| | 01 | TBA | | TBA | Bogost | No Final | 0 | 0 | 0 | | |
| 02 | TBA | | TBA | Studlar | No Final | 0 | 0 | 0 | | |
| 05 | TBA | | TBA | Powers | No Final | 0 | 0 | 0 | | |
| 06 | TBA | | TBA | Chapman | No Final | 0 | 0 | 0 | | |
| 07 | TBA | | TBA | Burnett | No Final | 0 | 0 | 0 | | |
| 08 | TBA | | TBA | Maitre | No Final | 0 | 0 | 0 | | |
|
| | 01 | -T-R--- | 1:00P-2:20P | TBA | Fleury | No Final | 0 | 29 | 13 | | |
| A | --W---- | 4:00P-6:50P | Brown / 100 | Fleury | Default - none | 30 | 29 | 13 | | | Actions: | | Books | | Syllabus | | Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use. |
| |
|
|
| | Description: | This course introduces the core concepts and skills for producing dramatic narrative film and video, building on the Hollywood paradigm. No previous technical experience is required, but students should have taken or be concurrently enrolled in Film 220. This course teaches students how films are put together to tell stories, negotiating between the possibilities of cinematic language and the practicalities of working with machines and other people. In order to develop an understanding of filmic narration, students will learn the basics of camera operation, lighting, digital video editing, sound design and recording, casting and directing actors, visual composition and art direction, and production planning and organization. These concepts will be put into practice through a series of exercises culminating in a creative, narrative short digital video. This course fulfills the prerequisite for 300 and 400 level video and film production courses in Film and Media Studies and the production requirement in the FMS major. Admission by waitlist only. Priority given to majors. Prereq: Film 220. |
|
| | Description: | "The book was better than the movie." "The movie wasn't faithful to the book." "The TV series didn't capture the book like the movie did." These have forever been the complaints of readers watching their favorite works of literature adapted to the screen, and, in a media ecosystem increasingly flooded with adaptations and reboots of existing intellectual property, these complaints won't be going away any time soon. Film and literature have been interconnected since the very first films screened at end of the nineteenth century, but the dynamic between literature and media has sometimes been strained: film reviled as the cheap degradation of a vital art form, the novel anxious at the rise of narrative film - and later television - as rival storytelling media. But, viewing literature and visual media in opposition can obscure what becomes visible if we view them together. This is a course about the history, theory, and practice of adaptation from literature to film and television and back again rooted in both canonical and non-canonical case studies. We will study authors whose works have been repeatedly adapted across eras and media; filmmakers whose works are pastiches of various literary and cinematic sources; rigorously, obsessively "faithful" adaptations; radically transformative "unfaithful" adaptations; and works of literature and media that are themselves about the process and ethics of adaptation. The course will be anchored by a reading of Emily St. John Mandel's 2014 novel Station Eleven and a serial viewing - replicating the unusual original release - of HBO Max's miniseries adaptation. There will be occasional screenings, which are optional, on Thursdays at 4 PM In Brown 100 |
|
| | 01 | M-W---- | 1:00P-2:20P | TBA | Maciak | No Final | 22 | 22 | 15 | | |
| A | ---R--- | 4:00P-6:50P | TBA | Maciak | No Final | 19 | 2 | 0 | | Desc: | Discussion section is a "Screening" session and attendance is not required. |
| | |
|
| | 01 | -T-R--- | 10:00A-11:20A | TBA | Lewis | May 6 2025 6:00PM - 8:00PM | 19 | 19 | 11 | | |
|
| | Description: | This course will survey the economic, cultural, technological, and political contexts that have shaped the history of American cinema as art and commerce, from its origins in the mass culture of the 19th century to its centrality to the global multimedia environment of the 21st. In addition to examining the historical factors that allowed Hollywood to become the dominant global force in the making and mass marketing of movies, we will explore the continuing vitality of independent and experimental filmmaking, shining the spotlight on historically marginalized voices. Some of the topics covered will include the star system, the transition from silents to sound, self-regulation and the ratings system, filmmaking in wartime, women in and out of the industry, the Hollywood Renaissance of the 1970s, African American cinema, blockbusters and spectacle, queer cinema, and Pixar as contemporary franchise. In addition, we will see films by some of the most famous directors in American film history -- as well as some of the most unjustly overlooked. By the end of this course, you will have a detailed knowledge of the history of American cinema, the individuals and institutional processes that have shaped it, the economic, technological, and political forces that have transformed it, and the contemporary debates about its future. Priority given to majors and minors. REQUIRED SCREENING: Tuesdays @ 4 pm. |
|
| | 01 | M-W---- | 1:00P-2:20P | TBA | Decker | May 7 2025 1:00PM - 3:00PM | 50 | 29 | 0 | | | Actions: | | Books | | Syllabus | | Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use. |
| |
|
| A | -T----- | 4:00P-6:50P | Brown / 100 | Decker | No Final | 50 | 29 | 0 | | | Actions: | | Books | | Syllabus | | Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use. |
| |
|
|
| | Description: | In Making Movies II, students advance their skills in filmmaking through a series of exercises and individual short films culminating in a final narrative project shot in high definition digital video and edited in Adobe CC and Premiere Pro. With faculty guidance, and working in groups, students collaborate in producing a narrative film that is a minimum of 10 minutes in length, following three-act structure and involving elements of motivation, conflict, and resolution. In addition to this structured approach to content, students are encouraged to achieve a unified aesthetic approach to picture and soundtrack that reinforces/enhances the meaning of their final projects. The course develops student skills through lectures, demonstrations, in-class screening of excerpts and critiques. Topics covered include idea development, preproduction planning, directing actors, composition, lighting, and editing. Students are required to assist other students in their productions and attend all classes. 3 credits. Admission by waitlist only. Prerequisite: Film 220 and Film 225. |
|
| | 01 | M-W---- | 11:30A-12:50P | TBA | Fleury | No Final | 19 | 19 | 10 | | |
|
| | 01 | -T-R--- | 11:30A-12:50P | TBA | Hilu | May 5 2025 1:00PM - 3:00PM | 35 | 35 | 7 | | | Actions: | | Books | | Syllabus | | Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use. |
| |
|
| A | --W---- | 7:00P-10:00P | Seigle / L006 | Hilu | No Final | 36 | 35 | 7 | | | Actions: | | Books | | Syllabus | | Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use. |
| |
|
|
| | Description: | SPECIAL NOTE: Admission by Wait-list only. Preference will be given to Film & Media Studies AND English majors/minors. Writers will explore the various elements, structure and styles used in crafting a motion picture screenplay. They will experience this process as they conceive, develop and execute the first act of a feature-length script. Writers will create a screenplay story, present an outline for class discussion and analysis, then craft Act One. Writers will be encouraged to consult with the instructor at various stages: concept, outline, character and scene development, and dialogue execution. While the students fashion their screenwriting independently, the class will also explore the general elements of THEME, GENRE, and VOICE. A more specific examination of mechanics, the nuts and bolts of story construction, plotting, pacing, etc. will follow to support the ongoing writing process. In-class exercises will aid the writer in sharpening skills and discovering new approaches to form and content. Writers' work will be shared and discussed regularly in class. Screening of film scenes and sequences will provide students with concrete examples of how dramatic screenwriting evolves once it leaves the writer's hands. Priority given to majors. This course counts toward the Creative Writing Concentration. |
|
| | 01 | -T-R--- | 1:00P-2:20P | TBA | Chapman | No Final | 0 | 5 | 21 | | |
|
| | Description: | This class will focus on all the factors that go into preparing and writing an episode for a network TV series (dramas only). Students begin with a "pitch" (verbally or in short outline form) for an idea for a show currently on a network schedule. Once the "pitch" is accepted, the student will then complete a "beat sheet," and ultimately a spec script that can run from 62 to 75 pages. Two drafts of the script will be required. During the course of this process, students will also learn how to research their narrative premises by contacting legal, medical, and law enforcement experts in order to guarantee the accuracy of their scripts.
In addition to learning the actual writing process, students will be expected to watch several television shows and to read books, scripts, and industry trade papers as they pertain to the craft and business of television writing. Finally, students will also meet agents, producers, directors, and other television industry professionals in order to gain their insights into the script writing process and to gain a more global view of the steps involved in bringing their ideas to the screen. |
|
| | 01 | M-W---- | 10:00A-11:20A | TBA | Chapman | No Final | 0 | 11 | 0 | | |
|
| | Description: | This course looks at the role of music in Hollywood films from the beginning of the sound era to the present. Larger themes include the importance of technology, industry structures shaping the nature of scores, notable film music composers, the relationship between music, gender and genre, music's role in the adaptation of literary texts to film, the power of directors to shape the content of film scores, and the importance of popular music as a driving economic and aesthetic force in film music history. Films to be screened include From Here to Eternity, Stagecoach, High Noon, The Night of the Hunter, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Born on the Fourth of July, Casino, Jarhead and The Social Network. Required Screenings: Tuesdays @ 7pm |
|
| | 01 | M-W---- | 4:00P-5:20P | TBA | Crandol | May 2 2025 6:00PM - 8:00PM | 19 | 19 | 5 | | |
| A | M------ | 7:00P-9:00P | Seigle / L006 | Crandol | No Final | 19 | 19 | 5 | | Desc: | Monday @ 7pm required film screening |
| | |
|
| | Description: | Despite recent media attention to the gender gap in Hollywood, women still account for less than 10% of all directors, and only five women have ever been nominated for the Best Director Oscar. However, these abysmal statistics do not reflect the reality that female directors are producing some of the most innovative and exciting films of the 21st century. This course is intended to provide a general overview of the remarkable contributions of women directors to contemporary cinema (1990 to present). First, we will turn our attention to women in the commercial industry, examining topics such as female authorship, popular genres, and the gender politics of production cultures in Hollywood. Then, we will survey women directors working outside of the system in documentary, independent, and experimental filmmaking modes. Finally, we will adopt a transnational perspective to investigate the contributions of women directors to world cinema, contextualizing the films of "women cinéastes" from countries such as Hong Kong, Argentina, and Iran in relation to their national cinemas and international film festival networks. In addition, we will discuss the films of women directors in terms of feminist and gender issues and as texts that clarify critical issues in film analysis, interpretation, and criticism. Required screenings: Wednesdays @ 7pm |
|
| | 01 | -T-R--- | 11:30A-12:50P | TBA | Powers | May 5 2025 1:00PM - 3:00PM | 19 | 19 | 0 | | | Actions: | | Books | | Syllabus | | Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use. |
| |
|
| A | --W---- | 7:00P-10:00P | Brown / 100 | Powers | Default - none | 19 | 19 | 0 | | | Actions: | | Books | | Syllabus | | Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use. |
| |
|
|
| | 01 | M-W---- | 11:30A-12:50P | Brown / 100 | Sánchez Prado | Paper/Project/Take Home | 55 | 54 | 0 | | |
|
| | Description: | Social media platforms like TikTok, X (previously Twitter), and Facebook use algorithms-a set of programmed rules that determine what, when, and how viewers engage with media online-to bolster profits, optimize the user experience, distinguish themselves from the competition, among other reasons. A quick search of the term "algorithm" on most search engines yields results as far reaching as 'how to' tutorials on Tik Tok's For You Page, guides on coding for beginners, and everything in between. Further, while most platforms' algorithms are proprietary and 'black boxed', the ways that we as users think about and perceive of them shapes at least a few things: (i) the content we get online; (ii) our relationship with technology, more broadly; and (iii) our politics and views that become emboldened and/or challenged online. This class will take up a cultural and media studies approach to algorithms to ask: what social, political, and economic factors influence the way that people engage with technology, and algorithms specifically? How do users differently respond to algorithms and what do those differences tell us about the changing relationship between users and technology? What is the relationship between polarization and online personalization and how can media studies intervene in this area? Students will gain a better understanding of personalization algorithms and how culture intersects with the undercurrents of any technology, past, present, and future. |
|
| | 01 | M-W---- | 1:00P-2:20P | TBA | Lloyd | May 7 2025 1:00PM - 3:00PM | 19 | 13 | 0 | | |
|
| | Description: | SPECIAL NOTE: Admission by Wait-list only. Preference will be given to Film & Media Studies majors and students enrolled in or in the process of applying to our FMS graduate programs. This course is an introduction to both classical and contemporary film theory. It starts by examining the earliest attempts to understand the nature of cinema as a new art form, and then reviews the ways in which, through successive decades, a variety of theorists have formulated, and applied, their definitions of the essential nature of the medium. The course then examines more recent developments within film theory, notably its attempt to incorporate the insights of other critical and analytical paradigms, such as semiotics, structuralism, psychoanalysis, feminism, and postmodernism. REQUIRED SCREENINGS: Mondays @ 7 pm |
|
| | 01 | M-W---- | 10:00A-11:20A | TBA | Lewis | May 5 2025 10:30AM - 12:30PM | 0 | 0 | 35 | | |
|
| | Description: | Media archives structure our knowledge of film and TV's past. They help determine what survives of today's media productions into the future. While that gatekeeping work might seem opaque from the outside, an array of archivists and curators, both professional and amateur, are reevaluating what gets saved to make the historical record more inclusive and complete.
This course will introduce you to the debates and new technologies that are transforming moving image archiving. It mixes readings and discussions of scholarly works and professional white papers with hands-on activities to show how the seemingly apolitical labor of archivists, like cataloging and reference, reflects ideologies of professionalism, gender, class, and race. While introducing you to the current best practices in digitizing media for long-term preservation, it will also ask you to analyze how those professional standards came into being.
This class is made possible by WashU Libraries Film & Media Archive's (FMA) collections and legacy technologies, as well as its staff's time and expertise. As such, we will focus on areas of moving image archiving that the FMA specializes in including nontheatrical film, the 16mm film format, social justice documentaries, and Black media production.
In this course, you will gain:
a knowledge of archival practices
an introduction to the concepts of archival power and efforts to democratize the preservation of our shared cultural heritage
an overview of moving image archiving profession including the range of institutions, collections, and jobs in the field
an understanding of legacy media formats and playback technologies
hands-on experience repairing and digitizing film and video
and an introduction to digital preservation strategies and open-source tools |
|
| | 01 | -T-R--- | 1:00P-2:20P | TBA | Uhrich | May 6 2025 1:00PM - 3:00PM | 22 | 8 | 0 | | |
|
| | Description: | The screen in modern China has been an important media device for social, political, and cultural transformation. This course invites students to examine Chinese screen culture from the early 20th century to the present. Discussing the screen images, the architectural environment built around the screen, and the screen as an interface that frames social relations, the course will investigate why and how cinema took roots in China, how the Chinese critics took advantage of the attraction of the film screen to instigate cultural reforms, how the socialist regime tried to extend the revolutionary spirit by delivering the screen to the remote villages, and, most recently, how the personal touchscreen introduced a set of new techniques in crafting and exploiting the self-image in the digital economy. This course will introduce critical methodologies to do research on screen culture. It will also give students opportunities to engage with media production, such as podcast and video essays, as a new mode of critical thinking and practice. Undergraduates enroll in the 400-level section; 500-level section is for graduate students only. Fulfills modern elective for EALC major. Prerequisites: junior level or above or permission of instructor. |
|
| | 01 | -T-R--- | 2:30P-3:50P | TBA | Gao | Paper/Project/Take Home | 15 | 11 | 0 | | |
| A | -T----- | 7:00P-9:00P | Seigle / L006 | Gao | No Final | 15 | 11 | 0 | | Desc: | Required film screening: Tue @ 7pm |
| | |
|
| | 01 | -T-R--- | 10:00A-11:20A | TBA | Chapman | No Final | 0 | 7 | 15 | | |
|
| | Description: | This variable topics course for advanced undergraduate and graduate students is an interdisciplinary seminar on transmedia franchises. In particular, it is recommended for those seeking to understand transmedia storytelling as an artistic, industrial, and cultural practice. As such, this course will bring into conversation various methodologies and perspectives, including film and media scholarship as well as other fields of study in the humanities and social sciences. The goal of this interdisciplinary approach is to illuminate how transmedia franchises have developed since the early 20th century to become the dominant product of the American -- and, increasingly, global -- cultural industries. Foci of this course may include such topics as individual franchises; global transmedia history; the franchise strategies of individual cultural industries (e.g., the Japanese media mix); or representation within franchise texts, production cultures, and fan communities. This course serves as a capstone for Film & Media Studies majors. Weekly or bi-weekly screenings or hands-on media labs are required: Tuesdays @ 7pm |
|
| | 01 | -T-R--- | 11:30A-12:50P | TBA | Fleury | No Final | 19 | 13 | 0 | | | Actions: | | Books | | Syllabus | | Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use. |
| |
|
| A | -T----- | 7:00P-10:00P | Brown / 100 | Fleury | No Final | 19 | 13 | 0 | | | Actions: | | Books | | Syllabus | | Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use. |
| |
|
|
| | Description: | We have become intimately and persistently intertwined with digital media. So many of our experiences and interactions, such as friendship, dating, and work, are mediated through these technologies. The ubiquity of digital media comes with major changes in the way we make sense of our identities, relationships, and communities. This course is an interdisciplinary seminar addressing the relationship between developments in digital media and changing conceptions of self and society. We will approach this topic by engaging with scholarship in film and media studies, as well as perspectives from related fields like software studies, critical algorithm studies, and histories of science and technology. The course will analyze issues such as the intersection of gender, race, and sexuality with technological development and will critique and evaluate different theories of digital selfhood such as the cyborg or the posthuman. We will ask such questions as: Who are we when we interact with and through digital devices? What pleasures and fantasies drive our digital engagements? How do digital media shape our labor in addition to our leisure? How do pre-existing cultural understandings of race, gender, and sexuality influence digital culture? By surveying digital media and computers, as well as their representations in film and television, we will explore how digital media help us imagine and perform alternative experiences of self, embodiment, and sociality both on and offline. REQUIRED Weekly or biweekly screenings or hands-on media labs on Wednesday @ 4pm |
|
| | 01 | -T-R--- | 2:30P-3:50P | TBA | Hilu | May 7 2025 3:30PM - 5:30PM | 19 | 4 | 0 | | | Actions: | | Books | | Syllabus | | Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use. |
| |
|
| A | --W---- | 4:00P-6:50P | Seigle / L006 | Hilu | No Final | 19 | 4 | 0 | | | Actions: | | Books | | Syllabus | | Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use. |
| |
|
|
| | 01 | TBA | | TBA | Bogost | No Final | 0 | 0 | 0 | | |
| 02 | TBA | | TBA | Studlar | No Final | 0 | 0 | 0 | | |
| 05 | TBA | | TBA | Powers | No Final | 0 | 0 | 0 | | |
| 06 | TBA | | TBA | Chapman | No Final | 0 | 0 | 0 | | |
| 07 | TBA | | TBA | Burnett | No Final | 0 | 0 | 0 | | |
| 08 | TBA | | TBA | Maitre | No Final | 0 | 0 | 0 | | |
|
| | 01 | TBA | | TBA | Studlar | No Final | 0 | 0 | 0 | | |
| 02 | TBA | | TBA | Powers | No Final | 0 | 0 | 0 | | |
| 04 | TBA | | TBA | Burnett | No Final | 0 | 0 | 0 | | |
| 06 | TBA | | TBA | Chapman | No Final | 0 | 0 | 1 | | |
|
|