At the graduate level, courses have broad, generic titles, so that we may offer a variety of specific topics under those titles. Our curriculum balances courses that introduce students to the fundamentals of theory, criticism, and history with courses focused on specialized areas of research at the cutting edge of the discipline.

This course introduces students to major classical and contemporary film, television, and new media theorists, concepts, and movements, providing a foundation for further studies in media.

C506 introduces students to the central methodologies used in critical studies of media today. Along with surveying a range of methods appropriate for researching and writing about media studies, this course provides a foundation for other courses in the media curriculum.

This class examines the relationship of media institutions, practices, and products to the social, cultural, and political environment.

This is the graduate section to C360. It provides a hands-on introduction to the technical and aesthetic basics of making movies. Students learn how to design, direct, light, shoot, and edit several short films working individually, as well as in groups. All projects are shot and edited on 16mm film.

This class builds on C560, introducing students to the making of 16mm sound films, including the recording and editing of sync sound. The various stages of production are explored in lectures, lab exercises, and through discussion, with particular attention paid to scriptwriting, directing, and visual design. Students produce and direct two short film projects and participate as crew members in fellow students’ productions. Films are shot on 16mm and edited digitally.

This course introduces students to the terminology of screenwriting and the form of the screenplay. Students will develop screenplays through various stages, from story outlines and treatments to shooting scripts.

This course introduces students to the phenomenon of genre, including problems of generic description or definition, identification of iconography, conventions, and themes, and other tools of critical analysis that have been used to understand specific genres, their relationship to culture, and their evolution. The genre or genres considered will vary.

This course surveys major developments in cinema from 1895-1926 (the silent film era). Particular attention is paid to the representative work of leading filmmakers, the emergence of film movements and development of national trends, and the growth of film industry.

Topics in this course may include: media historiography; media industries and/or media texts in relation to particular historical moments in U.S. or international contexts; the impact that historical developments have had on the media.

This course provides a historical and cultural survey of a major national cinema or national cinemas. Topics may include Brazilian, French, German, Italian, Chinese, and other cinemas; or focus on the interrelationship between different national cinemas.

This course explores the main schools and methods of media criticism, which may range from adaptation studies, auteurism, and genre studies to queer and postcolonial studies.

Topics vary widely in this course, according to the specialties of the faculty. To name some general possibilities: the course may offer advanced study in media history and theory; major movements and historical periods and their relationship to the intellectual and cultural climate of the time; studies of technology and modes of production; advanced work in genre or auteur studies; close reading of major works of media theory; studies of spectators and audiences; or new developments in theory and criticism.