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Spring 2026 Courses

Spring 2026 Courses

Below is an archive of the courses for Spring 2026. For the latest courses, go to the Courses page.

Core Film Courses

FTT 20101/21101: Basics of Film and Television | Lab | Olivier Morel & Matthew Payne

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.

FTT 30202/31202: Global Cinema II | Lab | Ted Barron

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.

FTT 30456/31456: Critical Approaches to Screen Cultures | Lab | Pam Wojcik

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.

Core Television Courses

FTT 20101/21101: Basics of Film and Television | Lab | Olivier Morel & Matthew Payne

FTT 30462: History of Television II: The Transition From Network Broadcasting to Streaming | Michael Kackman

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.

Core Theatre Courses

FTT 30015: Theatre Production Process | Marcus Stephens

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.

Electives

FTT 20410/21410: German History through Film | Lab | William Donahue & Mark Kettler

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.

FTT 20477: Diaspora Religions in Film and Popular Media | Scott Barton

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? | Scott Barton

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 21001: Acting: Process | Sarah Gitenstein

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.

FTT 21006: Playwriting | Anne García-Romero

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 30021: Voice and Dialect | Siiri Scott

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.

FTT 30026: Voiceover: the Art and Performance of Voice Acting | Siiri Scott

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 30050: Film Curation | Ricky Herbst

1 cr. hr.

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 30151: Game Day Media: Play by Play, Color Analysis & News Conference | Betsy Ross

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 30163: Local Reporting | Amanda Gray Perry

What role does a local reporter play in their community? How does the unique nature of a small community impact the journalism profession? Local reporters are the backbone of journalism, an unsung majority holding up a field on minimal resources and stretched for time. Oftentimes, local reporters are the only members of the public present at government meetings where decisions are made that impact everyone in a municipality. This class is meant to prepare you for the work required to be a reporter in a small community. This class will revolve around consuming, understanding, and producing local journalism. Students will write local news stories, read examples of good local reporting, and interact with local and regional journalists. Students will learn to understand their unique local audience, and how to interpret the importance of news for that audience and through their lens. Note: the only required text for this course will be a subscription to a local newspaper.

FTT 30164: Big Picture, Narrow Focus: Profiles that Illuminate the World | Mary Schmich

A story centered on one person can be a useful way to illuminate a big issue. For example: An immigrant student living in fear of government policies on immigration. A local store owner forced to close shop because the economy is changing. A worker afraid of being put out of work by AI. In this class, we'll focus on that kind of story and on the building blocks of any good story: How do you find the right people to interview? How do you earn your subject’s trust? How do you conduct an effective interview? How do you bring a person to life with details, quotes and action? How do you weave the person’s life with the bigger issue? How do you collect facts—and check them? How do you structure a story? How do you convey meaning and feeling? We’ll examine stories—short and long—to see how the writers did it. We’ll listen to some good interviews. You’ll build several stories of your own.

FTT 30188: Sport and Media | Katherine Walden

From the Olympics to Formula 1, sports are a central part of global culture and everyday life. Our experiences of sport, however, are largely shaped—and often even constructed—by media. Rather than simply presenting sport, media play an active role in producing the values, identities, emotions, and conflicts we associate with it. This course examines the historical roots and current conditions of the convergence of corporate sport and corporate media. We will analyze how media—from early 20th-century newsreels to live Twitch streams—do more than distribute sport content; they shape its cultural meanings and social impact. Centering sport media as both an industry and a cultural practice, we will explore how it intersects with issues of gender, race/ethnicity, labor, nationalism, and globalization. By analyzing the forces shaping sport media production and consumption, we will consider the meanings audiences make of those messages, we will consider the ways sport media production and consumption might be reimagined. Assignments in the course include a variety of reflection and application projects, as well as larger research project.

FTT 30345: Art, Gender, and Indigeneity in the Americas

In this course, we will engage with the academic fields of Native American and Indigenous Studies, Performance Studies, and Gender Studies. Inspired by groundbreaking work of Indigenous scholars, artists, and activists, we will explore how the body has constituted (and continues to constitute) a site for Indigenous peoples to explore gender identities and gendered community roles. Throughout the course, we will engage with cultural productions by Indigenous peoples in various media, including literature, music, theatre, public performance, and film to learn about the fight of Indigenous peoples to reclaim sovereignty over their own bodies. Using this survey of Indigenous ideas about gender as a frame of reference, students will critically explore their own ideas and beliefs. The course’s geographic focus is the Americas, from the Canadian Arctic to Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of the South American mainland.

FTT 30410/31410: Introduction to Film and Television Production | Lab | Ted Mandell

An introductory course in the fundamentals of shooting, editing, and writing for narrative film and television productions. This is a hands-on production course emphasizing aesthetics, creativity, and technical expertise. The course requires significant amounts of filming and editing outside of class. Students produce three short film projects learning the basics of visual storytelling, including cinematography, lighting, sound recording, editing, sound mixing, and other post production techniques. These are all essential tools used to tell a story. The course challenges students not only to master basic skills but ultimately to craft compelling visual narratives.

FTT 30421: Video Art Installation | Cecilia Kim

This course is a technically-driven course that introduces different softwares to spatializing video and expanding the physical and virtual possibilities of video art. Exploring various ways to manipulate the visual experience of video into imagining and implementing spatial design, students are guided through approaches that involve VR (virtual reality), 3D world-building, and installation mock-ups. Students will combine applied skills using softwares such as Autodesk Maya and Adobe After Effects with lens-based camera tools. We will look at contemporary examples of video art with global significance as inspiration, with the goal of creating immersive video experiences that break the passive relationship between the screen and the viewer. Students will learn to problem solve and acquire critical awareness as they are challenged with new frameworks. Over the semester, the goal is to discover unique approaches within the technical methods to develop a unique voice and narrative as a digital maker.

FTT 30428: Video Art Production | Cecilia Kim

This course introduces a foundation for making and understanding video art for artistic exploration and creative expression. Looking at a variety of experimental production methods and approaches to moving image, the course will provide insight into a wide range of video artists and artworks produced since the conception of video art to the present. Using such examples as possible models for conceptualizing original ideas, the course encourages critical expression and learning from failures and new attempts. Modules in the course include appropriation, sound, animation, participatory art, internet /new media art, and multi-channel projection. In addition, we will look at several seminal media art texts that will help students gain critical judgment for one's own and others' work.

FTT 30459/31459: Gender and Rock Culture | Lab | Mary Celeste Kearney

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 30480: Televised Sports Production: Technology and Storytelling | Ted Mandell

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 30505/31505: The Mediated Climate: Critical Media Literacy & the Climate Crisis | Lab | Michael Kackman & Melissa Berke

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 30559: Glitter Boys & Angry Grrrls: Gender in Rock Films | Mary Celeste Kearney

1 cr. hr.

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 30703: Digital Abstinence | Alexi Orchard

Digital technologies present many opportunities for people to work, play, and find community online, but there is a persistent desire to unplug and avoid the ire of social media, information overload, and mass surveillance. Abstaining from technology involves actively assessing how a given tool may enhance, detract from, or reconfigure one’s values, whether that be for reasons of privacy, health and wellbeing, leisure, community, or others. This will look different depending on the context: the traditional lifestyle of Amish communities, the neo-luddism movement, Catholic contemplative practices, and “digital detox” trends each have something unique to say about the potential to abstain from technology (even if only temporarily or unsuccessfully in some cases). How do we identify when a tool is working for or against our needs? What are some strategies to reclaim mindfulness and agency over the barrage of social media and generative AI? What are the potential affordances of making more attention in non-digital spaces? At the same time, is it possible to develop an ethical stance on refusal when we are living in a digital society that appears nearly impossible to disconnect from? This course will explore perspectives from human-computer interaction, media studies, philosophy, theology, and psychology on what it could mean to rethink digital engagement not as a default but a deliberate choice. Students will be asked to complete oral and written communication assignments and engage in debates and discussions about the topics at hand.

FTT 30706: Musical Theatre History - The American Broadway Musical | Tarryn Chun

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 | Abigail Zimmern

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 | Matt Hawkins

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 30713: Risk & Play: Finding Your Clown | Matthew Hawkins

This course introduces the theory of acting through movement and how it relates to character, while exploring physical and emotional risk, all while telling a story with the integration of the mind, body and voice. This class will be focused on self-exploration based on a physically rigorous and athletic approach to acting, utilizing elements of Clown and Grotowski.

FTT 30800: Scenic Painting | Marcus Stephens

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.

FTT 30890: Media Industries: History, Structure, Current Issues | Christine Becker

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 31018: Production and Performance | Matt Hawkins & Sarah Gitenstein

1–3 cr. hrs.

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 33214: Korean Popular Culture

Korean popular culture permeates transnational mediascapes as evidenced by the virality of films such as Parasite and K-Pop Demon Hunters and the international success of writers such as Han Kang. We are witnessing the ongoing global popularization of Korean culture and its widespread circulation to the public in Korea and around the world. This course will examine Korean popular culture through film, literature, television, and streaming media with a focus on how popular culture shapes the human experience as well as our global geopolitical realities. We will think about Korean popular culture in creative ways that include a variety of forms and explore scholarship from an array of fields such as cultural studies, cinema and media studies, and performance studies that debate history, reception, identity, and soft power among other topics. All course materials will be in English and no knowledge of Korean is required. This course fulfills the literature and culture requirement for the Korean minor.

FTT 35505: Paths to Entertainment Industry | Ted Mandell & Christine Becker

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 class is about helping students learn about paths to the entertainment industry through conversations with industry guests, primarily Notre Dame alumni. 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. Through conversations moderated by Dorothy Kozak Snoke, Career Development Regional Engagement Associate for Southern California, 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 37600: Notre Dame Film Society | Christine Becker & Ricky Herbst

1 cr. hr.

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.

FTT 40023: Musical Theatre Minor Capstone | Matt Hawkins

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 40121: Writing the Feature Film | Terrance Brown

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.

FTT 40125: Writing the Half-Hour Comedy | Terrance Brown

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 40130: Shakespeare and Asia | Peter Holland & Tarryn Chun

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.

FTT 40410: Intermediate Filmmaking | William Donaruma

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.

FTT 40412: Advanced Filmmaking | George Sikharulidze

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.

FTT 40453: Adaptation | Anne Garcia-Romero

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 40502: Media and Identity | Mary Celeste Kearney

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.

FTT 40600/41600: Shakespeare on the Big Screen | Lab | Peter Holland

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.

FTT 40604: Directing Actors for Film & TV | George Sikharulidze

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 40618: Modern China on Screen | Xian Wang

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.

FTT 40670: Gender and Sexuality in American Drama | Susan Harris

Ever since Nora Helmer walked out on her husband and slammed the door in Henrik Ibsen's 1879 play A Doll's House, modern drama has been closely connected with the struggles to redefine gender and sexuality that have shaped the twentieth and twenty-first century. In this course, we will look at how this story plays out on the American stage, as we examine the works of American playwrights who have participated in the many long-running debates about gender and sexuality in modern and contemporary America. We will read both canonical American playwrights - Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, Lillian Hellman, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, Lorraine Hansberry, etc. - and a variety of contemporary American playwrights, including but not necessarily limited to Maria Irene Fornes, Tony Kushner, Sara Ruhl, and Susan Lori-Parks.

FTT 40705: Digital Devices | James Collins

In this course we'll explore how smartphones, e-readers, 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 smartphone, 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 43703: Camp | Pam Wojcik

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 46000: Acting Pedagogy and Practice | Siiri Scott, Matt Hawkins, & Carys Kresny

1–3 cr. hrs.

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.

FTT 46020: Theatre Pedagogy & Practice | Matt Hawkins

0–3 cr. hrs.

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 cr. hrs.

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.