2027 - Spring

MEDIA STUDIES COURSES

RTF 380D        RESEARCH METHODS • MARY BELTRAN

This course provides an introduction to research design and methodological approaches used by media studies scholars working in the humanistic tradition. We will survey an array of qualitative research methods employed by media studies scholars, including historiography, discourse analysis, textual analysis, industrial study, ethnography, qualitative interviews, and more. We will also study the ethical and logistical considerations involved in developing research projects and carrying them out. Media Studies faculty members will come in throughout the semester to talk about their research experiences and the methodological approaches they have utilized in their work. Students will be asked to build on our survey by developing their own research proposals in stages throughout the semester.

RTF 386            DIGITAL CINEMA • LALITHA GOPALAN

To overstate, the arrival of the digital has changed the episteme in Film Studies.  We now resort to a range of nomenclatures for fields of study that include Cinema Studies, Moving Image, Software Studies, Visual Culture, and Digital Arts. In this rearrangement of interests and directions, scholars have drawn on different genealogies that have brought into proximity practices before and after film that reverberate with the cinematic. Far from being settled, extant scholarship reveals insights drawn from connections between art forms that are unruly and provocative.  At stake in this course is to explore how we read the digital in its various iterations. This course explores the various portals to the digital and the continued fascination with cinema that are evident in these readings.  

RTF 387C          MEDIA INDUSTRIES • ALISA PEREN

Three main objectives will guide us throughout the semester:  First, we will survey the history of the media industries and of media industries-related scholarship. Using Hollywood’s film and television operations as our primary objects of analysis, but referring to other contexts throughout, we will consider key ways that regulatory and technological shifts, along with a heightened emphasis on globalization, have intersected with industrial changes. Second, we will look at the range of qualitative methods that have been employed to research the media industries. In the process, we will read several case studies that provide applications of each of these approaches.Third, we will explore the evolving field of media industry studies. This field, which incorporates work in film, media, communication, sociology, anthropology, science and technology studies, and cultural studies, argues for the importance of integrating analysis of media structures with consideration of cultural and textual matters. Although our readings will focus most heavily on filmed entertainment from Hollywood, students are welcome to research such areas as video games, music, comic books, publishing, and radio in their final projects. Further, students are encouraged to apply the theoretical and methodological frameworks surveyed in class to other local, regional, and national contexts.

RTF 389/377H       MEDIA AND POPULAR CULTURE • SHANTI KUMAR

RTF 393Q/377H     PHILOSOPHY OF PLAY • BYRON FONG

This advanced-level course takes a theoretical approach to the concept of “play,” which it grounds with video game analysis. Play has been a topic throughout the history of philosophy. Plato argued it should be used in education through playful dialogues. Schiller wrote that we are at our “most human selves” during moments of play. Huizinga believed it was the foundation of culture, itself. Today, play is more prominent than ever, but it has not necessarily yielded the liberatory results that these philosophers hoped for. Not only have video games become one of the most important media industries, but also “gamification” has entered nearly every aspect of life: dating apps, fitness trackers, and work environments.                                                                                            

This course challenges students to articulate and examine theoretical questions around play. Driving questions of the course includes: What does “play” mean in different moments in history or cultural contexts? How do we perceive and react to play in video games? How does play affect notions of “subjectivity,” “agency,” and “freedom”? And how does play modulate our perception of time and space?

MFA SCREENWRITING COURSES

RTF 380J       FIRST-YEAR SCREENWRITING • TOM WILLETT

A continuation of the first-year screenwriting class taught in the Fall, this course will focus on the process of revision. Students will learn about different strategies for approaching their second drafts; read, analyze, and discuss their classmates' work; and complete rewrites of their screenplays. All students must have a completed feature-length screenplay on the first day of class.

RTF 380M        ADVANCED SCREENWRITING II• RICHARD LEWIS

This course fulfills the second year/second semester writing requirement for all MFA screenwriters.  In this advanced screenwriting workshop, students write either a feature-length screenplay or an original television pilot (30 or 60 minute).  With instructor’s permission, students may also write TV specs. Students will continue their exploration of the craft of screenwriting, while finishing polished, professional work that can serve as a calling-card. *This course fulfills the second year, first semester writing requirement for all MFA screenwriting majors. Other qualified students will be admitted as space permits, by instructor permission.

RTF 380N         ADAPTATION • MAYA PEREZ

This course will explore the opportunities and challenges of adapting stories from one medium to another for the screen. Through case studies of successful adaptations, students will examine techniques for transforming novels, short stories, articles, video games, plays, and even real-life events into compelling screenplays. Students will write several adaptation treatments from assigned source materials and engage in weekly discussions of each other's work.

RTF 380N         DEVELOPMENT FOR SCREENWRITERS • MAYA PEREZ

What does the career of a professional screenwriter involve? Through lectures and conversations with a series of guest speakers, students will get answers to this question and more. This is an advanced course in which we will cover “generals” and staffing meetings, screenplay competitions and fellowships, pitches, one-pagers, navigating a TV writers' room, production company/studio/network notes, networking, and building a community in pursuit of a professional screenwriting career.

RTF 380N         TELEVISION PILOTS • KATHERINE CRAFT

Each student will create a new original television show (30- or 60-minute, network or cable) from the ground up: establishing the setting and world, inventing the characters and relationships, and designing the engine and conflicts necessary to propel a show through multiple seasons. Students will then distill all of this work into a single showpiece episode - a pilot - that demonstrates the artistic and commercial potential of the new show. We’ll also look at a range of produced pilots and discuss what makes them work.

RTF 385K         HISTORY OF FILM • CASEY WALKER

This course is a survey of international film history for graduate students. It is required of all RTF MFA students in screenwriting. Covering the development of the medium from Thomas Edison to the present, the history of cinema will be approached from various perspectives (as a technology, an industry, an entertainment medium, and a mode of personal and national expression, as a language). Particular attention will be given to the evolution of film’s formal elements. Class assignments are designed to acquaint students with how film styles have evolved, how film style operates as a language, and how research in film history is conducted.

MFA PRODUCTION COURSES

RTF 388F            PRINCIPLES OF DIRECTING ACTORS • ANDREW SHEA

This workshop explores the role of the director in the process of translation from page to screen, focusing on the director/actor relationship, narrative structure and visual language. Assignments will include the casting, rehearsal, shooting, and editing of short two-character scenes. Special emphasis will be placed on the development of the skills necessary to communicate effectively with actors to achieve authentic and vivid performances. The final weeks of the semester will be devoted to an intensive “acting for directors” workshop where students will act in and workshop assigned two-character scenes.

RTF 388F/340D    PRODUCTION DESIGN BASICS • ADRIANA SERRANO

Understand the role of production design and how the creation and selection of sets, locations and environments contribute to the visual language of film. Explore fundamental elements of story, production, critical analysis, and the collaborative process of film making from the design perspective. 

RTF 388M        PRE-THESIS FILM POST PRODUCTION • ANNE LEWIS

Pre-thesis Film Post Production completes the MFA pre-thesis with an emphasis on editing to realize intent. It's all about craft, attention, authenticity, and innovation.  In addition, the class offers criticism and suggestions at screenings with the cohort and invited guests, some who have not yet experienced the film and others offering expert opinion. 

RTF 388P/343     HYBRID FILMMAKING • ILIANA SOSA

This production course explores the rich creative terrain where documentary and fiction converge. Students will research, write, and direct short films that incorporate documentary elements—real people, locations, and lived experiences—into structured or improvisational narratives. Emphasis will be placed on working with non-actors and drawing from real-life contexts, blurring traditional boundaries of authorship and representation.

The course takes inspiration from filmmakers who integrate documentary methods into fiction, including Chloé Zhao (The Rider), Garrett Bradley (Time), Eliza Hittman (Never Rarely Sometimes Always), and the Ross Brothers (Gasoline Rainbow). Students will consider the ethics of collaboration, the politics of representation, and the aesthetics of realism. By semester’s end, students will complete an original hybrid short film and critically engage with the form as a space of resistance, inquiry, and innovation.        

RTF 388P/ 343C    ACTING FOR FILMMAKERS • ANDREW SHEA

This workshop explores the key elements of basic acting technique through active engagement in a variety of exercises and assignments: improvisation, monologue and scene study, observation, and emotional preparation.  The goal is to develop a deep understanding of the job of the actor: to live life truthfully under imaginary circumstances.  

RTF 388P/343      CINEMA LABORATORY •  DEBORAH EVE LEWIS 

Limited to 20 participants. In Cinema Laboratory, you will make ten short films – some during class and some outside of class – with an emphasis on taking risks and exploring the cinematic form on an elemental level.

Cinema Laboratory’s practice of consistent moviemaking aims to create a space and time where filmmaking efforts are not expensive and precious, but intuitive, brief, engaging, and challenging in a fast-paced workshop setting. Motivated, hard-working, curious and highly creative students are sought to participate.

Cinema Laboratory seeks self-driven MFA students, RTF undergraduates (especially those in their last few semesters), Photojournalism students, Theatre Directors and students from the School of Architecture and the Art School. The T.A. will help non-RTF students learn RTF protocol and basic editing, camera and sound work, if necessary.

Undergraduates registering for this class should be seniors near graduation. Undergraduates: If you’re not a senior, please get permission of the instructor. If you have questions regarding Cinema Laboratory, don’t hesitate to contact the instructor: deb.lewis@utexas.edu.  

RTF 389P        PRODUCING SHORT FILMS • KELLY WILLIAMS

Short films are often seen as an excellent calling card for first time filmmakers. But it’s much more than just a way to practice your craft or make something that is shorter or cheaper than a feature film. Though the principles and steps involved to produce a short film is no different than producing a feature film, it is also a unique discipline of its own. How do you tell an interesting and compelling story in a short film? How do you translate a minimum budget into maximum quality on screen? This course will examine all fundamental aspects of development, pre-production, production, and distribution of producing a short film. Students will practice the step-by-step processes of physical production such as script breakdown, scheduling, budgeting, location scouting, crew hiring, working with cast and crew, etc. Using weekly lectures, homework assignments, course readings and class workshops to reinforce each class topic, students will put together a final production binder for a short film.

RTF 390E        AUDIO FOR PIC: PROD/POST • KOREY PEREIRA

Required for first year MFA production students. Open to a limited number of students from other disciplines. An intensive introduction to audio for picture, from writing to production and post. The course integrates with the 881KB assignment and is designed to prepare first-year MFA students to make good decisions about audio with a base of knowledge and practice. By the end of the course you will have an entry-level working knowledge of various microphones and their usage; the Sound Devices 633 mixer/recorder; wireless lav systems, techniques of production recording, sound editing and basic mixing; the use of Pro Tools for editing and recording Foley and ADR; and a broader appreciation of audio in storytelling for screens.

RTF 681KB     PRINCIPLES OF FILM AND TV PRODUCTION• MIGUEL ALVAREZ

SPECIALTY COURSES

RTF 196             PORTFOLIO IN MEDIA PRODUCTION 

RTF 388C         RESEARCH PROBLEMS: DOCTORAL EXAM PREP   

RTF 388D         RESEARCH PROBLEM IN SPECIAL FIELD OF RTF   

RTF 388E         RESEARCH PROBLEM IN SPECIAL FIELD OF RTF 

RTF 388S         RESEARCH PROBLEMS SPECIAL FIELD RTF: PRODUCTION

RTF 398M        MASTERS RESEARCH/WRITING

RTF 398R         MASTER'S REPORT

RTF 399W        DISSERTATION

RTF 698A        THESIS

RTF 698B        THESIS

RTF 699W       DISSERTATION

RTF 999W       DISSERTATION