Courses

The courses listed below are provided by Student Information Services (SIS). This listing provides a snapshot of immediately available courses within this department and may not be complete. Course registration information can be found at https://sis.jhu.edu/classes/.

Please consult the online course catalog for cross-listed courses and full course information, including courses that are offered on a rotating basis.

Fall 2021

Navigating the Entertainment Industry: A Preparation for Intersession
AS.061.103 (01)

This course prepares students for FMS’s Intersession field trip to Los Angeles, and also serves as an introduction to the professional skills necessary to navigate a career in film, television, and other fields of entertainment. Through discussion, hands-on practice, and guest lectures with FMS alumni, students will learn how to find their way in a complex industry, how to present themselves and their work, how to choose the right path, and how to cultivate the connections and opportunities they’ll need to succeed. We will also discuss what to expect and how to make the most of the week-long intersession course, which introduces students to alumni in a range of professions in film, television, and entertainment. Meets 6 times during the semester. Required for students planning to enroll in The Entertainment Industry in Contemporary Hollywood. Open to all FMS majors and minors.

Credits: 1.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: W 6:00PM - 7:00PM
Instructor: DeLibero, Linda
Room: Gilman 77
Status: Open
Seats Available: 2/12
PosTag(s): n/a

Introduction to Cinema, 1892-1941
AS.061.140 (01)

This course explores the fundamentals of film analysis and encourages students to embark on an exploration of the first half of our first century of movies. It teaches the basic elements of film form, as well as their use in films across the globe from the turn of the twentieth century through the start of World War II. Movements discussed include the silent comedy of Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd, moody German Expressionism, the playful anarchy of Surrealism, the fundamentals of editing with Soviet Montage, the beauty of French poetic realism, the rule-breaking of Pre-Production Code cinema, the work of the young Alfred Hitchcock, and, of course, highlights of classical Hollywood filmmaking.

Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM, F 12:00PM - 2:30PM Screenings, W 7:30PM - 10:00PM Screenings
Instructor: Ward, Meredith C
Room: Hodson 305 Hodson 311
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 13/35
PosTag(s): n/a

Introduction to Digital Video Production: Visual Language
AS.061.145 (01)

This course is a study of the visual language used to create a moving picture. Through screenings and discussion of films, videos, and related readings, students will develop a visual critical facility and will demonstrate this facility in a few response papers to screenings and video projects. The course will focus on image construction, including composition, framing, movement inside the frame and use of light as well as use of sound. Students will learn to be attentive to rhythm and tempo in picture editing and sound. In-class video assignments included, in which students will work in small groups of three.

Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: W 3:30PM - 5:50PM, T 7:30PM - 10:00PM Screenings
Instructor: Yasinsky, Karen
Room: Gilman 75
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 1/10
PosTag(s): FILM-PROD

Introduction to Film Production
AS.061.150 (01)

This course introduces students to basic considerations of shooting 16mm film. Through lectures and practice, the course approaches the basics of light meter readings, basic camera operations and shot composition. The course also highlights specific readings from classical film theory to augment weekly shooting exercises. Each week students, working in groups, shoot film exercises, providing a general overview of film production. For the final project, each group shoots and edits (physical edits) a short (3-5 minutes) film on 16mm black and white reversal film stock. Lab fee: $200

Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: F 11:00AM - 1:20PM
Instructor: Mann, John
Room: The Centre 216
Status: Approval Required
Seats Available: 0/10
PosTag(s): FILM-PROD

Introduction to Digital Video Production
AS.061.152 (01)

This course introduces students to the world of digital filmmaking. Through screenings, production assignments, and in-class labs, students will develop proficiency in digital cameras, sound recording devices, and software. Students will work individually and in groups to produce several video projects. For their final projects students will pitch an idea and develop a more complex film. Lab fee: $100

Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: Th 12:30PM - 3:20PM
Instructor: Roche, Jimmy
Room: The Centre 239
Status: Approval Required
Seats Available: 0/10
PosTag(s): FILM-PROD

Lights, Camera, Action: The Female Gaze
AS.061.166 (01)

This mini-course will offer an introduction to the basics of film analysis through a survey of films directed by women. In-class screenings and emphasis on discussion over lecture. Short weekly written responses. No prior experience in film studies required; non-majors welcome. This one-credit course will meet September 2, 9, 16, 23, and will be graded Pass/Fail. Due to the limited number of meetings, perfect attendance is required.

Credits: 1.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: Th 5:00PM - 8:00PM
Instructor: Bucknell, Lucy
Room: Hodson 210
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 2/45
PosTag(s): n/a

Introduction to Screenwriting
AS.061.205 (01)

In this course we will explore the basic principles of visual storytelling in narrative film as they apply to the design, creation, and revision of the screenplay. Specifically, we will focus on learning the craft of screenwriting — strategies, processes, and philosophies that writers can develop, practice, and rely upon as they progress through a series of screenwriting exercises and write a 12-page screenplay, which will be critiqued in-class during weekly table reads and with the Instructor (one-on-one) during office hours. Select professional screenplays will be read and analyzed — and clips from select films viewed — to further explore what works well on the page, and how it translates to working well onscreen. (Scripts and clips often selected from American films spanning the 60s through the 2000s.) Final Draft screenwriting software is required; a FREE 18-week trial will be made available for all students who don’t already have Final Draft.

Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: Th 3:00PM - 5:50PM
Instructor: Staff
Room: The Centre 206
Status: Approval Required
Seats Available: 3/12
PosTag(s): FILM-SCRWRT

Special Topics: Animation Workshop
AS.061.219 (01)

Students will produce several animations using hand-made techniques, including drawing animation, paper puppets and stop-motion. Screenings and readings will provide a historical and conceptual context to the exploration of animation as an experimental technique within both narrative and non-narrative works.

Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: M 1:30PM - 3:50PM
Instructor: Yasinsky, Karen
Room: The Centre 216
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/10
PosTag(s): n/a

Special Topics: Writing About Film
AS.061.226 (01)

In this workshop, students will learn to write effective and engaging critical and analytical essays about contemporary and classic films, developing and honing interpretive skills, aesthetic criteria, and a distinctive voice. This semester’s readings, films and discussions will specifically explore film acting, performance and stardom over time and across cultures. Students will submit a series of short draft essays to the class for workshop and critique, learning to revise and edit their own work and to thoughtfully critique others’. Fulfills the Film and Media Studies expository writing requirement. Lab Fee: $50

Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: T 3:00PM - 5:20PM, Th 7:30PM - 10:00PM Screenings
Instructor: DeLibero, Linda
Room: Hodson 303
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/8
PosTag(s): FILM-CRITST

Intermediate Digital Video Production: Adobe After Effects
AS.061.233 (01)

This course will serve as an introduction to Adobe After Effects. Students will learn a variety of motion graphics techniques such as digital character animation, rotoscoping, motion tracking, chroma key compositing and automating 3D cameras. Through screenings and discussions students will gain insight into the myriad of ways After Effects is used in Film and Television. Throughout the semester students will complete several short video art projects.

Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: T 12:30PM - 2:50PM
Instructor: Roche, Jimmy
Room: The Centre 239
Status: Approval Required
Seats Available: 0/10
PosTag(s): FILM-PROD

Hybrid Cinema: Spaces Where Documentary and Fiction Meet
AS.061.240 (01)

From the films of Robert Flaherty, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnes Varda and Andy Warhol, through the work of Peter Watkins, Ulrich Seidl, Jia Zhangke, Lizzie Borden, Pedro Costa, Abbas Kiarostami, Kevin Jerome Everson, Sacha Baron Cohen and Chloé Zhao, this course explores the dominant techniques, the aberrations, and the virtues and limitations of hybrid filmmaking. Topics discussed include the ethics of representation, the significance of craft, questions of selection, narrative hegemony, the nature of performance, and the porous boundaries between documentary and fiction film. Students will be guided in their own hybrid filmmaking experiments throughout the semester.

Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: T 12:00PM - 2:30PM
Instructor: Porterfield, Matthew
Room: The Centre 206
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/10
PosTag(s): FILM-CRITST

Cultural History of the Internet
AS.061.267 (01)

This course offers an introduction to internet studies through the many ways digital culture has touched our everyday lives: memes, blogs, gaming, social networking, instant messaging, and more. From its origins in connecting scientific researchers to its present form as a multi-device, multi-platform web connecting us to everything from each other to our smart homes, the internet has proven that nearly our entire social world can be processed as data and linked up. While this has meant greater connection, it has also raised questions about how we learn, communicate, behave, and organize. The internet has long promised new avenues of personal expression, but it has also brought with it the quandaries of echo chambers, information silos, and disinformation campaigns. In response to these complicating effects, the course offers an opportunity for students to develop the critical mapping tools necessary to orient oneself within this vast cultural network and its rapid historical unfolding.

Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: M 2:00PM - 4:20PM
Instructor: Stine, Kyle J.
Room: The Centre 208
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/30
PosTag(s): FILM-CRITST, MSCH-HUM

Strategic Approaches to Filmmaking in 2021
AS.061.302 (01)

The year 2020 challenged the film industry by imposing restrictions on our mobility, collaboration and access. Unable to gather in large groups or travel to the ideal location, much less rent equipment or leave the confines of our homes, moving-image makers found creative ways to embrace these limitations and continue making exceptional things. This intro-level production course will go back to basics in an attempt to define and explore the essential elements of visual storytelling. In this present, and in the future, how do we embrace the aesthetic challenges that come with limited resources and means? Can we make a compelling film or video without human subjects? Can we tell a dynamic story using only one location? Is there a possibility for drama when only one character appears on screen? Can sound be used to evoke the world outside the frame? And how do we make meaningful, relevant, transcendent work amidst a social, political and public health crisis? Over the course of the semester, students will be exposed to films and filmmakers who use these questions to stimulate their practice, and in turn, will be asked to address these challenging questions for themselves through the work they create for class. This course will fulfill the Advanced Filmmaking requirement for the major and minor. Students should have already completed an introductory and intermediate production course before enrolling.

Credits: 3.00
Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: Th 12:00PM - 2:20PM
Instructor: Porterfield, Matthew
Room: The Centre 216
Status: Approval Required
Seats Available: 4/8
PosTag(s): FILM-PROD

The Fallen World: Morally Complex Storytelling
AS.061.312 (01)

A workshop devoted to creating complex characters in challenging moral landscapes. Students will view and discuss a wide range of films; and creative assignments may include profiles, short fiction, monologues, and dramatic scenes for the screen. Short critical and creative written exercises, and a longer, creative final project.

Credits: 3.00
Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: T 3:00PM - 5:20PM, M 7:30PM - 10:00PM Screenings
Instructor: Bucknell, Lucy
Room: Gilman 50 Gilman 413
Status: Open
Seats Available: 1/9
PosTag(s): FILM-SCRWRT

Media and Narrative
AS.061.317 (01)

Using narrative theory, this hybrid course teaches students the ins and outs of narrative forms that interact with cinema, engaging with both screenwriting and narrative studies. Using the adaptation of author Neil Gaiman's Coraline to teach students the differences in narrative structure that align with fiction, the graphic novel, and the film, it also enables them to engage in their own adaptation. Taking an original concept from short fiction to a graphic novel treatment to a film treatment, culminating in a short film script and storyboard, the course teaches the fundamentals of narrative theory and encourages students to engage with them creatively.

Credits: 3.00
Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: F 10:00AM - 12:30PM
Instructor: Ward, Meredith C
Room: The Centre 206
Status: Approval Required
Seats Available: 1/10
PosTag(s): FILM-SCRWRT

Masculinities
AS.061.323 (01)

From tap dancer to gangster, assassin to anguished teen, versions of the male in film from the silent era to the present. Cross-listed with Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. One core course in Film and Media Studies is preferred but not required.

Credits: 3.00
Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: M 3:00PM - 5:30PM, S 7:00PM - 9:30PM Screenings, Th 7:30PM - 10:00PM Screenings
Instructor: Bucknell, Lucy
Room: Bloomberg 178 Gilman 186
Status: Open
Seats Available: 8/15
PosTag(s): FILM-CRITST

Intermediate Screenwriting
AS.061.373 (01)

This course will explore strategy and process for developing a short screenplay from pre-existing literary or journalistic source material (short story, news/feature article, etc.). By exploring several “case studies” — feature films and the source material that inspired them — students will identify the practical strategies employed by professional screenwriters with the goal of employing such strategies with their own screenplay adaptations. Bulk of class will focus on designing, writing, and rewriting a 20-30 page screenplay, and sharing multiple drafts with the class (and with the professor one-on-one) for critique over the course of the semester. Each student should have 2-3 pieces of material under consideration for possible adaptation by the start of class. Discussions from time to time will also touch on the business of screenwriting. (Scripts and clips often selected from American films spanning the 60s through the 2000s.) Students will be required to purchase a license for Final Draft screenwriting software for $99. Students are expected to have previously completed AS.061.205 or another lower level screenwriting class.

Credits: 3.00
Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: F 1:00PM - 3:50PM
Instructor: Rodgers, Adam F
Room: The Centre 206
Status: Approval Required
Seats Available: 0/10
PosTag(s): FILM-SCRWRT

Explorations in Film Sound
AS.061.382 (01)

This course traces the history of the soundtrack from Vitaphone at the coming of sound to Dolby Stereo in the New Hollywood era to the fully immersive, atmospheric sound systems of today’s cinemas and home theaters. We consider major theories on the relationship between sound and image, the production of sound space, the role of the voice in cinema, and the effects of film music. Assignments will engage with the materials through both analytical reflection and short creative sound production. Screenings and examples are likely to include early sound classics, such as Sunrise (1927) and 42nd Street (1933); notable international innovators, such as The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) and A Man Escaped (1956); pathbreaking stereo entries, such as Fantasia (1940) and Apocalypse Now (1979); recent exemplars of film music, such as In the Mood for Love (2000) and Morvern Callar (2002); and films that reflect on the very nature of sound recording, such as The Conversation (1974) and The Lives of Others (2006).

Credits: 3.00
Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: W 2:00PM - 4:30PM, W 7:30PM - 10:00PM Screenings
Instructor: Stine, Kyle J.
Room: Hodson 303
Status: Open
Seats Available: 1/15
PosTag(s): FILM-CRITST

Fabric of the Real
AS.061.384 (01)

Maurice Merleau-Ponty writes, “the real is a closely woven fabric”. In this course we will consider how several artistic disciplines weave their own version of that fabric. These disciplines include documentary film, prose poetry, landscape painting, literature, and music. The course will be predicated upon Martin Heidegger’s essay, “The Age of the World Picture” and follow the lead of Roland Barthe’s essay on the “effect of the real”. We will also highlight various hybrid forms within these disciplines, with particular attention to the work of W.G.Sebald and StevenReich.

Credits: 3.00
Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: W 12:00PM - 2:20PM
Instructor: Mann, John
Room: The Centre 216
Status: Approval Required
Seats Available: 3/8
PosTag(s): FILM-CRITST

Senior Capstone Project: Production
AS.061.440 (01)