Film, Television and Theatre

Department Chair:
Pamela Wojcik

Endowed Professors:
McMeel Family Chair in Shakespeare Studies:
Peter Holland
Andrew V. Tackes Professor of Film, Television, and Theatre:
Pamela Wojcik

Endowed Associate Professors:
The William and Helen Carey Chair in Modern Communication, Emeritus:
Susan Ohmer
Thomas J. and Robert T. Rolfs Associate Professor of Film, Television, and Theatre:
Anne García-Romero

Professors:
James M. Collins; Donald Crafton (emeritus); Bríona Nic Dhiarmada (concurrent); William Donahue (concurrent); Jill Godmilow (emerita); Susan Harris (concurrent); Berthold Hoeckner (concurrent); Peter Holland; Anton Juan (emeritus); Mary Celeste Kearney; Mark C. Pilkinton (emeritus)

Associate Professors:
Reginald F. Bain (emeritus); Christine Becker; Tarryn Li-Min Chun; Kevin C. Dreyer; La Donna Forsgren; Anne García-Romero; Charles Leavitt (concurrent); Tarryn Li-Min Chun; Olivier Morel; Susan Ohmer; Jason Ruiz (concurrent); Matthew Thomas Payne; Frederic W. Syburg (emeritus)

Assistant Professors:
Pedro Aguilera-Mellado (concurrent); Terrance Brown; Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal (concurrent); Cecilia Kim; George Sikharulidze; Jeff Spoonhower; Nicole L. Woods (concurrent)

Teaching Professors:
William Donaruma; Richard Donnelly (emeritus); Siiri Scott

Associate Teaching Professors:
C. Ken Cole; Matt Hawkins; Michael Kackman; Theodore E. Mandell; Marcus Stephens

Ryan Producing Artistic Director, Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival:
Scott Jackson

The Department

The Department of Film, Television, and Theatre curriculum includes study of the arts of theatre and performance, film and video, and television. Our goal is to provide students with intellectual and intuitive resources for analysis and production of these performing and media arts. We seek both to encourage and inspire intellectual discipline and curiosity as well as to discover and nurture student creativity. We offer, therefore, both a scholarly and creative context for education of the general liberal arts student at Notre Dame as well as the individual seeking an intensive preparation for advanced study in these fields. In an interdisciplinary spirit of collaboration, students in this department investigate film, television, and theatre (and occasionally other media) as complex cultural phenomena to develop skills in analysis, evaluation, and theory formation as well as to engage in creative production.

Students graduating from this department have numerous postgraduate choices. Many of our graduates seek careers in law, medicine, business, education, public service, or other professions. Others will pursue careers in theatre, film, or television. However, we are not a professional training program. Rather, we seek to provide the creative and technological tools for student scholar/artists to build a basis for advanced study and professional careers in the arts should they so desire. It is our hope that those whose work and determination lead them to seek careers in these fields will be challenged and assisted by their liberal arts curriculum. Our courses provide tools to understand the analytical, technical and imaginative processes of the field, whether pursued as future work, study, or as an enhancement of intellectual life.

For more information and up-to-date listings of courses and FTT events, visit ftt.nd.edu.

The Department of Film, Television, and Theatre offers their courses under the subject code of: Film, Television, and Theatre (FTT). Courses associated with their academic programs may be found below. The scheduled classes for a given semester may be found at classearch.nd.edu.

Film, Television, and Theatre (FTT)

FTT 10101 Basics of Film and Television (3 Credit Hours)

This class is designed to enhance your understanding and appreciation of film and television. It operates on the philosophy that the better we understand how film and television texts work, the more intelligently and perceptively we will be able to consume them, which is an invaluable skill to have in our media-saturated world. You will learn about the basic elements that distinguish films and television programs from other aesthetic forms, such as editing, cinematography, sound and set design, and how these components work together to develop stories and characters. We will also work with interpretive frameworks that uncover deeper meanings and patterns in film and television, such as genre theory, the idea of authorship, political economy, and ideological analysis. Finally, you will acquire the skills and tools needed to write your own educated analyses of film and television texts. The class screenings present a range of films, from Hollywood classics to independent and international films, as well as television shows both old and new. This course is required for all concentrators in Film and Television.

Corequisites: FTT 11101, FTT 12101

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 10501 Introduction to Film (3 Credit Hours)

Introduction to Film

FTT 10701 Introduction to Theatre (3 Credit Hours)

A study of theatre viewed from three perspectives: historical, literary, and contemporary production practices. Through lectures, readings, and discussion, students will study this art form and understand its relevance to their own life as well as to other art forms. A basic understanding of the history of theatre and the recognition of the duties and responsibilities of the personnel involved in producing live theatre performances will allow students to become more objective in their own theatre experiences.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 10710 Theatre Appreciation (0-8 Credit Hours)

Theatre Appreciation

FTT 10720 Collaboration: Intro to Making Theatre (3 Credit Hours)

Collaboration, the Art of Making Theatre explores the roles of the artists who create the material world in which a performance exists and most importantly, the collaborative nature of those relationships. Students will be challenged to understand the thinking behind the work of the designers, writers, directors, and off-stage personnel who bring stories to life on stage. Incorporating hands on projects as well as lecture/discussion formats, students will experiment with story telling through the visual elements of scenery, costumes, lighting, etc. Collaboration, the Art of Making Theatre is an excellent entry point to the Theatre Concentration.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 11101 Basics/Film and Television Lab (0 Credit Hours)

During the lab times, certain films will be viewed for further discussion in class.

Corequisites: FTT 10101, FTT 12101

FTT 11182 FineArtsUniversity Seminar Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Certain films will be viewed for further discussion in class.

Corequisites: FTT 13182

Students in the Holy Cross College or St. Mary's College colleges may not enroll.

FTT 12101 Basics of Film and Television Tutorial (0 Credit Hours)

A tutorial in conjunction with Basics of Film & Television.

Corequisites: FTT 10101, FTT 11101

FTT 13182 Fine Arts University Seminar (3 Credit Hours)

This writing intensive course will be devoted to a variety of different topics in film, television, new media and theatre depending on the individual instructor's interests. Note: Freshmen only.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: USEM - University Seminar, WKAL - Core Art & Literature

Students in the Holy Cross College or St. Mary's College colleges may not enroll.

FTT 20037 The Hyphenated American: Contemporary Culturally Inclusive U.S. Theater (3 Credit Hours)

Contemporary U.S. theater ought to value equity, diversity, and inclusion by more consistently producing works that reflect its culturally complex society. This course is designed to introduce students to theatrical texts by contemporary Latinx, African-American, Asian-American, and Native American playwrights. Many of these playwrights' works engage with a variety of cultural experiences that complicate definitions of U.S. society. This course will examine the trajectory of culturally inclusive U.S. theater from the late 20th century to the present. The course will also consider how U.S. regional theaters work toward greater equity by including diverse voices. Students will be expected to read plays and analyze them using methods provided. The course aims to provide students with tools for reflection to develop their own analytical and creative responses to contemporary U.S. theater.

FTT 20101 Basics of Film and Television (3 Credit Hours)

Corequisites: FTT 21101

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 20102 Basics of Film and Television (3 Credit Hours)

Corequisites: FTT 21101, FTT 22101

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 20215 Intro to Improvisation (3 Credit Hours)

Introduction to Improvisation

FTT 20220 Ethical Issues in Media (3 Credit Hours)

Ethics in the media.

FTT 20224 Interdisciplinary Arts (3 Credit Hours)

Interdisciplinary arts

FTT 20260 La telenovela: history-culture-production (3 Credit Hours)

In this course you will explore the genre of the telenovela (a major social, cultural, political, and economic force in Latin America and, more recently, in the United States) by reading about the genre (in Spanish) and watching two condensed telenovelas (also in Spanish). You will demonstrate your understanding of the telenovela and its importance in Hispanic culture through writing and discussion and through application of these ideas as you write, produce, direct, act in, record and edit a mini-telenovela as a class. During this process you will learn and apply basic production (videography) and post-production (computer based video and audio editing) techniques. Course taught in Spanish

Prerequisites: ROSP 20202

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 20275 Shakespeare in Performance: Page to Stage (3 Credit Hours)

Shakespeare's plays were written for the stage, and yet most students only grapple with them on the page. This course gives you the chance to investigate and interpret six of Shakespeare's plays through the dual lenses of text and performance. Particular emphasis will be paid to the relationship between the page and stage in regards to performance history, print culture, editorial / directorial emendation, appropriation and adaptation. We will watch professionally pre-recorded performances and enjoy at least one live performance. In addition to reading, writing, and viewing, you will take "the stage" yourself to perform a scene(s) from the plays, considering staging, props, and other avenues of interpretation. All along the way, we will consider the historical evolution and reinvention of Shakespeare himself from actor/playwright to sage/author, investigating what role (if any) the Bard should play today in grappling topics such as: Gender, Sexuality, Race, Religion, Truth, and Justice.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature, WRIT - Writing Intensive

FTT 20310 Contemporary Drama (1 Credit Hour)

How does contemporary drama from around the world engage with pressing social, political, economic, and environmental issues? The one-credit course examines prominent new plays from the twenty-first century that provoke audiences—and readers—to think critically about the world in which we live. For each play, we will discuss its development process, historically contextualize its core questions and issues represented, examine innovations in narrative structure and characterization, and connect text to the challenges of theatrical staging. Meets weekly for one hour on Fridays. All readings in English or English translation.

FTT 20318 Martial Arts & Popular Culture (3 Credit Hours)

In a 1971 interview, Bruce Lee said "Martial arts has a very very deep meaning as far as my life is concerned because as an actor, as a martial artist, as a human being - all these I have learned from martial arts." By merging multiple aspects of human identity, artistic expression, and cultural activity, martial arts have a unique ability to access the human imagination. From Hong Kong cinemas, to Black Belt magazines and black light posters, to disco songs and shopping mall kiosks for ninja equipment, martial arts are intertwined with popular culture. After more than a half century of association with aesthetic violence, mystical secrets, and Orientalist mystique, the cultural phenomenon of martial arts lends itself to anthropological analysis and critique. This course synthesizes the global dissemination of martial arts with the anthropology of media and symbolic violence. By tracking the proliferation of the martial arts in popular culture, from muay thai action films to karate tournament supply catalogues and dojo iconography, students can simultaneously explore these arts' cultural origins. We will examine these origins in a range of styles from kung fu in China, to jujitsu in Japan, kali/escrima in the Philippines, pencak silat in Indonesia, and savate in France. In this way, the course crafts informative linkages between the cultural variations of martial arts, and their global influence in popular consciousness.

FTT 20320 Play Like a Champion (3 Credit Hours)

It has long-been a part of Notre Dame's Saturday football tradition. As uniformed players leave the locker room and descend a tight stairwell to the field below, they reach up and touch the iconic "Play Like a Champion Today" sign. Countless players, students, and fans have touched the sign over the years, hoping to imbibe some illusive and ineffable Fighting Irish magic. But what does it mean to "play like a champion today" ... or any day, really? More simply, what does it mean to play? Play is an inescapable and essential part of the human condition. And, yet, the experience's core liminality defies easy definition and explanation. This course provides an introduction to the study of human play primarily through the lens of analog and digital games. It is designed for first- and second-year students from a range of backgrounds and disciplines. Given the variety of play practices across human history and cultures, this class strives to equip students with a critical vocabulary and interpretive framework to help them make sense of play in its many forms. This class will pay particular attention to how rules, goals, game mechanics, and narratives offer reliable and compelling structures for gameplay, and what ludic activities reveal about social power.

Corequisites: FTT 21320

FTT 20410 German History through Film (3 Credit Hours)

A vampire stalks you through a dark tunnel. A mad scientist gives human form to an android. Regimented masses march beneath monumental swastikas. Some of the most enduring images of the twentieth century were crafted by German filmmakers. They filmed in the shadow of the First World War, in the midst of economic turmoil, in the service of the Nazi dictatorship, and in a Germany divided by the Cold War. They used cinema to grapple with the legacies of military defeat, to articulate their anxieties about industrial modernity, to envision utopian futures, to justify the murder of millions, and to come to terms with these monstrous crimes. This course will integrate the disciplinary insights of history and film studies to examine how Germans confronted the upheavals and traumas associated with modernity, the utopian fantasies and cataclysmic horrors of the twentieth-century. Together, the class will pursue three major objectives. First, students will learn about the most important events and developments of modern German history. They will examine how shifting economic, cultural, and political realities shaped the German film industry, and how filmmakers used their work to understand and intervene in their social, political, and cultural issues of their day. Second, students will learn to critically analyze films. They will learn how the structural components of a film - choices in composition, editing, and sound-mixing - craft meaning through immersive spectacles that speak to audiences on multiple intellectual and emotional levels. Students will explore how filmmakers deploy these techniques to produce awe-inspiring entertainments, sophisticated instruments of propaganda, and radical social critiques. As historical artifacts, films reflect the society which created them. But students will also consider how films, as works of art, survive beyond their historical context, and are reinterpreted by new audiences with new priorities. Finally, students will practice the skills of historical literacy. They will digest, analyze, and criticize important scholarship (secondary literature). They will discern the relevance of particular interpretations for important debates. They will use sustained analysis of films as primary sources to develop, articulate, and defend their own historical interpretations and arguments.

Corequisites: FTT 21410

FTT 20445 Intro to French Cinema (0-8 Credit Hours)

Intro to French Cinema

FTT 20477 Diaspora Religions in Film and Popular Media (3 Credit Hours)

This introductory course uses popular film as a primary text/medium to explore fundamental questions in the academic study of religion. In particular, we will be concerned with the ways that faith, spirituality, religion and religious experience are constituted and defined on film as well as through film viewing. Emphasis will be placed on film's reflecting African Diaspora culture and the inclusion of religions outside of the Judeo-Christian canon for context and comparison. In discussing films from across a range of subjects and genres, we will engage in the work of mythical, theological and ideological criticism, while examining the nature, function, and value of religion and religious experience. We will also consider significant writers and traditions in the field of Diaspora Religions and develop the analytical and interpretive skills of the discipline. Given the depth and breadth of religious orthodoxies and faith-based practices existent throughout the Diaspora, students will be exposed to a variety of film genres including silent films, anime, documentary, drama, biography, comedy and horror. Based on availability, and the student cohort's familiarity or lack of material the scheduled films will include twelve to fifteen selections from the lists below. Weekly readings, writing assignments, and screening sessions are required.

FTT 20478 The Politics of Black Identity on Film: How Do You See Me and Who am I to You? (3 Credit Hours)

In 1969 Nina Simone and Weldon Irvine wrote the anthem, To Be Young, Gifted and Black. Yet too often, to be Black has been seen or depicted as a predator, a thug, a fetish, or a threat. What are the implicit and explicit messages present in plain sight that contribute to how Blackness and Black people have been defined? This course critically engages with the “longue durée” of film narratives where Blackness is displayed or demeaned, and where the politics of identity, or its discrimination is present or foundational to the arc of a narrative. Relevant critical literature and material topical to the films themselves will complement the visual media, allowing for the potential to subtly illuminate aspects of the human experience, ritual practice, and socio-cultural, religious, or gendered behaviors. Attention will be given to cross-cultural mores, the distinction of communication modes, and references to ethnicity, race, class, and gender as relates to the cultures depicted in each film. This course has a co-req associated with it. You must register for both to be in the course.

FTT 20501 Producing Storefront Theatre (1 Credit Hour)

This project-based course focuses on the craft of writing, directing, and producing independent theatre. Projects are developed in consultation with faculty mentors, who will work with each student to articulate and realize their creative goals, and develop them into meaningful performances.

FTT 20502 Media and Ethnography (3 Credit Hours)

Media and Ethnography

FTT 20651 Acting: Impulse and Action (3 Credit Hours)

This course is intended for actors and directors who work in any medium: film, television or theatre. Students will learn to create and truthfully inhabit imaginary circumstances through exercises, structured improvisation, and scene study. This laboratory style classroom instruction uses Viola Spolin's technique for refining awareness of the actor's impulses through exploration and focused experiments. Acting Process is the prerequisite, but you may request advance approval by the instructor.

FTT 20691 Haunting: Page, Stage and Screen (3 Credit Hours)

If you visit any major city in the United States (and beyond), ghost tours are perennially one of the most popular tourist attractions, whether equipped with spooky, mist-decaled buses or bloody-faced period costumed walking guides. Why does this delightful and disturbing tourist trap thrive in so many locations? Perhaps the best way to understand any person, any place, and culture is to understand their dead. In Haunting: Page, Stage, and Screen, we will examine haunting as a method of representing grief, loss, systemic violence, and survival in spite of all that. By reading haunting across genres of prose, drama, and film, we will consider how metaphors of haunting function as an orientation to the past across mediums and cultural contexts. Does be haunting mean the same thing in different historical moments and geographical locations? What kinds of haunting are made available on the page, on the stage, or on the screen? Can a text or a person be haunted even without a ghost? Beginning with Hamlet (one of the earliest and most important literary ghosts), we will trace haunting to the present. Ultimately, by thinking critically about haunting, we hope to learn a little about living.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature, WRIT - Writing Intensive

FTT 20701 Introduction to Theatre (3 Credit Hours)

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 20703 Theatrical Production (3 Credit Hours)

A practical introduction to the techniques, processes, and materials used in creating the scenery and lighting for the stage. Students will explore traditional and modern theatrical production methods: carpentry, rigging, scenic painting, stage lighting, and basic sound engineering. Students will gain practical experience by participating on realized projects and productions.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

Students cannot enroll who have a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 20720 Collaboration: Intro to Making Theatre (3 Credit Hours)

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 20801 Introduction to Acting: Acting for the non-major (3 Credit Hours)

This course introduces the non-theatre major to the basic elements of the art and craft of acting. The student will explore the spaces of memory, the body in an external space, voice and diction, and the choices s/he has to make, through the observation and imagination of realities. S/he will explore the process of looking for the sense of truth and urgency in expressing a dramatic text and a character's will and action. This course is participatory and will involve students' scene study presentations as well as written textual analysis to introduce scene studies.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

Students cannot enroll who have a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 20910 Power, Theatre, & Politics (0-8 Credit Hours)

Film, Television and Theatre

FTT 20990 Listening to Movies (3 Credit Hours)

This course will shift your attention from watching movies to also listening to them. It will introduce you to anew way of experiencing films by educating your sense of hearing. Amid a strong emphasis oncinema - ranging from musical accompaniment during the silent era to sound in experimental films; or fromclassical Hollywood underscoring to Bollywood musicals - we will consider the soundtrack of movingpictures within the larger history of audiovisual media from lantern shows to television series or from commercials to video games. Based on a core repertory of twelve films, the course will cover various topicsand issues surrounding film sound: aesthetic and psychological (such as representation, narration, emotion);social and political (such as race, ethnicity, propaganda); cultural and economic (such as production,technology, dissemination). After taking this course, you will never quite look at a screen without listening tothe soundtrack, having come to perceive and understand how the powers of sound and music shape our waysof knowing the world.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 21001 Acting: Process (3 Credit Hours)

Acting Process introduces the student to the core techniques of acting for the stage. The course engages both the analytical and the creative mind as students use research and analysis to support their physical, vocal and imaginative approaches to creating compelling scripted and improvised scenes. Students will rehearse and prepare scenes outside of class (with a partner and solo) for in-class performance. All students must see two live theatrical performances and turn in a reflection for each.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

Enrollment limited to students in the Film, Television and Theatre department.

FTT 21005 Viewpoints for Actors and Directors (3 Credit Hours)

This course is designed to introduce actors and directors to the fundamentals of a dynamic technique known as Viewpoints. Viewpoints allows a group of actors to function together spontaneously and intuitively and to generate bold work quickly. It develops flexibility, articulation, and strength in movement and makes ensemble playing truly possible. The Viewpoints further gives directors a vocabulary with which to create and transform their work on stage or in film.

Prerequisites: FTT 21001

FTT 21006 Playwriting (3 Credit Hours)

This course is designed to introduce students to creating original work for the theater. The course will explore the writing process as well as models from contemporary U.S. theater with the aim to present a variety of paths toward creating new, vibrant plays. This is primarily a writing course. In addition, by reading and discussing ten separate dynamic play texts, we will analyze dramatic writing. Weekly writing exercises, movement work, visual arts approaches, improvisation techniques and collaborative discussions will create resources for rich play material, which each student will eventually use in a final scene, presented in a public reading at the end of the semester.

FTT 21101 Basics/Film and Television Lab (0 Credit Hours)

During the lab times, certain films will be viewed for further discussion in class.

Corequisites: FTT 20101

FTT 21320 Play Like a Champion Lab (0 Credit Hours)

This is the lab component for FTT 20320, Play Like a Champion lecture. Students must take both the lecture and lab.

Corequisites: FTT 20320

FTT 21410 German History through Film Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Required lab screening for Co-requisite FTT 20410.

Corequisites: FTT 20410

FTT 21478 The Politics of Black Identity on Film: How Do You See Me and Who am I to You? (0 Credit Hours)

Lab co-requisite for FTT 20478.

Corequisites: FTT 20478

FTT 22101 Basics of Film and Televison Tutorial (0 Credit Hours)

A tutorial to be taken in conjunction with the Basics of Film & Television course.

FTT 23001 Performance / Art / Politics (1 Credit Hour)

This immersive, one-credit course connects students with an internationally recognized artist working at the intersection of dance and visual arts. Based in Chicago, Brendan Fernandes’ projects address issues of race, queer culture, migration, protest and other forms of collective movement. Students will collaborate directly with the artist across five class meetings that will include performance workshops, guided film screenings, lectures, and discussions. Students will also travel to Chicago on a group trip co-led by Michael Schreffler and Rebecca Struch of the Notre Dame Arts Initiative.

FTT 30000 Film Across the Humanities (3 Credit Hours)

This Summer course is intended for Notre Dame faculty and graduate students who would like to incorporate films into their courses but have hesitated to do so because they have had little or no formal training in film studies. I have designed a week-long intensive course that will solve that problem by exposing seminar participants to the different pedagogical strategies they might use to incorporate films in their courses.We will begin with a crash-course in close visual analysis because I think that's the chief source of anxiety. So I've got this image up on the wall, what do I do with it? How do I get my students to be analytical about those images? Then we'll explore the various ways that really productive interdisciplinary study can be achieved through film analysis. How can we use films effectively to pursue aesthetic, political, philosophical, or theological issues? Most importantly, how can we talk about film as a "way of knowing" in what are increasingly visual cultures? During each morning session, I'll introduce a variety of approaches through lecture, scene analysis, and short selected readings. We'll have a screening each day, right after lunch, and then we'll discuss pragmatic utilization of those methods in our afternoon discussions of the film, focusing on specific applications in courses now being taught or in the process of being developed. Screenings and discussions in the Browning Cinema in the Performing Arts Center.

FTT 30006 Creating Character Through Costume Design (3 Credit Hours)

Creating Character Through Costume Design is a practical and hands-on design class that will explore characters from different art forms and create costume designs for them. The class will explore how to take cartoon and animated characters and costume those characters for live action. The class will include costume designs for and from theatre, film, art, computer game scenarios, and other art forms. Students will need to provide their own drawing and art supplies.

FTT 30013 Shadow Puppetry and Modern Performance (3 Credit Hours)

We will explore the rich cultural history of shadow puppetry and its translation into modern theatrical performance. Through lectures and workshops students will shepherd their ideas from the classroom to a final public performance.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30015 Theatre Production Process (3 Credit Hours)

In this class, we will participate in the Notre Dame Theater production process, learn what goes into its creation, and who is involved. We will explore the design and literary context for the theater productions during each semester, discuss the roles and duties, and support its execution. Students will participate in show crew duties, help to construct designs, and academically research related topics. Ultimately, we will be creating a conversation about the Notre Dame Theater production experience.

FTT 30017 Body On Stage: Best Practices (3 Credit Hours)

This course will explore and examine how we, as theater and film & TV actors/directors/artists, can use best practices to create production and rehearsal rooms that reduce harm. Through readings, case studies and lab work, we will investigate the politics and history of the body onstage and how that has impacted best practices in creative processes. Topics will vary from creating open spaces, Check-Ins, how intimacy direction parallels best practices, and how to be a radically more inclusive artist.

FTT 30020 Stage Combat (3 Credit Hours)

This course will expose you to basic stage combat while exploring physical risk and maintaining safety measures. We will engage in unarmed fight choreography, as well as practicing sword technique.

FTT 30021 Voice and Dialect (3 Credit Hours)

In this course students will learn the principles of vocal production for acting in any medium. The class will use physical and vocal exercises to explore the relationship between alignment, respiration, and relaxation. Articulation and phonetics will be emphasized throughout the coursework. In addition to learning the standard dialect rules of American English, students will research and analyze the sounds and ethnographic influences of several dialects, as well as perform short monologues and/or scenes in those dialects. Students can expect to work on three to five dialects throughout the semester

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 30022 Acting: Comedy, Physical Theatre and Wit (3 Credit Hours)

This course introduces students to some of their artistic ancestors, including Commedia Dell'Arte, Absurdism, and American Vaudeville, as a scaffold-format for investigating comic acting traditions, leading to meeting the demands of heightened characterization and style in both classic and contemporary theatre work. A class designed to help actors overcome the anxiety that comes from a sense of obligation to be funny and to develop a comedic point of view: emphasis is on the need to approach comedic material with the same process and commitment appropriate to any other acting challenge. Class exercises and scene study focus on continuing the discovery and development of imaginative and technical skills gained in previous class(es) to enable the student to discern the living world of a play and to embody a vibrant character within it.

FTT 30025 Ars Robotica: (3 Credit Hours)

From Shelley to Kubrick and beyond; robots have played a pivotal role in film, television and theatre. This course will exam and reflect upon the ways in which non-human constructs are used on the stage and screen; and how they inform us of what it means to be human. Warning: Interaction with automatons is expected.

FTT 30026 Voiceover: the Art and Performance of Voice Acting (3 Credit Hours)

In this upper level acting course, students will learn to translate their traditional acting skills for non-visual mediums. When the global pandemic closed theatres and abruptly halted film and television sets, many actors pivoted to professional voiceover work. The skill set(s) required by commercials, radio, podcasts, video games, audiobooks, and radio drama vary depending on the genre/sub genre. The hybrid course will look at vocal production, diction, script analysis, tone, style (in relation to medium), character creation, technique, and studio and microphone setup. Students will record and edit project based assignments, offer peer review, and develop original content.

FTT 30027 NOT CUTE! Making great theatre for young audiences (3 Credit Hours)

The stereotype of children's theatre is that it is sentimental, simplistic, and didactic; in all likelihood you've seen one of these lackluster performances, or even been in one yourself (no shame). But in actuality, great theatre for young audiences can be cutting edge, complex, and virtuosic, with lasting impact on both the children who experience the art and the adults or kids who perform it. See, for example, the vibrant international scene of performance for and with young people, exemplified by companies like Ping Chong, Catherine Wheels Theatre Company, and Zorin dom Karlovac, and playwrights like Felipe Rodriguez and Lereko Mfono. In this course, we'll look at the science of child development and the history of children's theatre, then students will jump right in to crafting and workshopping their own pieces - with an eye to the theories, practices, and, yes, the politics involved in engaging these young audiences. Each student will write or produce a short work: a literary adaptation, a devised piece, or a solo show. We will work with diverse creative and critical strategies as the projects develop. Along the way, we'll also investigate practices which integrate theatre/creative dramatics into elementary curriculum. With room for writers, actors, directors, composers, and educators--anyone interested in performance for children and young adults--the course will explore and answer the question "How can learning to communicate with the youngest members of my audience expand my skills as a well-rounded theatre professional and my impact as an artist for social justice?"

FTT 30028 Academic Writing about Film (1 Credit Hour)

Writing papers can be stressful. It is not always easy to know what's expected. The standards for writing in college are different than in high school, and the bar gets raised again as one enters upper-level courses. Sometimes it is hard to know what counts as a good paper or why one paper receives an A and another a B or C. How does one write a good paper? What is the difference between a reflection and a research paper? What is a good topic? How much plot summary is enough or too much? How should readings be incorporated? What does the teacher really want? This course aims to help students write better academic papers on film (and TV or other screen material). It is for students who struggle with writing; students who just want to feel more comfortable writing papers in class; students who write well, but want to improve or understand what they are doing better; students writing a thesis, or thinking of graduate school: any student who wants to focus on their writing. This course will teach students how to write academic film papers. It is not a class in film reviewing. We will discuss how to develop a topic that is arguable and compelling; how to imagine and address your reader; how to write an introduction that makes clear why your topic matters; how to organize and structure your paper; how to make transitions (and how not to); how to find, evaluate, and engage with sources; how to cite sources; what counts as evidence; how to make your writing clear; the importance of titles; and more. Students will use prompts and papers they are writing in other classes as material. Students will be expected to attend every session, submit writing and/or revisions every week, and review a peer's work every week. Individual papers will not be graded: our focus is on process. Course grades will be based on improvement. This one-credit course will meet for twelve one-hour sessions.

FTT 30030 Contemporary Global Cinemas (3 Credit Hours)

This course focuses on some of the most influential art films of the twenty-first century. While each of them has been critically acclaimed, we’ll use a comparative approach to explore their points of contact and divergence. How do prestige or “indie” films function as a particular type of content in entertainment landscapes defined by streaming and transmediation? How can we use films to pose questions about the relationship between national and global cultures? Featured films will likely include: In the Mood for Love, Mulholland Drive, Spirited Away, Lagaan, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Moonlight, Roma, Before Sunrise/Before Sunset, Mustang, Grand Budapest Hotel, The Great Beauty, Timbuktu, Happy as Lazzaro, Faces, Places, etc.

Corequisites: FTT 31030

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30032 Plays of María Irene Fornés (1 Credit Hour)

María Irene Fornés (1930-2018), considered by many to be the mother of Latinx playwriting in the United States, was an influential and award-winning playwright, director, and teacher. Born in Havana, Cuba, Fornés immigrated to the United States in 1945 and resided in New York City for the rest of her life. Fornés wrote and directed more than fifty plays that were produced throughout the United States and internationally. Tango Palace (1963) was her first produced play and Letters from Cuba (2000) was her final play. She won an unprecedented nine Obie Awards and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. This one credit course will engage in an analysis of the entire published Fornés canon: eighteen award-winning plays written from 1963 to 2000, with topics as diverse as an absurdist musical exploring class struggle, a 1930s Anglo women's fight for education, a 1940's Cuban-American woman's search for empowerment, a 1890's British female actors' efforts to produce Ibsen and a 2000 Cuban-American woman's connection to her Cuban brother. Taught by Professor Anne García-Romero, a leading Fornés scholar, this seminar provides a unique immersion into the work of one the most important female playwrights of the twentieth century.

FTT 30040 Production Workshop: Tuko! Tuko! (3 Credit Hours)

The course supports the creation of FTT's spring production 2023: "TUKO! TUKO! or Princess of the Lizard Moon" (Alexander Onassis International Award for Playwriting) written and directed by Dr. Anton Juan (his final production for FTT). Student artists enrolled in the course will form part of the acting and production ensemble itself. They will have the opportunity to learn and engage in the aesthetics, principles, practice and methods of production and expression in a variety of genres and styles of theatre: 1) Yu-gen and Sound-Sense - the essence of Noh and Kabuki; 2) Bunraku - the unity of puppeteer and the puppet; 3) Butoh- tracing the inner spaces in the movement from memory to history; 4) Cubism in dramatic narrative- breaking the moment into non-temporal presences and surfaces. 5) Contrasting styles between Eastern and Western Theatre techniques The plot, based on historical documents, counters historical revisionism and resurrects the buried voices of the oppressed through poetic theatrical expression. The ghost of a comfort woman in World War II and the ghost of a tortured murdered sex slave in Japan 1990's meet in the memory of a Butoh actor who embodies them and claims justice for them. TUKO! TUKO! has been performed in Greece, in Korea, Philippines, and Chile.

FTT 30050 Film Curation (1 Credit Hour)

This course explores how films are booked and exhibited and, moreover, how to best serve audiences through thoughtful, engaging, and provoking film curation. Students will collaborate to program Notre Dame Film Society's weekly screenings, which involves writing copy, recruiting discussants, and creating programs involving feature films, short films, and other media.

FTT 30102 Film Festivals (3 Credit Hours)

Film festivals are pivotal in shaping film history, curating (trans)national film canons, and discovering new filmmakers. They foster industry networks and cultural dialogues and serve as platforms for negotiating identities and experiences. The rapid growth of film festivals and their increasing function within the production, distribution and exhibition of film has led to the rise of film festival studies. This seminar introduces students to key theories and methods in film festival studies. The first part covers the history and theories of film festivals, examining them as networks and ecosystems. This section will also cover methodological approaches in the study of festivals. The second part focuses on specific festivals, analyzing their role in negotiating identities and shaping film history, the formation of audiences and communities through curation and exhibition practices. Attendance at film festivals during the semester is encouraged.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30103 Europe Through Film (1 Credit Hour)

What can we learn about Europe by exploring its cinema? Based on an extended version of the Institute's film series each semester, the content of this course will focus on the relationship between contemporary European cinema and the European ideas and realities it finds compelling in terms of social and imaginative power. The course will include some history of cinema, but emphasis will be laid on using cinema as a way of stimulating questions about the nature of Europe today. Open to students of all years and majors.

Prerequisites: (FTT 10101 or FTT 20101) and (FTT 30101 or FTT 30102 or FTT 30460)

Course may be repeated.

FTT 30114 Gender and Media (3 Credit Hours)

This course introduces students to the critical analysis of gender in media culture. Focusing primarily on U.S. film, television, popular music, and social media, we will examine how gender is constructed, challenged, and reimagined in the three primary sites of media culture: texts, production, and reception. We will explore both qualitative and quantitative approaches to the study of gender and media, and the relationship of identity, media, and power will be central to our discussions. In addition to exploring how gender is portrayed in a variety of media texts, we will examine the strategies used by media producers when representing gender, while also considering who is creating such texts. Both the mainstream/commercial and alternative/independent spheres of media production will be explored. In turn, we will consider the broader impact of gendered media representations on consumers as well as the various ways audiences engage with and respond to such texts. We will enrich our studies of gender through attention to its intersections with race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, and ability, paying close attention to how such identity categories differently impact the representation of people in media, the labor of people in media production, and the practices in which people engage while consuming media.

FTT 30115 Podcast America: (3 Credit Hours)

THIS CLASS HAS NO ASSIGNED READINGS! That's right, there is no reading for this class. Instead, you'll learn how millions of Americans are coming to know their history, their science, their neighbors, their sexuality, their art and so much more and you'll do it all through listening to some of the most engaging (and some of the least engaging too) podcasts available. We'll take a look at primary sources that collaborate and dispel some of what we're hearing and we'll think about the integral ways that podcasts are shaping our nation and our national interests. We'll even delve into how podcasts in other lands celebrate and eviscerate America, Americans, and Americanism. Double up on your homework and your workout as you listen your way into exciting and engaging topics that we'll explore in class using the methodologies of the best scholarship in American Studies, History, and Education, Schooling, and Society. This class is for all of those who love American Studies, great stories, researching and discovering, and can't wait to get their headphones on and delve into the best stories we as a society know how to tell.

FTT 30118 Storied Landscapes IRL to CHI: from St. Patrick to Derry Girls and Ferris Bueller (3 Credit Hours)

Storytelling allows us to make a place, and a past, come alive, and it is through narrative that certain people, locations, and experiences lodge themselves in our memories. How, and why, do we reshape our own environment to convey certain stories about our past, our accomplishments, and our collective experiences? Why is it that road-trips loom so large in American cultural memory, and what do they have in common with other placelore stories, such as those featuring Native Americans, Irish saints and TV characters like Northern Ireland's "Derry Girls"? How can words, sounds and imagery be used to map out and draw us into new and often fantastic virtual geographies? In this class, we will think about how stories gain power by being anchored in evocative depictions of specific places, both real and imagined. We will examine verbal and visual stories, from medieval manuscripts like the Book of Kells and tales of St. Patrick's travels around Ireland, to contemporary animation (Song of the Sea), murals from Northern Ireland, place-based television series (Derry Girls) and Chicago-based road-trip films (The Blues Brothers, Ferris Bueller's Day Off). We will contemplate how icons of ancient Ireland were used to create new spaces in Chicago, and we'll look at the massive 1893 World's Fair that put a newly rebuilt Chicago on the world map, as well as dramatic histories of Chicago and some of its murderous inhabitants (Devil in the White City). We will also turn to regional storytelling traditions and will study songs and stories about "home" composed by those who experienced diaspora and migration.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30125 The Animation Course: History, Practice, Forms, and Cultures (3 Credit Hours)

Animation is everywhere. In feature films, video games, visual effects sequences, live-action shows, Saturday morning cartoons, documentaries, television ads, mobile phone apps, websites, movie trailers, title sequences, social media content, roadside billboards, art installations, and more - we are surrounded by animation and it permeates our visually-oriented world. Now more than ever, it is important to understand what animation is, its origins, the multitude of forms it can take, how it represents diverse cultures and ideas, and of course - how to create it. We will learn the history of the art form from the late 19th century to present; different techniques used in its creation, including hand-drawn, experimental, stop-motion, and computer-generated; and how it represents a variety of global cultural perspectives. We will approach these topics critically, and then apply what we learn towards animation production projects using Adobe Photoshop, Premiere, and After Effects. Through critical reading assignments, video essays, film screenings, and hands-on production assignments, we will gain a holistic understanding and appreciation of animation as an art form as well as practical skills that can be applied to a variety of higher level courses and creative careers. This is a hybrid critical studies and production course, and as such, we will "learn by doing" in both lecture and lab settings.

FTT 30129 The Digital Newsroom (3 Credit Hours)

Building on the skills acquired in Fundamentals of Journalism, this practicum course is centered around students preparing stories, photos and videos for The Observer, the university's independent, student-run newspaper. Students will acquire real-world experience in reporting, writing, and using their digital journalism skills by covering live news events on campus and in the surrounding community. Pre-requisite: Fundamentals of Journalism.

FTT 30131 Sports Media (3 Credit Hours)

This course is a practical and conceptual immersion into the world of contemporary sports journalism. Students will learn how to write and report for multiple journalism platforms, including newspapers, magazines and digital media. Students will practice a variety of reporting techniques and study writing styles ranging from features to news articles to profiles, while also taking a rigorous look at the legal, ethical and cultural issues surrounding the intersection of media, sports and society. In addition, students will gain hands-on sports writing experience by preparing articles for the university's independent, student-run newspaper, The Observer.

FTT 30132 Applied Multimedia (3 Credit Hours)

Applied Multimedia for Journalists - The main focus of this course is that students will learn how to shoot and edit videos. It will briefly touch on how to produce audio stories and podcasts. Students will also study the legal and ethical issues surrounding the use, creation and publication of digital media. The use of drones and the legal issues surrounding them will also be discussed.

FTT 30134 Revisiting Rebecca (1 Credit Hour)

Daphne du Maurier's novel Rebecca, published in 1938, has frequently appeared on lists of the "best" British fiction and continues to inspire film and television adaptations, most recently, the October 2020 Netflix release starring Lily James, Armie Hammer, and Kristin Scott Thomas. The novel as well as its media adaptations evoke multiple genres: Rebecca is at once a romantic Cinderella story, a melodrama, a Gothic thriller, a murder mystery, and an exploration of the psychological nuances of female power and sexuality. This one-credit wintersession course will explore du Maurier's novel; Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 film; radio and television adaptations produced in the U.S., the U.K., and India; the 1983 opera; and the current Netflix production to assess how these narratives have spoken to issues of sexuality, class and gender across multiple cultures and time periods. Class meetings built around synchronous discussions will analyze the material, social, cultural, and ideological factors involved in adapting a narrative into different media frameworks.

FTT 30135 Film Production Dynamics (1 Credit Hour)

This class would give students who are thinking about taking production classes or those who have taken the FTT Introduction to Film & TV Production, but want to know more about the language of how films are made and specifically how filmmakers use cameras to craft and inform their decision making. Students outside of FTT, who may be looking to apply media to their respective careers, would also benefit from this course as a primer for what they will need to know moving forward in videography and creating media. We will look at the dynamics and applied aesthetics of cameras, lenses and light to create images. This includes the basics of F-Stops and exposure, lenses and light, camera formats and types, from the newest digital cameras to actual film. This will be a live online demonstration class on the DPAC sound stage. Students will engage with conversation and weekly quizzes on the topics and relevant website materials.

FTT 30140 The Art of Production Design (3 Credit Hours)

The Art of Production Design explores the area of production design and art direction as narrative art forms in cinema and other media. The term “Production Design” and its affiliated disciplines are constantly evolving, but essentially are responsible for creating the atmospheres, settings, and characters which establish a film’s look or “feel”. It can also help with narrative, move the plot, comment on the action, or add symbolic content. Art directors, scenic designers & painters, set decorators, property masters, special effects, costume designers, and hair/make-up personnel are just a few of the many craftspeople that work under the title, “Production Design”. In this course we will examine these areas and the evolution of mise-en-scene. We will explore the many choices with regard to production design through multiple media, (film, tv, theatre, branded content, music video, commercials, & print). Through lectures, screenings, visual presentations, and guest speakers; students will get an in-depth perspective of the overall involvement production design plays in storytelling. Students will also explore their own creative choices through exercises and assigned projects. This may include but is not limited to: architectural, decorative, costume, and cultural research, location scouting, set dressing, lighting design, color theory, graphic design, and photography. In this course students will be asked to extend their knowledge and experience of the arts while developing their critical and reflective abilities. Students will interpret and analyze particular creative works, investigate and explore the relations of form and meaning, and through critical and creative activity, come to better understand the intended audience for a given work of art and how its meaning and significance changes over time.

FTT 30143 Broadcasting the News (3 Credit Hours)

This course is a practical immersion into the world of broadcast journalism. Class will function much like a television newsroom, with time dedicated to workshopping and exploring a variety of reporting techniques. Students will spend time outside of the classroom engaging with asynchronous materials, practicing on-camera skills, and exploring the many roles that make up a newsroom. Students will build a professional reel or portfolio to demonstrate storytelling techniques essential to broadcasting the news.

FTT 30147 Media Entrepreneurship (3 Credit Hours)

A generation ago, students looking to pursue careers in media were likely journalism or broadcasting majors who could aspire to master one platform and work for the same news company for decades. No more. People don't consume news in the ways they once did; the media landscape is changing. There are new challenges -- how to regulate misinformation, how to fund big investigative projects -- but also new opportunities. Digital tools are eliminating ‘start-up' barriers and giving storytellers more control over their fates. Aspiring news writers or producers no longer need to work their way up in a legacy company, hoping to someday catch their big break. You could manage a YouTube channel with thousands of subscribers from your dorm room. Some of you probably already do. But how do you monetize such ventures? How do you turn a side project or a cool idea into a career? In "Media Entrepreneurship," we'll explore how you can combine your passion and skills - skills cultivated as a student of the liberal arts -- to capitalize on media's exciting new frontier. You'll gain the knowledge, tools, and confidence to see "being your own boss" or "launching your own brand" as a realistic career possibility. And it's not just about you. When you hear the word "entrepreneur," you might think of a guy pitching an idea to venture capitalists on Shark Tank. But, at its best, media entrepreneurship is an act of service. It's about building trust, meeting community needs, and expanding whose voices we hear as a society. In this course, you'll practice conceiving of a media project and creating your own startup business plan.

FTT 30150 Decolonizing Gaming: Critical Engagement Through Design and Play (3 Credit Hours)

This course aims to change the way you think not only about the way that we play games, but also about the way that video games teach their players to behave within their digital worlds. This course will encourage students to reflect on and utilize their lived experiences as players, and utilize these experiences to locate themselves within their analysis and writing as well as their design practices. This course will undertake an intensive, interdisciplinary focus on the history of video game development, representation in video games, and the languages that digital games work in as well as decolonial theory and diverse theories of design. This class will engage with a variety of scholarly texts, video games, media posts, videos, and design exercises, in order to illustrate the ways in which video games have shaped the ways we play, think, and behave within their spaces. Students will be required to write and design around these lessons and address and push back against the problematic behaviors and colonial narratives around violence, race, gender, sexuality, and relationship to the land that these gamic languages and lessons have created.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30151 Game Day Media: Play by Play, Color Analysis & News Conference (3 Credit Hours)

Taught by former ESPN anchor, Emmy award-winning sports reporter, and President of Game Day Communications Betsy Ross, Game Day Media will delve into the preparation and performance of game day media opportunities: play by play personnel, color analysts, Public Address talent, news conference moderators and more. This is a 50/50 zoom and class will meet in person and over zoom/ class. Students will record play-by play/analyst segments from campus sports, conduct pre-game interviews and post-game news conferences and observe the intricacies of public address announcing.

FTT 30161 Football in America (3 Credit Hours)

Football is one of the most enduringly popular and significant cultural activities in the United States. Since the late 19th century, football has occupied an important place for those wishing to define and understand "America." And Notre Dame football plays a central role in that story, with larger-than-life figures and stories, from Knute Rockne's Win one for the Gipper line to the Four Horsemen backfield that led the program to a second national championship in 1924. The mythic proportions of the University's football program cast a long shadow on the institution's history, cultural significance, and traditions. This course focuses on Notre Dame football history as an entry point into larger questions about the cultural, historical, and social significance of football in the U.S. Who has been allowed to play on what terms? How have events from Notre Dame football's past been remembered and re-imagined? How has success in Notre Dame football been defined and redefined? In particular, the course will focus on how Notre Dame football became a touchstone for Catholic communities and institutions across the country navigating the fraught terrain of immigration, whiteness, and religious practice. This course will take up those questions through significant engagement with University Archive collections related to Notre Dame football, working toward increased levels of description and access for these materials. This course will include hands-on work with metadata, encoding and markup, digitization, and digital preservation/access through a collaboration with the University Archives and the Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship. Readings for this course will include chapters from texts such as Murray Sperber's Shake Down the Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football (1993), TriStar Pictures' Rudy (1993), Steve Delsohn's Talking Irish: The Oral History of Notre Dame Football (2001), Jerry Barca's Unbeatable: Notre Dame's 1988 Championship and the Last Great College Football Season (2014), David Roediger's Working Toward Whiteness: How America's Immigrants Became White (2005), David Roediger's The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class (1991), and Noel Ignatiev's How the Irish Became White (1995). Class meetings will be split between discussions of conceptual readings and applied work with library and information science technologies and systems. Coursework may include response papers, hands-on work with data, and a final project. Familiarity with archival methods, library/information science, data science, or computer science tools and methods is NOT a prerequisite for this course.

FTT 30162 Latinx Representation in Hollywood (3 Credit Hours)

This course will survey the history of representations of Latinos in American cinema from the silent era to the present. We will examine how stereotypes associated with Latinos have been produced, reinforced, and challenged in American films - from greasers and Latin lovers to gangsters, kingpins, and border crossers. We will explore the fascinating contradiction that, despite a long history of misrepresentation and under representation, Latinos have made significant contributions to Hollywood and independent cinema. We will also examine the rise of Latino directors in recent years and their drive to reframe the Latino image for American audiences. Screenings will range from the silent epic Martyrs of the Alamo (1915) to more recent films such as Maria Full of Grace (2004). Our interdisciplinary approach to the subject will draw upon readings from history, film theory and criticism, and ethnic/American studies. Students will take a midterm exam and make class presentations.

Corequisites: AMST 31162

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKHI - Core History

FTT 30173 Video Games and the American West (3 Credit Hours)

Video Games of the American West will utilize digital games as the primary case studies to examine the modern cultural image, understanding of, and interaction with the "space" of the American West. This class will provide historical understandings of the vast, varied, and often mythologized history of the American West, as well as its place as a cite of continued colonial narratives and hegemonic imagery in contemporary popular media such as film, television, and video games. Through the close-playing of a variety of Western games including installations from the Call of Juarez series, Red Dead Redemption, series, Horizon, series, and many others, students will be asked to apply their knowledge of the historical and contemporary understandings and employments of the West as a physical space and a cultural space to the visual and mechanical recreations of it within the digital realm of video games.

FTT 30176 AIDS, Art, America (3 Credit Hours)

How has the HIV/AIDS crisis shaped U.S. political culture, public health, and artistic production since coming to public attention in the early 1980s? In this course, we explore the history of the AIDS crisis, including medical, religious, and moral constructions of the epidemic that arose amid heated culture wars debates over gender and sexuality. We look at competing strategies to define and combat the epidemic, from Christian Right leaders who have described AIDS as a divine punishment to public health workers and religious leaders who championed comprehensive AIDS education. We will be especially attuned to grassroots activism that emerged from the communities most affected by the AIDS crisis, including LGBT communities. We explore how AIDS activists drew upon the lessons of feminist, queer, and Black civil rights movements to fight for political and medical resources for people with AIDS. And we will see how art became central to these efforts by exploring how feminist and queer activists and other people with AIDS produced a vast (and still growing) archive of cultural production, including visual and performance art, film, and literary work, through which they processed the grief and trauma of this crisis while forging new political and artistic visions.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30186 Indigenous Cinema (3 Credit Hours)

This course will examine the global field of Indigenous Cinema. This class will utilize screenings of Indigenous film along with accompanying lecture, reading, and discussion, to examine the ways in which Indigenous filmmakers, actors, and communities are subverting genre and decolonizing the industry to tell and reclaim Indigenous stories and make room for Indigenous futures.

Corequisites: AMST 31186

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30196 Theories of Media & Technology (3 Credit Hours)

This course offers a multidisciplinary introduction to the vast variety of theoretical approaches used to understand media and technologies. From film, TV, and videogames to computers, internet, and social media, we will study different methods and concepts that help us understand our mediated condition(s) better. Moving historically and geographically, we will also encounter the many ways in which the term 'media' itself gets deployed and critiqued in scholarship across humanistic and social scientific disciplines. We will plug some of these (critical) theoretical understandings of media and culture into the longer histories of politics, philosophy, language, and literature, considering, for example, books as media technologies. And finally, we will ask what studies of media and mediation can do for our comprehension of the politico-economic, sociocultural, racial, and environmental crises surrounding us today.

FTT 30201 Global Cinema I (3 Credit Hours)

This class traces major developments, movements, artists, and aesthetics within global film culture from the beginning of cinema in the 1890s to about 1950. We will consider different national cinemas from Europe and Asia, as well as the rise of Hollywood and emergent African American cinema. We will consider certain prominent directors and film movements with attention to how they conceive of cinema, and will read contemporary theories and critiques of cinema. We will consider the development of the film industry and technical developments that shift the aesthetic, and changes in modes of production and distribution, and spectatorship. We will consider cinema in the context of modernity to consider how cinema reflects, refracts, transmutes and negotiates the effects of modernity to consider cinematic responses to urbanism, changing gender roles, mass production, race and immigration, among other topics.

Prerequisites: FTT 10101 or FTT 20101

Corequisites: FTT 31201

Enrollment limited to students in the Film, Television and Theatre department.

FTT 30202 Global Cinema II (3 Credit Hours)

This course traces the major developments in world cinema from the post-WWII era to the present. The course will examine the shifting social, economic, technological, and aesthetic conditions of this period, especially the demise of the Hollywood studio system, the rise of new technologies and auxiliary marketing outlets, and the increasing globalization of cinema. The course will not be limited to Hollywood filmmaking, but will also look at various international movements, including Italian Neorealism, the French New Wave, and recent Asian cinemas.

Prerequisites: FTT 10101 or FTT 20101

Corequisites: FTT 31202

FTT 30203 "Charlie Don't Surf" and Other Stories from Southeast Asia (3 Credit Hours)

In Apocalypse Now (1979), a single phrase marks an iconic enemy and creates a chain of associations that separate Western Selves from Eastern Others. The story behind the phrase, "Charlie don't surf," is one of many complex narratives characterizing the Southeast Asian region that call for further critical understanding. This course is an anthropological journey through Southeast Asia, a region rich in cultural diversity, linguistic complexity and archaeological significance. Including the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar (Burma), students can explore the ecological, historical, and socio-cultural patterns of this ethnographic region through analyses of its societies and institutions. With a holistic approach to the cultural influences that characterize Southeast Asia, we will chart the region's indigenous, social, political, economic, artistic and religious formations over time. The course offers a broad overview of the historical factors affecting the region, including the impact of Indian, Islamic, Chinese, and European exchange, colonization, and violence. These transregional influences provide a window from which to view contemporary issues in the cultural politics and economics of Southeast Asia. The course provides an overview of the major cultural features of the region to enable students to gain a better understanding of the current developments within the region and the lives of Southeast Asians. Overall, we will contribute to the development of anthropological ideas about Asia while also providing a means to organize and analyze Asian ethnographic perspectives.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKSS - Core Social Science

FTT 30205 Ethics of Journalism (3 Credit Hours)

This class will focus on how print, broadcast and online journalists work - how they think and act as well as the ethical dilemmas they face today in delivering news, analysis, and commentary. We will study the processes involved in the creation of news and the effects or consequences of the news on the public. This is not a course that teaches the techniques of journalism. Rather it is an examination of the practices of professional journalists and a survey of the impact of what they do.

FTT 30238 Writing the Short Film (3 Credit Hours)

This course is an introduction to the theory and craft of dramatic screenwriting. The class explores how a script is developed from concept to final written form. Through lectures, film viewing, and weekly exercises, emphasis is placed on plot and story structure, the adaptation of ideas into cinematic forms, how to tell a story with images, character, plot, and dialogue development. Each student writes two short 8-12 page scripts developed within the context of the workshop.

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 30240 The History of Professional Wrestling On Television (3 Credit Hours)

Through its transition from sport to pseudo-sport to sports entertainment, professional wrestling has long held the popularity to fill arenas and stadiums. This course takes a look at that popularity's effect on the medium of television. From its inception in the 1940s to the golden age of the 50s to the modern boom of the 80s and 90s to the streaming area of the present day, students will observe, analyze and critique the unique storytelling and production elements of professional wrestling that have made it such a television juggernaut and mainstay.

FTT 30247 Screening 'The Irish Troubles' (3 Credit Hours)

This course will look at how political conflict in Ireland from the 1916 Rebellion and the War of Independence up to and including what became known as "The Troubles" in the North of Ireland has been represented on the screen. Students will analyse a wide variety of cinematic texts, mainstream commercial Hollywood features as well as independent Irish and British films. Documentary film will also be analyzed. Certain seminal events such as Bloody Sunday and the 1981 Hunger Strikes which have a diverse representational history on screen will be given particular attention. Among the films discussed will be Mise Eire, Saoirse, Michael Collins, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Some Mother's Son, In the Name of the Father, and Bloody Sunday.

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 30255 The Writers Room: Building the Half-Hour Comedy (1 Credit Hour)

There is perhaps no place more sacred in Hollywood than the writers' room of a half-hour TV comedy. Often a place of deep vulnerability (and vulgarity), "the room" is shrouded in mystery. Its inhabitants are sworn to secrecy, their words uncensored and legally protected by the controversial Lyle v. Warner Bros lawsuit. As such, aspiring writers cannot possibly learn how to conduct themselves in a writers' room without actually participating in one. In this class, we will do just that: learning the art of "punching" and "pitching" to revise your peers' scripts alongside them as a writing staff.

FTT 30300 The West of Ireland - An Imagined Space (3 Credit Hours)

This course will interrogate and examine representations of the West of Ireland in various twentieth century texts focusing, in particular on the role of "the West of Ireland" in state formation and legitimization during the early decades of independent Ireland and its role in the construction of an Irish identity. We will look at how images of the West of Ireland were constructed in various utopian or romanticized formulations as well as examining more dystopian versions. This course will take an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on the visual arts and film as well as on literary texts in both Irish and English. (Irish language texts will be read in translation).

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 30302 Envisioning Contemporary Europe: New Political Realities in Film, Literature, and Art (3 Credit Hours)

In this course we'll focus on some of the central concerns in contemporary European cultures: how to construct a meaningful sense of historical memory (and post-memory), how are gender and class struggles impacting national and increasingly transnational identities, and how can artists develop new forms of representation to depict those changes. In each unit we'll compare how films, novels, television series, and conceptual art frame these issues, zeroing in on points of both commonality and divergence. We'll also be incorporating films from the Nanovic Film Series at the Browning Cinema. (Some of the texts we'll be discussing: Pawlikowski, Cold War, Tykwer, Babylon Berlin, Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend, Sorrentino, La Grande Bellezza, Donnersmarck, Never Look Away, Almodovar, Pain and Glory, Knausgaard, My Struggle: Book 2, Rohrwacher, Lazzardo Felice, Price, Borgen)

Corequisites: FTT 31302

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30311 Media for Social Justice and Change: Making Movies that Matter (3 Credit Hours)

The use of media is becoming increasingly important to advocate for social change at local, national, and international levels. Activists and advocates working in movements and formal and informal networks and organizations such as NGOs, use media to document, educate, organize, and lobby. They incorporate video, mobile communications and social media to heighten global awareness of social justice issues and push for social change by seeking to inspire empathy, engagement, and activism. In this new course, you will learn how to create impact-driven video, and develop research and design skills to produce short video projects using accessible forms of media capture such as iPhones and GoPros. You will also develop your visual literacy skills by examining how effective media creates narrative structures to make meaning, and shapes and challenges how social justice issues around the world are represented and interpreted.

FTT 30330 Ireland on Screen (3 Credit Hours)

This course will examine and analyze representations of Ireland in film from the Silent era through Hollywood film to the contemporary independant indigenous cinema of today. It will trace the representation of the rural and the urban through the varying utopian/dystopian lenses of film makers from the Kaleb Brothers to John Ford to Jim Sheridan to Lenny Abramson. Films discussed will range from early 20th century silent films to The Quiet Man, Ryan's Daughter, The Commitments, Poitin, The Field, Kings, My Left Foot, Once, Garage, Goldfish Memory and The Guard.

FTT 30357 Shadow of the Empire in Cinema: Contemporary Russian and Ukrainian Film (3 Credit Hours)

Over the last two decades of Putin's presidency, Russia's geopolitical strength and imperial ambition were placed at the center of Russia's political line. Military incursions in the neighboring countries have expanded Russia's territorial claims and reasserted its aspirations to former Soviet spheres of influence. While Russian identity continued to be imperial after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Ukrainians set off on a journey of building their national identity. The course considers how post-Soviet cinema revives tropes and aesthetic tendencies of the earlier periods, such as stark depictions of the self and Other, spiritual superiority and monumentalism, as well as updates them for a contemporary context. The class explores the Putin-era Russian cinema and Ukrainian national cinema of the last two decades in the light of the common past that these two countries share and how the past is reshaped for the present. No previous knowledge of Russian is required, the course is taught fully in English.

Corequisites: FTT 31357

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30405 Introduction to Film and Television Production (3 Credit Hours)

An introductory Summer course in the fundamentals of writing, shooting, editing, and lighting for narrative film and television productions. This is a summer hands-on course emphasizing creativity, aesthetic, and technical expertise. Students learn the many aspects of filmmaking while making short films of their own. Requirements: Three short digital video assignments, selected readings, and a final exam.

FTT 30408 Video Essays (3 Credit Hours)

This upper-division course introduces students to "essayistic" approaches to media analysis and production. As the name signals, this class explores the sometimes experimental and sometimes playful "video essay" mode of expression with the goal of understanding how media makers and artists utilize sounds and images for fictional and non-fictional ends. By emphasizing the multiple points of connection that exist between media theory and praxis, this course aims to help students understand how to craft compelling arguments and evocative, impressionistic sequences using this unique form of storytelling.

FTT 30410 Introduction to Film and Television Production (3 Credit Hours)

An introductory course in the fundamentals of writing, filming, and editing film and television productions. This is a hands-on production course emphasizing aesthetics, creativity, and technical expertise with the goal of learning the many aspects of successful visual storytelling. The course requires significant amounts of filming and editing outside of class. Students write and produce short, single camera narrative projects using Canon C100 cameras, editing with Adobe Premiere Pro. The principles of three-camera studio production are also covered. Cannot have taken FTT 30405 or FTT 50505.

Prerequisites: FTT 10101 or FTT 20101

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30415 Indie Film Producing (3 Credit Hours)

If you've been wondering about the role of a creative film producer, especially focusing on indie, low-budget production, this course is for you. Gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of the roles and responsibilities of a producer in the contemporary film industry. Learn essential tools and gain practical insight into areas as diverse as script development, pitching, breaking down script, scheduling, budgeting and funding, as well as the legal aspects of pre-production, production and post-production and film festivals, marketing and sales strategies.

FTT 30416 3D Digital Production for Animation and Video Games (3 Credit Hours)

Are you interested in the world of feature animation, visual effects, and video games? This course will be your first step in learning the tools and techniques of 3D digital content creation, which can be applied to a variety of professional industries, graduate school programs, and higher-level production courses at Notre Dame. You will learn the basics of modeling, texturing, animation, lighting, virtual cinematography, and rendering using the industry-standard application, Autodesk Maya. Through weekly tutorials and projects using Maya, you will receive hands-on, practical experience in the core facets of 3D digital production. Through weekly lectures, group discussions, critical studies reading assignments, and film screenings, you will learn the foundational principles of 3D computer graphics, computer animation, and visual storytelling, and gain a broader understanding and appreciation of the cultural and historical contexts that surround the creation and reception of this art form. This is a hybrid critical studies and production course, and as such, you will "learn by doing" in both lecture and lab settings.

Prerequisites: FTT 30410

FTT 30420 Sound in Narrative Film: Audio Production, Editing, Mixing, and Design (3 Credit Hours)

Writer-director George Lucas famously said that "sound is 50 percent of the movie going experience." Director Danny Boyle mentioned in an interview, "The truth is, for me, it's obvious that 70, 80 percent of a movie is sound. You don't realize it because you can't see it." Sound and music design for digital media is oftentimes an overlooked art form that is critical to the effective telling of a story. At its root, sonic design creates mood and setting. It engages the audience on a primal, emotional level, in ways that imagery cannot alone achieve. A cleanly recorded and creatively edited sound effects track can immerse an audience in a fictional, manufactured reality. Music, whether used sparingly or in grandiose fashion, can enhance or subvert the visual component of a film or video game to create cinematic magic. Through feature film screenings, video game play sessions, critical readings, video essays, and hands-on production assignments, you will gain a broader understanding and appreciation of sound design and learn how to direct the emotions of an audience through creative recording, mixing, and editing of sound effects and music. This is a hybrid critical studies and production course, and as such, you will "learn by doing" in both lecture and lab settings.

FTT 30421 Video Art Installation (3 Credit Hours)

In this course we will consider and expand the spatial possibilities of video installation in real and virtual space. Exploring the various ways to manipulate and present video as a visually driven experience, we will look at contemporary examples of video art with global significance as inspiration for a creative and original approach. The technical components of this hands-on class include Adobe After Effects, motion capture, a foundational introduction to Autodesk Maya, and Virtual Reality. The goal of the course is to create immersive experiences with video that break the passive relationship between the screen and the viewer, culminating in a 3D and VR project. Students will learn to problem solve when faced with logistical realities of video installation, and acquire a critical awareness of how to navigate our society as digital makers.

FTT 30428 Video Art Production (3 Credit Hours)

This course will use digital video and computer imaging as tools of artistic exploration and critical expression. Projects will engage creative and unconventional methods of moving image production, involving techniques and concepts in sound, animation, projection mapping, and personal storytelling. Students will be introduced to a range of video artists and artworks, using these as examples of the wide range of processes and conceptual framework in video art.

FTT 30438 Law and Film: Images of Justice "The Twilight Zone" (1 Credit Hour)

In this course, students will enter the wondrous dimension of the imagination, The Twilight Zone. More than fifty years ago, radio and television writer Rod Serling was fed up with censorship. Corporations that advertised during radio plays and television shows dictated what was acceptable and network executives edited out controversial dialogue and topics. Serling was determined to use television, this fresh new medium, to bring awareness and spark discussions of racism, war, greed, and discrimination. He respected the intelligence of his viewing audience and pushed them to question the future of humanity, societal norms, and charismatic leaders. His solution was to present these themes in another dimension, The Twilight Zone. He created aliens, civil war soldiers, a child's toy telephone and the Devil himself to deliver these messages and shock the public conscience. It has been said that the storytelling in the Twilight Zone explored the surreal, and what it means to be human, in a new and extraordinary way. This course will explore how Rod Serling communicated these themes through the power of television. Are these themes from the 1950's - 1960's relevant today? As citizens, have our rights, freedoms, and laws changed for the better? As a society, have we progressed? This course will meet on 6 specific Wednesdays, beginning the first week of classes, August 24, 2022.

FTT 30443 Disney in Film and Culture (3 Credit Hours)

The name "Disney" has achieved nearly mythic status in U.S. and international film and culture. For many, the name evokes treasured childhood memories of watching the The Lion King or The Little Mermaid or of discovering Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck for the first time. Among film scholars, Disney cartoons stand as some of the finest examples of carefully crafted, naturalistic, character-centered animation. For business majors and professionals, The Walt Disney Company has come to symbolize a modern, competitive corporation that seeks to leverage its stories and characters across a variety of media platforms in a global marketplace. While many love Disney films, and see Walt Disney as an American icon, his popularity and "American-ness" have sparked controversy in other countries and in various historical periods. This class examines Walt Disney, Disney films, and the Disney Company from a variety of perspectives that will help us understand both Disney's enduring popularity and the kinds of suspicions its worked has raised. Our readings will draw from biographies of Walt Disney; histories of the Disney studio and of the animation industry in general; critical analyses of the films; and cultural studies of Disney merchandising, theme parks and theatrical productions. Screenings will include the classic films of the studio era, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Cinderella, and Peter Pan, as well as more recent works such as Mary Poppins, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast. Requirements include weekly reading responses, exams, and an extended research paper.

FTT 30455 Critical Approaches to Television (3 Credit Hours)

This course offers an introductory survey of the primary critical approaches used to analyze television, and thus serves as a foundation for other TV-specific courses within the major. Through an examination of pioneering and contemporary studies of television, we will explore how television has been analyzed as a communication medium, a technological apparatus, a commercial industry, and a cultural forum, as well as a form of recreation, education, and social bonding. We will also consider critical approaches that focus on how television shapes our personal identities and values. While examining methods developed to study TV production, reception, and texts, we will explore such concepts as publicness, liveness, quality, art, and representation. In addition to discussing how television was analyzed in the past, we will consider how both television and TV studies have changed as a result of globalization, industrial convergence, digital media, and participatory culture.

Prerequisites: FTT 10101 or FTT 20101 or FTT 20102

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 30456 Critical Approaches to Screen Cultures (3 Credit Hours)

In this course, students will learn different theories, methods, and approaches to understanding and writing about screen cultures. We will explore approaches that consider aesthetics/style, narrative, authorship (directors, show runners, stars), genre (e.g. the musical, horror), history (history of film/media industries, history of visual spectacle, historical context for films/media, etc.), technologies (sound, color, digital technologies, etc.), identities (considerations of gender, sexuality, race, nation, age, etc.), and audience (reception, fandom). Students will: Read theories that articulate and advocate each approach; consider the parameters, value, and appeal of that approach, as well as its limitations; practice each approach in written exercises; and research and write a final paper using one or more of these approaches. Students may also use video essays or other media as tools of analysis and critique. This is a course in academic criticism, not journalistic reviewing. Strong emphasis will be placed on argumentative writing.

Prerequisites: FTT 10101 or FTT 20101 or FTT 20102

FTT 30459 Gender and Rock Culture (3 Credit Hours)

An introduction to the study of gender and rock culture, this course provides students with a broad, foundational understanding of the concepts, theories, and methodologies used in critical analyses of rock's various gendered constructions. Rather than taking a musicological perspective, this course uses a socio-cultural approach to examine a myriad of gendered sites within rock culture, including performance, music video, and rock journalism. Therefore, music and song lyrics will not be our only or primary objects of study; our exploration of rock's gendered culture will also include studies of the various roles, practices, technologies, and institutions associated with he production and a synthetic, interdisciplinary approach is employed which draws on theories and methodologies formulated in such fields as popular music criticism, musicology, cultural studies, sociology, ethnography, literary analysis, performance studies, and critical media studies. In turn, the course is informed by feminist scholarship and theories of gender.

FTT 30461 History of Television (3 Credit Hours)

Television has been widely available in the United States for only half a century, yet aleady it has become a key means through which we understand our culture. Our course examines this vital medium from three perspectives. First, we will look at the industrial, economic and technological forces that have shaped U.S. television since its inception. These factors help explain how U.S. television adopted the format of advertiser-supported broadcast networks and why this format is changing today. Second, we will explore television's role in American social and political life: how TV has represented cultural changes in the areas of gender, class, race and ethnicity. Third, we will discuss specific narrative and visual strategies that characterize program formats. Throughout the semester we will demonstrate how television and U.S. culture mutually influence one another, as television both constructs our view of the world and is affected by social and cultural forces within the U.S.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 30462 History of Television II: The Transition From Network Broadcasting to Streaming (3 Credit Hours)

This course charts the transformation of US television from the network era of the 1970s and 1980s to the present day. We will explore the broadcast networks' responses to the new competition posed by original cable programming and satellite tv, as well as the rise of multichannel and streaming platforms in the digital era. Though the central focus is on US television cultures and infrastructures, we will also explore the increasingly international and global reach of the medium. We will also consider the ways in which the legacy of broadcasting informs current debates about internet regulation and broadband access. Throughout, the course explores the medium as a central arena for the negotiation of public life, ranging from electoral politics to the medium's engagement with, and participation in, shifting cultural norms of race, gender, and nationhood. Screenings and case studies will include examples of scripted prime-time series, but also local, daytime, documentary/reality, sports, and non-US programming.

FTT 30465 The Business and Culture of Sports Television (3 Credit Hours)

Sports have played an integral role in the television industry since the medium's early days. This course will highlight the history of sports on television and focus on the nuts and bolts of how television sports programming works today. The course will also examine the impact of televised sports on our culture as well as the ethical issues raised by the media's coverage of sports. Taught in the Fall only.

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 30468 Ethics in Journalism (3 Credit Hours)

"The primary purpose of journalism," according to media observers Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, "is to provide citizens with the information they need to be free and self-governing." That's a lofty goal in any age - but it's especially difficult in the current era of market-driven journalism that has produced fabrication and plagiarism scandals, political cheerleading on news networks, "gotcha" videos on the internet and social media, and an outright obsession with celebrities. Students in this course will come away with a deep-seated understanding of journalism's purpose, develop a disciplined and repeatable process of making sound ethical choices when confronted with tough situations, and be able to articulate ethically defensible arguments explaining their decisions. They will accomplish these goals by reading, viewing, debating, analyzing, and writing about actual cases and issues in the news. The focus will be as much on what journalists should do, as on what they should not do.

Enrollment limited to students in the Film, Television and Theatre department.

FTT 30480 Televised Sports Production: Technology and Storytelling (3 Credit Hours)

The Game, as we experience it on screens big and small, is an ever evolving story. A human competition turned into a visual narrative by producers, directors, and broadcasters. How is that three hour ebb and flow of emotions turned into an engaging narrative for fans? How has that story evolved over decades? How has the evolution of technology changed that story? And has the televised broadcast changed the meaning of the game itself? From the Super Bowl to March Madness, ESPN Sportscenter to WWE Smackdown, we'll dissect the process, storytelling techniques and technology that form the American sports story on television, as well as experience the actual game production operation from inside the control rooms of Notre Dame Studios. Assignments include on-camera and off-camera production exercises, as well as written assignments deconstructing historical and current broadcasts. No prior television production experience required.

FTT 30491 Debate (0-2 Credit Hours)

Public Speaking and Debate is a skills-based course designed to prepare students for the real world necessity of public speaking, while also cultivating the skills necessary to be competitive on the college speech and debate circuit if they so desire. Students will have the opportunity to join our Speech and Debate Travel Team and compete across the country in various events if they wish. The events range from 2 person team debate to individual persuasive speeches, to mock congresses, and even dramatic monologues! Team members are also eligible for scholarships for their participation. Day one of the course will be lectures and activities to allow students to become familiar with all competitive events as well as traditional public speaking for those students who do not wish to compete. We will dedicate day two to practicing the skills we learned the day before! Students will leave the course with an increased comfort with public speaking, extensive knowledge of persuasive speech, expanded analytical and critical thinking skills, and familiarity with the art of argumentation.

Course may be repeated.

FTT 30501 Media & Presidential Elections (3 Credit Hours)

Presidential elections afford us an opportunity that is rare in U.S. politics: the experience of direct participation. Though our votes are needed to select a candidate, our experience of the election process is mediated through representational forms such as film, radio, television and digital media. This course examines how print, film and electronic media have functioned in U.S. elections since we began choosing presidents in the late 18th century. We will look at how journalists' ideas about their roles have changed, from the partisan coverage of the 18th and 19th centuries, through the commitment to "objectivity" in the 20th century, to the renewed partisanship of today. We will also analyze how candidates have used various media forms to construct representations of themselves, their parties and their platforms. We will examine the narrative strategies and verbal and visual codes by which media present candidates, issues, and the political process itself to us, the voters. This course is offered during a presidential election to allow us to connect this broader history with current events.

FTT 30505 The Mediated Climate: Critical Media Literacy & the Climate Crisis (3 Credit Hours)

This interdisciplinary course addresses the climate crisis as both a scientific challenge and a crisis of communication and culture. Team-taught by a climate scientist and a media historian, the course explores the underlying scientific research behind key topics of public debate, while also analyzing the media technologies, infrastructures, and cultures that have made it so difficult to act on an established scientific consensus. Our approach to climate media is not simply "science, illustrated", but rather a vigorous exploration of the climate crisis as a cultural knowledge, information, and policy problem. Students will work collaboratively to develop case studies that profile significant areas of public and scientific concern, including global climate modeling, global imbalances of political agency, public trust of science and scientists, the growth of AI data centers, and local and state case studies in environmental technologies.

FTT 30511 Introduction to Film Analysis through Brazilian Cinema (3 Credit Hours)

Students will be able to improve their argumentative and analytical skills through the study of key issues and concepts in film studies. Film form and narrative, gender, class, stereotypes, the film auteur, cultural industry, violence and social denunciation will be some of the topics explored for the exploration of Brazilian case studies. Special emphasis will be given to the retomada -the rebirth of Brazilian cinema from the mid 1990s on - with in-depth analyses of feature films such as Carlota Joaquina (Carla Camurati, 1995), Central do Brasil (Walter Salles, 1998), CIdade de Deus (Fernando Meirelles, 2002) and Tropa de Elite (Jose' Padilha, 2007); documentary movies such as Edifcio Master (Eduardo Coutinho, 2002) and Santiago (Joao Moreira Salles, 2007) , as well as short movies such as Recife Frio (Kleber Mendonca Filho, 2009) and Eu nao Quero Voltar Sozinho (Daniel Ribeiro, 2010). Taught in English.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30520 Drama & Poetry in Ukraine at War: Representatives of Injustice and Resilience in Ukraine, 2014-2022 (3 Credit Hours)

When war comes, many might imagine that theatre and other forms of performance stop. But, among the many forms of resistance to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there has been a vast increase in the number of new plays representing the suffering and the resilience of the Ukrainian people, many of which have already been translated into English. There has, in contrast, been less attention paid to other forms of performance writing: for example, poetry being created for, or disseminated through, digital media, reaching audiences instantly with all the urgency of the moment. This course has as its central aim the exploration of these materials, both ones already in English translation and ones that might become available. It seeks to understand what has been created and how it is disseminated as cultural practice during the Russian invasion. It will run as a classroom on the Notre Dame campus, meeting simultaneously with one taught in English at the Ukrainian Catholic University, enabling collaboration and shared learning between ND and UCU students.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30531 Avant-Garde Art and Film (3 Credit Hours)

This survey course will take a critical studies approach to the aesthetic, historical and ideological issues in avant-garde art, film, and media. This course will be structured around major phases of experimental, independent and radical non-narrative/non-commercial cinema from the 1920s to the present. In addition to considering new modes of production, we will address alternative forms of distribution and exhibition. We will also examine how these historical moments speak to contemporary calls to provide more diverse and inclusive modes of representation. Students will be required to attend weekly class lectures and discussions as well as weekly lab screenings.

Corequisites: FTT 31531

FTT 30533 Global Screens & Local Screams: Contemporary International Horror Cinema (3 Credit Hours)

Shocking, brutal, sensational, lurid, and just plain gross: no genre enjoys more diehard fans and steadfast detractors than horror cinema. Fan or foe, these movies provoke rich debates about media theory, aesthetics, and cultural politics for how they voice a range of fears and anxieties. This course introduces students to contemporary international horror cinema with the goal of understanding how this maligned genre explores themes of difference concerning race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and nationality. The horror genre is at once local and global. These harrowing stories simultaneously articulate regional folklore, myths, and cultural traditions, and they connect viscerally with audiences for how they articulate our shared humanity. What goes bump in the night, you ask? This class will answer that question. Timid students need not enroll.

Corequisites: FTT 31533

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30542 Cinema and Migration (3 Credit Hours)

Cinema and hospitality in a broad sense: how do films embody the art of welcoming, of hosting, of including and caring? Three months after his election in 2013, Pope Francis visited the Island of Lampedusa (Italy), one of the world’s deadliest forefronts of the humanitarian catastrophe often referred to as the global “refugee crisis.” He denounced the “globalization of indifference” in which no one wants to take responsibility for “our brothers and sisters” migrants who suffer and die. Ten years later, while the Pope is again addressing the “crisis” in Marseilles, in the month of August 2023 alone, 2,095 “migrants” have lost their lives in their attempts to cross the Mediterranean Ocean. Through a general concept of “hospitality,” our class will offer a holistic, cinematic approach to a world scene in which an unprecedented number of individuals are forced to flee their homes. We will focus on the (extremely) old notion of hospitality (a decisively matrixial one) and analyze films that put this concept at their core both formally and narratively. One critical goal will be to explore the various cultural understandings and practices that forge the highly cultural, both idiosyncratic and universal art of inviting, including, unconditionally hosting, and caring for the guest, the stranger, the child, the unknown. An ideal of protection, empathy, and compassion without which there is no responsibility, no ethics, all concepts that are the cornerstone of a feminist ethics that will nourish our research. This class will, in most parts, consist of seminar discussions and lectures. Two written assignments, group work, oral presentations as well as active participation in our class will constitute the basic requirements.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30559 Glitter Boys & Angry Grrrls: Gender in Rock Films (1 Credit Hour)

Since long before Janis wowed Monterey and Hendrix blew up Woodstock, rock musicians have been captured and constructed by filmmakers eager to explore their non-conformist values and creative practices while amplifying their rebellious sounds. This class examines how gender operates within rock culture, using some of the world’s best rock’n’roll films as both evidence and touchpoints for critical conversation. From musicals and concert films to biopics and music videos, we will use these texts to study a myriad of sites associated with rock music production and consumption, investigating how rock culture has served as a significant site for gender conformity as well as gender trouble.

FTT 30598 Cinema of Portugal and Luso-Africa (3 Credit Hours)

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30600 Shakespeare and Film (3 Credit Hours)

This course explores the phenomenon of Shakespeare and film, concentrating on the ranges of meaning provoked by the conjunction. We shall be looking at examples of films of Shakespeare plays both early and recent, both in English and in other languages, and both ones that stick close to the conventionalized and historicized conceptualizations of Shakespeare and adaptations at varying degrees of distance toward the erasure of Shakespeare from the text. The transportation of different forms of Shakespearean textualities (printed, theatrical, filmic) and the confrontation with the specificities of film produce a cultural phenomenon whose cultural meanings - meanings as Shakespeare and meanings as film - will be the subject of our investigations. Students will be required to view screenings of films on a regular basis during the semester. Note: this course is delivered fully online. The course design combines required live weekly meetings online with self-scheduled lectures, problems, assignments, and interactive learning materials. To participate, students will need to have a computer with webcam, reliable internet connection, and a quiet place to participate in live sessions. Cannot have taken: FTT 40600 , FTT 44600, FTT 60600

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30603 Visualizing Global Change (3 Credit Hours)

The goal of the course is to compare the processes by which social scientists and filmmakers/photographers engage in social documentation. Students explore how global social problems such as rural and urban poverty, race and gender inequalities, immigration, and violence are analyzed across the social sciences, and depicted in a variety of documentary film and photography genres. The course also explores the role that documentary photography and film play in promoting rights and advocating for social change, particularly in the realm of human rights and global inequality. It examines the history of documentary film and photography in relationship to politics, and to the development of concerns across the social sciences with inequality and social justice. It also looks at how individual documentarians, non-profit organizations and social movements use film and photography to further their goals and causes, and issues of representation their choices raise. The course is also unique because it requires students to engage in the process of visual documentation themselves by incorporating an activity-based learning component. For their final project, students choose a human rights or social problem that concerns or interests them (and which they can document locally — no travel is required), prepare a documentary "exhibit" on the chosen topic (10-12 photographs), and write a 12-15 page paper analyzing how 2-3 social scientists construct and frame the given problem. Students also have the option to produce a short documentary film.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30635 Drunk on Film: The Psychology of Storytelling with Alcohol and its Effects on Alcohol Consumption (3 Credit Hours)

Long Title: Drunk on Film: The Psychology of Storytelling with Alcohol and Its Effects on Alcohol Consumption. Alcohol Use Disorder is a chronic relapsing brain disease. But when presented on screen, it's entertainment. Why do we laugh, why do we cry, why do we emulate fictional characters whose drinking habits result in a life of debilitating addiction? From James Bond to Jonah Hill, the psychology and seduction of alcohol on film, television, and online will be analyzed. Furthermore, what is the relationship between the manner in which alcohol use/abuse is presented on screen and the manner in which alcohol is used and abused on, for example, college campuses? Surveying recent film history, we will examine how alcohol is used in story structure, as a character flaw or strength, and as a narrative device in the story arc of films across multiple film genres, (action/adventure, comedy, romance, etc). Why do characters drink, where do they drink, and how does the result of their "getting drunk" advance the narrative? We'll also look at non-fiction films that tackle issues of addiction, as a way of comparing character development in Hollywood films to the results of this same behavior in everyday life. Film materials will include weekly screenings outside of class, and academic articles relating to portrayal and analysis of alcohol use in film and television, including the business of marketing alcohol in print and television advertising. From the psychological perspective we will discuss the topic and process of social influence and how the presence of others influences our behavior. Questions of interest will include the following: what are the mechanisms by which group influence unfolds? How and why might we be persuaded? Does the manner, and if so how, in which alcohol use is portrayed in movies and the media reflect the processes and principles of social influence? Readings will include chapters on social influence, persuasion and academic articles evaluating the manner in which alcohol is portrayed and advertised and the effect this has on alcohol consumption. In addition, issues of addiction will be discussed - from understanding the basis of addiction to examining the efficacy of addiction treatment.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKIN - Core Integration

FTT 30649 Germany in Postwar Cinema (3 Credit Hours)

What does it mean to be a successor state to the Nazis? Can one live in hope, and yet still take honest account of a genocidal past? How might cinema be deployed to bring about the elusive Communist utopia, a true democracy; or, conversely, how could it figure as a means to protest an authoritarian government or decry oppressive social conditions? These are questions posed not only by postwar Germans--in the East and West--but by people the world over. Yet the particular "German" contexts of the two Cold War states and now of the Berlin Republic are unmistakable and continue to exert a particular fascination for filmmakers from around the world. This course will treat a dozen great films that attempt to record history, make history, and sometimes even defy history. We will treat film not merely as a reflection of politics, but as a potential intervention that may still be relevant to contemporaries. Directors include: Wim Wenders, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Billy Wilder, and others

Corequisites: FTT 31649

FTT 30660 Adapting Oz (3 Credit Hours)

In 1900, L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published. Often discussed as a quintessentially American fairytale, this children's novel and the fantasy world in which it takes place has spawned a wealth of sequels, revisions, and adaptations across a multitude of media platforms--from print sequels and revisions to films, serial television shows, cartoons, games, and Broadway shows. This course will investigate not only the cultural significance of Baum's fantasy world within American culture, but also the theoretical concept of adaptation. Looking closely at multiple iterations of Oz across different platforms, we will discuss questions such as: what is the cultural significance of Oz? what does it mean to adapt a text? how does a story change when it moves from page, to stage, to screen, and back again? Why is it important to examine these changes? What roles do historical/cultural context and audiences play in adaptation? For students of film and media, American culture, and literature this course will provide an opportunity to explore critical concepts of culture and myth, examine the relationship between popular culture and identity, and develop and practice skills in formal analysis.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 30665 What a Drag: Drag on Screen - Variations and Meanings (1 Credit Hour)

This one-credit course provides an overview of the history of drag performance on screen. We will consider televisual drag, comedic and dramatic fiction films, documentaries, and silent films. We will consider uses of drag as disguise, cross dressing for comedy, ballroom culture, drag contests, female to male drag, and more. Students will be asked to read essays on drag, write weekly reflections, attend class discussions, and attend weekly screenings, as well as a symposium on drag and performance on Friday, November 3, 2023.

Corequisites: FTT 31665

FTT 30706 Musical Theatre History - The American Broadway Musical (3 Credit Hours)

The intention of this course is to provide you with a context within which to understand the history of the American Broadway Musical, while cultivating your own opinions about the art form and how it relates to society. You will track the progression of the musical by studying its path through the Operetta, Minstrelsy, Vaudeville, Golden Age, Sondheim and the Concept Musical, the Modern Rock Musical, the Juke-Box Musical and the Post-Modern Era. This course is a research based course. Research topics are assigned by eras so that we may analyze and compare the material to the history of society. You will apply your growing knowledge of musical theatre history and context to intelligently observe and engage in discussion of the thoughts and presentations of your peers within a structured setting. Throughout the course there will be group discussions, group research, independent research, group presentations and weekly writing responses to prompts, which will require critical thinking and self reflection. There will be two papers due throughout the semester while ending in a one on one meeting with the instructor.

FTT 30707 Musical Theatre Dance (3 Credit Hours)

This course introduces the theory of movement in regards to musical theatre, and how it relates to style and character, while exploring physical and emotional risk. This class will be a physically rigorous approach towards body awareness with the study of dance, choreography and theatre movement for the musical. We will be engaged in a variety of iconic dance choreography from a variety of different musical styles, while working on overall movement for the musical stage. Throughout the course there will be exercises to explore our physicality as well as creating a physically based ensemble within the class through dance and movement. We will also gain experience in learning dance choreography and what it would be like to be in a rehearsal process for a musical. You will sweat.

FTT 30708 Performance Techniques - How to Act a Song (3 Credit Hours)

The intention of this course is to provide you with a context within which to understand the techniques of musical theatre performance and the foundational skills needed to personally inhabit these techniques. This course will give you the tools to "act a song." You will work on analysis and performance of five songs from the following categories: Golden Age, Modern, Rock, Pop and any other kind of song you love. These songs are assigned by era sequentially so that we may simultaneously introduce the context of this material within the genre-at-large. You will also apply your growing knowledge of technique and context to intelligently observe and comment on the work of your peers within a structured setting. Throughout the course we will incorporate short group exercises to better explore performance technique and promote a deeper understanding of the differences between traditional script/text analysis and score/lyric analysis. There will be reflection papers due after the exploration of your songs.

FTT 30709 Theatre Management Seminar (1 Credit Hour)

Roche Schulfer '73, Executive Director of the Goodman Theatre, will present a series of five talks about the Business of Theatre in the United States. Covering such topics as the Economics of the Performing Arts, Non-profit vs Commercial Theatre, Fund Raising, Strategic Planning, and Careers in the Performing Arts; Mr. Schulfer will bring the lessons he has learned over the years of his career to our campus. Theatre Management Seminar may be taken as a one credit course or as a zero credit lab component for FTT30703 Stage and Theatre Management.

FTT 30710 Advanced Performance Techniques (3 Credit Hours)

Course Objective: The intention of this course is to provide you with a context within which to build upon the foundations of the techniques of musical theatre performance and how to navigate character from book scenes into songs. Course Content and Structure: You will work on analysis and performance of multiple songs and scenes from musicals, focused on book scenes, duets, and group numbers. These songs/scenes are assigned by era sequentially so that we may simultaneously introduce the context of this material within the genre-at-large. You will also apply your growing knowledge of technique and context to intelligently observe and comment on the work of your peers within a structured setting.

FTT 30711 Revolution and the Arts (3 Credit Hours)

This course will begin with an investigation of the many meanings of revolution in changing contexts, then deal with specific models of how modern artists portray revolutionary ideas, events, and consequences. We will consider contemporary theatre, music, and visual art from Latin America and the Middle East,among other examples. Students will be expected to do independent research about movements and artists, give in-class presentations about their findings, and work in groups to better understand worldwide revolutions. There will be assigned readings, film screenings, gallery/museum visits, and performances, which will require written responses (short form and essays) and frame class discussions

FTT 30714 World Theatre: Text and Performance Across Cultures (3 Credit Hours)

This course examines world theatre history from the origins of performance to the present. Students learn techniques of script analysis, performance analysis, and independent research as tools for analyzing theatre from the literary, aesthetic, and historical perspectives. Throughout, the course emphasizes the importance of cultural context and historiography to understanding the creation and transformation of theatre as an art form. Each semester will be a stand-alone course and can be taken in any order. Students are encouraged to enroll in adjacent semesters. At least one semester of this sequence is a prerequisite for the upper-level electives required to complete the major.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30715 World Theatre II: Text and Performance Across Cultures (3 Credit Hours)

This course examines world theatre history from 19th century popular entertainment performance practices to the present. Students learn techniques of script analysis, performance analysis, and independent research as tools for analyzing theatre from the literary, aesthetic, and historical perspectives. Throughout, the course emphasizes the importance of cultural context and historiography to understanding the creation and transformation of theatre as an art form. Each semester will be a stand-alone course and can be taken in any order. Students are encouraged to enroll in adjacent semesters. At least one semester of this sequence is a prerequisite for the upper-level electives required to complete the major.

FTT 30716 Postcolonial Theatre: Tragedy and Triumph (3 Credit Hours)

This course takes a historically centered look at the use of theatre in the Anglophone postcolonies. We will start by exploring the role of theatre in colonialism—how it was deployed to both Europeanize the colonized subject and simultaneously to enforce ideas of cultural superiority. The rest of the course will analyze how colonized subjects use theatre to write back to empire, write around empire, or write through it. In order to do this, we will study indigenous forms of theatre and performance to best understand how theatre becomes a site for contesting colonial legacies through strategic mixes of European and traditional theatre practices. This course will begin by looking at the emerging Irish theatre as it was reacting to anti-colonial nationalism before moving on to similar movements in Nigeria, South Africa, the United States, and the Caribbean.

FTT 30730 The Big American Play: Pulitzer Prize Winners in Performance (3 Credit Hours)

A class for actors, writers, and scholars, The Big American Play will dig into theatre's role in the American conversation on race, class, and gender. Students will analyze scripts, research cultural contexts, rehearse scenes, and perform up to four public readings of selected plays. All students will participate in each approach at least once, then will have the option to focus on either acting or dramaturgy. Students will also curate a season of plays for the current American moment, choosing their ideal performance context for each event and articulating the vision that drives their choices. Pulitzer prize-winning plays include musicals, comedies, dramas, and cutting edge experiments by diverse American playwrights like Suzan Lori Parks, Michael R Jackson Paul Vogel, Lynn Nottage,, August Wilson, Annie Baker, Sam Shepard, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Neil Simon, and Zona Gale.

FTT 30750 MT Dance Practicum (1 Credit Hour)

This course introduces the advanced student dancer to various methods of dance training. When appropriate, the student serves as the teaching assistant for Musical Theatre Dance, under the supervision of the instructor.

FTT 30780 Sound Studies, Popular Music, and American Literature (3 Credit Hours)

US literature and popular music between the mid-19th century and the end of World War II. This interdisciplinary course will incorporate methods from performance studies, sound studies, and musicology in addition to literary criticism. We will read key works of American prose (as well as some poetry) from the period's principal literary movements, including realism, naturalism, modernism, and multimedia documentary. We will also listen to musical works--Broadway tunes and blues songs, spirituals and symphonies. We'll pay particular attention to how segregation and other racial politics, changing roles for women, and the mass production of commodities influenced the art of this period. Texts will include writing by Stephen Crane, W.E.B. Du Bois, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes, Harriet Jacobs, and Edith Wharton, as well as music by George M. Cohan, George Gershwin, Scott Joplin, Paul Robeson, and Bessie Smith. Course requirements will include two argumentative essays, several shorter writing assignments, regular online reading responses, and active class participation.

FTT 30800 Scenic Painting (3 Credit Hours)

An introduction to the tools and techniques used in painted and textured scenery for the stage and screen. Students will learn and apply the variety of methods used in creating a wide range of painted effects; from the basic wood treatments to the advanced marbling and faux finishes. Outside of class painting time will be required.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30801 Scene Design (3 Credit Hours)

This is a beginner's course in basic scenic design techniques and hand drafting for the stage. This course will take the student through the process of design from how to read a script, research, presentation, rendering, basic drafting, and if time allows, model building. No previous experience necessary. Materials fee TBA.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30802 Lighting Design (3 Credit Hours)

This class will teach you what is involved in creating and executing a lighting design. We will cover lighting equipment and safety. You will design and draft a light plot, and you will learn how to write and use paperwork. Most importantly, the goal of this class will be to teach you how to see light. There will be lectures, videos, projects (take-home and in-class), hands-on training, and required attendance at TWO performances. The semester culminates with a final design project, as well as written components.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30803 Costume Design (3 Credit Hours)

This course teaches the principles of costume design for the stage. The course will explore the use of costumes to express character traits by analyzing play scripts. Students will design costumes, and explore the process of organizing the script from the costume designer's viewpoint. The course will include projects, discussions, and lectures. The course will end with a portfolio presentation of the work completed throughout the semester. Students will be expected to provide their own materials and supplies.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 30805 Historic Fashion: The Greeks to the Victorians (3 Credit Hours)

This course is a survey of historic fashion from the Greek culture through the Victorian era. The course will look at the ever-changing trends in clothing and provide an understanding of the cultural and historical effects of those changes. The class will investigate how fabric, style, color, and the psychology of clothing reflects personal choice, cultural impressions, and historical perspectives of clothing.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 30809 Story Structure (3 Credit Hours)

Story Structure is designed to engage students in exploring a variety of approaches to playwriting and screenwriting structure. The course will delve into structural analysis utilizing models from contemporary world theater and film with the aim to present a variety of paths toward creating new, vibrant plays and screenplays. Students will write one act plays and short screenplays throughout this course, which culminates in a public reading of their work. This course is ideal for any student interested in writing for theater and film.

FTT 30811 Draping the Design (3 Credit Hours)

Akin to the popular TV show "Project Runway" this class will challenge the students with various costume making projects which they will design, drape the patterns, and create the garments. Sewing experience is recommended, but not required.

Corequisites: FTT 31811

FTT 30820 Pattern Making for Theatre (1 Credit Hour)

Students will learn how to develop sewing patterns for theatre costumes through the two standard methods used in the profession: draping and flat pattermaking. Students will learn the basics of creating various patterns needed to construct contemporary and period costumes for stage and film.

FTT 30890 Media Industries: History, Structure, Current Issues (3 Credit Hours)

How do the contemporary film and television industries work? How can an analysis of the "business of entertainment" enable a greater understanding of contemporary media aesthetics and culture? This course will explore these questions by focusing on the structure, practices and products of America's film and television industries, and students will engage with academic readings, screenings, trade publications, current events, guest lectures, and written and oral assignments in order to understand the activities of the film and television industries. By the end of the course, students should be able to understand prominent practices employed by media conglomerates and independent companies today, recognize the ways in which industrial structures and practices can shape media products, and examine how television shows and movies are influenced by business strategies. The course should be especially beneficial for students intending to pursue scholarly or professional careers related to film and television through its comprehensive overview of how these industries work, why they work as they do, and the broader practical and theoretical implications of media industry operations.

FTT 30903 Adaptation and Translation for Stage and Screen (3 Credit Hours)

Using the basic principles of production dramaturgy, this course will focus on how materials get adapted and/or translated for the stage and screens (both television and film). We will consider what materials make this leap and why, who does this work, and how they do so. Politics, ethics, and aesthetics will shape our discussions. We will also study key decisions about structure and form. Students will have the opportunity to practice these skills, yet no previous experience or language proficiency is required.

Enrollment limited to students in the Film, Television and Theatre department.

FTT 30905 Special Effects for Studio and Stage (3 Credit Hours)

From Singing in the Rain to Star Wars to Beauty and the Beast, special effects existed before CGI. This course will cover the Design, Budgeting, and Execution of special effects.. Theoretical and hands on experience with some common and not so common effects used on the Movie Studio lot and Broadway stage.

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 30909 A Passion for Fashion: Dressing up French Literature and Cinema (3 Credit Hours)

Whether we "dress for success" or wear our pajamas to the grocery store, the clothes we are putting on our body all have a meaning. Though clothes are an essential part of our everyday life, do we really stop and think about what they really signify, how they are perceived by people who look at them? In urban environments, where millions of fellow city-dwellers can scan the clothes that everyone is wearing, fashion often has a more significant meaning. Dressing up is such a mundane action we barely wonder why we do it, but shouldn't we consider this act an art? Fashion has been a crucial aspect of literature, cinema, paintings, and graphic novels. Text and textile both mediate a form of language, and fashion is indeed an idiom in itself. In this course, you will explore the representation of fashion in literature, cinema and the arts. We will dive into a range of texts, films, paintings, and graphic novels that will enable us to better grasp the importance of clothing surfaces, their meaning, implication, and significance regarding issues related to gender, social class, sexuality, and (post-) colonialism. An individual's identity, personality, and desires are both inscribed on and influenced by the clothes he or she is wearing. The large set of signs that are carried by fashion therefore constitute a closed system of signification, linked with culture itself as well as the senses. The course aims to give students an insight into a broad range of visual and textual materials, as well as to develop their analytical and critical skills. During each class, students will be asked to discuss the themes emerging from the visual and textual materials, supported by the critical readings related to them. The objective of this interdisciplinary course is also, through materials spanning across a broad variety of genres, media, places and periods, to provide the students with an open and intercultural approach of the humanities. Finally, the course aims to develop the students' awareness of their place within a globalized world in which the image of the self - often carried by clothes - is predominant. This puts into perspective the socio-political questions of gender, race, class, colonialism, and sexuality. Taught in French.

FTT 31001 Acting: Character (3 Credit Hours)

The second course in the acting progression, this course expands on basic methodology and incorporates physical techniques for building a character. Students explore psychological gestures, Laban effort shapes, and improvisation as they develop a personal approach to creating a role.

Prerequisites: FTT 21001

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 31002 Voice and Movement (3 Credit Hours)

A course designed to help the advanced acting student focus on kinesthetic awareness. The actor will identify and work to remove physical and vocal tensions that cause habituated movement and impede natural sound production. Through movement and vocal exercises created for actors, students will experience what "prepared readiness" for the stage consists of, and how to meet the demands of a live performance.

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 31005 Theatre Production Workshop (1-3 Credit Hours)

A workshop course in the process of theatre production in which students assume a major nonperformance production responsibility including, but not limited to: stage manager, assistant stage manager, prop master, costumer, technical director or assistant director. This course can be repeated for up to four hours credit. Requires Instructor's permission.

Prerequisites: FTT 21001

Course may be repeated.

FTT 31006 Directing: Process (3 Credit Hours)

Directing Process is a class intended to help a director develop their own particular directorial voice or vision while encouraging their theatrical imagination. The class will focus on fundamental principles and tools in the fields of play analysis, acting, design, and staging.

Prerequisites: FTT 21001

FTT 31008 Acting: Text and Technique (3 Credit Hours)

This upper level acting course will focus on the intersection between written and embodied (performed) text. The class will use scripts from film, television and theatre to practice the actor's craft of close reading: students can learn to look beyond the explicit facts in a given scene to uncover the implicit information that feeds objectives and intentions. Daily classes will explore the relationship between close reading and strong artistic choices. We will begin the semester solidifying the basic acting techniques of improvisation, physicality, intention and subtext and move quickly into textual analysis. Students will be required to create detailed scene breakdowns with scene studies and to rehearse weekly outside of class time.

Prerequisites: FTT 21001

Enrollment limited to students in the Film, Television and Theatre department.

FTT 31018 Production and Performance (1-3 Credit Hours)

This course is open to students interested in becoming involved with specific performing/non-performing roles on a departmental production. This research driven course will examine the history of the production and research prior performances and the significance of the play in the overall scope of Theatre History. Additional areas of research include dramaturgy of the production, historical context of the story, historical sources and innovative performance techniques, etc. This research will support the work of the designers and performers, as members of the class work to implement their research in an finished production. The course also seeks to teach the students all of the lesser know aspects of bringing a play and a musical into performance.

FTT 31025 Ars Robotica: Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Lab for 30025 Ars Robotica:

FTT 31030 Contemp Global Cinemas Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Screening that accompanies FTT 30030, Contemporary Global Cinemas lecture

Corequisites: FTT 30030

FTT 31125 Acting Shakespeare (3 Credit Hours)

Acting Shakespeare is an active and participatory exploration of the works of the world's greatest playwright from the perspective of the actor. You will be acquainted with basic analytical, physical and vocal techniques for unlocking the meaning and emotional content of Shakespeare's texts. The structure of this course allows you the opportunity to create and present multiple roles through the performances of monologues and scenes.

FTT 31150 Programming for Video Game Development (3 Credit Hours)

The purpose of this course is to provide students with experience in various aspects of programming for video game development. No prior programming experience is necessary and students will proceed at their own pace. In addition to several programming projects that utilize gaming APIs or frameworks, students will also be exposed to level design (map creation), 3D construction techniques, custom textures, sound design, and lighting effects. 3D game development will utilize the Hammer Editor, part of the Half-Life 2 video game modding Software Development Kit (Source SDK) and its associated tools. Additional third-party (and often free) utilities will also be necessary. Students will work on their own or in teams on a final project agreed upon with the instructor. Students will need to provide their own Windows compatible computer or laptop or a Mac running windows under BootCamp.

FTT 31201 Global Cinema I Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Lab Screening for FTT 30201-01.

Corequisites: FTT 30201

FTT 31202 Global Cinema II Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Lab/Screenings for FTT 30202 (Global Cinema II)

FTT 31302 Envisioning Contemporary Europe Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Lab for FTT 30302 Envisioning Contemporary Europe

Corequisites: FTT 30302

FTT 31357 Shadow of the Empire in Cinema: Contemporary Russian and Ukrainian Film Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Corequisites: FTT 30357

FTT 31410 Introduction to Film and Television Production Lab (0 Credit Hours)

The lab portion of FTT 30410, a course in the fundamentals of writing, shooting, editing, and lighting for narrative film productions. This is a hands-on production course emphasizing aesthetics, creativity, and technical expertise. Expect significant amounts of shooting and editing outside of class as well as helping classmates on their shoots.

Corequisites: FTT 30410

FTT 31456 Critical Approaches to Screen Cultures Lab/Screening (0 Credit Hours)

Lab to FTT 30456

FTT 31459 Gender and Rock Culture Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Lab Screening for Corequisite FTT 30459

Prerequisites: FTT 10101 or FTT 20101

Corequisites: FTT 30459

FTT 31505 The Mediated Climate: Critical Media Literacy & the Climate Crisis (0 Credit Hours)

Lab Screening for Co-requisite FTT 30505.

Corequisites: FTT 30505

FTT 31531 Avant-Garde Art and Film Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Lab for FTT 30531 Avant-Garde Art and Film

Corequisites: FTT 30531

FTT 31533 Global Screens & Local Screams: Contemporary International Horror Cinema Lab (0 Credit Hours)

This is the screening for FTT 30533 lecture.

Corequisites: FTT 30533

FTT 31649 Germany in Postwar Cinema Lab (1 Credit Hour)

Lab section for FTT 30649. Enrollment is limited to Employee Non-Degree, Graduate Non-Degree, Holy Cross College, Non-matriculating, St. Mary's College, Undergraduate or Undergraduate Non-Degree level students. Enrollment limited to students in the Main campus.

Corequisites: FTT 30649

FTT 31665 What a Drag: Drag on Screen - Variations and Meanings Lab/Screenings (0 Credit Hours)

This course is the lab/screening for FTT 30665.

FTT 31811 Draping the Design Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Lab for FTT 30811 Draping the Design

Corequisites: FTT 30811

FTT 33208 Global Visual Culture: Anthropology of the Image (3 Credit Hours)

Visual anthropology involves the cross-cultural study of images in communication and the use of images as a method for doing anthropology. This course proceeds through a non-linear integration of visual themes including water, earth, light, fire, flesh and blood with analytical themes including aesthetics, poetics, violence, history, materiality and subjectivity. We explore still photography, film, and popular media in domains from ethnography, social documentary, war photojournalism, to high art. Students watch, read and write about, and generate visual products of their own in multiple media.

FTT 33327 Qing China: History, Fiction, and Fantasy, 1600-1900 (3 Credit Hours)

This course examines the historical transformation, literary representations, and contemporary re-imaginations in popular media of China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing (1644-1911). The Qing dynasty was born a Manchu empire that rose outside of China proper to become one of the largest land empires in human history, but was undone by foreign encroachment and internal unrest and eventually fell in 1911. The Qing's dramatic trajectory continues in the competing narratives circulated over a century after its fall. On the one hand, despite its domination by a non-Han people, it is regarded as the pinnacle of China's past, while on the other, it is frequently condemned for its decadency and arrogance precipitating a well-deserved downfall. We will explore the fundamental issues pertaining to the Qing, such as ethnicity identity, minority rule, conquest dynasty, imperialism, militarization, and gender, and the lasting fascination with the dynasty regularly captured in contemporary film and television. Through reading, thinking, discussing, and debating, we will enter a different culture and a different time, and come to appreciate how the past continues to influence our world.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKHI - Core History

FTT 33532 Feminist Approaches to Critical Digital Studies (3 Credit Hours)

This seminar will explore privilege, power, place, and concepts of labor within digital economies of communication and information exchange. As digital technologies continue to blur the boundaries between leisure and work, surveillance and data collection become invisibilized and normalized processes. This class will combine methodologies from feminist research practices and critical digital studies while exploring the rapid coevolution of labor and technology. By interrogating what constitutes “digital culture,” this course aims to introduce students to cultural studies through the lens of digital humanities and digital literacy. This course will provide an opportunity to learn and apply feminist media analysis to cultural texts.

FTT 35501 FTT Internship (1-3 Credit Hours)

Students who are offered an unpaid internship by a media or entertainment company must register into this course to receive the required course credit. The course can be taken for 3 credits only once; subsequent internships can count for 1 credit. For three credits, interns must work 10-15 hours per week and compile 150 work hours by the end of the semester (or at least 120 hours for the summer session). All interns will complete a mid-semester progress report and a final evaluation paper, and 3-credit interns must complete an additional academic project. Contact the FTT Internship Coordinator to receive department approval to register or if you have questions about how to find an internship opportunity.

Course may be repeated.

FTT 35502 Supplementary Internship (0-1 Credit Hours)

This course is for students who have been approved to take a one-credit internship graded in the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory mode, including those students undertaking a remote coverage internship. Note: This course does not count toward elective credit for the FTT major.

FTT 35505 Paths to Entertainment Indust (1 Credit Hour)

It's commonly said that there is no set path to a career in the media and entertainment industries the way there is a path to working in, say, accountancy, law, or medicine. But a more accurate description would be that there are many paths because there are so many different jobs one could pursue in film and television, and each can have multiple routes of getting there. There are also arguably more paths than ever before due to technological transformations in the entertainment industry, from digital distribution to DIY production, as well as more interconnected pathways to adjacent industries like music and gaming. But this in turn can make it even more challenging for students to understand not only what paths they can do down but even what jobs exist at the end of those paths and what interests and skills they call for. This version of the Paths to the Entertainment Industry class will focus on specific jobs in media and entertainment and how they’re evolving in a time of instability and even crisis in some sectors of the industry. Guest speakers will explain their roles in the industry, outline how they’ve changed as the industry itself has transformed in recent years, and propose steps students can take today to join their ranks tomorrow. Students enrolled in the class will be charged with preparing questions for speakers, taking notes during speaker sessions, and adding to a database of Paths to the Entertainment Industry resources that is made available to future generations of students for career discernment and development. Topics and job areas covered in the class may include: development, distribution, marketing, representation (agents and managers), live production, independent and studio production, production outside of LA and NYC, assistants, global media, AI, animation, acting, gaming, music, and brand partnerships.

FTT 35510 ND Studios Producers Capstone (1-3 Credit Hours)

Advanced production practicum in collaboration with Notre Dame Studios.

FTT 37600 Notre Dame Film Society (0-1 Credit Hours)

The Film Society is a film screening group that meets on Sunday nights in the Browning Cinema to watch an independent, international, or classic film. Students can take the course for either zero credit or one credit S/U. Those taking it for one credit will have a minimum attendance and writing requirement. Contact the sponsoring professor for more information.

Course may be repeated.

FTT 40006 Filming the Economy (3 Credit Hours)

In one of the very first films in the history of cinema by Louis Lumière (1895), we see employees leave a factory at the end of their work day. The workplace remains out of the frame. While symbolically going back to the factory, our class will explore examples of films that operate as a powerful telltale of the harsh nature of work and of the workplace environment. We will question our definitions of work and how cinema depicts its changing nature today. While the subject of "money" was featured in movies very early on, in recent history it is only around the late 1980s that we see the economy take center stage in cinematic creations. From social films revolving around the work place by the Dardenne brothers and Ken Loach, to countless movies about Wall Street, to movies describing the economic dynamics behind environmental crises, or films about white collar crime, and more, our class will explore the ways in which filmmakers have used an "unfilmable," complex and cinematically boring discipline in order to turn it into calls to action and entertainment. Call to action? Entertainment? These questions will lead our studies and discussions as making a film on the economy ultimately interrogates the very essence of cinema. This class will, in most parts, consist of seminar discussions (and oral presentations) (40%), lectures (40%), and possible group work activities (20%). Group work will mostly consist in designing video essays made by individuals but potentially elaborated in groups through group discussions (peer-to-peer) and peer-editing. Written assignments (one research paper) and one video essay, group work, oral presentations as well as active participation in our class will constitute the basic requirements.

FTT 40012 Seriality and Multiversality (3 Credit Hours)

This course will trace the evolution of "expanded textuality." We'll begin by investigating how serialized narrative emerged in the nineteenth century, focusing on how new delivery systems reached reading publics, and how new forms of story-telling emerged in the process. Once we've established that critical framework, we'll look closely at two interconnected phenomena -- quality television seriality and the conglomerate-driven multiversality which generates adaptations, re-boots, re-makes, sequels, prequels, fan fictions, adaptations, etc. Featured texts will likely include: Watchmen (both the graphic novel and the HBO series); The Many Saints of Newark and the ongoing Sopranos renaissance; No Time To Die and the history of Bond; Alcott, Armstrong, and Gerwig's Little Women; the Marvel Cinematic Universe (WandaVision, Black Widow, the new Hawkeye Disney + series, and maybe even Eternals), Jenkins' The Underground Railroad ... to be continued... Prerequisite: FTT 30455 or 30456

FTT 40017 Spectacular Asia (3 Credit Hours)

From martial arts blockbusters to extravagant expos to space-age cityscapes, countries in East and Southeast Asia have achieved worldwide renown both for their affinity for mega-events and as spectacular backdrops for filmed narratives, multinational gatherings, and global tourism. But what forces are at work in the creation and dissemination of such spectacle? To what ends and for whom are these spectacles designed? How do different spectators interact with and interpret them? And what resistance, if any, has there been to the seeming excess and superficiality of extravaganza and its attendant mass-mediated images? This course examines recent works of performance, visual art, and film from China, Taiwan, Japan, the Koreas, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines in relation to the politics of spectatorship and theories of spectacle. Covering a period roughly from the mid-20th century rise of the "society of the spectacle" to the present, we will ask how different forms of spectacle--still and moving, mediated and live--come to represent Asian nations and shape viewers' experiences of Asian cultures. Doing so will enable us to better understand the dynamics of seeing and being seen on a global scale, as well as to explore how alternative modes of performance, visual culture, and viewership engendered by Asian contexts challenge established power hierarchies and modes of audience engagement.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

Enrollment limited to students in the Film, Television and Theatre department.

FTT 40020 Musical Theatre Laboratory: Workshopping The Musical (3 Credit Hours)

The intention of this course is to provide a collaborative space for students to create, develop and/or workshop a new musical. Throughout the process of creation we will explore how to collaborate as a creative team, including directors, writers, music directors, choreographers, actors and stage managers. This is an effort to allow class time to be rehearsal and development time for new artistic work. The hope of this class is to support the innovation of new work and prepare it for the possibility of heading towards production. - Please contact the instructor directly for approval to take the course.

FTT 40023 Musical Theatre Minor Capstone (1-3 Credit Hours)

A capstone of the Musical Theatre Minor is a 3-credit course. The capstone will be project based, and individually designed towards the student's interest. The specifics of the capstone will be agreed upon between the student and the instructor and ultimately approved by the instructor. The chosen topic for the capstone project is intended to reflect the student's interest in Musical Theater and how it relates to their studies in the Minor. See instructor for details. Departmental Approval is needed to register for this course.

FTT 40024 Musical Theatre Laboratory: Analyzing and Creating The Musical (3 Credit Hours)

This class is designed to support the innovation of new work, specifically musicals. The intention of this course is to 1) analyze existing musicals, such as Oklahoma, Gypsy, Fiddler On The Roof, Wicked and study their structures and overall dramatic narratives while 2) begin early stages of writing your own musical. This will involve partnering together new student composers, lyricists, book writers, dramaturgs, designers, etc. At the end of the semester there will be a pitch of the new musicals, generated from the different student groups in class, to the Creative Producer of the New Works Lab with the possibility of one of those musicals to be produced in the future. Contact instructor for approval and "make your case" why you should be granted permission to enroll in the class. (Matt Hawkins mhawkin2@nnd.edu). Book Required: The Secret Life of the American Musical by Jack Viertel

FTT 40028 Performance & Spectators (1 Credit Hour)

Camp. as an adjective, goes back at least to 1909. In its oldest sense, it was defined as "addicted to actions and gestures of exaggerated emphasis, pleasantly ostentatious, or in manner affected.” But from 1920, in theatrical argot, camp connoted homosexual or lesbian and was in general use with that meaning by 1945. In 1964, Susan Sontag's famous "Notes on Camp" defined camp as a failed seriousness, a love of exaggeration and artifice, the privileging of style over content, and being alive to the double sense in which some things can be taken. Sontag aligned camp especially with gay male taste. Camp can be seen both as a mode of performance – camping it up-- and as a way of seeing things and spectatorship – camp as being in the eye of the beholder. This class will consider theories of camp by Sontag and others; camp performance by Mae West, Judy Garland, Madonna, and others; camp spectatorship of horror films, musicals, and more. WE will consider gay male camp, feminist camp, lesbian camp, the mainstreaming of camp, and the meaning of camp today. This is a one credit course that can be taken as satisfactory/unsatisfactory or for a standard letter grade. Course will meet one day a week for 8 weeks.

FTT 40031 African American Musicals in Film (3 Credit Hours)

This course traces the development of African American musicals as they cross different social, cultural, and aesthetic boundaries. The course invites students to contextualize a variety of musical performance traditions - ranging from 19th c. blackface minstrelsy to today's television hip hop era Empire - through the lens of black feminist and queer theories. In so doing, students will engage in critical discussions about how individual artists, spectators and African American musical productions more broadly have signified, reaffirmed, and challenged dominant US society's understandings of race, class, gender, and sexuality. The course is divided into four units of study: "Early Black Musical Performance" reconsiders the contributions of black women minstrel and vaudeville performers; "Hollywood's Black-Cast Musical" explores mainstream representation of black folk culture in iconic films such as Carmen Jones and Show Boat; "New" Black Musicals of the 1970's considers revolutionary off-Broadway musicals and queer reimagining of the 1975 Broadway hit The Wiz; and "Contemporary Musical Performances" brings our discussion to the present with an exploration of gospel musicals on Broadway, hip hop era and Madea mania. Assessment includes: participation; leading a discussion of a film, play, or televised performance; and four short critical response papers.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 40032 Politics and Performance in Modern China (3 Credit Hours)

Politics has always been theatrical, but perhaps nowhere has this been taken to such an extreme as in modern China. From the celebrity-like "cult of personality" surrounding Chairman Mao Zedong to student protests to performances like the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China has been home to some of the most spectacular political displays of the last century. This course explores how and why political performance became such a prominent phenomenon in China, especially under the People's Republic (PRC), through two lines of inquiry. First, it examines how theatre and performance themselves have been used as political tools, both in support of and in protest against ruling regimes. Second, it looks at the ways in which political events such as mass rallies, show trials, and protests have taken on highly performative and theatrical qualities in the Chinese context. It considers cases that relate directly to state and Party politics, as well as to the politics of gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity. Through this course, students gain a deeper understanding of modern China, as well as the critical and theoretical tools necessary to analyze political theatre and theatrical politics in China and beyond. All readings in English or English translation. No prior study of China or Chinese language required.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature, WRIT - Writing Intensive

FTT 40037 The Hyphenated American: Contemporary Culturally Inclusive U.S. Theater (3 Credit Hours)

FTT 40040 Creating Theatre and Film as Social Action (3 Credit Hours)

Be in the room where it happens! Creating Theatre and Film as Social Action will prepare students to transform ideas, encounters, and convictions into vivid performative texts. Performers, writers, artists, composers and bold thinkers of kinds will investigate and apply techniques that have created some of the most exciting productions of the current decade as they devise and perform both solo and company-generated productions. Exercises and discussions lay the foundation for creative work as students experience the process of generating text, action, and image from initial inspiration to live performance or film. The class engages both the analytical and impulsive mind in world-building and storytelling as it explores diverse forms of expression. For the final project, students are expected to create a video essay, a multi-disciplinary performance, or a hitherto unseen new experience or happening.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 40043 The Great Dictators: The Weaponization of Cinema (3 Credit Hours)

Dictatorships and other authoritarian regimes need images. They depend to a great degree on stories, legends, slogans and choreographies, on music and spectacles. Dictators stage their own actions and persona and their public appearances are always carefully organized in order to dominate the audiovisual field. In this context, it is not incidental that the age of cinema is also that of societal control, of the standardization of masses, of the most criminal, dictatorial regimes on record. What is the relationship between cinema and power? Between cinema and sovereignty? Cinema and political oppression? Cinema and the great dictators? From early films (Chaplin...) to the present, our class aims to question the historical role of films in the invention of modern dictatorships. Our goal will also be to question the present and determine how our era is dealing with the subject of authoritarianism in politics. Two written assignments, oral presentations, and active participation in class sessions will constitute the basic requirements.

FTT 40045 The Coen Brothers: Authorship and Contemporary Hollywood (3 Credit Hours)

The Big Lebowski. No Country for Old Men. Fargo. For over 35 years Joel and Ethan Coen - a. k. a. the Coen Bros. - have been busy crafting their own enigmatic and idiosyncratic oeuvre that incorporates slapstick comedy, Judaism, dark humor, pastiche, nihilism, irony, and the meaning of life. This upper-division seminar examines their creative filmmaking partnership by analyzing the majority of their Hollywood projects. In particular, we will deconstruct their narrative strategies by attending to their creative choices regarding editing, cinematography, lighting, mise-en-scène, etc., and we will examine their films? major thematic concerns. We will also discuss how their work complicates auteur theory and genre theory as theoretical frameworks for understanding film authorship that defies easy definition and categorization.

Corequisites: FTT 41045

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 40046 Writing the TV Drama (3 Credit Hours)

This course is an introduction to the theory and craft of writing a dramatic one-hour television series. The class explores how a one-hour series script is developed and written. Through lectures, show viewings, weekly analysis and script/show bible readings, students will learn the process of taking an original idea and growing it into a dramatic series concept, a script, and a show bible. Students will engage in class discussions on the merits and deficiencies of existing dramatic series scripts and corresponding viewings. Weekly written analyses will inform the production of students final 60-70 page original screenplays.

FTT 40052 East Asian Cinema (3 Credit Hours)

This undergraduate film seminar course will study East Asian cinema and its social and historical context mostly between the 1980s and early 2000s. We will focus primarily on three large topics/movements within East Asia: Slow Cinema, Neo-Noir, and contemporary short form film. Navigating the general arc of Trans-East Asian film history, we will learn to recognise the localized global through readings and films by prominent filmmakers such as Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Wong Kar Wai, and Park Chan Wook, that define genres of East Asian film.

Corequisites: FTT 41052

FTT 40060 Indie Film (3 Credit Hours)

Independent or 'indie' film often refers to works produced or distributed outside the Hollywood studio system. By that definition, the Lord of the Rings trilogy are the most commercially successful independent films of all time. Many films labeled as indie are often low-budget productions that adhere to the narrative conventions of dominant cinema. This survey course will consider these intra-industry tensions and trace the development of American independent cinema from its early roots in neorealism to more contemporary hybrid forms. We will consider the role of technology in this (r)evolution including the impact of 16mm cameras, analog and digital video and iPhones. This course will also recognize indie film as a site for inclusion of underrepresented filmmakers including women and BIPOC artists.

Corequisites: FTT 41060

FTT 40100 Weird Visionics: Pre- and Post-Cinematic Worlds (3 Credit Hours)

Over the past decade or so, the question of how and when cinema was invented has been the subject of a renewed body of scholarly works. In a groundbreaking book, a prehistorian convincingly hypothesized that pre-cinematic objects and paintings already existed over 35,000 years ago; filmmaker Werner Herzog built his film about the prehistoric Chauvet cave around the notion that the paintings were animated depictions of dreams. In an age when the prospect of technological prosthetics acting at the neuronal level is no longer science fiction, we are also facing the possible opening of a new era in the history of how images are produced by our brains. In the meantime, Virtual Reality filmmaking could reach a turning point with AppleTV launching its first VR films. We will study pre-cinematic objects, watch films, do wet-plate photography and go to Paris during Fall break (TBC). Our class will wander on two distinct paths that will meet at some point: how was it necessary to envision time and space so that cinema could be invented? Is there such a thing as the rise of a post-cinematic world shaped by neuroscience and computer science, Virtual Reality, and AI? We will engage in practical experiments: I will invite students in workshops in which we will do early 19th Century photography and we have applied for funding to take available students to Paris during Fall break to visit places and museums to study pre-cinematic toys and devices. We will have a filmmaker working in VR to join our course. One oral presentation and a final essay are the two basic requirements for this course.

FTT 40106 Barn Stories: Visual Research and Filmmaking (3 Credit Hours)

Visual Anthropology provides a powerful and engaging means of sharing historical and anthropological stories. This new course is based on the assumption that people think in terms of images, movement and sound and that film can be used to create powerful and important human narratives. This class is designed to train students in how to research, design, manage and produce short documentary film projects using both state of the art production equipment and accessible forms of media capture such as iPhones and GoPros. As a graduate/undergraduate elective, this course thematically focuses on understanding and documenting the historical, social, economic and personal stories centered on 19th through 20th century Indiana local barns, and placing these in a meaningful cultural and historical context. Students will work in teams of two to research an assigned farmstead, focusing on the barn as a material setting and documenting the past through the integration of historical research, oral history and digital video.Students will develop 2 minute videos for inclusion in a video book (as seen here https://islandplacesislandlives.com/) that touches on local history as well as a longer 8 minute video that explores the life, history and social context of the barn. The result will be a collaborative effort that creates a body of work by the class exploring local history and linking Anthropology with filmmaking to tell stories.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKHI - Core History

FTT 40112 Stage Management (3 Credit Hours)

Following a production from selection to strike, we will explore the functions and duties of a stage manager. Students will learn about prompt books, performance etiquette, and documentation of a production. They will also create an operational manual for Film, Television, and Theatre Stage Managers.

FTT 40121 Writing the Feature Film (3 Credit Hours)

This workshop focuses on the theory and craft of dramatic writing as it applies to feature screenplays. Through lectures, film viewing, and weekly exercises, emphasis is placed on plot and story structure, the adaptation of ideas into cinematic forms, how to tell a story with images, character, plot, and dialogue development. Students should come to class with 2 ideas for a feature script in hand and be prepared to develop one idea into the first half of a feature length screenplay (approximately 60 pages) at a minimum.

Prerequisites: FTT 30238 or FTT 21006 or FTT 30809

FTT 40125 Writing the Half-Hour Comedy (3 Credit Hours)

This workshop focuses on the theory and craft of comedic writing as it applies to original half-hour screenplays. Through lectures, film viewing, group projects and weekly exercises, emphasis is placed on plot and story structure and the intentionally comedic expression of student ideas. Students will explore classic half-hour comedy pilots (script and screen) with an eye towards identifying and evolving the concepts of comedic character development and story arcs. Students should come to class with an expectation to write frequently and collaboratively in order to create two original half-hour television episode scripts.

FTT 40126 Home and Homelessness in US Cinema (3 Credit Hours)

If, as John David Rhodes argues, “the detached single family home is one of the most powerful metonymic signifiers of American cultural life – of the dreams of privacy, enclosure, freedom, autonomy, independence, stability, and prosperity that animate national life in the United States,” that is not to say that then home in American cinema is by no means a simple or stable construct, but is, if anything, represented most often as troubled, precarious, invaded, porous, unstable, or out of reach. This class considers meanings of home in American cinema by looking at films that confront the problem of how to live in a home, offer alternate structures, and show the fantasy of home to be out of reach. The class will analyze films about unhoused figures during the Depression, housing shortages during World War II, the rise of modern homelessness in the 1980s, and contemporary precarity. We will consider fantasies of home related to family, class status, age, and race. We will consider the roles of banks, landlords, gentrification, and other institutions and structural causes of home insecurity and homelessness. Students will read various theories and histories of housing and homelessness to frame understanding of films. Students will write weekly one page reflections, an 8-10 page paper, and a 15 minute conference presentation.

Corequisites: FTT 41126

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WRIT - Writing Intensive

FTT 40130 Shakespeare and Asia (3 Credit Hours)

Course Description: Asian theatre- and film-makers have produced some of the most innovative and exciting versions of Shakespeare's work. His strong presence in Asia also speaks to the histories and legacies of colonization and cultural imperialism. This course explores several well-known Shakespearean plays through the lens of Asian adaptation, rooted in both close reading of the plays themselves and the historical-cultural contexts of their adaptations. How, when, and why have specific Shakespearean plays captured the imaginations of Asian theatre artists and filmmakers? How have they transformed Shakepearean texts through translation, the use of local performance forms, new geographic and historical settings, and other techniques? How do these reimaginings rethink what "Shakespeare" might mean? By exploring such questions, students will gain a deeper understanding of Shakespeare, Asian theatre, and the complexities of their conjoining.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 40135 What's New?: Media Archaeology & Historiography (3 Credit Hours)

What does it mean to write the history of an emergent medium? Is radio a disembodied vaudeville stage show, and television simply radio with pictures? Is cinema an automated magic lantern show, a spectacular attraction, an animated novel... or something else entirely? What is a video game? What precedents and antecedents shaped these and other media, and what industries created them? And how do we write the histories of the vast audiences who mapped their own identities, anxieties, and desires onto them? This seminar begins by placing visual media historiography in a framework shaped by the critical history of technology, microhistory, and the development of social and cultural historiography. We will then explore a range of case studies that each foreground distinct theoretical and methodological challenges. We will address such issues as the productive tension between medium specificity and transmediation, histories of speculative or orphan media forms, the challenge of researching historical audiences and publics, everyday media practices and material culture, and the mediation of gender, race, and nationhood.

FTT 40245 The Dictators' Burlesque Ball: Devising Performance as Social Action (3 Credit Hours)

Based on focused research, creative work, and collaborative process, the trajectory of class work is the production of a new dramatic/theatre text within the framework of political burlesque, culminating in a public performance. The students will devise a performance of a BURLESQUE BALL where the invited guests, the most infamous dictators who have made the list, shall gather as the invited guests. In sinister jest and debate, they toast and boast, trying to outdo each other: who among them is the most effective in scheme and style, the most evil as dictator and warlord, has the better method as authoritarian strongman and fascist, warlord and ganglord, sinister clown and trickster, strongman and murderer, charismatic liar, adulterer and thief --- all that applies, to be elected by the audience, and crowned, "Emperor of the Ball." The students will delve into the analysis of documentary theatre texts and performance. They will engage with archival research into global narratives of comparative authoritarianism, global parallel histories of power, politics of torture, and impunity. They will recuperate personal narratives of dictators and fascists and process the movement from memory to national history --- or from history to forgetting and historical revisionism. The students will enrich their texts and evocations of their attitudes towards their subject, through inter-cultural contexts, historical objects, sounds, and the five senses), with the aim of providing multiple paths toward creating a vibrant and visceral new devised theatre piece. The course will also be interdisciplinary with intertextual elaborations through theatre, film, music, dance and movement, visual and performance art, international studies in political ruptures and transformations, global studies in obstructions to peace, humane development, and dignity of peoples. This course will be ideal for any student who desires to explore playwriting and performance, theatre and film, as tools to devise and stage compelling national and global issues, explore the creation of original theatre works that document historical events, contemporary community-based issues and social justice concerns.

FTT 40257 Documentary: Fact or Fiction? (3 Credit Hours)

Over the past decade, network television producers have reimagined the situation comedy with great success by utilizing mockumentary film techniques. This course will examine the ever-changing boundaries between fiction and non-fiction film and television by analyzing a series of works which question these discrete categorizations. We will consider canonical examples of documentary and the challenges posed to these known forms by pseudodocumentary and other media which reveal the devices used to establish cinematic realism. We will also explore a selection of film and television work which ascribes to realist modes of representation while subverting this approach. Issues such as testimony, performance, reflexivity, and ethics will be addressed in an effort to deepen the complex discourse of realism in visual media.

Corequisites: FTT 41257

FTT 40260 Activist Cinemas Filmmaking and Social Justice (3 Credit Hours)

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay (13th, Selma...) states that an "An artist and an activist are not so far apart." As an artist and through her work she suggests that there is an intrinsic correlation between art and the cry for Justice. When social tensions, political divisions, collective fear and trauma are a part of our daily lives, what can cinema do? A common response is that art enlightens and serves as a coping mechanism, that it can facilitate personal healing. But how about action, about collective transformation, about social metamorphoses and cultural influence? How about catharsis today? How do films contribute to the debates on racism, oppression, inequalities, and injustice? Can such films be a form of activism? Can they perform justice, operate toward reconciliation, can they build peace? How? One academic goal for this class is to develop a critical approach that will also imply a reflection on production techniques as well as the film industry. Two written assignments (one research paper and one video essay), group work, oral presentations as well as active participation in our class will constitute the basic requirements.

FTT 40261 Asian Cinema (3 Credit Hours)

Western countries are credited with inventing the technique, technology and language of cinema, but Asia is an important contributor to world cinema. The continent includes major industries like Bollywood and Hong Kong, as well as the strong art cinema traditions of Iran, China and Taiwan. In recent times, Korea has been astonishing the world with their thrillers and Japan with Anime. Asian Cinema also includes several mid or small-sized national cinemas as well as robust regional industries within India. Akira Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray, Abbas Kiarostami, Zhang Yimou, Wong Kar-wai, Bong Joon-ho are among the Asian auteurs who are also recognized as global masters. This course will deal with case studies across a range of Asian cinema cultures, exploring their diverse cultural backgrounds, historiography and sociopolitical realities. Topics will include both historical and contemporary cinematic practices in Asian countries, with particular attention to filmmakers and film cultures that have received recent global attention.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 40262 Women Filmmakers in Europe: A New Wave (3 Credit Hours)

Shortly after Agnès Varda had passed away on March 29, 2019, the subject made the headlines during the Cannes film festival. In the footsteps of Varda, of Akerman, of Wertmüller and Denis, there is a "New Wave" of women filmmakers in Europe (for example, Maren Ade, Frederikke Aspöck, Ester Gould, Barbara Eder, Agnieszka Smoczyńska, Ines Tanovic, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Céline Sciamma, Mati Diop, Alice Winocour...). This "wave" is not only reshaping a whole cinematic tradition and language, it is also profoundly transforming a highly masculine and macho film industry, not to mention... European societies as a whole. We will analyze works, working conditions and modes of production while discussing the lasting impact of the recent feminist movements on the industry. This will offer a window to a European culture and society in which until recently, the word "feminist" had tended to be outmoded... I am a film and literary studies scholar and film director. Please note that one critical academic goal for this class is to develop a critical approach that will strongly revolve around production and creative techniques and styles. This class will, in most parts, consist of seminar discussions (30%), lectures (45%), and oral presentations (25%). Two written assignments (research paper), oral presentations as well as active participation in our class will constitute the basic requirements.

FTT 40306 Dictatorships, Resistance, Cinema (3 Credit Hours)

This is a course on cinema, sovereignty and the resistance to oppression, especially in its visual forms (cinema, media, digital devices...). Dictatorships and other authoritarian regimes need images. They depend to a great degree on stories, legends, slogans and choreographies, on music and spectacles, on what I propose to call "sovereign performances" that perform sovereignty. Dictators stage their own actions and persona and their public appearances are always carefully organized in order to dominate the audiovisual field. In this context, it is not incidental that the age of cinema is also that of societal control, of the standardization and industrialization of masses, of the most criminal, dictatorial regimes on record that also lead to the industrial violence of repressive strategies. What is the relationship between cinema and power? How do cinematic techniques play a role in resisting, defying and destroying authoritarianism? This class will, in most parts, consist of seminar discussions (including Canvas discussions and oral presentations) (60%), and lectures (40%).

FTT 40335 Anthropocene and Existence in Iberian Cinema & Critical Theory (3 Credit Hours)

This course offers an introduction to some of the recent thinking and cultural phenomena on the Anthropocene. In order to do that, we will pay particular attention to contemporary Iberian Cinema, Cultural Critique, and Critical Theory. Although we will focus on contemporary Spain in particular, we will ultimately attempt to come to terms with our current geological and civilizational epoch as mainly humanly driven. For that purpose, under examination and question will be primitive accumulation and Capitalism, humanism and posthumanism, rural depopulation, consumerism, energy use, industrial relocation, technicity (social networks, smartphones, big data, Google, etc.); droughts, wildfires, human and planetary finitude, etc. We will ultimately seek to bear witness to the Anthropocene and its consequences through cinema, culture and thought, if such a thing is possible. Taught in English and Spanish

FTT 40358 Screening the Stage: Contemporary Global Theatre Across Media and Culture (3 Credit Hours)

This course will examine connections between screen media and live performance from the mid-20th century to the present. It will be structured around three key ideas: adaptation, remediation, and intermediality. First, students will look at case studies of plays reworked for film and theories of adaptation. Next, we will examine films about the theatre, in order to understand how newer forms of media "remediate" older art forms and how that affects the relationship between the two. Finally, the course will conclude by looking at instances of intermediality wherein theatre artists incorporate projections, live video feed, and other forms of screen media onstage during their performances or use virtual platforms to perform. What different relationships are engendered by these various combinations of screen and stage? How do artists mobilize media in performance to achieve disparate aesthetic, political, social, and economic goals? And how do films and performances from different countries reflect culturally specific understandings of the relationship among technology, media, and art? This course will emphasize transnational and transmedia connections, while also introducing students to works of theatre and film from around the world. All course materials will be in English (or translated/subtitled in English) and no background knowledge necessary; FTT students may benefit from having completed their concentration core requirements before taking this course.

FTT 40401 Digital Cinema Production (3 Credit Hours)

In this course you will take a deeper dive into the professional skills of production learning the CRAFT and applied AESTHETICS of camera, lighting and composition. We will look at many camera systems and formats, but focus on using RED Digital Cinema cameras along with state of the art lighting and support equipment. In this new version of the class, there will not be an additional "lab" period. We will focus on making great images and how that applies to various forms of media, including narrative and documentary filmmaking. We will spend much of our time on the soundstage classroom practicing scene work, and you will then go out and do location work filming various 'film challenges.' The GOAL of this course is to provide you with an advanced skill set and understanding of film production to apply to your next steps in filmmaking.

Prerequisites: FTT 30410 or FTT 30405

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 40405 The Art of Film Directing (3 Credit Hours)

A film director is first and foremost a visual thinker, who translates a script onto the screen through the language of cinema. In this course, we will learn how to use this language and organize its syntax and grammar to tell a story. We will focus on the meaning of a shot as a singular capsule of cinematic time and space in service of the script. We will learn how to use shot progression in order to build a scene. And we will explore the methods of connecting scenes into a cumulative cinematic experience. This process involves conceptualizing a film from pre-production to post-production from the point of view of a director. Therefore, in addition to theories of directing, this course will include hands-on exercises that focus on preparing a film using various tools like a shotlist, storyboard, floorpan, lined script, visual references, color palettes, and notes for actors. We will learn how to analyze and break down a scene in order to answer the eternal question on every director's mind - how do I know where to put the camera? This course will help you understand your role as a film director and build your confidence at every stage of filmmaking. Filmmaking is a highly industrial process that involves technical expertise in lighting, grip, and camera. However, building on this knowledge, we must understand how to use these technical skills in order to tell an emotional story in any genre. As such, this course will complement the knowledge you will gain in introductory and intermediate filmmaking classes.

FTT 40410 Intermediate Filmmaking (3 Credit Hours)

Through hands-on, field experience and critical analysis, we will explore the tools and techniques used to produce professional video and digital cinema projects in all genres. We will explore the use of composition, cinematography, color and editing to create a narrative structure. This class will also provide you with a technical knowledge of the tools required in professional filmmaking including a variety of lighting and grip equipment, lenses, filters, light meters, etc. Using RED Digital Cinema RED Raven 4K cameras and various support tools you will produce, shoot and edit short projects or "challenges" including your final short 3-5min film. This will be a non-‐dialogue driven film based with a post-‐produced soundtrack. No other digital formats are to be used outside of what we utilize for this class. We will also discuss various filmmaking techniques and current industry topics, including film in relation to digital cinema and current workflows. Post Production will be done using Davinci Resolve.

Prerequisites: FTT 30410 or FTT 30405

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 40411 Documentary Production (3 Credit Hours)

A hands-on creative course for the advanced production student interested in the production process and storytelling techniques of the documentarian. Emphasizing the cinema verite approach of filmmakers D.A. Pennebaker, Albert Maysles, and Frederick Wiseman, students learn the importance of capturing life's moments, being faithful to a subject, and understanding the filmmaker's point of view. The goal is to produce a short documentary film over the course of the semester which honestly portrays its subject(s), while at the same time, challenges its audience.

Prerequisites: FTT 30405 or FTT 30410

FTT 40412 Advanced Filmmaking (3 Credit Hours)

This Advanced Filmmaking course will allow you to take the foundation you experienced in Intermediate Filmmaking to a new level and create a dialogue film with an exacting attention to detail using the RED Raven DSMC2 cameras along with more advanced lighting, tools and techniques. We will explore the use of dialogue in crafting a short film story and how the visuals and sound can work together both technically and artistically. You will practice blocking actors and understanding and directing performance. Scripts will be chosen from the Writing the Short Film class. You may submit a script you have written from that class along with select scripts that are chosen by Prof Brown. We will then read and choose the scripts to be produced by the class in groups of three as a collaborative producing team. Films will be finished on Davinci Resolve with a better understanding of workflow and more advanced color grading. The primary goal is to create a collection of solid films as a class working as a small production studio.

Prerequisites: FTT 30410

FTT 40416 Advanced 3D Digital Production (3 Credit Hours)

Building on the concepts and techniques introduced in FTT 30416: 3D Digital Production for Animation and Video Games, this course delves deeper into the production and study of computer graphics and animation. In Advanced 3D Digital Production, you will explore advanced concepts such as complex object and character creation, digital sculpting and painting, keyframed and motion-captured character animation, and more. You will continue to master the industry-standard 3D application Autodesk Maya, as well as learn Autodesk's sculpting application, Mudbox. You will produce digital artifacts such as character models, virtual environments and props, and short animations that may be used in graduate school and industry job application portfolios. To help critically inform your creative production work, you will study the aesthetics, history, and cultural relevance of computer graphics and visual effects through a variety of reading, writing, and screening assignments.

Prerequisites: FTT 30416 and (FTT 10101 or FTT 20101)

FTT 40422 Fix it in Post: Intermediate and Advanced Post-Production Techniques (3 Credit Hours)

Often uttered by a director or producer short on time, the dreaded phrase, “Fix it in Post” typically refers to a noticeable mistake on set that, instead of being corrected and reshot, is punted down the road for the post-production department to reconcile. In all reality, “Fix it in Post” refers to pretty much all of post-production, as it is the process of improving and enhancing picture, sound, and story. In this hands-on course we will tackle a wide range of intermediate and advanced post-production topics, such as: green screen and visual effects compositing, motion graphics and 3D title animation, color correction, masking and tracking, workflow optimization, multicam editing, enhancing sound and more. We will delve deeper into Adobe Premiere Pro and Davinci Resolve, enter the world of Adobe After Effects, and also learn how to utilize Adobe Audition for our editing needs. Through it all we will examine how the choices an editor makes directly impacts the way the audience experiences the story, and we will learn how to craft effective moments ourselves.

FTT 40426 Palestine/Israel through Film (3 Credit Hours)

What is the Palestine/Israel conflict about? How did it start? How might it be resolved? Some interpretations rely on claims of ancient hatreds. Others invoke sacred and biblical narratives as their authority for claims to a land deemed holy by many different religions. Still others underscore the ills and legacies of settler colonialism and indigenous accounts of historical presence. Some invoke international law and human rights to make their claims. This course will explore these arguments surrounding the Palestine/Israel conflict through screening and discussion of cinematic representation, narrative argument, and documentary films. Multiple genres provide powerful tools to introduce students to multiple perspectives, conceptions of history, experiences of injustice and grievances and loss, and imagining peace and justice. Each screening will be paired with relevant and interdisciplinary reading material. The students will emerge from this course with a detailed and complex understanding of the Palestine/Israel conflict from the present dating back to the late Ottoman period, the British control of historic Palestine, and the definitional moment of 1948 which is marked both as Israeli independence and the Palestinian catastrophe (the Nakba).

FTT 40428 Girls' Media and Cultural Studies (3 Credit Hours)

This course introduces students to critical analyses of girls' media culture. During the first half of the semester we will focus on constructions of girls and girlhood in intellectual theory, popular discourse, and media texts (particularly U.S. film and television), paying attention to shifts in such constructions as a result of sociohistorical contexts and the rise of feminist ideologies. The second half of the semester will be devoted to exploring the media and cultural practices of female youth, examining the expansion of girls' culture beyond consumer-oriented activities, such as magazine reading and music listening, to those involving media production, such as filmmaking and blogging. In addition to problematizing girls' sex and gender identity through intersectional explorations of age and generation, and vice versa, we will pay special attention to how issues of race, class, and sexuality impinge upon the formation of girls' identities, female youth cultures, and the representation of girlhood in popular culture.

Prerequisites: FTT 10101

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 40433 The Politics of Style: 1980s Film & TV Culture (3 Credit Hours)

This course explores the media culture of 1980s America. We will explore such topics as the rise of "high concept" blockbuster Hollywood, prime-time television at the peak of the broadcast network era, the emergence of Fox, the widespread adoption of cable television service, the development of the 24 hour news cycle, and media industry consolidation. In addition to studying these dominant industry practices and media forms, we will also explore such secondary and alternative media cultures as independent cinema, music subcultures, and video games. Our emphasis throughout will be on the interplay between shifting technologies, industrial modes of production and distribution, and cultural practices.

Prerequisites: (FTT 10101 or FTT 20101) or FTT 20102

Corequisites: FTT 41433

Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 40444 Sinatra (3 Credit Hours)

This course examines the career and image of Frank Sinatra. As an entertainer who worked in numerous media - radio, the music industry, television, cinema, and live performance -- Sinatra provides a lens through which to examine American 20th century media. Moreover, as an iconic figure, Sinatra enables an explanation of masculinity, American identity, ethnic identity, race, liberalism, and more. Sinatra will be paired with various other performers, especially Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, and Gene Kelly, to consider his star image comparatively. Sinatra will be situated within discourses on Italian immigration, urbanism, the Depression, prohibition and war. Students will listen to Sinatra music and radio programs, watch Sinatra films and TV shows, and read a wide range of materials - including contemporary accounts of Sinatra performances, analyses of his career and meaning, essays and articles about the star system, recording technology, film genre, acting styles, the mob, and more. Throughout, we will consider what model of American masculinity Sinatra embodies - ranging from early concerns that his female fans and lack of military service rendered him effeminate to his image as family man, and later incarnation as playboy. We will consider what Sinatra means today through an analyses of his entertainment heirs, like George Clooney, parodies, like Joe Piscopo's, the use of his music in film soundtracks and advertising, and in performances like the Twyla Thorpe "Come Fly With Me."

Corequisites: FTT 41444

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 40452 Disney & Transmedia Adaptation (3 Credit Hours)

The Walt Disney Company has a long history of adapting literary works for the screen, beginning with Snow White, The Reluctant Dragon, Bambi and Cinderella. Since the 1990s, however, the company has expanded its adaptations beyond "page to screen" to move into transmedia adaptations that extend narratives from literature into animated and live action films, theatrical productions, television, theme park rides and streamed serial narratives. This class will examine the trajectory of Disney's approach to adaptation, beginning with the earliest page to screen productions and extending into more recent reworkings such as literature to film to theatre (Mary Poppins and Frozen); literature to film to theater to live action (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King); literature to film to live action to theme park attraction (Jungle Book, Mulan) and film to novelization to streamed serial (Star Wars and The Mandalorian). We will pay particular attention to the transmedia journey of Dodie Smith's 101 Dalmatians from magazine serial to novel to animated and live action films, to a UK and Canadian television series, and most recently a prequel story in Cruella. Film analysis will be informed by readings in adaptation theory, transmedia studies, and musical theory.

FTT 40453 Adaptation (3 Credit Hours)

Adaptation is designed to engage students in exploring playwriting and screenwriting approaches to adapt existing texts (i.e. historical or contemporary fiction and non-fiction). The course will delve into analyzing adaptations in theatre, film and television with the aim to present a variety of paths toward creating new, vibrant plays, screenplays and teleplays. Culminating projects will include several short adaptation scripts and the start of a full-length adaptation. Adaptation is for students who have completed at least one playwriting or screenwriting course.

FTT 40460 Video & Contemporary Media Art (3 Credit Hours)

This course explores how video has evolved over time. Starting with the magic lantern, we will study the early models preceding the slide and digital projector, and survey the history of video art since its birth. From the 1960s to now, video art has flourished over its relatively short history. We will look at prominent works from the span of six decades, including contemporary examples of video art and multimedia works by artists who traverse mediums of moving image, photography, and installation. The class includes a hands-on component to make versions of the early “projectors” and video responses. There will also be visiting presentations over the semester from media artists working in the contemporary field.

FTT 40469 Cold War Media Culture (3 Credit Hours)

From Invasion of the Body Snatchers to Red Dawn, this course explores the popular media of the Cold War. The course explores the interconnections between film and television, popular music, foreign and domestic policy, and US social movements. Topics include anti-communism, the Red Scare, invasion films, sub-urbanization and domestic "containment culture", anxieties about the nuclear bomb, Beats and the counter-culture, the civil rights and women's movements, and youth culture. The course centers on the ways in which the Cold War was experienced culturally, with particular attention to its impact on everyday cultural practices and identities.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKHI - Core History

FTT 40500 Hitchcock Seminar (3 Credit Hours)

This seminar examines Alfred Hitchcock, the director of 64 films and many television programs, whose career spanned the silent era of the 1920s through the 1970s, and who became a transmedia icon and brand. We will analyze the themes, visual elements, character types, and narrative structures that recur in his films; consider the role of collaborators such as writers, actors, and composers; and study the directors and film styles that influenced him and his influence on other directors. We will apply various methodologies to our study including the auteur theory, psychoanalysis, feminist film theory, semiotics, queer theory, critical race studies, genre theory, theories of cinematic space, theories of adaptation and more.

Corequisites: FTT 41500

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WRIT - Writing Intensive

FTT 40502 Media and Identity (3 Credit Hours)

This course focuses on critical analyses of identities in media culture. Taking a cultural studies approach, we will interrogate theories and popular discourses of identity while exploring how particular identities are constructed, negotiated, resisted, and transformed within media culture. Our primary questions in this course are: What is identity? How do our identities inform our various relationships to media culture? And, how does media culture impact the construction of our identities? Our particular sites of analysis will be media representation (narrative, performance, aesthetics), media production (industries and political economy), and media consumption (reception practices and audiences). We will examine a broad array of media forms, including film, television, the Internet, games, and popular music. Traditional demographic identities, such as gender, age, race, sexuality, and class, will be central to the course, although other identities, including geographic and lifestyle identities, will be examined also. We will strive toward critical analyses that understand identities as constructed, not inherent, and intersectional, not autonomous.

Prerequisites: FTT 10101 or FTT 20101

Enrollment limited to students in the Film, Television and Theatre department.

FTT 40505 Media, Memory, & History (3 Credit Hours)

This course explores the interplay between media, history, memory, and nostalgia. Topics discussed will include the narrativization and fictionalization of past events, the role of memory in interpreting those fictional narratives, and the relationship of popular culture to official historical accounts. Screenings and case studies will range from films such as JFK and Waltz With Bashir, TV series like Mad Men and The Americans, and such sites as roadside memorials, comics, museum, scrapbooking, historical reenactments/role-playing, and video games.

FTT 40511 Italian Cinema 1: New Realisms in the Old World (3 Credit Hours)

This course explores the history of Italian film from the silent era to the 1960s, an epoch stretching from Francesca Bertini's Assunta Spina to Federico Fellini's La dolce vita. At the center of this period is the age of Italian neorealism, when directors such as Vittorio De Sica, Roberto Rossellini, and Luchino Visconti invented new ways of looking at the world that radically transformed the history of world cinema. Focusing their attention on issues and individuals that had gone unseen in Fascist and post-Fascist Italy, the neorealists challenged established norms by making the experiences of ordinary Italians increasingly visible, developing techniques for representing reality that continue to influence filmmakers across the globe. We will analyze how questions of class, faith, gender, identity, and ideology intersect on screen as Italian directors explore and attempt to intervene in a rapidly transforming modern world. With a filmography featuring both masterpieces of world cinema and cult classics, this course will investigate how the quest to capture reality reshaped every genre of Italian film, including action & adventure, comedy, crime, documentary, melodrama, mystery, thriller and more. The course is taught in English and all films will have English subtitles.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 40512 Italian Cinema II: The World of Illusions (3 Credit Hours)

This course begins in the 1960s, when Italy stood at the center of the film world, and traces the history of Italian cinema to the present day. We will focus on the heyday of Italian auteurs – Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, Luchino Visconti, and Pier Paolo Pasolini – examining how each brought a singular vision to the collective medium of cinema. Working against the hegemony of Hollywood, Italian filmmakers in the twentieth century created new forms of representation that inspired audiences worldwide. They continue to do so in the new millennium, building on the innovations of illustrious predecessors like Bertolucci and Pontecorvo, Wertmüller and Cavani to reveal new realities to moviegoers across the globe. We will analyze how questions of class, faith, gender, identity, and ideology intersect on screen as Italian directors seek both to expose and to recreate the illusions by which we live. With a filmography featuring both masterpieces of world cinema and cult classics, this course will investigate how pioneering Italian directors reshaped every genre of film, including action & adventure, comedy, crime, documentary, melodrama, mystery, thriller, horror, and more. The course is taught in English and all films will have English subtitles.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 40520 Black Arts and Black Power Revisited (3 Credit Hours)

This interdisciplinary course examines the historiography of the Black Power and Black Arts movements of the sixties and seventies. The poet and theorist Larry Neal defined the Black Arts Movement as “the aesthetic and spiritual sister of the Black Power concept,” encouraging artists to use their work to celebrate Black art and confront contradictions within Western society. The Black Arts Movement encompassed all areas of Black cultural expression—from poetry, art, dance, and music to theatre, film, and television. As historiographers, we will approach the Black Power and Black Arts movements as a sequence of debates, rather than a consistent or monolithic practice. We will investigate how artists, theorists, and activists of the sixties and seventies fostered competing definitions of Black power, yet shared an unwavering commitment to the struggle for Black liberation. Throughout the course, we will focus on the following questions: • What were major aims, organizations, and critical debates within the Black Power movement? • Who were the key figures and lesser-known (today) individuals who furthered Black cultural and political thought of the sixties and seventies? • How did Black women artists and activists amplify, complicate, and/or critique the prevailing notions of Black Power? • What relationship did the Black Power and Black Arts movements have with the rise of the women’s liberation movement and Black feminist drama? • What relevance, if any, does the Black Power struggle of the past have to today’s fight for Black Lives? In so doing, we will explore various articulations of “Black power,” “self-determination” and “nationhood”; engage with critical approaches to the “Black aesthetic”; and consider the role of intersectionality within Black Power discourse.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKHI - Core History

FTT 40598 Senses and Sensibilities in Portuguese and Luso-African Cinema (3 Credit Hours)

This course aims to evaluate how major cultural, social and historical events are portrayed in cinematographic productions of Portugal, Angola, Mozambique and Cape Verde. We will explore issues such as gender, racial and social disparities, the legacies of dictatorship and the colonial wars, the Luso-African struggles for independence, the role of the language in building a nation, and the influence of the Portuguese culture in its former colonies. Our goal is to investigate how film productions from and about those countries contest hegemonic accounts, and to examine the interconnections between history, memory and cultural identity and praxis. Films such as All is Well, by Pocas Pascoal (Angola), Dribbling Fate, by Fernando Vendrell (Cape Verde), Sleepwalking Land by Teresa Prata (Mozambique), Cats Don't Have Vertigo, by Antonio Pedro Vasconcelos, April Captains, by Maria de Medeiros (Portugal), as well as the documentaries Lusitanian Illusion, by Joao Canijo, and Hope the Pitanga Cherries Grow, by Kiluanje Liberdade and Ondjaki will serve as a vehicle for a deeper and broader understanding of how social, racial and cultural issues play a role in the past and present time in Portugal, Angola, Mozambique and Cape Verde. Conducted in English.

FTT 40600 Shakespeare on the Big Screen (3 Credit Hours)

This course explores the phenomenon of Shakespeare in the cinema/movie theatre, examining ‘Shakespeare and film' by concentrating on the meanings provoked by the "and" that joins the terms. We shall be looking at examples of films of Shakespeare plays both early and recent, both in English and in other languages, and both ones that stick close to conventional concepts of how to film Shakespeare and adaptations at varying degrees of distance from his language, time, plot, reaching a limit in versions that erase Shakespeare from the film. We will also be looking at the recent phenomenon of "Live from" broadcasts of live theatre to movie audiences. The transposition of different forms of Shakespearean texts (printed, theatrical, filmic) and the confrontation with the specificities of film production have produced and continue to produce a phenomenon whose cultural meanings will be the subject of our investigations. There will be screenings of the films to be studied in the Browning Cinema.

Corequisites: FTT 41600

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in English or Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 40604 Directing Actors for Film & TV (3 Credit Hours)

This is an introductory course to directing actors for film and TV. You will acquire various tools and methods of directing to create authentic and nuanced performances for the camera. You will learn how to work and communicate with actors to get the best, most believable acting on screen; how to stage and choreograph blocking with regards to camera and how to react and fix problems in a fast and efficient way on set. As such, you will have an opportunity to be both in front of and behind the camera to better understand the specificities and requirements of on-camera acting. You will get a chance to direct scenes of various complexity to practice these tools in a simulated set environment.

FTT 40613 Media and Culture in Modern China (3 Credit Hours)

Soon after modern printing technology was introduced by western missionaries in the 19 th century, China developed an exciting new culture characterized by tremendous creativity and productivity, enthusiastic experimentation with media technologies, high-speed interaction between creators and users, and countless unique ways of mixing textual and visual material. Ranging from the pictorial magazines of the early twentieth century to the Internet sites of the early twenty-first century, China’s modern culture has expressed and engaged with massive historical, social, and political changes, captured in writing and in images. This course takes students on a whirlwind tour of modern Chinese cultural expression in newspapers, magazines, posters, films, TV shows, websites, and social media, using original visual materials in addition to readings in English translation. The aim is to provide students with a comprehensive overview of the main developments in modern Chinese culture, while training their ability to analyse different types of cultural products. At the end of the course, students will have produced their own blog site, using visual and textual material to express their own critical opinions on the materials we studied.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 40618 Modern China on Screen (3 Credit Hours)

This course introduces contemporary cinemas of mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan by focusing on a selection of internationally acclaimed Chinese films. In addition to examining cultural background, narrative themes and cinematic technique of the films, we will be exploring how these selected films response to fundamental issues such as history, gender, identity, memory, social justice, nationalism, and globalization. The goals of the course are to introduce students to major films and directors in contemporary China, to learn Chinese culture, value and history through films, and to refine students' abilities to analyze and write about film critically. All readings are in English, no prior knowledge of Chinese language or culture is required. All films selected for the course have English subtitles.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WKAL - Core Art & Literature

FTT 40620 South Bend Stories (3 Credit Hours)

In “South Bend Stories” students will produce reported narratives across a variety of nonfiction genres, including prose writing and documentary filmmaking. This course draws its inspiration and subject matter from the city of South Bend and the greater Michiana region, as you will work with classmates and community partners to tell stories of local interest and significance. Topics may include close-up looks at a wide range of ideas—family, sport, education, history, etc.—but the ultimate goal is to describe real-world truth at the “felt-life level,” revealing something of what it means to be alive in this particular time and place. We wish to highlight the daily lives, cultural events, natural and built spaces, and social issues of South Bend. Projects are collaborative, with students working in teams. With guidance, you will look for stories, request access and permission to tell those stories, and gather material en route to crafting meaningful narratives. Each group will produce several different stories, though subjects and forms will often converse with one another. For instance, storytelling teams may create short moving-image documentaries, works of prose journalism, photo essays, audio narratives, creative nonfiction essays, or more avant-garde documentary projects, etc. The class will interrogate the boundaries between subgenres of these factual artforms. Students will decide which types of stories they will produce. Telling others’ stories is a profoundly ethical act. It is also a creative process that allows us to grow as individuals and as a community. This challenging process demands your respect and your time as a media-maker. The class will regularly engage in discussions about media ethics and accountability, in the traditions of journalism and documentary filmmaking courses. Students must be prepared to use resources to travel beyond campus and engage with people who are not students and may not be affiliated with the university. Additionally, you must act ethically as a storyteller and collaborator. Further, you must solve a range of challenges—conceptual, logistical, and narratological—while being prepared to spend time with your subjects outside of class time and often according to others’ schedules.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WRIT - Writing Intensive

FTT 40621 King Lear (3 Credit Hours)

Wherever we place it in the pantheon of great plays and in spite of Tolstoy's loathing of it, King Lear is a very extraordinary play. This course will explore its extraordinariness by concentrating on it unremittingly. It will do so in two steps. For the first half of the semester we will slow-read the play together, thinking about anything and, insofar as we can, everything that it provokes us to investigate, from Shakespeare's sources to early stagings and revisions, from its views on power, gender and the spiritual to its verse and vocabulary, and so on and on. In the second half of the semester we will engage with the play in performance and reimaginings through film versions and a variety of adaptations from Nahum Tate to Jane Smiley and beyond.

FTT 40702 Audition Seminar (0-3 Credit Hours)

Preparation for acting professionally and/or the advanced study of acting, directing and performance. A course of study is developed between the student and the faculty advisor(s) at the beginning of the semester. Students who are interested in taking this course but are not FTT majors should consult the instructor. Senior Acting majors only. Offered fall only.

Corequisites: FTT 41702

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 40705 Digital Devices (3 Credit Hours)

In this course we'll explore how smart-phones, ereaders, tablets, and laptops have changed the ways we engage films, television series, books, music, museums, and videos. We'll focus on how the production of art and entertainment is now shaped by the omnipresence of devices which can function, at any given moment, as personal stereos, movie screens, bookstores, TV sets, cameras, or photo-archives. How does that media adjacency within the box impact the relationship between what used to be distinct media but are now transmediated endlessly, for fun and profit. How has curation - practiced by artists, conglomerates, and amateur fans -- become a supra-medium which subsumes watching, reading, listening, and taking pictures into one of the most widely practiced forms of popular entertainment in the twenty-first century? How do we sort out the complicated interplay between media technology, consumerism, and identity formation in those devices? Featured phenomena: Recommendation mania and the listverse, The Song of Achilles and BookTok, the photos in your smart-phone, Wes Anderson and Accidentally Wes Anderson, Lost Children Archive, Questlove, algorithm culture, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, COVID and the "Make Yourself a Masterpiece" craze, WandaVision, playlisting as a way of life (not just a list of songs), The Carters "Apeshit" video, JR's La Ferita...

FTT 40805 Historic Fashion Research (3 Credit Hours)

This class will allow each student the opportunity to conduct in-depth historic fashion research into various periods from the Greeks to the 1960's. Students will express their research in written essays, oral presentations, or creative projects.

FTT 41001 Acting: Character (3 Credit Hours)

FTT 41005 Acting Shakespeare (3 Credit Hours)

Students enrolled in Acting: Shakespeare at the 40K level will complete the scene work and assignments of the regular section in addition to coursework in creative scholarship including a dramaturgical research project.

Prerequisites: FTT 21001

Enrollment limited to students in the Film, Television and Theatre department.

FTT 41045 The Coen Brothers Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Lab for FTT 40045 The Coen Brothers

Corequisites: FTT 40045

FTT 41052 East Asian Cinema Lab (0 Credit Hours)

This is the lab/screening for FTT 40052, East Asian Cinema

Corequisites: FTT 40052

FTT 41060 Indie Film Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Corequisites: FTT 40060

FTT 41126 Home and Homelessness in US Cinema (0 Credit Hours)

Lab/Screening for FTT 40126 Home/Homelessness in US Cinema

Corequisites: FTT 40126

FTT 41257 Documentary: Fact or Fiction? Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Lab/Screening to 40257 Documentary: Fact or Fiction?

Corequisites: FTT 40257

FTT 41411 Documentary Video Production Lab (0 Credit Hours)

A continuation of the course for the advanced production student interested in the techniques and technology of the video post production world and the digital manipulation of the moving image. Students will produce short projects using the DVCam tape format, while learning advanced non-linear editing techniques with the Avid Xpress DV software, incorporating Adobe PhotoShop, Illustrator and After Effects programs, and digital multi-track audio sweetening with DigiDesign Pro Tools.

Corequisites: FTT 40411

FTT 41433 The Politics of Style: 1980s Film & TV Culture Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Certain films will be viewed for further discussion in class.

Corequisites: FTT 40433

FTT 41444 Sinatra Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Lab section for the class "Sinatra" - certain films will be viewed for further discussion in class.

Corequisites: FTT 40444

FTT 41469 Cold War Media Culture Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Lab / Screening with Cold War Media Culture FTT 40469

FTT 41500 Hitchcock Seminar Companion Screening Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Corequisites: FTT 40500

FTT 41502 Media and Identity Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Lab screening for FTT 40502

Prerequisites: FTT 10101 or FTT 20101

FTT 41600 Shakespeare on Big Screen Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Certain films will be viewed for further discussion in class.

Corequisites: FTT 40600

FTT 41702 Audition Seminar Lab (0 Credit Hours)

Preparation for advanced study of acting. A course of study for the semester is developed between the student and a faculty advisor or advisors (selected on the basis of goals established at the beginning of the course). Students who will be taking this course should consult with the instructor during the spring pre-registration period in order to preliminary discuss future goals.

Corequisites: FTT 40702

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Film, Television and Theatre.

FTT 43160 Sound-Tracks (3 Credit Hours)

This course will explore how music and sound have become central to modern multi-media. While our main focus will be on movies (ranging from classical to contemporary cinema, presented in mandatory weekly screenings), we will also explore the role of music and sound more broadly from advertisements to video-games; from music videos to TikTok clips; from ambient sound in retail spaces to personalized playlists. In doing so, readings will cover various topics and issues aesthetic and psychological (such as representation, narration, emotion); social and political (such as race, ethnicity, propaganda); cultural and economic (such as production, technology, dissemination), and music-analytical (such as style, syntax, harmony, topoi, genre). Course work will include discussion posts, position papers, and a capstone research project that may involve creative work.

FTT 43207 The Historical Avant-Garde (3 Credit Hours)

This upper-division seminar examines the emergence of the historical avant-garde in Europe in the early-mid twentieth century, roughly 1907-1940. Providing both a general thematic overview and a series of specific case studies, we will consider a set of figures, movements, and practices in the arts - including Cubism, Futurism, Dada, Russian Constructivism, Bauhaus, and Surrealism - situating them within the social, political, and historical contexts in which they arose. We will explore the changing relationship of avant-gardism to bourgeois society, concepts of democracy, art institutions, and non-art forms of culture, such as mass culture, non-Western cultures, the forces of industrialization, urbanization, colonialism, and the rise of Fascism (and its aesthetics), among other forms of political radicalism. Paying special attention to the artistic accomplishments of painting, sculpture, photography, experimental cinema, and design, three questions will drive our analysis: What impact did dramatic geopolitical changes have on existing concepts of representation? What challenges did they pose for artists? What in turn did artists contribute to an understanding of the full consequences of new conceptions of time, space, identity, and community? The course will require visits to The Snite Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the Browning Cinema at DPAC. Robust critical discussion and writing will form the core praxis of the class.

FTT 43610 Senior Thesis Workshop (1 Credit Hour)

A writing workshop for those students approved for a senior thesis.

FTT 43703 Camp (3 Credit Hours)

This course examines theories and practices of camp. Camp has been described as a sensibility, an aesthetics, a mode of performance, and a mode of spectatorship and consumption. Camp embraces artifice, exaggeration, theatricality, and irony. Initially described as exclusively a gay male practice, theorists have since analyzed forms of “straight” camp, feminist camp, lesbian camp, Black camp, and more. What is camp? To whom does camp belong, and how do different demographics use it? Does camp have a politics? How has the meaning and import of camp changed over time? Is camp still necessary? This interdisciplinary seminar will read essays and books on camp by Susan Sontag, Jack Babuscio, Richard Dyer, Pamela Robertson, Barbara Brickman, Quinn Miller, AJ Christian, and many others. We will consider camp in literary texts by Oscar Wilde, Christopher Isherwood, and Jacqueline Susann. We will consider camp in painting and photography, including historical styles such as Mannerism, and contemporary artists such as Cindy Sherman, Barkley Hendricks, and others. We will consider camp in relation to drag. We will consider camp films by Douglas Sirk and Busby Berkeley, films starring Mae West and Joan Crawford; and certain genres such as the musical and horror; camp TV such as Bewitched; and camp stars such as Lady Gaga and Beyonce. Students from all disciplines are welcome; no prior knowledge of camp is expected.

FTT 45999 FTT Internship (1-3 Credit Hours)

Students who successfully complete at least two of the following courses, FTT 30410, FTT 30462 or FTT 30463, may be eligible for an internship at a television station or network, radio station, video production company, film production company or similar media outlet. Interns must work 10-15 hours per week and compile 150 work hours by the end of the semester (120 hours for the summer session) to obtain three credits. Interns will complete a project, mid-semester progress report and a final evaluation paper. NOTE: This course does not count as an upper level course toward the FTT major.

Course may be repeated.

FTT 46000 Acting Pedagogy and Practice (1-3 Credit Hours)

This course introduces the advanced Acting student to various methods of Acting training. In addition to directed readings, the student serves as the teaching assistant for Acting: Process or Acting: Character under the supervision of the instructor. The student is expected to attend all class meetings and supervise weekly rehearsals outside of class.

Course may be repeated.

FTT 46001 Directed Readings (1-3 Credit Hours)

This course provides students with an opportunity to explore readings and research as directed by an assigned faculty member in the department. It is offered by arrangement with individual instructors.

FTT 46020 Theatre Pedagogy & Practice (0-3 Credit Hours)

This course introduces the advanced theatre student to mentorship opportunities in creative work. The student serves as the teaching assistant for a creative theatre course under the supervision of the instructor. The student is expected to attend all class meetings and supervise weekly rehearsals/readings outside of class.

FTT 47601 Special Studies (1-3 Credit Hours)

This course gives students an opportunity to conduct research and is intended for advanced students. Application and permission of the individual instructor is required. Application may be obtained from the departmental website at http://ftt.nd.edu/ or by visiting the FTT departmental office.

Course may be repeated.

FTT 48000 Thesis and Undergraduate Research (1-3 Credit Hours)

Research and/or thesis development for the advanced student.

Course may be repeated.

FTT 48001 Thesis Research & Writing II (3 Credit Hours)

Second semester thesis completion for writing intensive thesis projects.

Satisfies the following University Core Requirements: WRIT - Writing Intensive