LOWER DIVISION COURSES

RTF 307 MEDIA & SOCIETY Web-Based • HYUN JUNG STEPHANY NOH, MELISSA SANTILLANA, DAELENA TINNIN

This course surveys the role of media in our society through understanding economic, social, political, organizational, ideological, and global contexts. We will discuss themes relevant to media representation, audience interpretation, and social consequences.

RTF 308 DEVELOPMENT OF FILM & MEDIA Web-Based • KATHY CACACE

This course examines the historical development of media industries—film, radio, television and digital. Through lecture, section discussions, readings and screenings, we will investigate historical contexts (cultural, industrial, technological) in which media have been produced and consumed in the US and globally.

RTF 317 NARRATIVE STRATEGIES & MEDIA DESIGN Web-Based • ERIC FORTHUN, RUSTY HATCHELL, JING WANG

This class focuses on the style, structure and storytelling strategies in a wide range of media forms, from narrative films and television series to documentaries and videogames.

RTF 318 INTRODUCTION TO IMAGE & SOUND  Hybrid / Blended or Web-Based • DEBORAH EVE LEWIS

This course is designed to introduce fundamental production concepts and techniques through online synchronous lectures, projects, and lab experiences. The acquisition of technical skills will be a priority, as this course is a prerequisite to upper-division production classes. Emphasis also will be placed on developing a storyteller's point of view and the ability to create works characterized by simple yet effective visual, aural and narrative structures. Students will complete a variety of exercises, including a still photography project, a sound-design project with moving pictures, a short screenplay, and production of one final project (no longer than five minutes).

Twice-weekly lectures will be online, synchronous with required attendance. This Spring semester, we offer the choice of Friday mode of instruction: Remote-only (“web-based”) and Hybrid - section choice happens at time of registration. [Note: All lectures and labs are synchronous.]
Students registering for the “web-based” sections have the option to participate without coming to campus, but will be responsible for having a way to shoot and edit from where they are. The level of hybridization of RTF 318 this semester may shift, depending on updated information regarding COVID-19 safety guidelines.

UPPER DIVISION - MEDIA STUDIES COURSES

RTF 321C HISTORY OF AMERICAN TELEVISION  Web-Based • LESLEY WILLARD

This course surveys the history of American network television during the 20th century. We will explore the complex ways that technological, social, political, industrial, and cultural factors have interacted to shape the form and content of broadcast, cable, and satellite television. Our discussion of industrial practices and regulatory decisions will be balanced with an analysis of representational and formal-aesthetic practices. The semester will briefly conclude with a consideration of the meaning and implications of digital convergence on contemporary American – and global – media culture.

RTF 322D FILM HISTORY 1960 TO PRESENT  Web-Based • CHARLES RAMÍREZ BERG

This course is a survey of international film history for undergraduate students who seek an understanding of the history and aesthetics of the motion picture.  On a weekly basis, it consists of two 75-minute lectures and a screening of a feature-length film.  All RTF majors interested in learning more about the development of the motion picture are welcome, regardless of concentration. The course will cover the history of the medium from the beginning of the New American Cinema in the 1960s (including figures like Stanley Kubrick, Mike Nichols, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorsese) to the present.  Among the topics and filmmakers covered are the cinemas of Japan (Kurosawa and Ozu), Latin America (the New Latin American Cinema and contemporary Argentinian cinema), Europe (Bergman and Kieslowski), Iran (Kiarostami) and Bollywood cinema, as well as recent developments in US cinema such as directors like the Coen brothers, Wes Anderson, the “Mumblecore” movement, and the rise of Austin as a filmmaking hub (Rick Linklater, Robert Rodriguez, Terrence Malick, Andrew Bujalski, and others).

While the history of cinema will be looked at from various perspectives (as a technology, an industry, an entertainment medium, and a mode of personal and national expression), particular attention will be given to the evolution and development of film’s formal elements. This class follows RTF 322C-History of Film to 1960; however, that class is not a pre-requisite. Ideally, students would take both courses in their chronological order, but students are free to take only one of the courses, and they may be taken and out of order. Three written assignments are designed to acquaint students with how research in film history is conducted; in addition, three exams are also required.

RTF 328C GENDER AND MEDIA CULTURE  Web-Based • CURRAN NAULT

This course provides an introduction to the critical and theoretical analysis of gender (femininities and masculinities) in media (film, television, new and emerging media). Students will engage dominant and oppositional practices of media production, representation, and reception to investigate the sociocultural mechanisms that shape individual and collective notions of gender in our media-saturated environment. Paying particular attention to wider questions of power, politics, and identity, students will read key texts in cultural, media, and communication studies, as well as influential theories within gender, feminist, and transgender studies. Although primarily focused on the mediated construction of gender, this course insists on an intersectional approach that examines gender in conjunction with race, class, sexuality, nation, and generation.

RTF 331K TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING  Web-Based • SUZANNE SCOTT

Defined by media scholar Henry Jenkins as “a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience,” transmedia storytelling has been widely adopted and celebrated as a narrative model that promotes collaborative authorship and participatory spectatorship. This course will use Star Wars, one of the precursors of contemporary transmedia storytelling systems, as a primary test case to critically analyze the narrative challenges and pleasures transmedia stories offer creators and audiences, and consider how they cater to horizontal integration within the media industry.  In addition to screening, reading, and playing components of the Star Wars transmedia narrative, other transmedia stories under discussion will include The Matrix, Battlestar Galactica, Gossip Girl, Game of Thrones, and Heroes, among others. As a final project, students will collaboratively build their own transmedia extensions for contemporary media properties.

RTF 331P DIGITAL MEDIA PLATFORMS Web-Based • LESLEY WILLARD

In modern society, we live our lives on and through digital media platforms. Every day, we use them to contact friends, share memes, watch television, stream music, review restaurants, buy products, find dates, and even access classes. We post and reblog, like and scroll, comment and subscribe, performing the endless creative labor of social media and further blurring the line between work and play. These digital platforms are microcosms of the contemporary media industries and, through them, we can critically examine the affordances, communities, politics, and economics that drive digital media. From Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram to YouTube, Twitch, and Spotify, this course will use social networking and streaming platforms to explore digital technologies, user modifications, participatory cultures, content policies, community guidelines, intellectual property, online piracy, user-generated content, creator compensation, data collection, audience surveillance, media promotion, influencer marketing, and more. By digging deeper into these platforms—their uses and users, celebrities and subcultures, affordances and algorithms—we can interrogate abstract concepts like power and control, agency and collectivity, censorship and surveillance. Anchoring such discussions in platforms, this course will explore what it really means for us to create, share, consume, and ultimately become media commodities in an increasingly digital world. This course counts towards the Media & Entertainment Industries minor.

RTF 331P INTERNET CULTURES   Web-Based • MADHAVI MALLAPRAGADA

The Internet refers to a global network of interconnected computers.  While Internet technology opened up new possibilities for communication, it was the development of the World Wide Web and the graphical browser in the nineties that made the Internet a popular and powerful tool for communication. Today, the Web is the most widely used part of the Internet and has dramatically transformed everyday life, culture, politics, business and communities. This course will critically examine the emergence and significance of Internet cultures in our world today. It will introduce you to the technological, financial, cultural and political aspects of the digital information revolution and Internet and Web-based media and communications. The course will deal with topics such as e-commerce, governance and regulation, online communities, homepages, blogs, videogame cultures, virtual realities, cyborg identities, multi-media applications, technological convergence, digital divide and transnational politics. It will interrogate the politics of race, class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, nationalism, capital, community and technology shaping the practices of contemporary Internet cultures.

RTF 331P VIDEO GAME CULTURE & CRITICISM Web-Based • SUZANNE SCOTT

Games have always been an integral part of our culture, and studies of culture have long been fascinated by our propensity for play.  Beginning with a brief historical overview of the inception of the video game industry and arcade culture, this course is centrally concerned with identifying the pleasures of play and engaging with the cultural and academic discourses and debates that surround video games and game culture.  While video games have proven themselves as a dominant industrial force within over the past decade, the stigmas and social anxieties that circulate around video games persist. Consequently, one of the primary goals of this course is for students to both become conversant in these critiques and proficient in speaking back to them, acquiring the vocabulary to discuss and analyze the rules that govern our engagement with video games, and our experiences playing them.  To this end, in addition to discussing video game aesthetics and mechanics, we will have themed weeks on war and gaming, gender and gaming, and game-based learning.  In addition to course assignments analyzing gameplay and considering the representation of video games in film and television, students will be required to collaboratively design and theorize a game as their final project.  No player or programming skill set is required, just a willingness to learn through (and about) video games.

RTF 342 DIGITAL MAINLAND CHINA AND TAIWAN  Web-Based • WENHONG CHEN

Drawing on media studies, management, and sociology, this course surveys social, political, and economic forces that shape and are shaped by digital media production, distribution, and monetization in China. Highlighting an interdisciplinary, global, and network perspective, attention is paid to disruptive innovations such as social and mobile media, VR, AI, and big data. Cases in legacy and new media industries will be analyzed. The course informs and prepares students for careers within and related to media and tech industries in the private and public sectors. It aims to facilitate students grow as capable, responsible global citizens via a better understanding of digital media from a comparative perspective. It is designed to equip students with a repertoire of skills such as critical thinking, teamwork, project design, and data analysis for concrete learning outcomes.

RTF 342S GLOBAL HOLLYWOOD Web-Based • SHANTI KUMAR

In this course, we will examine the emergence of “global Hollywood” as an influential concept for understanding the ongoing changes in the US film and media industries in relation to other “national” and “regional” cinemas around the world.  In the first part of the course, we will examine the reasons why for most of the 20th century, Hollywood was predominantly invested in the domestic US market, and why foreign markets were peripheral to its business practices.  We will also explore the various theoretical debates about Hollywood’s role in expanding and consolidating the power of American media corporations around the world.  In this overall context of globalization, we will explore how major studios, national and regional film industries, independent and alternative filmmakers alike are seeking new strategies for collaboration and competition.  The course will include specific case studies focusing on globalization strategies such as international co-productions, changing techniques of storytelling to accommodate more diverse representations, and the convergence of cinema with new digital and mobile technologies to target newer, younger audiences around the world.

RTF 345 LANDSCAPE CINEMAS Web-Based • LALITHA GOPALAN

Landscapes have surfaced in cinema since its inception, highlighting the long shadows cast by painting and photography on composition of panoramas and vistas. Yet, the film camera, both analog and digital, with its predilection for movement and duration, asserts its own singularity. This course particularly turns to the long era of post-war world cinemas, with through lines into the 21st century, to explore how war, decolonization, and nationalism heralded a shift away from earlier forms of panoramas onscreen; ruins, debris, earthquakes, waste and so on, impinge on anterior concepts of the pastoral.  Noting the ascendancy of the Anthropocene as a critical concept, the course draws on cinema’s expressions of the focus on environment that have generated scholarship in the areas of eco-cinema, slow cinemas, and environmental films. This focus on landscapes, the course offers, reconfigures the scholarship on world cinemas that has far too long been considered under distinct categories such as national, new waves, festival, experimental, and art cinema.

MFA students are strongly encouraged to enroll if they are interested in the alternative histories of world cinemas.  I support a fusion of writing and creative projects as assignments in the course.

RTF 347C INTRODUCTION TO THE MUSIC BUSINESS Web-Based • SASCHA STONE GUTTFREUND

How did Fyre Fest happen? What does streaming mean for record labels? Why are concert tickets so expensive? What determines the order of artist names on the festival poster? What is the difference between a manager, agent, publicist, promoter or A&R? We are in the era of the young entrepreneur. People in their 20's are able to start a business, and then sell it without acquiring a degree in business or finance. Students in this course will learn how to plan, orchestrate, and oversee their own small music business in the avenue of their choice. We will discuss artist management and representation through the development of recorded music as well as the importance of the touring business for artists today.  We will also cover the business of concerts and music festivals; students will learn not only how to book and market shows but also how to produce them. Each class will address a different element of the business and will feature a guest lecturer that will share their story of success and entrepreneurship, followed by an open Q&A with the students.

RTF 359 CHICANA/O FILM Web-Based • MIRASOL ENRIQUEZ

This course has both a writing flag and a cultural diversity flag.

This course will investigate representations of Chicanas/os, both on-screen and behind the scenes of U.S. films. We will begin with a brief overview of representations of Mexicans/Mexican-Americans in U.S. film, from the silent era through the 1960s. The remainder of the class will focus on films made by, for, and about Chicanas/os from the 1960s/70s to the present day. Feature-length, short, experimental, narrative, and documentary films will be examined. While the majority of the texts we will be looking at were made by Chicana/o filmmakers, we will also be discussing key works by non-Chicana/o filmmakers who have made significant contributions to the representation of Chicanas/os on film. We will consider historical, economic, industrial, social, and political factors affecting access to and participation in the film industry, as well as the ways Chicanas/os are represented on-screen. Themes of particular interest include: the construction of racial, ethnic, national, and individual identity; the politics of representation; film as a tool for social change; the commodification of Latinidad; gender inequality in the Chicano movement, film industry, and the writing of film history; and issues of authorship and creative control.

RTF 359 WOMEN IN SPORTS MEDIA Web-Based • JENNIFER McCLEAREN

Women in Sports Media will consider how media produces women’s sports, women’s experiences working in the sports industry, how women athletes are represented in media and promotional culture, and how women are working to make cultural changes in the sports-media-complex. The course will approach all of these topics with a feminist and cultural studies lens which will consider how power operates in media and how individuals and groups resist the status quo through activism. We will examine women’s experiences from an intersectional perspective attentive to the ways that discourses of gender, race, sexuality, and other identities intertwine to create positions of power and privilege. The identifier “woman” will also be diverse and inclusive of trans women, intersex women, and non-binary folks in women’s sports. This class will be asynchronous for the first part of the week and students will watch short lectures, read articles, watch media related to the topic, and discuss content online. We will meet synchronously on Zoom once-a-week on Fridays from 2-3pm for discussion, guest speakers, and panels about the topic. Students should be prepared to be actively engaged with cameras on (with occasional exceptions) for the synchronous portion of the class.

RTF 359S HOLLYWOOD SOCIAL PROBLEM FILMS Web-Based • MIRASOL ENRIQUEZ

This course will examine the way that Hollywood films have been used to approach a variety of "social problems" related to race, class, gender, sexuality, labor, war, and violence (among others). We will spend the first half of the class considering the genre of social problem films that were made between the 1930s and the 1950s, when concerns about public morality and fears about the threat of communism loomed large in the United States. We will pay particular attention to the social, political, and historical factors that influenced the development of the genre during this era. The ways in which the Production Code and the Hollywood Blacklist affected filmmaking will be explored in good detail. The second half of the class will cover prominent films that were made after the era of social problem films ended, from the early 1960s onward. We will examine the ways in which social problems were addressed as social movements made significant gains in their efforts to achieve social and political equality during this time. Key to our discussions will be the ways in which filmmakers who belong to various underrepresented communities have addressed "social problems" in films as they have gained increasing amounts of control over their own images and the communities to which they belong.

RTF 359S LATINA/OS AND U.S. MEDIA Web-Based • MARY BELTRÁN

This course provides a critical survey of the participation and representation of Latina/os in U.S. English-language film and television since the silent film era.  It explores the representation of Mexican Americans and other Latina/os in North American media culture with respect to how various Hispanic origin groups have been portrayed and Hollywood and the television industry’s construction of notions of Latinidad.  Intersections with gender, race, citizenship, class, sexuality, and other elements of identity also will be highlighted.  We’ll also survey the work of U.S. Latina and Latino media producers and explore contemporary issues and debates related to Latina/o representation and shifting and static notions of Latinidad in the public imaginary.  This course carries the Cultural Diversity flag.

RTF 368S MEDIA STUDIES THESIS  Hybrid / Blended

An independent research project based on primary data, resulting in a written summary of theoretical foundations, methodological approach, results, and a discussion.  All Media Studies thesis must have a faculty thesis supervisor in RTF. Exact hour(s) to be arranged with faculty thesis supervisor.

For more details, see: https://rtf.utexas.edu/undergraduate/courses/thesis#Studies

RTF 370 FILM ANALYSIS AND CRITICISM: HITCHCOCK  Hybrid / Blended • TOM SCHATZ

This course traces the career of Alfred Hitchcock, focusing on the films that he directed as well as the social, cultural and industrial context in which those films were produced. While the general approach is historical (assessing Hitchcock’s films in chronological order, from The Lodger and Blackmail in the 1920s to Psycho and The Birds in the 1960s), the main thrust of the course is critical and analytical, combining various approaches – principally auteur and genre analysis; narrative, textual, and stylistic analysis; and theories of gender and sexuality – to assess Hitchcock’s films and his distinctive filmmaking style. In the process, we will trace Hitchcock’s development through nearly a half-century of filmmaking in England and the U.S., his changing status within the British and American film industries, and his changing stature within the critical and scholarly communities as well. Note: This course carries a writing flag.

RTF 370 FILM NOIR Web-Based • NOAH ISENBERG

The term was first coined in 1946 by a French film critic who, when viewing a few recently imported American films for the first time after World War II—The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Laura, and others—focused on their similarities, and labeled what he saw as noir, or “black.”  Noir thus became the name for a post-war cycle of morally ambiguous crime films and the pulp novels that frequently inspired them. Yet with the passage of time, it has become ever clearer that noir is not just a matter of stylized low-key lighting and cynical gunplay, femmes fatales and private eyes. This course approaches noir with a critical eye toward its numerous iterations, old and new, and its enduring allure.

UPPER DIVISION - PRODUCTION & SCREENWRITING COURSES

RTF 329C DIGITAL MEDIA PRODUCTION Web-Based • BEN BAYS

Animation, Visual Effects, Digital Painting and CGI are used to produce digital content for a variety of media including films, animation and interactive formats like video games and VR/AR.  This course is an interactive, online experience designed to teach you the foundational Digital Media Production tools: Photoshop, After Effects, Adobe Animate (Flash) and Maya. Through creative hands-on challenges, you will apply digital media tools and techniques to a variety of tasks in the pipeline of production from concept, storyboard, layout to compositor, VFX, CG and interactive design.  In the end, you must choose:  Will you become a generalist across all digital media production, will you specialize in one discipline or will you define a new role in digital media production? This course offers both access to instructor guidance and the ability to complete assignments at your own pace. OPEN TO BOTH RTF MAJORS & NON-RTF MAJORS.

View Course Promo Video

It is suggested (but not required) that students have Adobe Creative Suite and Autodesk Maya software.

RTF 333 INTRODUCTION TO SCREENWRITING Web-Based • CINDY MCCREERY

RTF 333 will introduce you to screenwriting, and the primary forms which writing for the screen may take: features, shorts, television and documentary. We will explore the basic theory and formal aspects of story, structure and character which are essential to all forms of screenwriting. In lecture and sections, we will carefully examine each step of the screenwriting process - from the initial premise, through character exploration and treatments, to writing the first draft - then apply those steps to the development of your own scripts. The class will also focus on critically examining produced scripts and films from a screenwriter's perspective, in order to learn more about the craft.

RTF 340 MULTI-CAM TELEVISION DIRECTING Face-to-Face / In-Person • DAVID SCHNEIDER

This course will examine the techniques of multi-camera live television directing in numerous formats. It will provide an overview of the current technology and how that technology impacts directing decisions. Students will learn how directing styles shape various genres of broadcasts and how the director contributes to a successful production. The course will focus on planning and preparation and elements of production design. The demands of a controlled studio atmosphere will be compared and contrasted with those of live remote sports and entertainment programs. Exercises will acquaint the students with camera placement, shot blocking and shot selection.

RTF 341 AUDIO PRODUCTION INTO POST  Hybrid / Blended • TODD THOMPSON

Audio is half of your movie; arguably more than half since it exceeds the limits of the visible frame. It operates at a literal and subliminal level and gives the filmmaker access to deeper parts of the audience’s consciousness. Great audio is a combination of creativity and an understanding of both the science and the tools of the medium.  This is the first-level class for audio, a perfect starting point for people who want to know how to better use sound in their projects as well as for those who may be thinking about audio as a lifelong craft. You will learn production mixing, basic post techniques, and the ideas behind them.  This will include recording on location using both high-end and low-end recorders, especially recording dialog, set and location problems and protocol, basic sound editing, mix prep, and creating a basic mix. You will become familiar with the operation and use of the Sound Devices 633 mixer/recorder and 744T recorder, other production mixers, and microphones on location and in the studio. You will learn the science behind the tools, and cultivate an appreciation for sound as a creative element in storytelling. You will create mixes in Pro Tools for audio-only projects, as well as fully realized soundtracks synced to picture. 

Prerequisites: Upper-division standing, RTF 317 and 318 with a grade of at least B- in each, and six additional semester hours of lower-division coursework in radio-television-film.

Students must have their own headphones. Over-ear headphones are highly recommended, and an industry standard, such as the Sony MDR-7506, is preferred. (Earbuds will only do in a pinch). Editing on Pro Tools at home may be preferable for students. For that, students will need a computer with at least 8 gigs of RAM and an I5 or I7 processor. We recommend a 500 gig boot drive, SSD is better. Mac or Windows will work fine. Pro Tools will be available at a student discount subscription of $25 for 3 months. We are investigating a discount for Izotope RX7.

RTF 341C SOUND DESIGN AND MIXING Hybrid / Blended • KOREY PEREIRA

Sound as a medium can create a sense of space, time, and set the mood of a film. This course will explore the post-production sound process for film, television, and immersive media.  We will develop a vocabulary for talking about sound, as well as provide practical hands-on training on each step in the post-sound process.  This includes sound editing, sound design, ADR and foley recording as well as re-recording mixing.  RTF 341C is the course for those who seek a career in post-production audio and for those who just want a thorough understanding of the post sound process.  A familiarity with Pro Tools or Non-linear editing is preferred, but not required.

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing, RTF 317 and 318 with a grade of at least B- in each, and six additional semester hours of lower-division coursework in radio-television-film. (RTF 341 is NOT required as a prerequisite.)

RTF 343 ADVANCED PRODUCTION: DOCUMENTARY  Hybrid / Blended • PAUL STEKLER

This course involves intensive hands-on work in all aspects of documentary video production, in addition to critical investigations of a variety of contemporary non-fiction forms. Much of the semester revolves around producing a documentary (either individually or in a small group) and completing workshop projects, thus offering experience in project development and conceptualization, camerawork, sound recording, lighting, and editing. Watch teaser.

RTF 343 ADVANCED PRODUCTION: MUSIC IN FILM  Hybrid / Blended • PJ RAVAL

Please note: Previously listed as 366K Music in Film Production. 
This course explores the collaborative nature between filmmakers and performing artists. Students will partner with a local musical artist/band to create a portfolio of original short films ranging from live performance videos, to non-fiction and promotional materials, to music videos and ultimately music films. This course embraces conceptual and non-traditional forms of filmmaking often seen in the works of early music video pioneers. From the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star,” to Beyonce’s “Lemonade,” music videos have defined generations and cultural movements. This course will explore the artistic expressions and subsequent social impacts that music videos have had in steering the public conversations around artist personas, censorship, and cinematic innovation. Watch previous classes' work.

RTF 343 ADVANCED PRODUCTION: NARRATIVE  Hybrid / Blended • MIGUEL ALVAREZ

From script to sound design, students spend the semester completing an advanced video production (3 - 10 minutes). Emphasis is placed on storytelling, strong cinematic style, and production values. Students are not required to direct but must participate in the key crew positions on various projects for full credit.

All lectures, discussions and screenings will be online. Labs will be in person, with an option to opt out for those who wish to do so. Projects assigned outside class must follow the RTF Covid filming protocol.

RTF 343/388P PRACTICUM IN PRODUCTION DESIGN  Hybrid / Blended • ADRIANA SERRANO

This class is structured around the practical aspects of how-to production design your own script.  Students will learn how to develop a design from conceptualization to execution based on the needs of your particular story.  The students will learn how to approach and find creative ways to deliver a design that will contribute to the creation of an effective visual design.

We will cover budgeting, breakdowns, creating specific graphics, drafting, clearances, and basics of set construction.

This class is open to all the students that have some previous experience in film or narrative production.  Each student must have a script that they want to develop for this class.

RTF 343/388P CINEMA LABORATORY  Hybrid / Blended • DEBORAH EVE LEWIS

Limited to 15 participants. In the cinema laboratory, we will make ten short films – some during class and some outside of class – with the emphasis being on making, taking risks and exploring the cinematic form on an elemental level. There will be failures and triumphs—all work strengthening and stretching our ability to express ideas and feelings through picture and sound. 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.

Throughout the semester-long laboratory, we will sharpen our cinema-making skills through attention to process and experimentation in order to move to a higher level of precision in our work. We will take many exercises from the notebook of Robert Bresson, who wrote, “It is with something clean and precise that you will force the attention of inattentive eyes and ears.” Precision arises through both practice and experimentation.

“The cinema language happened by experimentation—by people not knowing what to do…. I always like to say that cinema without risk is like having no sex and expecting to have a baby… If you don’t take a risk then how are you going to make something really beautiful, that hasn’t been seen before?”—Francis Ford Coppola

Cinema Laboratory seeks self-driven RTF graduate students, upper level RTF undergraduates (especially those in their last semester at UT), Photojournalism students, and students from the School of Architecture and the Art School. There will be a Wednesday evening lab for those from non-RTF departments to learn RTF protocol and basic editing, camera and sound work.

Undergraduates registering for this class will need to acquire emailed consent of the instructor. Please contact Deb Lewis with questions regarding the Laboratory: deb.lewis@austin.utexas.edu

RTF 343C / 388P ACTING FOR FILMMAKERS  Hybrid / Blended • 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 343D CINEMATOGRAPHY  Hybrid / Blended • DEBORAH EVE LEWIS

This course explores visual storytelling and the art of cinematography through practice in a workshop environment. We will explore visual expression through a variety of cinema tools including camera and lighting as well as time, movement and color. Students are encouraged to think cinematically in both fiction and non-fiction approaches. A number of readings and exercises are assigned to also increase a student's technical knowledge and understanding of one's tools, leading to greater creative and personal visual expression.

All lectures, discussions and screenings will be online. Labs will be in person, with an option to opt out for those who wish to do so. Projects assigned outside class must follow the RTF Covid filming protocol.

RTF 344M CGI FOR FILM AND GAMES Web-Based • BEN BAYS

CGI for Film and Games is an online, creative-project based course that explores 3D Modeling, Surfacing, Animation and Simulation using Autodesk Maya, Photoshop and a game engine (Unity and/or Unreal).  We will model, surface and light navigable levels and interactive virtual spaces.  We will design, rig, animate and render vehicles and other complex systems of animation for both interactive and pre-rendered media.  We will simulate effects and composite them onto live-action (or animated) footage, utilizing CGI for previsualization, sequencing, virtual cinematography and rendering short films.  No prior knowledge of CGI or the software listed is required, only enthusiasm and access to a computer.

Instruction will be conducted online, but computer labs will be available on campus during scheduled class times. It is suggested (but not required) that students working remotely have Adobe Creative Suite and Autodesk Maya software.

RTF 344M INTRO TO VISUAL EFFECTS AND MOTION GRAPHICS Web-Based • BEN BAYS

This guided, non-linear, self-paced course teaches students concepts, tools and techniques in VISUAL EFFECTS--the intersection of live action video and other media formats including (but not limited to) CGI, miniatures, matte paintings and UI/UX elements. From advanced photographic and on-set visual effects techniques to compositing and tracking of plates, simulations, even traditional animation, students will create a portfolio of projects of their own choosing enhanced with titles, transitions, credits and various other MOTION GRAPHICS. It is designed for introductory, intermediate and advanced students, allowing for multiple pathways to generalization or specialization.

RTF 344M CONCEPTS OF REAL-TIME RENDERING Web-Based • DEEPAK CHETTY

Virtual Production and real-time rendering are here. Learn how to plan, layout, light, animate and render your ideas, concepts and art in real-time using Unreal Engine. Physically accurate cameras will simulate their real-world counterparts and give you the ability to learn and develop your real-world skills in a virtual environment or integrate your real-world skills into the virtual production environment. Final projects, which will be fully realized short-form pieces, will display an understanding of the methodology and creative potential of this game-changing workflow.

Instruction will be conducted online, but computer lab will be available during scheduled class times for students on campus. Those working remotely will need a PC laptop or desktop, with these minimum specs: Windows 10, 8GB RAM, 4GB VRAM (GPU/graphics card), 500gb hard drive space (internal or external), Quad core CPU 2.5 ghz, Adobe Photoshop. Unreal Engine (free) is also needed.

RTF 344M DIRECTING FOR VIRTUAL REALITY  Hybrid / Blended • SIMON QUIROZ

While exploring the language of cinematic storytelling in Virtual Reality 360 Production, students will develop, produce and direct immersive and interactive story experiences geared for the Virtual Reality Medium in stereoscopic 3D.

While students will be exposed to best practices for shooting and editing stereoscopic 360 material, UX and UI for VR headsets, the main focus of this class will be on the development and directing of effective stories. Further, students will be encouraged to think volumetrically as an approach for cinematography and directing which will translate to their growth as filmmakers and story content creators in general.

All lectures, exercises, labs and equipment demonstrations will be done online. Students will have access to equipment. In the case of projects where students need to film, they will follow the RTF Covid safety guidelines. The only reason for in-person meeting is to meet 1-on-1 with the instructor by appointment and to review equipment, following safety guidelines.
Requirements:
—Good internet bandwidth for sharing large files
—Student will have access to computer lab during scheduled times
—Access to a system with enough RAM and GPU (at least 8GB RAM and 4GB VRAM) capable of running at least 4K video in real time.
—Students will have access to computer labs.
—Access to Adobe Suite recommended or any other NLE system.
—Access to compositing software such as After Effects or Blackmagic Fusion
—Access to Unity 2019 or 2020. Unreal will work too.

RTF 344M  INTRO TO INTERACTIVE MEDIA AND GAME DEVELOPMENT Web-Based • DEEPAK CHETTY

This course provides students with the fundamentals of interactive media through digital game creation. The course focuses on two areas: (1) general principals of game design and game development, and (2) development of simple 3D games. A limited number of seats are open to non-majors.

Instruction will be conducted online, but computer lab will be available during scheduled class times for students on campus. Those working remotely will need a PC laptop or desktop with these minimum specs: Windows 10, 8GB RAM, 4GB VRAM (GPU/graphics card), 500gb hard drive space (internal or external), Quad core CPU 2.5 ghz. Adobe Photoshop and Unreal Engine are also needed.

RTF 344M/388P POST-PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES (COLOR GRADING) Web-Based • SIMON QUIROZ

This class will examine best practices in the finishing and mastering stages of digital post-production for a film or media piece focusing primarily on picture control and quality. The class will reinforce strong habits in media preparation when it comes to editing -- but this is not an editing class. We will depart from the moment the offline edit is done and move forward with preparing assets for online editing, sending them to sound design and mix, integration of VFX to color correction and grading (finishing) and then integration of all these elements (mastering) for deliverables creation. While we will cover color correction and grading, this course will also emphasize the technical elements that allow us to deliver the best quality images possible for different platforms. The concepts of infrastructure, pipeline and workflow should become second nature to the student upon successful completion of this course. Ideally, students should come with a pretty good understanding of nonlinear editing software. A limited number of seats are open to non-majors.

Requirements:
—Student will have access to computer lab during scheduled times
—Good internet bandwidth for sharing large files
—Access to a system with enough RAM and GPU (at least 8GB RAM and 2GB VRAM) capable of running Davinci Resolve and able to at least run HD video in real time.
—Access to Davinci Resolve (free version is okay) and a good NLE.
—250GB hard drive space.  

RTF 344M / 388P XR STORYTELLING Hybrid / Blended • SVEN ORTEL

Hands-on exploration and prototyping of the mixed reality design challenges posed by the Eyes-On-The-Skies project. : hybrid physical & digital sets, physical sets & virtual performers, real actors & virtual sets. A basic knowledge of Unreal Engine and Adobe Creative Suite is required.

RTF 344M WRITING FOR INTERACTIVE GAMES & MEDIA Web-Based • SUSAN O'CONNOR

Interactive storytelling is a form of dramatic writing, just like theater or television. What makes the medium unique is that the author does not control the story; the audience does. Creatives have only just begun to explore the storytelling possibilities of this field. In this class, you will begin to develop the skills & knowledge necessary to write for interactive mediums such as video games, digital media, VR, and augmented reality. Your final deliverable in this course - a narrative design document - will serve as a writing sample for your portfolio. A limited number of seats are open to non-majors.

RTF 344T GAME DEVELOPMENT CAPSTONE: 3D GAMES Web-Based • PAUL TOPRAC

The Capstone Game Development course brings together students from Computer Science, College of Fine Arts, and Radio-TV-Film to form small teams in which each student will contribute specialized knowledge to the group creation of 3D games for mobile, online, and social technology platforms. Students will gain a thorough understanding of the 3D game development process, through modeling of the environment and practices that are used in game studios.

*OFFERED IN SPRING SEMESTER. If interested, please read instructions to apply. Consent of instructor required.

RTF 346 INTRO TO EDITING  Hybrid / Blended • DON HOWARD

Whether you want to be an editor, director or producer, Introduction to Editing is an essential, hands-on course for any production student. By completing a series of narrative and nonfiction assignments, students will finish this course with increased confidence in, and understanding of, Avid software and editing technique and style. We will view and analyze film scenes to understand how editing contributes to meaning.

As a Hybrid/Blended version of this class, our lectures and meetings will be held both online and in person, but always according to the best current sense of student safety, including appropriate distancing protocols whenever in-person meetings occur. Taped versions of the in person lectures will be available for any student who prefers participating from home for a particular meeting. For the Avid lab sessions, which will all be conducted online, you may use either the safe protocol computer labs in CMA and CMB, or your own computer at home (though we recommend at least 16GB of RAM and an external hard drive for such use).

RTF 346 INTRO TO EDITING–WB Web-Based • ANNE LEWIS, KAREN KOCHER

Whether you want to be an editor, director or producer, Introduction to Editing is an essential, hands-on course for any production student. By completing a series of narrative and nonfiction assignments, you will finish this course with increased confidence in, and understanding of, the seamless editing technique and the AVID software. We will also view and analyze film scenes to understand how editing contributes to meaning.

Instruction will be online but students on campus will have access to computer labs during scheduled class times. Students choosing to work remotely will need a computer with at least 16GB Ram and an external harddrive.

RTF 347E ADVANCED EDITING  Hybrid / Blended • ANNE LEWIS

This course is a further elaboration of the principles and techniques of editing students will have encountered in RTF 346, building a broader technical background for professional development. We will discuss aesthetic, technical, and practical approaches to editing and consider how they might best apply to some (provided) editing challenges. In particular, we'll concentrate on the development of editing styles that are appropriate to a range of material and creative solutions to editing challenges. Taught using AVID software.

Course will include a rotation of students attending any given day. The students enrolled will be divided into groups and notified by the instructor which class days you will be allowed to participate in the physical classroom and which days they will participate in online instruction from the instructor. Students may also complete assigned work remotely provided that they have Avid software and Sony MDR 7506 headphones OR beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80ohm headphones.

RTF 351D ADVANCED 2D ANIMATION Web-Based • LANCE MYERS

Students will use the basic 2D animation skills learned in the 351C Intro to 2D Animation class to focus on the production of longer animated projects. Additional techniques including some motion graphics, stop motion, and advanced 2D will also be covered in class. Watch teaser.

Instruction will be online, but students on campus will have access to computer lab during scheduled class times. Students working remotely will need the Adobe software ANIMATE, and a drawing tablet.

RTF 366K DEATH AND DOCUMENTARY   Hybrid / Blended • ANDREW GARRISON

Is Death the reason for all creativity or simply the end of it? This class is an introduction to documentary production class that will take on subjects related to death and dying (which also means living) in any way you can imagine.  It begins with a live conversation between a medical ethicist, a legal ethicist and a spiritual practitioner/researcher on evolving ideas of death. Students will select their own documentary projects to be done in teams of two or three, subject to the approval of the instructor. The class will also be taught simultaneously with a documentary class in Porto, Portugal, and we will exchange projects and readings with them. Check out last spring's student work.

RTF 366K DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION  Hybrid / Blended • NANCY SCHIESARI

This class introduces students to single-camera field documentary video production. During this semester-long documentary workshop, we will screen a variety of documentary works, but our focus will be on making documentary films. There will be group discussions, reading assignments, lectures, hands-on lab instruction, and short documentary exercises, in addition to a culminating documentary project. Students will keep a journal of the documentaries they see and how these films influence the documentaries they make (or plan to make). The primary focus of the class will be working from pre-production to post-production by starting with an idea and finishing with a short documentary film.

Introduction to the Documentary will be held mostly online (class) and sometimes in person (labs following all safety guidelines). This balance may change as the semester progresses, depending on how things go. Student, staff, TA and faculty safety, as well as the safety of documentary subjects, is of paramount importance. All students must have their own headphones. Here are some recommendations from the audio department: Over-ear headphones are highly recommended, and an industry standard, such as the Sony MDR-7506 is preferred. (Earbuds will only do in a pinch). For editing, students on campus will have access to computer labs during scheduled class times. Students choosing to work remotely will need a computer with at least 16GB Ram and an external harddrive.

RTF 366K DRAWING FOR DESIGNERS  Web-Based • JASON BUCHANAN

Improve your skills of visual expression and communication through the act of Drawing. In the course we will experiment with various drawing media, and examine the Principles and Elements of Design through conceptual and observational drawing.

RTF 366K DRAWING THE STORYBOARD  Web-Based • JASON BUCHANAN

Learn the art and skills of drawing a storyboard, even if you can’t draw.

A storyboard is a set of sequential drawings used to tell a story—a graphic organizer that helps to illustrate a narrative.  Used often in entertainment applications like film, TV, theatre, gaming, and immersive experiences, storyboards are also valuable in the development of advertising videos or demonstrating a production process. 

RTF 366K/388P INTRO TO PRODUCTION DESIGN  Hybrid / Blended • ADRIANA SERRANO

This class explores the world of production design and art direction for film. By watching films, analyzing concepts and using a series of practical projects, students will learn the different components of film design including: script interpretation, mood boards, breakdowns, clearances, scenery, location, props, and color concepts.

The students are required to crew or design one film in collaboration with the RTF students.

Course will meet face to face once a week alternating weeks. The class will be divided In two groups so we can ensure proper distance. The labs will be led by the TA.

RTF 366K NARRATIVE PRODUCTION  Hybrid / Blended • NANCY SCHIESARI, STEVE MIMS, ILIANA SOSA

The class explores the expressive potential of sound and image through the production of digital video and 16mm exercises and short films. It is an intensive workshop in visual storytelling and non-dialogue filmmaking. It is designed to build upon the fundamental production concepts and techniques that were introduced in RTF 318 and to prepare students for the advanced narrative classes.

All lectures, discussions and screenings will be online. Labs will be in person, with an option to opt out for those who wish to do so. Projects assigned outside class must follow the RTF Covid filming protocol.

RTF 366K ROOSTER TEETH MEETS RTF  Web-Based • MICAH BARBER

Create your own original short content while learning how Rooster Teeth thinks about the things they make. You’ll see how to bring your audience into the creative process from the start, learn from Rooster Teeth’s successes in emerging social media entertainment, and explore the role of community in the future of digital media. Creative and business executives will be regular guests throughout the semester, including exclusive sessions taught by media executive Jordan Levin, General Manager of Rooster Teeth and prominent UT alum.

RTF 367D DIRECTING WORKSHOP  Hybrid / Blended • 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, mounting, and realization of dramatic narrative scenes. Special emphasis will be placed on the development of the skills necessary to communicate effectively with actors to achieve authentic and vivid performances.

Instructor will conduct online instruction weekly. There will be five in-person labs led by the TA. Auditions will be online while rehearsals and film shoots will take place in-person and outdoors, as current conditions permit. However, the instructor will offer alternative assignments and projects to students who are unable to meet with their actors in-person due to health and safety concerns. Studios will be available to students during scheduled course meeting times and also by reservation.

RTF 367K PRODUCING FILM AND TELEVISION Web-Based • SARAH OH, MICAH BARBER

RTF 367K will detail how things work in the supposedly noncreative side of the entertainment industry. The course will focus on the function and duties of a producer as he or she shepherds an idea through a project "life cycle": development, financing, pre-production, post-production, marketing and distribution. Lecture topics will mirror the project life cycle while students concurrently develop their own business plans/prospectuses for original film or television projects of their choosing. At the end of the semester, each student should have a complete and realistic business plan for a film or video project, one which is ready for presentation to entertainment industry contacts and financiers.

RTF 367Q ADVANCED PRODUCING: SCRIPT TO SCREEN Hybrid / Blended • SCOTT RICE

Script to Screen takes students behind the scenes of Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey’s films. By studying script drafts, shot lists, storyboards, early edits and even exclusive behind the scenes footage, students will garner insight into the making of a major Hollywood feature. Script to Screen also gives students practical instruction on producing their own projects including web series, shorts, commercials, and indie features. From guidance on pitching to the ins and outs of founding a production company, Script to Screen is an essential “how-to” for students who are serious about producing and directing.

Prerequisites: Upper Division standing and either RTF 367K (Producing I), RTF 366D (Directing Workshop) or RTF 333 (Intro. to Screenwriting). Non-majors will not be allowed to add this course. If you do not meet the prerequisites you may seek admittance by contacting the instructor.

Students will join the instructor and classmates in a large lecture hall to ensure social distancing for roughly 50% of class meetings. All other class meetings will be online.

RTF 368S FILM PRODUCTION THESIS Hybrid / Blended • RICHARD LEWIS

This course is for filmmakers wishing to create a narrative or documentary film that demonstrates and showcases advanced filmmaking skills. 

The class accepts DIRECTORS and PRODUCERS only (exceptions to this rule noted below), and students should apply in two-person directing/producing teams with the intent of working together to shepherd the project from beginning to end.  From pre-production to sound mix, students will complete a short film (under 12 minutes in length) with the most advanced equipment available to RTF undergraduates. Emphasis will be placed on storytelling, strong cinematic style, and production values.  Teams should plan to enter the class with considerable story work already completed, and the story should comply with current Covid restrictions.

Each two-person team must apply no later than 5 pm on Monday, November 2^nd.  For more information and how to apply, see: https://rtf.utexas.edu/undergraduate/courses/thesis#Production

RTF 368S SCREENWRITING THESIS Web-Based • RICHARD LEWIS

The class is run like a graduate screenwriting class where students will develop and write either a feature-length screenplay or an original tv pilot and pilot bible. This course is an advanced class for undergraduates who have already taken a 369 Screenwriting class.  Applicants should submit a sample (a feature or pilot) in pdf format and a one-page statement as to why they are interested in this class. A faculty panel will also be reaching out to the applicant’s former or current instructors to find out how they performed in their workshop. IMPORTANT CHANGE to how things were done previously: Applications will be reviewed by and consent decisions made by a panel of faculty, not solely the faculty member teaching the course.

Deadline to apply: no later than 5 pm on Monday, November 2^nd. For more information and how to apply, see: https://rtf.utexas.edu/undergraduate/courses/thesis#Screenwriting

RTF 369 ADVANCED SCREENWRITING: FEATURES Web-Based • MAYA PEREZ

In this class, students will complete a feature-length screenplay (90-120 pages) by the end of the semester. In addition, they will read and comment on their classmates' work.

RTF 369 ADVANCED SCREENWRITING: FEATURES  Hybrid / Blended • TOM WILLETT

In this class, students will complete a feature-length screenplay (90-120 pages) by the end of the semester. In addition, they will read and comment on their classmates' work.

RTF 369 ADVANCED SCREENWRITING: INDIE FILMS  Hybrid / Blended • TOM WILLETT

This workshop class is focused on writing screenplays designed for micro-budget, independent production. As students write their own feature-length scripts (90-120 pages) throughout the semester, they will study and analyze completed micro-budget films and their production methods. In addition, they will read and comment on their classmates' work.

RTF 369 ADVANCED SCREENWRITING: TV PILOTS Web-Based • BEAU THORNE, TAMAR LADDY

Each student will create a brand new television show (30- or 60-minute, network or cable) from the ground up: researching the setting and historical moment, inventing the characters and relationships, and ultimately designing the 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 be looking at a range of produced pilots (both aired and unaired) and discussing what makes the best of them work.

RTF 369 ADVANCED SCREENWRITING: TV SPECS Web-Based • STUART KELBAN

This course explores writing for series television. Over the course of the semester, students will write "spec" scripts of an existing half-hour comedy and hour-long drama. The class will take an in-depth look at TV writing from the inside out, learning how to "break" an episode and how a TV writer's room works.

UTLA

Spend a semester in Los Angeles to jump-start your career in the entertainment industry. Open to all UT Austin students regardless of major, the UTLA program is a chance to get hands-on training at an internship, take classes taught by industry insiders, and explore new career paths to set yourself up for success after graduation. Learn about UTLA courses.

INTERNSHIPS

RTF 178 RADIO-TV-FILM INTERNSHIP   Hybrid / Blended
Restricted to Radio-Television-Film majors. RTF 178 is a one-hour internship course intended for students doing a second internship, i.e., those who have already taken RTF 330L. The purpose of this course is to provide professional internship experiences with television and radio stations, film, video, and new media production companies, governmental agencies and production units, audio recording studios, and new media industries. Students are responsible for securing their own internship position. Resources and position listings are available in the College of Communication Career Services (CCS) office, CMA 3.104 / (512) 471-9421.

At the end of the semester, you will be required to submit an Internship Report consisting of:

• A weekly journal
• Work samples or a portfolio
• Your evaluation of the internship
• Your supervisor's confidential evaluation of your performance

Register Now

RTF 330L INTERNSHIP IN FILM & ELECTRONIC MEDIA   Hybrid / Blended
Restricted to Radio-Television-Film majors. The purpose of this 3-hour internship for RTF majors is to provide practical work experience in the media industries (film, television, radio, video games, and/or digital media). Students must make their own arrangements to secure relevant internships in the Austin area. In addition to providing practical experience in the vocation of your choice, this course is designed to help you develop the resources and routines necessary to succeed in the contemporary media industries. While no meeting time is listed, there will be multiple required workshops scheduled throughout the semester, totaling 10 contact hours for the semester. Resources and position listings are available in the College of Communication Career Services (CCS) office, CMA 3.104 / (512) 471-9421.

RTF 330L and RTF 330N may not both be counted. Offered on the pass/fail basis only.
Prerequisite: Upper-division standing and consent of the internship coordinator.

At the end of the semester, you will be required to submit an Internship Report consisting of:


• A weekly journal

• Work samples or a portfolio
• Your evaluation of the internship

• Your supervisor's confidential evaluation of your performance

Register Now

RTF 330N  INTERNSHIP IN MEDIA INDUSTRIES (for non-majors)   Hybrid / Blended

Restricted to non-Radio-Television-Film majors. The purpose of this 3-hour internship for non-RTF majors is to provide practical work experience in the media industries (film, television, radio, video games, and/or digital media). Students must make their own arrangements to secure relevant internships in the Austin area. In addition to providing practical experience in the vocation of your choice, this course is designed to help you develop the resources and routines necessary to succeed in the contemporary media industries. While no meeting time is listed, there will be multiple required workshops scheduled throughout the semester, totaling 10 contact hours for the semester.

Resources and position listings are available in the College of Communication Career Services (CCS) office, CMA 3.104 / (512) 471-9421.

RTF 330L and RTF 330N may not both be counted. Offered on the pass/fail basis only.
Prerequisite: Upper-division standing and consent of the internship coordinator.

Register Now

NON-MAJOR COURSES

RTF 301N FOOTBALL ON SCREEN Web-Based • BRETT SIEGEL

Restricted to non-RTF majors.
America’s most popular and profitable sport achieved its status in large part due to its relationship with media. We will explore this relationship in detail, considering the ways in which various media industries, programming strategies, and economic arrangements contributed to the evolution of football and cemented its place in American culture. While we will trace these dynamics back to the role of print and radio in covering the early years of the sport, our primary focus will be on audiovisual media, and particularly on television, from the 1960s onward. We will examine how the production, distribution, and reception of football on television resulted in a phenomenon that continues to dominate the ratings, attract advertisers, and foster national engagement, providing an increasingly rare source of content that viewers organize their schedules around and tune in live to experience. Further, we will analyze the myths and meanings assigned to the sport using a variety of media texts as case studies, from game broadcasts and talk shows to documentaries and fictionalized narratives. In doing so, we will see football’s enduring value to a shifting media landscape and discuss its cultural power as an arena where ideas about race, class, gender, sexuality, and nationality are constructed and negotiated.

RTF 303C INTRO TO MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRIES–WB Web-Based • WENHONG CHEN

Restricted to non-RTF majors. Fulfills the social & behavioral sciences core curriculum requirement for the 2019–2020 academic year.
Drawing on literatures from media studies, management, sociology, and communication, this course helps students to develop a social science understanding of media industries and entrepreneurship. We start with a survey of key social science theories and concepts the media landscape. We examine the social, political, and economic contexts in which media are produced, distributed, and monetized. Special attention is paid to new media and communication technologies such as Web 2.0, social media, gaming, and mobile media and the implications of these disruptive innovations for media organizations and professionals. Cases in old and new media industries from different countries will be analyzed. It is designed to help students achieve the following goals upon successful course completion:

• Understand key social science theories, concepts and methods on the complicated interaction between media and society.
• Recognize various opportunities, challenges, and responses media industries have to address due to globalization and technological advancements.
• Understand government policies and industry practices that affect the formation and function of media organizations.
• Understand the trajectory and development of various legacy and new media industry sectors.
• Evaluate entrepreneurial opportunities, challenges, and process in the media industries facilitated and constrained by institution and culture.

RTF 306 INTRODUCTION TO WORLD CINEMA HISTORY –WB Web-Based • CAROLINE FRICK

Restricted to non-RTF majors.
Love the movies? Join us and explore how the movies developed from a circus amusement to multinational industry as well as how film can be understood as socio-cultural, technological, aesthetic and economic artifact. Global in scope, this course will sample a variety of “national cinemas” in order to compare and contrast how moviemaking developed uniquely in different parts of the world. We will also address how decades of popular and critical attention to the glamour and gossip surrounding Hollywood movies has affected our understanding of “American” cinema. The course fulfills VAPA requirements, and is designed for non-RTF majors who have not taken previous coursework in film or media studies. Note: RTF 321D [Film History to 1960] cannot be taken if you have already completed RTF 306.

RTF 321C HISTORY OF AMERICAN TELEVISION  Web-Based • LESLEY WILLARD

Restricted to only RTF Majors & RTF Minors. This course counts towards the Media & Entertainment Industries minor. 
This course surveys the history of American network television during the 20th century. We will explore the complex ways that technological, social, political, industrial, and cultural factors have interacted to shape the form and content of broadcast, cable, and satellite television. Our discussion of industrial practices and regulatory decisions will be balanced with an analysis of representational and formal-aesthetic practices. The semester will briefly conclude with a consideration of the meaning and implications of digital convergence on contemporary American – and global – media culture.

RTF 329C DIGITAL MEDIA PRODUCTION–WB  Web-Based • BEN BAYS

Open to BOTH RTF Majors & Non-RTF Majors.
Animation, Visual Effects, Digital Painting and CGI are used to produce digital content for a variety of media including films, animation and interactive formats like video games and VR/AR.  This course is an interactive, online experience designed to teach you the foundational Digital Media Production tools: Photoshop, After Effects, Adobe Animate (Flash) and Maya. Through creative hands-on challenges, you will apply digital media tools and techniques to a variety of tasks in the pipeline of production from concept, storyboard, layout to compositor, VFX, CG and interactive design.  In the end, you must choose:  Will you become a generalist across all digital media production, will you specialize in one discipline or will you define a new role in digital media production? This course offers both access to instructor guidance and the ability to complete assignments at your own pace.

View Course Promo Video

It is suggested (but not required) that students have Adobe Creative Suite and Autodesk Maya software.

RTF 330N INTERNSHIP IN MEDIA INDUSTRIES   Hybrid / Blended

Restricted to non-RTF majors.
The purpose of this 3-hour internship for non-RTF majors is to provide practical work experience in the media industries (film, television, radio, video games, and/or digital media). Students must make their own arrangements to secure relevant internships in the Austin area. In addition to providing practical experience in the vocation of your choice, this course is designed to help you develop the resources and routines necessary to succeed in the contemporary media industries. While no meeting time is listed, there will be multiple required workshops scheduled throughout the semester, totaling 10 contact hours for the semester.

RTF 330L (the version of this internship offered for majors) and RTF 330N may not both be counted. Offered on a pass/fail basis only.
Prerequisite: Upper-division standing and consent of the internship coordinator.

RTF 331P DIGITAL MEDIA PLATFORMS Web-Based • LESLEY WILLARD

Restricted to only RTF Majors & RTF Minors. This course counts towards the Media & Entertainment Industries minor. 
In modern society, we live our lives on and through digital media platforms. Every day, we use them to contact friends, share memes, watch television, stream music, review restaurants, buy products, find dates, and even access classes. We post and reblog, like and scroll, comment and subscribe, performing the endless creative labor of social media and further blurring the line between work and play. These digital platforms are microcosms of the contemporary media industries and, through them, we can critically examine the affordances, communities, politics, and economics that drive digital media. From Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram to YouTube, Twitch, and Spotify, this course will use social networking and streaming platforms to explore digital technologies, user modifications, participatory cultures, content policies, community guidelines, intellectual property, online piracy, user-generated content, creator compensation, data collection, audience surveillance, media promotion, influencer marketing, and more. By digging deeper into these platforms—their uses and users, celebrities and subcultures, affordances and algorithms—we can interrogate abstract concepts like power and control, agency and collectivity, censorship and surveillance. Anchoring such discussions in platforms, this course will explore what it really means for us to create, share, consume, and ultimately become media commodities in an increasingly digital world.

RTF 344M INTERACTIVE MEDIA AND GAME DEVELOPMENT Web-Based • DEEPAK CHETTY

This course provides students with the fundamentals of interactive media through digital game creation. The course focuses on two areas: (1) general principals of game design and game development, and (2) development of simple 3D games. A limited number of seats are open to non-majors.

Instruction will be conducted online, but computer lab will be available during scheduled class times for students on campus. Those working remotely will need a PC laptop or desktop with these minimum specs: Windows 10, 8GB RAM, 4GB VRAM (GPU/graphics card), 500gb hard drive space (internal or external), Quad core CPU 2.5 ghz. Adobe Photoshop and Unreal Engine are also needed.