Undergraduate Courses – Fall 2022
FOR CLASS DETAILS, INCLUDING TIMES, CLICK ON "FIND COURSES NOW" ON THE REGISTRAR'S PAGE.
Note: If you don’t meet the prerequisites stated in the course schedule, you can contact the instructor to request a prerequisite waiver. This will allow you to add the class if it’s open or to add yourself to the waitlist if it’s full.
LOWER DIVISION COURSES
UPPER DIVISION - MEDIA STUDIES COURSES
UPPER DIVISION - PRODUCTION & SCREENWRITING COURSES
SPECIALTY COURSES
STUDY ABROAD
INTERNSHIPS
NON MAJOR COURSES
MINORS IN RTF
UTLA - WOFFORD DENIUS UTLA CENTER FOR ENTERTAINMENT & MEDIA STUDIES (listed on separate site)
UTNY
UPPER DIVISION - MEDIA STUDIES COURSES
RTF 321D FILM HISTORY TO 1960 - Web-Based • CHARLES RAMIREZ-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 beginning (Thomas Edison and the Lumière brothers) to 1960. 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. Several written assignments are designed to acquaint students with how research in film history is conducted; in addition, three exams are also required.
RTF 323C SCREENING RACE • MADHAVI MALLAPRAGADA
This course is designed to provide students with the language and critical tools to understand and discuss racial and ethnic representation and production issues in U.S. film and entertainment television. We will survey the history and evolving representations of race and ethnicity in the entertainment media and related topics of concern to media producers, audiences, and scholars. While a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches will be reviewed, critical and cultural studies approaches to film and television criticism will be emphasized. This course carries UT’s Cultural Diversity flag and meets the Moody College of Communication’s Communication and Culture requirement. It focuses on the representation of African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and American Indians/Alaskan Natives in narrative film and television, as well as on Middle Eastern/Arab, Jewish, and European American representation and the construction of “whiteness.” In addition, intersections of class, gender, sexual orientation, and citizenship with race and ethnicity in mediated representation will be explored.
RTF 324C INTRODUCTION TO GLOBAL MEDIA • SHANTI KUMAR
This course critically examines the role that film, television, video games, and digital media play in shaping our sense of global, regional, national, and local cultures. It focuses on the role of global media institutions in society, from Hollywood and Netflix, to Bollywood, Korean Wave and telenovelas, and also examines how diverse audiences use global media to negotiate with issues of cultural identity in everyday life. The goal of this course is to introduce students to a broad range of issues and debates in the field of global media studies.
RTF 331P DIGITAL MEDIA PLATFORMS - Web-Based • LESLEY WILLARD
Open to BOTH RTF Majors & Non-RTF Majors. 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 335 QUEER TELEVISION • CURRAN NAULT
This course immerses students in the critical analysis of “queer” television, broadly construed. Students will read key queer/TV theory texts and explore a diversity of queer TV texts, past and present, paying close attention to their attendant practices of production and reception, as well as the contested discourses of identity, politics, activism, desire and representation that these texts elicit. Important to this project are historical shifts in the representation of LGBTQ+ individuals, including their growing visibility in commercial media culture and the “gaystream.” This course also insists on an intersectional approach to TV that actively engages questions of race, class, nation, ability, and generation—in addition to gender and sexuality.
RTF 342 INDIAN CINEMA • LALITHA GOPALAN
This course explores the rich range of independent films across the different languages of India. In contrast to the glitz of popular cinemas, these narratives stage worlds rife with crime, corruption, and inequities with the cool hand of familiar action genres--crime thrillers, neo-noirs, political dramas.
As we explore the distinctiveness of styles emerging in the different regional language cinemas, we will learn to recognize how these works engage with globally produced independent films. The films screened will be subtitled in English and there are no language prerequisites for this course.
RTF 345 HISTORY OF MEXICAN CINEMA • MIRASOL ENRIQUEZ
This course serves as an introduction to Mexican cinema. Students will be watching a sample of films from the silent era through the present day. We will be covering a wide variety of topics and genres, including (but not limited to) representations of the Mexican Revolution in early Mexican cinema, melodramas from the "Golden Age," low budget horror and exploitation films, experimental and avant-garde films, and Nuevo Cine Mexicano (New Mexican Cinema). Central to our discussions will be an interrogation of the concept of Mexican cinema as a "national" cinema, consideration of the effects of globalization on the Mexican film industry and culture, and an exploration of transnational film culture and audiences.
RTF 345 MUSICALS AND "AMERICA" • MARY BELTRAN
The American musical has long been a popular genre through which storytellers, performers and audiences reimagine who we are and how the nation defines itself with respect to norms of race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, class, and citizenship. It also has been a forum for stories about social issues of the day, with its conventions as popular entertainment allowing boundary-pushing content to be given voice. Musicals and “America” surveys the genre’s history and evolution, with an emphasis on musical and dance films and television series since the 1950s, and provides tools for critical analysis of musical narratives, performances involving song and/or dance, and the representation of identities across the decades. We’ll watch a number of important films and television series in this history (including Rent, Stormy Weather, Funny Girl, Zoot Suit, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), and read and respond to scholarship on Hollywood, Broadway and television musicals, with a focus on the ways in which cinematic renditions of song and dance make meaning.
RTF 347C INTRODUCTION TO THE MUSIC BUSINESS • 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 347D BRAND/CONSUMER CULTURE • JENNIFER McCLEAREN
This course will focus on the intricate marriage of identity, meaning, values, and commodities in brand and consumer culture vis-a-vis critical/cultural and feminist scholarship. We examine the topic theoretically and culturally rather than pragmatically. So, this class will not teach you how to brand or prepare you for careers in advertising; rather, it seeks to deconstruct the ideologies underpinning a culture of brands and consumption such as capitalism, individualism, and neoliberalism that affect all aspects of our lives as cultural beings. We will study the symbolic power of brands, interrogate the ways that brand strategies operate through neoliberal business and cultural logics, and consider how consumers are interpellated into brands via participatory culture.
RTF 347P/380D BUSINESS OF HOLLYWOOD • ALISA PERREN
What is going on in the media industries today? What kinds of issues and challenges are entertainment industry professionals dealing with? This class has two key goals: First, students will learn how the media industries operate, gaining a sense of the “big picture” of the contemporary film, television, and digital video landscape. Large-scale issues being faced by those working in the entertainment industry – including the impact of conglomerate ownership, regulation, globalization, and digitization on creative practices and work roles – will be addressed through readings and class discussion. Second, students will hear from a range of guest speakers coming from Hollywood, New York, and Texas about their personal experiences navigating the media business, past and present. While some of those visiting the class will work in production and postproduction (writing, directing, editing, etc.), most of the guests will work in other types of creative, managerial, and executive roles (e.g., studio and network development, acquisitions, marketing, talent management, etc.).
RTF 352 GERMAN MEDIA: PRINT TO TV • HANNES MANDEL
You likely have heard of Johannes Gutenberg and Martin Luther before, but they are not the only influential media entrepreneurs in the history of what today we have come to call Germany. In this course, we will investigate a whole range of once revolutionary, sometimes forgotten, always fascinating media technologies that have shaped the ways in which people perceive, know about, make sense of, and interact with the world. Some of these old media, it turns out, aren't quite as obsolete as we may think, and there is a lot to be learned from them about the media-saturated environment we are living in today, on either side of the Atlantic.
RTF 359 BLACK COPS AND AFRICAN AMERICAN POP CULTURE • PATRICK WALTER
Explore the history of black policing in America and representations of black police officers in popular literature and film of late Twentieth Century America. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing. May be counted toward the Cultural Diversity flag requirement. May be counted toward the Writing flag requirement.
RTF 359 WOMEN AND SPORTS MEDIA • 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.
RTF 359S BLACK TELEVISION COMEDY • ADRIEN SEBRO
For cultural critics to ignore television’s potential as a forum of resistance is to misread levels of vernacular meaning inherent in many Black television texts. Often viewed as a medium of buffoonery or harsh stereotyping, television comedies that focus on Black communities have in fact had a crucial role in political progress, activism, and evolving social conditions in the United States. With close attention to themes such as socioeconomics, gender, religion, and politics, Black television comedy addresses American social injustices in ways that other television simply are unable to. This course will chronicle a history of the American Black television and production over time, that worked to respond to their political moment and have radically transformed television as a space for pedagogy.
RTF 359S GENDER AND FAN CULTURE • SUZANNE SCOTT
Over the past two decades, fans have been transformed from a stigmatized subculture into a mainstream power demographic, catered to and courted by media industries. This course will survey fan studies from the 1990s to the present, with an emphasis on fandom within convergence culture and digital fan cultures and practices, from fanfiction to fantasy football. Using gender as a critical axis, this course will consider the lingering impact of fan studies’ roots in feminist and queer media studies, and contemplate how gender shapes our discussions of fan labor, fan representations, fannish taste, modes of fan performance and production, and industry/audience power dynamics. Finally, this course will consider what forms of identity work have been elided or marginalized as a result of the field’s focus on gender as its central critical axis, in an effort to move towards a more intersectional conception of fan identity and fan studies. In addition to critically analyzing fans' transformative works, students will mobilize course concepts to produce and theorize fan texts of their own.
RTF 359S LATINA FILMMAKERS IN U.S. • MIRASOL ENRIQUEZ
This course focuses on U.S.-based Latina filmmakers (primarily directors, producers, and screenwriters) and the images they create. The class will begin with a brief examination of early representations of Latinas in Hollywood film. The remainder of the semester will be spent investigating Latinas’ points of entry into the film industry while interrogating traditional notions of authorship that have relegated their labor and creative contributions to the margins of film history. Students will view short and feature-length documentary and narrative films and videos made by U.S.-based Latinas from the 1970s onward. Special attention will be paid to the way the filmmakers have (and/or have not) been able to subvert stereotypes as they have gained increasing amounts of control over their own images, particularly since the 1990s. Central to the discussion will be the ways in which the Latina body, marked by race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality, is used to produce meaning about Latinidad in the United States, as well as how those conceptions have shifted over time. Themes of particular interest include issues related to production culture, authorship and creative control, personal, ethnic, and national identity, and the commodification of Latinidad.
RTF 359S FILM AND SOCIAL CHANGE • ADRIEN SEBRO
Often viewed as a medium of “pure entertainment,” film has also had an essential relationship to evolving social conditions in the United States and the struggle for change. This course will focus those moments where cinema has commented upon, documented, and even arguably had a hand in producing social change. The course aims to acquaint students with the film movements, film authors, production conditions, and audience reception practices that have linked film to broader social movements. Given the time constraints, the course focuses on American cinema with occasional references to influential cinema movements across the globe to place this American discourse in global perspective.
RTF 370 COMEDY IN FILM AND MEDIA • KATHY FULLER-SEELEY
This course explores theories of humor and comedy and applies them to media and performance from the early 20th century US to the present. Readings draw broadly from philosophy, cultural studies, cinema and TV studies, race, gender, sexuality, politics, psychology. We will examine producers, texts, performers and audiences across a wide variety of media -- television and film, literature, comics, radio, internet, live performance and other forms. The seminar will be focused on student group discussion and presentation of theories, texts, specific examples of applications, and findings. Students will develop research/and/or create projects.
RTF 377H / 386 EXILES IN HOLLYWOOD • NOAH ISENBERG
This course focuses on one of the largest mass migrations of the twentieth century: the more than 150,000 German-speaking refugees who arrived in Southern California between 1933 and 1945. The course addresses the most significant areas impacted by this vital cultural shift, in particular the entertainment industry. Among the key figures we explore: philosopher and critic Theodor W. Adorno; novelist and screenwriter Vicki Baum; playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht; actors Marlene Dietrich and Peter Lorre; filmmakers Fritz Lang, Edgar G. Ulmer, and Billy Wilder; and salon hostess and sceenwriter Salka Viertel.
LOWER-DIVISION COURSES
RTF 307 MEDIA & SOCIETY • LUIS RIVERA-FIGUEROA, ANDY WRIGHT
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.
MS minor
RTF 307 MEDIA & SOCIETY - Web-Based • LILY KUNDA
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.
MS minor
RTF 308 DEVELOPMENT OF FILM & MEDIA • KATHY FULLER-SEELEY
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 • LAUREL ROGERS, PAXTON HAVEN
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 • DEBORAH EVE LEWIS
This course is designed to introduce fundamental production concepts and techniques through 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 be required to attend hands-on lab sections and to complete one still photography project, one sound-designed still photo project and one sync sound digital video project.
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 content for a variety of media including live-action film, classical and 3D animation and interactive formats like video games and XR. This course will teach you the industry standard tools and practical techniques of digital media production, no experience necessary. The course is self-paced, non-linear and offers a variety of options. Students choose their area of interest from a large array of assignments covering topics like concept art and previsualization, color correction and post production, animation and simulation, compositing and visual effects or CGI and interactive game design (and more). 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? Choose your own path and the instructor and a team of TAs collaborate with you. No prior knowledge of digital media production required. Mac or PC. No software purchase required. 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.
RTF 333 INTRODUCTION TO SCREENWRITING HYBRID • 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 337 EARS ONLY: AUDIO STORYTELLING • ANDREW GARRISON
Audio production and post for storytelling using voice, actuality, music, ambiences and sound effects. Structuring stories for audio only, plus microphone and recorder techniques, mono, stereo, and binaural recording, field mixers, basic Pro Tools, signal processing, and noise reduction, applicable to sound for picture as well. Students will make a variety of small projects leading up to a longer, final project of their choice.
RTF 340 MULTI-CAM TELEVISION DIRECTING • 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 340D/388F 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 340M/388P MUSIC VIDEO/FILM PRODUCTION • PJ RAVAL
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. Please note: Previously listed as 366K Music in Film Production.
RTF 341 AUDIO PRODUCTION INTO POST • 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 Zoom H6 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.
RTF 341D/388F PRODUCTION DESIGN PRACTICUM • 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 who 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 ADVANCED PRODUCTION: NARRATIVE • NANCY SCHIESARI
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.
RTF 343C / 388P 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 343D CINEMATOGRAPHY • 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.
RTF 344M 3D ANIMATION AND DIGITAL PERFORMANCES • BEN BAYS
3D Animation and Digital Performances explores the history, principles and methods of animation and storytelling using CGI. Through the intersection of in-person activities and creative project-based learning, students animate characters, design and render simulations, create compositions in motion, even sequence motion capture data for a variety of formats from live action to cartoons to videogames. Students have the ability to customize the course to their area of interest, whether it is developing expertise in the craft of animation (or one particular aspect of it) to applying these techniques to larger projects. There are as many ways to take the course as there are students. Choose your own path and the instructor collaborates with you to achieve your vision. No prior knowledge of digital media production required. Mac or PC. No software purchase required.
RTF 344M CGI FOR FILM AND GAMES • BEN BAYS
CGI for Film and Games explores the history, principles and methods of 3D Modeling, Surfacing, Animation and Simulation using CGI. This course is self-paced and non-linear: students customize the course according to their area of interest. Topics to choose from include (but are not limited to) creating concept art for CGI, modeling and sculpting hard surfaces and organic characters, designing virtual sets and game levels, procedurally generating flora, hair, fur and terrain, painting (and photographing) textures, simulating effects, lighting and virtual cinematography, real-time (game engine) implementation and advanced rendering techniques (and much more). Additionally, there are "combo" projects which allow students to combine their skills into larger ideas like making a cartoon, integrating CGI into live action and creating interactive games. Choose your own path and the instructor collaborates with you to achieve your vision. No prior knowledge of CGI is required. Mac or PC. No software purchase required.
RTF 344M GAME PROGRAMMING PARADIGMS • SARAH ABRAHAM
The course is designed to give students experience and insight into how game engines are built. Students will work with Unreal Engine 4 as an example of modern game engine architecture, and work with the existing systems including physics, graphics, AI, networking, and animation among others to understand how these components interact. Students will also gain experience working with source control, built systems, and understanding the UE4 compilers. Projects will be done in teams to allow students to gain experience working together with other programmers on relatively large projects, as well as working with ticketing systems. We also expect students to "fend for themselves" to an extent greater than that of most other courses in the department. This means we try to provide the minimal amount of starter code and help with build environments to encourage students to leverage online resources and the expertise of colleagues. By the end of this course you should feel comfortable working in large systems with multiple APIs, and have greater experience debugging and reading documentation of third-party software.
RTF 344M INTERACTIVE MEDIA AND GAME DEVELOPMENT • DEEPAK CHETTY
This course provides students with the fundamentals of interactive media through digital game creation. The course focuses on two areas: (1) general principles of game design and game development, and (2) development of simple 3D games. A limited number of seats are open to non-majors.
RTF 344M/388F POST-PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES (COLOR GRADING) • DAN STUYCK
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.
RTF 344M VIRTUAL PRODUCTION • 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.
RTF 344M WRITING FOR INTERACTIVE GAMES & MEDIA • NATHAN CUTIETTA
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: 2D GAMES Hybrid / Blended • PAUL TOPRAC
The Capstone Game Development course brings together students from Computer Science, College of Fine Arts, and Radio-Television-Film to form small teams in which each student will contribute specialized knowledge to the group creation of 2D games for mobile, online, and social technology platforms. Through modeling of the environment and practices that are used in game studios and the larger industry, students will gain a thorough understanding of the 2D game development process. Local game companies and industry professionals are committed to evaluating student projects and hiring successful graduates. *If interested, please read instructions to apply. Consent of instructor required.
RTF 346 INTRO TO EDITING • KAREN KOCHER, MATT LENNON
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.
RTF 347E ADVANCED EDITING • 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.
RTF 351C INTRODUCTION TO 2D ANIMATION • LANCE MYERS
This course will introduce the student to the art and mechanics of two-dimensional animation in film and in digital media. Weekly exercises will be required, with an emphasis on animation as personal expression. A limited number of seats are open to non-majors.
RTF 366K DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION • ARTURO JIMENEZ
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.
RTF 366K DRAWING THE STORYBOARD • 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 FILMMAKING TO DECOLONIZE • VANESSA UHLIG
Filmmaking to Decolonize is a hands-on, collective laboratory aimed at delving into vulnerable personal territory to create socially responsive and responsible media. We will look at a range of non-western influences to problematize the film “canon,” while taking a likewise critical eye toward our own impulses and biases in point of view, narrative structure, audience, and visual treatment. As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie states, "The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete."
We will begin with a short documentary exercise, tracing the history of filmmaking through a colonial lens (“capturing,” “shooting,” the implicit power imbalance in telling someone else’s story) and the persistence of the White gaze even in contemporary BIPOC stories. To release our grip on embedded biases, we will then write and produce one narrative in two ways. Focusing on process over product, the first completed narrative film will launch a series of writing, workshop, and filming exercises attacking the deeply-held assumptions, beliefs, and fears present in our films.
In the final thrust of the course, we will dismantle these core beliefs with the help of the collective workshop, opening up the role of film author and becoming participants and partners in the process of re-imagining our films through a decolonized lens. Each student will create one short documentary, one short narrative, and a pre-production plan for the revised narrative film through this rigorous process.
RTF 366K FAN-DRIVEN PRODUCTION (aka RTF MEETS ROOSTER TEETH) • 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 366K NARRATIVE PRODUCTION • VANESSA UHLIG, MICAH BARBER
The class explores the expressive potential of sound and image through the production of digital video 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.
RTF 367D DIRECTING WORKSHOP • MIGUEL ALVAREZ, 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.
RTF 367K PRODUCING FILM AND TELEVISION • MICAH BARBER, SARAH SEULKI OH
An overview of the business and creative side of the film and television industry. This course focuses on the function and duties of a producer as they shepherd an idea through a project “life cycle”: development, financing, pre-production, production, post-production, marketing, and distribution. Lecture topics will mirror the project life cycle while students build a vocabulary that enables meaningful understanding of the film and television industry and its protocol. Using weekly lectures, course readings and workshops to reinforce each class discussion topic, students will, in groups, develop their own original film or scripted television series..
RTF 367Q SCRIPT TO SCREEN • 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.
RTF 368P PRODUCING SHORT FILMS • SARAH SEULKI OH
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 369 ADVANCED SCREENWRITING: FEATURE FILMS • 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 • 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: SCI-FI/HORROR • NATHAN PATTON
This workshop class will focus on horror and science fiction writing—two genres that have provided opportunities for countless new writers in the film industry. Each student will write a feature-length horror or science fiction screenplay and provide weekly notes on their classmates’ work. In addition, we’ll make a semester-long study of the current trends in each genre, reading and analyzing the biggest hits of recent years.
RTF 369 ADVANCED SCREENWRITING: TV PILOTS • STUART KELBAN
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 • KATHERINE CRAFT
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.
SPECIALTY COURSES
RTF 336 SPECIAL PROJECTS IN RADIO-TELEVISION-FILM
This course gives students the opportunity to do independent research or creative projects. These are developed and executed by the student under the supervision of a faculty member. (Note: Students cannot use departmental equipment to complete these projects.) May be taken twice for credit. May be counted toward the independent inquiry flag requirement. Hour(s) to be arranged. Restricted enrollment; contact the department for permission to register for this class.
Prerequisites:
- Upper-division standing
- Approval from a faculty sponsor
- Approval from the Department Chair
RTF 368S UNDERGRADUATE THESIS COURSES - OFFERED SPRING SEMESTERS ONLY
https://rtf.utexas.edu/undergraduate/courses/thesis
RTF 368S UNDERGRADUATE EMERGENT CINEMATIC ARTS THESIS
RTF 368S UNDERGRADUATE FILM PRODUCTION THESIS
RTF 368S UNDERGRADUATE MEDIA STUDIES THESIS
RTF 368S UNDERGRADUATE SCREENWRITING THESIS
INTERNSHIPS
Learn more about RTF Internships
NON-MAJOR COURSES
RTF 301N SUPERHERO MEDIA • RUSTY HATCHELL
Restricted to non-RTF majors.
Over the last century, superhero fiction has expanded from the cheaply printed tales of crime fighters in early 20th-century pulp magazines to the hyper-glossy blockbuster cinematic universes of today. This course will trace the development of the superhero genre from comics and across radio, film, television, video games, and other media, strongly focusing on how superhero narratives and intellectual property are produced, distributed, and received across these media. We will situate this history of the superhero genre alongside narrative, industrial, and technological changes in the media industries over the past century, emphasizing the role of media conglomeration, technological convergence, transmedia storytelling, and corporate synergy in this particular genre.
Although this course will specifically focus on DC Comics and the DC Entertainment brand throughout the semester, we will also see how superheroes are utilized elsewhere and also how the superhero genre illuminates broader patterns across the media industries. We will also cover socio-cultural facets of the genre, including aspects of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, national identity, political ideology, and globalism.
This course will include a weekly screening period, but you will have the option of viewing most materials on your own time.
RTF 303C INTRO TO MEDIA/ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRIES – Web-Based • KATHRYN HARTZELL
Restricted to non-RTF majors. Fulfills the social & behavioral sciences core curriculum requirement for the 2021–2022 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 INTRO TO WORLD CINEMA HISTORY - Web-Based• LALITHA GOPALAN
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.
RTF 307 MEDIA & SOCIETY • LUIS RIVERA-FIGUEROA, ANDY WRIGHT
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.
Qualifies for Media Studies minor.
RTF 307 MEDIA & SOCIETY - Web-Based • LILY KUNDA
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.
Qualifies for Media Studies minor.
RTF 329C DIGITAL MEDIA PRODUCTION - Web-Based • BEN BAYS
Open to BOTH RTF Majors & Non-RTF Majors.
Animation, Visual Effects, Digital Painting and CGI are used to produce content for a variety of media including live-action film, classical and 3D animation and interactive formats like video games and XR. This course will teach you the industry standard tools and practical techniques of digital media production, no experience necessary. The course is self-paced, non-linear and offers a variety of options. Students choose their area of interest from a large array of assignments covering topics like concept art and previsualization, color correction and post production, animation and simulation, compositing and visual effects or CGI and interactive game design (and more). 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? Choose your own path and the instructor and a team of TAs collaborate with you. No prior knowledge of digital media production required. Mac or PC. No software purchase required. This course offers both access to instructor guidance and the ability to complete assignments at your own pace.
RTF 331P DIGITAL MEDIA PLATFORMS - Web-Based • LESLEY WILLARD
Open to BOTH RTF Majors & Non-RTF Majors. 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.