Film Studies Courses
Spring 2025
Introduction to Film – ENG 282
T/TH 12:50PM-2:40PM Anu Thapa (001) Caldwell G107
T/TH 5:20PM-7:10PM Will Carr (002) Caldwell G111
Writing About Film – ENG 292
M/W 8:30A-9:45A Tommy Jenkins (Tompkins G109)
Introduction to Screenwriting – ENG 330
T 3:00P – 5:45P Tommy Jenkins (Tompkins G109)
History of Film from 1940 – ENG 374/COM 374
T/TH 3:00P – 4:50P Travis Merchant-Knudsen (Caldwell G107)
Women and Film – ENG 378
M/W 12:50P – 2:40P McKinley Keener (Caldwell G111)
Film and Literature – ENG 382
M/W 10:40A – 12:30P Alok Amatya (Caldwell G111)
Special Topics in Film Styles and Genres – ENG 492
T/Th 10:40A – 12:30P Anu Thapa (001) (Caldwell G111) Religion and Technology in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Films
M/W 3:00P – 4:15P Jorge Mari (002) (Withers 110) Contemporary Mexican Cinema: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Non-Academic Writing About Film and Media – ENG 585/ENG 798
M 1:30P – 4:15P Marsha Gordon (Tompkins G109)
Video Production – COM 334
M/W 1:30-2:45
Intro to Stop-Motion Animation – IDS 495 *This class can be counted towards the Production Requirement for Art Studies-Film Majors
T/TH 1:30P – 2:45P Victoria Ralston (Tompkins G126)
Summer I 2025
Writing About Film – ENG 292
MTWTHF Online/Asynchronous Andrew Johnston
Summer II 2025
Screenwriting – ENG 330
MTWTHF Online/Asynchronous Tommy Jenkins
Fall 2024
Introduction to Film – ENG 282
T&Th 12:50P – 2:40P Anu Thapa (001) (Caldwell G107)
T&Th 5:20P – 7:10P McKinley Keener (002) (Caldwell G107)
Writing About Film – ENG 292
M&W 8:30A – 9:45A Tommy Jenkins (Tompkins G109)
Introduction to Screenwriting – ENG 330
T 3:00P – 5:45P Tommy Jenkins (Tompkins G109)
History of Film to 1940 – ENG 364/COM 364
T&Th 10:40A – 12:30P Marsha Gordon (Caldwell G107)
African American Cinema – ENG 375/AFS 375
M&W 3:00P – 4:50P John Paul Stadler (Caldwell G107)
Rendering Worlds: Digital Media, Animation, and F/X – ENG 492 (001)/ENG 592
M&W 12:50P – 2:40P Andrew Johnston (Caldwell G111)
Film and the Future – ENG 492 (002)/WL 495 (003)
T&Th 3:00P – 4:15P Jorge Mari (TBD)
Vulgar Media – ENG 585/ENG 798 (001)
M 9:35A – 12:20P John Paul Stadler (Tompkins G126)
Methods and Theories in Media Studies – ENG 587 (001)
T 9:35A – 12:20P Anu Thapa (Tompkins G126)
Video Production – COM 334 *Instructor permission required to enroll
M&W 1:30P – 2:45P Shirin Maleki (Winston 201J)
Intro to Stop-Motion Animation – IDS 495
T&Th 1:30P – 4:15P Toni Ralston (Brooks Hall 318)
Undergraduate & Graduate Course Descriptions
Introduction to Film (ENG 282)
This course introduces students to the fundamentals of film analysis, including narrative, visual, and sound techniques. Through screenings, discussions, exams, and papers, students develop skills in identifying techniques, using appropriate film terminology to describe cinematography, mise en scène, sound, and editing, and constructing sound analyses and interpretations of films.
Writing About Film (ENG 292)
Comprehensive study of various approaches to writing about film. Primary focus is on the critical and evaluative practice involved in writing film criticism for non-academic audiences. Film screenings, discussion of assigned readings, and in-class writing workshops aid students in preparing a portfolio of film writing that includes film reviews of various lengths.
Screenwriting (ENG 330)
Through lectures, film clips, screenplay examples, collaborative brainstorming, and original writing, we will explore the craft and art of screenwriting. Students will learn about structure, characterization, creating dynamic dialogue, subtext, subplots, theme, exposition, etc utilizing established screenplay formats. The course will involve studying great films and scripts, participating in critiques, and the writing and revising of original material. At the end of the semester the students should have a clear understanding of cinematic storytelling techniques and will have completed multiple scenes.
History of Film to 1940 (COM 364/ENG 364)
Technological developments and aesthetic movements that shaped international cinema production from the beginning of the industry to 1940. Formal evolution in camera movement, editing, sound, narrative form, and the documentary. The rise to prominence of Hollywood and international cinemas in historical, economic, and cultural contexts.
History of Film from 1940 (ENG 374/COM 374)
Technological developments and aesthetic movements that have shaped international cinema production from 1940 to the present. Evolution in camera movement, editing, sound, narrative form, and the documentary. Post-war Hollywood cinema and international film industries [both established and emerging] in historical, economic and cultural context.
African American Cinema (ENG 375)
Survey and analysis of African American film culture from 1900-present. Examination of pre-Hollywood, classical Hollywood, and Independent filmmaking. Particular focus on independent filmmakers’ response to dominant industry representations and the work of filmmakers who seek to create a specifically African American cinematic style.
Women & Film (ENG 378)
This course will introduce students to women’s participation, as well as their representation, in the history of film and other audiovisual media, including television, music videos, and performance art. The course includes screenings and addresses issues such as: the gendered nature of the gaze; film form and genre; nation and postcoloniality; spectatorship; race, class, and sexuality.
Film and Literature (ENG 382)
Ways of adapting literary works to film form. Similarities and differences between these two media. Emphasis on the practical art of transforming literature into film. Attention to the impact of film upon literature.
Advanced Screenwriting (ENG 430)
Advanced Screenwriting students will complete ready-to-sell screenplays over the course of the semester. Workload includes taking home two 100-page scripts each week and giving a thorough critique both in writing and in class discussion. Course included pitch sessions, opening scene workshops, intensive reading and writing.
Special Topics in Film Styles and Genres (ENG 492/IDS 496/ENG 592)
Critical approaches to focused film topics involving film genres, directorial styles, or trends within a national cinema. Topics will vary from semester to semester. Courses offered recently include “Hitchcock and Wilder,” “The Horror Film,” “The Romantic Comedy,”“The Crime Film”, “Media F/X: Digital Cinema, Animation & Special Effects”, “Cowboys and Superheroes”, “Sci-Fi Film.”
Studies in Film (ENG 585/ ENG 798)
Graduate level exploration of selected problems and issues in film. Variation in content semester to semester. Courses offered recently include “Women, Representation, and Violence in Contemporary Film and Media,” “Animating Matter and Media,” “Moving Image and Media Archaeology,” “Media Style and Authorship,” “Studio Era Hollywood,” “The War Film”, “Laboring Ladies: How Pre-1960s Hollywood Imagined Working Women”.
Methods and Theories in Media Studies (ENG 587/ENG 798)
This seminar will explore key theoretical and methodological issues in media studies. We will discuss approaches, paradigms, as well as discourses about media landscapes and objects in order to prepare students to engage in various forms of research. Topics will include historiography, media archaeology, ethnographic approaches to media, cultural hierarchy and taste, formalism and aesthetics, feminist theory, and analyses of political economy and media institutions. We will engage with a variety of media, from broadcast television and cinema to mobile technologies and social networks. By the end of this course, students will have a thorough understanding of the approaches covered during the semester with an ability to engage with new approaches encountered later in their scholarship and research. Approaches to various texts and social institutions will be discussed in classes and will be used by students in a research project completed by the end of the semester.
History and Theory of Media Technologies (CRD 701)
Foundational study of media and technology through examination of historical perspectives on technological change. Discussion of media theory, media archaeology, feminist theory, political economy, cultural studies, and functionalist perspectives on technology. Examination of media and power, social movements, alternative media, technology and development, participatory communication, technological diffusion. Research paper and seminar presentation.
Digital Video Production (COM 357)
Principles of producing, directing, and editing techniques for digital video. Students script, storyboard, shoot, and edit short video projects.
Film Production (COM 444)
This class is on the basics of film vs digital video. You take this course because you want the training in filmmaking that utilizes film cameras and 16mm film negative. The film stock is beautiful and tends to give you a more refined image than digital can. You also learn to be much more rigorous in your choices of story and shooting.