Digital Filmmaking 211

07:211:111 Sound (3) Introduces students to the fundamentals of producing audio for the moving image. Explores emerging techniques and strategies of sonic practice while also emphasizing underlying principles that have defined the filed for the past century. Students will learn the essentials of recording audio in the field, editing, mixing and sound design, with special emphasis on acquiring critical listening skills. Students produce a series of short skill-acquisition projects culminating with an ambitious final project.

07:211:120 Cinematography (3) In this class students will work with digital cameras to learn composition, lighting, lenses, and filters. They will study the language of film with a focus on visual storytelling. Students will become proficient in technical aspects of shooting digital cinema, both for documentary and narrative scenarios. 

07:211:191 Introduction to Film Production I (4) Through a series of short film and sound exercises this introductory course puts basic film theory, language, and dramatic structure for the screen into action. During the course, students will study formal devices such as camera framing, lighting, sound, dialogue, and editing choices.

07:211:192 Introduction to Film Production II (4) In this course students will continue learning the basics of film language through a series of short film exercises. Each exercise will explore a specific genre, approach, or formal device. Using specific feedback exercises, students will learn to engage critically in each other's work.

07:211:205 Screenwriting (Short Film) (3) This introductory screenwriting course allows students to use video technology to enhance the development of their short film, 18-to-22-page screenplays that they will finish at the end of the semester. This unique screenwriting process will allow students to create video drafts of three select scenes, providing them with the opportunity to explore ways that visual composition, framing, lighting, and subtext drive the narrative, making the screenplay more efficient and effective. Students will also learn cinematic dramatic structure, the importance of character development, and how to write dialogue.

07:211:207 Screenwriting (Feature Films) (3) In this advanced screenwriting course students will focus on writing one feature screenplay. Through a series of exercises students will be guided in the arts of character development, story arc, narrative progression, film structure and visual writing.

07:211:212 Digital Field Production (3) In this dynamic new course the emphasis is placed on group field production and the individual responsibilities of a producer, director, cinematographer, and lighting and sound technician in all stages of digital film production. The course will consist of lectures, reading assignments, in-class demonstrations, workshops, and field assignments. Students will learn how to prepare for shoots collaboratively and how to produce assignments of high quality with limited resources.

07:211:215 Essay Filmmaking (3) Through lectures, in-class discussions, and feedback sessions, students will develop a deep understanding of the essay film, its history, and the possibilities for its future practice.  Students will produce two, four-to-seven-minute essay film exercises.

07:211:220 Advanced Cinematography (3) Advanced Cinematography is an intensive hands-on production experience, intended to serve as a venue through which students will expand upon the skills they have acquired through Cinematography (211:120). In this course, students will learn the ins and outs of advanced high-definition cinematography and explore the various aspects of digital acquisition, compositing, and projecting. Students will think critically and creatively about how to apply shooting techniques in diverse fields such as commercials, music videos, and narrative/documentary film.

07:211:230 Animation 2-D (3) Introduces the basic terminology, concepts, and principles of 2-D animation intended to illustrate or reinforce narrative concepts. It covers three distinct techniques within 2-D animation: animating for the web, stop motion animation, and 2-D vector-based animation. While focusing on technical aspects of 2-D animation, this course takes into consideration the historical perspective, current technologies, and applications of animation within documentary and fiction film.

07:211:291 Intermediate Film Production I (4) Students will work in groups of four to produce, direct, and edit three, three-to-five-minute exercises. Each exercise will be guided by a formal restriction. Through lectures, readings, and screenings, students will engage in discussions regarding various formal approaches to cinema.

07:211:295 Special Topics in Digital Filmmaking (BA) Explores in depth a unique topic in filmmaking. Topic determined by the division.

07:211:300 Short Film Repurposed (3) Intensive postproduction course where students will explore the possibilities of moving images from multiple artistic and conceptual perspectives. The course will engage with the tradition of science documentary filmmaking, as well as with found footage/appropriated filmmaking. In the first part of the course, students will complete short documentary films under the direction of a scientist from the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. For the second part, using the raw footage of their science films, students will make another film that is conceptually and artistically different. Students will be exposed to found/appropriated footage filmmaking and be expected to produce innovative and critical works from the images and obstructions presented in this course.

07:211:301 Image Postproduction (3) This course provides training in a wide array of postproduction processes necessary for the final shaping of student digital films.  Students will learn techniques to expand and compress time for narrative purposes, and how to create compelling sound tracks mixing dialogue, music, sound effects, and production sound.

07:211:302 Advanced Directing II (4) In this advanced course, students will produce, direct and edit one short film 7 -10 minutes long. The class will consist of continuous feedback sessions throughout the development of each student's script, rough cut, and final cut.

07:211:305 Screenwriting: Feature Film I (3) This course allows students to advance their screenwriting abilities while developing a feature-length screenplay.  During this course, students will continue their learning of the fundamentals of screenwriting and apply those principles to the development of a step-outline and the first act of a feature-length screenplay (approximately 25-30 pages). The class will be a mixture of lecture, screenplay analysis, discussion of viewed films, and workshopping of the students' screenplays with peer review.

07:211:306 Web Series Filmmaking (3) Gives students hands-on experience as a producer, writer, director, and editor of their own web-based serialized narratives. Students will learn how to conceptualize and structure a web series. They will write two screenplays or documentary treatments: the pilot and episode #1. The students will gain theoretical and practical experience in producing, directing, and editing as they work to complete these episodes through preproduction, production, and postproduction. By the end of the semester, students will complete two episodes and gain confidence in multimedia expression by creating their own internet-based narrative series that can be viewed by the public.

07:211:315 Writing for Alternative Cinema (3) In this course students will engage in the art of experimental screenwriting. Through a series of screenings and lectures, students will become familiar with strategies filmmakers have developed over the course of film history in order to produce formally and thematically personal screenplays. Students will produce an alternative screenplay for a five-to-10-minute short film.

07:211:317 Acting and Directing (3) This course focuses on the relationship between director and actor. Through various in-class exercises, film students will direct and act short scenes in front of their peers. Students will become familiar with various directing techniques to help them shape their actors' performances.

07:211:330 Animation 3-D (3) This course introduces the basic terminology, concepts, and principles of 3-D animation. It is designed to remove the complexities of modern digital 3-D development tools by examining each segment individually and reinforcing it with in class workshops and weekly assignments. This course takes into consideration the historical evolution of 3-D animation, the current technologies, and applications of animation within documentary and fiction film.

07:211:337 Experimental Film (3) Production course based on an overview of key works and ideas that have informed "avant-garde" and "experimental" film, from their beginnings in the early years of cinema through the present day. While emphasis is placed on nonnarrative works, which generally stress nonlinear and/or abstract expression via form, color, and movement, the course also considers narrative and documentary films that utilize experimental form to challenge, question, and problematize traditional kinds of cinematic storytelling. Students will produce three short-film exercises and a cinematic journal.

07:211:345 Sensory Ethnography (3) This course introduces students to the concept of ethnography from a filmmaker's standpoint. Students will produce a five-minute film that falls under the tradition of sensory ethnographic film. The aim is for students to engage with innovative combinations of aesthetics and ethnography.

07:211:391 Advanced Directing I (4) This advanced course is designed to enable students to produce from conception to completion a five-to-seven-minute short fiction film. Gives students hands-on experience as a director as they work to finish a short film through preproduction, production, and postproduction.

07:211:392 Intermediate Film Production II (4) Students will work in groups of four to produce, direct, and edit three four-to-seven-minute exercises. Each exercise will be guided by a thematic restriction. Students will learn to work in groups, and share the responsibilities in the filmmaking process.

07:211:491,492 Senior Thesis I,II (4,4) This two-semester culminating course provides the framework and opportunity for students to integrate three year's worth of filmmaking training in the Rutgers Center for Digital Filmmaking program by producing, directing, and editing a substantial (10-20 minute) short film. Integral to this process, the students work one on one with a faculty member who will help guide the development of the project.