, then workshop a screenplay, and move on to pitch a storyboard to the class. Once the student's storyboard is approved, they will create an animatic, animate the film sequences, critique and finesse the animated sequences, then edit the film. Once finished with animation, the student will design a poster for the film and build a website to promote the film. By the end of the course, each student will have a polished short animation between 1-3 minutes long that can now be submitted to film festivals. The course will end with a public screening.

ART 4240-3: Topics in Digital Art: Virtual Production

Dereck Ostrenko & Marc Aubanel
This highly recommended substitution course requires special approval to count towards Screen degree requirements. Please contact the SCRN Director for more information.

An introductory level project-based course open to all majors. Virtual Production refers to the process of combining live action with virtual environments, digital props, and VFX in real-time. Breakthroughs in video game engines and pioneering work on movies and TV shows such as the Mandalorian, Lion King, Westworld, Game of Thrones and Guardians of the Galaxy have given rise to this emerging filmmaking paradigm. This course will cover the fundamentals of Unreal Engine as it relates to virtual production throughout a typical VFX pipeline including pre-production, production, and post-production. We will examine different technological approaches for real-time compositing and acquisition including 360 cameras, 3D scanning, motion control, green screens, modular displays, motion capture, DMX lighting, and virtual reality. Additionally, students will analyze these emerging tools and their impact on filmmaking, audiences, and the future of movies. At the end of the course, students will be empowered to help create the next generation of films.

CMST 3012: History of Film

Patricia A. Suchy

In this course we study historical and cultural contexts, events, people, technologies, and films that are especially significant to selected developments in the history of cinema, focusing on American and European cinemas. The course includes a required weekly screen on Tuesday evenings.

CMST 3107: Rhetoric of Contemporary Media

Joni Butcher

This course will focus on TV sitcoms and opening theme songs from the 1960s to present day. We will use various methods of rhetorical criticism to examine the vocal, visual, and musical texts along with the historical contexts (including political, social, and economic) surrounding these shows and their opening themes. 

HNRS 2021-60: Contemporary Global Cinema

Touria Khannous
This course requires SCRN Director approval to count towards SCRN degree requirements.

Students will gain not only an expanded knowledge of a broad range of films from around the globe but also an increased understanding of films' aesthetic approaches to the theme of the body. Main topics are gendered bodies, digital bodies, bodies and trauma, bodies of the disappeared, black bodies, disabled bodies, etc. Students will read essays on the screened films as well as theoretical essays which serve to familiarize them with key theoretical concepts in film studies.

ENGL 7109: Forms of Film Writing: Interactive Storytelling

Jason Buch

How do you tell a story when you don't control the protagonist? This course is an examination and workshop of different forms of interactive storytelling, including interactive fiction, video games, smartphone apps, augmented and virtual reality, and more. It will cover examples from popular branching narratives like Black Mirror: Bandersnatch to virtual reality, self-guided documentaries to 360-degree video experiences, and hypertext fiction to AAA video games. We'll look at how technology can merge with storytelling and the challenges that presents to the artist. The course will introduce students to the tools that are available to allow them to incorporate interactivity into their own work no matter their comfort level with technology. Students will work on a semester-long interactive project of their own creation, which will be pitched, workshopped, written, and built by the end of the course. A background in programming or graphic design is not required.