Winter 2024

FILM-ST 312 - ST- Making Short Films
Instructor: David Casals Roma
Credits: 3

Making short films is a step-by-step course that goes through the basic aspects of filmmaking. We start with the preproduction process and how to find engaging stories. You will learn how to break-down scripts, cast actors, find crew, scout locations, prepare budgets, shooting plans and other important paperwork. Regarding the production process the course will focus on framing, blocking, lighting, directing actors, cinematography, sound and other aspects to be aware of when you are shooting a film. In the post production process you will learn the basics of editing images, sound design, music, effects and color correction. Finally, we will analyze the film market and the possibilities that new filmmakers have in the industry.

 

FILM-ST 380 – The Horror Film
Instructor: Barry Spence
Credits: 3

Monsters, slashers, and legions of the undead have terrorized audiences and haunted Hollywood's silver screen for a hundred years. This course will focus on the horror film, one of the most longstanding film forms, but one for which there is no clear scholarly consensus as to its definition. We will undertake an overview of the horror film in American cinema, focusing on the period from 1930-1999. We will give careful study to twelve landmark examples. How do we define this genre? What are the form's salient characteristics? What stylistic and formal techniques, what visual aesthetics, what themes, character types, sound design strategies, and conventions of narrative structure typify the American horror film, and what are the affective aspects of the horror film experience? These are some of the horror-related questions this course will explore.