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Film and Media

The mission of the Film and Media Department is media literacy, the ability to think critically about the ways in which images and sounds create ideas. Our medium-sized department provides close mentoring and an individually tailored course of study where students learn how to be discerning consumers, scholars, and producers of the most influential cultural forms of the 20th and 21st centuries. Our curriculum offers a solid grounding in American and International film and media history, theory and criticism, and production. 

Film and Media majors and minors are highly motivated, passionately enthusiastic and thoroughly trained in the perception and interpretation of moving images, and as well as the skills necessary to communicate their ideas verbally, in writing and through creative work. They go on to careers in the media entertainment industry (television networks, talent agencies, production companies), marketing and communications, law school and academia. Armed with the critical thinking skills that are the hallmark of an interdisciplinary liberal arts education, they are well prepared for whatever career they choose to pursue. In short, the Film and Media Department plays a crucial role in the mission of Emory College: to prepare students to be responsible and well-informed citizens of the world.

Visit the Department Website

Concentrations

Faculty

Chair
Michele Schreiber
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Daniel Reynolds
Core
Tanine AllisonDavid Guillermo BarbaMatthew BernsteinKrista ClarkTimothy HollandJinsook KimTanju OzdemirJames PelleritoAaron PuttDaniel ReynoldsDehanza RogersMichele SchreiberJing WangGregory A. Zinman

Courses

FILM 100-Level Courses

Serves as an intro to analyzing film and media. Examines style, form, technology, industry and cultural meaning. Spans 19th to the 21st centuries, national contexts, genres and modes of production. Introduces ways of "reading" film and other visual media, to be a more informed and critical viewer.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HA
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Introduction to the aesthetic principles, narrative strategies, and cultural significance of television and digital media including Internet video, social media, and video games.

Credit Hours
3
GER
HA
Requisites
FILM 101 or FILM_OX 101 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

Introduces fundamental issues in photography & visual thinking using 35mm film cameras & B/W film. Topics: camera use, film developing, darkroom & printing skills, image selection & presentation, an overview of the history of photography, basic philosophy of photography, & interpretation of images.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HA
Requisites
FILM 101 or FILM_OX 101 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

Creative as well as technical problems in these related media are examined; techniques in using cameras, projectors, and video editing equipment.

Credit Hours
3
GER
HA
Requisites
FILM 101 or FILM_OX 101 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
  • ARTVIS 107

Explores various topics in Film and Media.

Credit Hours
3
GER
FS
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

FILM 200-Level Courses

Cinema from its origins in 19th century technological experimentation through the 1960s. Weekly screenings required.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HA
Requisites
FILM 101 or FILM_OX 101 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

Cinema from the 1960s through the present day. Weekly screenings required.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HA
Requisites
FILM 201 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

This course looks at the nature and development of major institutions of American broadcasting and electronic media in order to ascertain the structure, function, and social significance of television programming in American society. Weekly screenings required.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HA
Requisites
FILM 101 or FILM 102 or FILM_OX 270 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

The history of non-fiction film and media from the perspective of documentary film and media makers.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HA
Requisites
FILM 101 or FILM_OX 101 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

This course broadly considers photography's impact on life and culture from the medium's origins to the present. The course will study photographs as objects of art, science, history, politics, commerce and communication. The aim of the course is a critical understanding of photography in time.

Credit Hours
3
GER
HA
Requisites
FILM 101 or FILM_OX 101 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

Following a theory-practice model, this course will engage key issues in visual thinking and photographic practice. Rotating topics include documentary photography, the interpretation of urban geography, experimental practices, and photographic books.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HA
Requisites
This course requires FILM 106 or equivalent transfer credit as a prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

Hands-on introduction to technical and stylistic foundations of moving image production using a variety of film and video formats and to the economic and professional realities of narrative content creation for film.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HA
Requisites
FILM 107 or FILM_OX 107 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

This course introduces students to basic technical digital video film making skills (camera operation, lighting, sound recording, non-linear editing) and to interview techniques through weekly exercises and study of major, creative documentaries. Weekly studio lab sessions required.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HA
Requisites
FILM 107 or FILM_OX 107 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

Explore the job of producer following stages of production with a focus on short films as an entry point. Spans concept development, prep, production and post, marketing and distribution. Learn practical, hands-on producing skills and a critical understanding of what producers do.

Credit Hours
3
GER
HA
Requisites
FILM 101 or FILM_OX 101 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

This course combines the theoretical and practical elements of cinematography and lighting. Historical and contemporary trends and styles are examined. Video formats, exposure, camera placement,composition, movement and continuity will be covered.

Credit Hours
3
GER
None
Requisites
FILM 107 or ARTVIS 107 or FILM_OX 107 or FILM_OX 107E or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

This course will pair a wide range of film/tv and social media texts that mis/represent Black girls/femmes, with the theoretical work that examines the complexities and intersections of race, personhood, sexuality, and authority. Course culminates in a creative final project. Weekly screenings required.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HA
Requisites
FILM 101 or FILM_OX 101 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

This course focuses on film and other art-based mediums to explore the function and role media in social change movements and its role in addressing social issues. Students will move between the classroom and working in creative teams to develop a short documentary film or photographic exhibit.

Credit Hours
3
GER
HA
Requisites
FILM 101 or FILM_OX 101 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

The course provides an overview of the modern Iranian society through its cinema in the last 40 years of post-revolutionary Iran. It covers topics like Social Diversity; Revolution & War; Women & Gender Issues; Family & Relationship; Class Conflict; Morality; Education; Immigration; Forbidden Life.

Credit Hours
3
GER
HA
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 265

An intro to the theory and craft of dramatic screenwriting of the short film. Explores how a short script is developed from concept to final written form. Class includes lectures, film viewing, and exercises but is primarily a workshop where new writing receives weekly table reads and feedback.

Credit Hours
3
GER
HA
Requisites
FILM 101 or FILM_OX 101 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

An intro to the theory and craft of dramatic screenwriting of the short film. Explores how a short script is developed from concept to final written form. Class includes lectures, film viewing, and exercises but is primarily a workshop where new writing receives weekly table reads and feedback.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAW
Requisites
FILM 101 or FILM_OX 101 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

This course will serve as an introduction to the history, frm aesthetics, functions, and culture of video games, across their history from the first arcades in the 1970s to the networked, multiplayer, online, and mobile games of today.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 101 or FILM_OX 101 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

Rotating topics in film and media. May be repeated for credit when the topic varies.

Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 101 or FILM_OX 101 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

Rotating topics in film and media. May be repeated for credit when the topic varies.

Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
HAPW
Requisites
FILM 101 or FILM_OX 101 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

FILM 300-Level Courses

Provides filmmaking students the opportunity to work under the supervision of faculty on a professional quality narrative or documentary film in creative areas(i.e., writing, cinematography, sound, editing, design) or administrative areas(i.e. budgeting, contracting, management, publicity).

Credit Hours
3 - 4
GER
HAP
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Introduction to film theory concepts spanning from "classical theory" into the structuralist and post-structuralist era. Weekly screenings required.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 102 and (FILM 201 or FILM 202 or FILM 203 or FILM 204 or FILM_OX 204 or FILM 205) or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisites.
Cross-Listed
None

Introduction to film theory concepts spanning from "classical theory" into the structuralist and post-structuralist era. Weekly screenings required.

Credit Hours
5
GER
HAPW
Requisites
FILM 102 and (FILM 201 or FILM 202 or FILM 203 or FILM 204 or FILM_OX 204 or FILM 205) or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisites.
Cross-Listed
None

An examination of the fundamental theories of media from Marshall McLuhan to the present. Critical readings address issues like interactivity, embodiment, identity, culture, and power relations in the digital age.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 102 and (FILM 201 or FILM 202 or FILM 203 or FILM 204 or FILM_OX 204 or FILM 205) or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisites.
Cross-Listed
None

In this course, each student will realize an in-depth, self-designed body of work. The course is critique-only, and rigorously paced. All photographic technologies are open to use, and all presentational formats, including exhibition, book, and web/DVD.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
This course requires FILM 206R and FILM 106 or equivalent transfer credit as a prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

For the duration of the semester each student authors their own substantial narrative film. Through workshop and critique students study advanced skills in the techniques, technologies and methods learned in FILM 107 and Narrative Filmmaking I.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 207 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

This course will extend the students' knowledge of the field of documentary media production through the screening and criticism of film and video documentaries. Weekly studio lab sessions required.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 208 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

How do we understand the events that recently erupted with different degrees of violence in North African and Middle Eastern countries? Why were experts including diplomats, pundits, and politicians taken by surprise? How do media outlets like CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera cover this "social uprising"?

Credit Hours
3
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • SOC 319
  • AFS 319
  • MESAS 319

This class explores camera acting, including making the transition from stage to screen. Through on-camera exercises, collaborative projects, and screenings, actors will gain the tools they need to perform in a film, web or television shoot with greater confidence, clarity and freedom.

Credit Hours
4
GER
XA
Requisites
FILM 376 or THEA 221 or THEA 222 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
  • THEA 326

The course offers an introduction to ethnographic cinema. It focuses on classic and contemporary films. Students explore issues concerning the nature of evidence, salvage anthropology, the politics of representation, concepts of participation and collaboration, aesthetics and ethnography.

Credit Hours
4
GER
None
Requisites
FILM 102 and (FILM 201 or FILM 202 or FILM 203 or FILM 204) or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
  • ANT 343

An examination of ethical practices and challenges in nonfiction writing across platforms of journalism, documentary filmmaking, book-length work and narrative podcasts. Not open to first-year students.

Credit Hours
3
GER
HAP
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • ENGCW 354

Focusing on the history and legacy of National Socialism in Germany and occupied Europe, this course will analyze how fascism and film developed in tandem since the First World War, and how film has subsequently shaped the way that both fascism and anti-fascism are understood and remembered.

Credit Hours
3
GER
HSCE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • GER 365

This class explores the different facets of animation, including its history, theory, and techniques.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 102 and (FILM 201 or FILM 202 or FILM 203 or FILM 204 or FILM_OX 204 or FILM 205) or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisites.
Cross-Listed
None

Knowledge of Russian is not required. Introduction to interdisciplinary study of 20th-century Russian literature and the visual arts, with focus on issues of art and politics, time, space and identity in symbolist, supermatist, constructivist, socialist realist and post-Soviet "vision". In English.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HSC
Requisites
FILM 102 and (FILM 201 or FILM 202 or FILM 203 or FILM 204 or FILM_OX 204 or FILM 205) or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisites.
Cross-Listed
  • RUSS 373
  • ARTHIST 373

A writing-intensive course in the construction and formatting of screenplays for upper-level undergraduates, which also broaches various aspects of pre-production planning. Weekly screenings required.

Credit Hours
3
GER
HAP
Requisites
ENGCW 270/270W or ENGCW_OX 270 or ENGCW 271/271W or ENGCW_OX 271 or ENGCW 272/272W or FILM 101 or FILM_OX 101 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
  • ENGCW 378R

A writing-intensive course in the construction and formatting of screenplays for upper-level undergraduates, which also broaches various aspects of pre-production planning. Weekly screenings required.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAPW
Requisites
ENGCW 270/270W or ENGCW_OX 270 or ENGCW 271/271W or ENGCW_OX 271 or ENGCW 272/272W or FILM 101 or FILM_OX 101 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
  • ENGCW 378RW

An advanced writing-intensive course in the construction and formatting of screenplays for upper-level undergraduates, which also broaches various aspects of pre-production planning.

Credit Hours
3
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 378R or ENGCW 378R or FILM 378RW or ENGCW 378RW or FILM_OX 378RW or ENG_OX 378RW or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
  • ENGCW 379R

An advanced writing-intensive course in the construction and formatting of screenplays for upper-level undergraduates, which also broaches various aspects of pre-production planning.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAPW
Requisites
FILM 378R or ENGCW 378R or FILM 378RW or ENGCW 378RW or FILM_OX 378RW or ENG_OX 378RW or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
  • ENGCW 379RW

This writing-intensive seminar explores to what end music is used in political films. How does music affect our perception of political films? How does music manipulate our feelings for or against the subject matter?

Credit Hours
3
GER
HAP
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MUS 383

This writing-intensive seminar explores to what end music is used in political films. How does music affect our perception of political films? How does music manipulate our feelings for or against the subject matter?

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAPW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MUS 383W

An introduction to the relationship between literary studies and the study of cultural theory and popular culture.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAPW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • ENG 368W

Rotating topics in film and media. May be repeated for credit when the topic varies.

Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 102 and (FILM 201 or FILM 202 or FILM 203 or FILM 204 or FILM_OX 204 or FILM 205) or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisites.
Cross-Listed
None

Rotating topics in film and media. May be repeated for credit when the topic varies.

Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
HAPW
Requisites
FILM 102 and (FILM 201 or FILM 202 or FILM 203 or FILM 204 or FILM_OX 204 or FILM 205) or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisites.
Cross-Listed
None

Prerequisite: FILM 385 and 386. This course builds upon FILM 385 and 386 by deepening student knowledge of documentary mediamaking techniques. Students will complete a broadcast-quality television documentary while studying outstanding documentary films. Weekly studio lab sessions required.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

The structural dynamics of the studio system as both a film style and mode of production, with special emphasis on the development of narrative form. Weekly screenings required.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 102 and (FILM 201 or FILM 202 or FILM 203 or FILM 204 or FILM_OX 204 or FILM 205) or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisites.
Cross-Listed
None

An intensive, in-depth study of the work of a recognized major figure in world cinema in the class of Griffith, Dreyer, Ford, Renoir, Welles, Ophuls, Kurosawa, Godard, Antonioni, Hitchcock, or Scorscese. Weekly screenings required.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 102 and (FILM 201 or FILM 202 or FILM 203 or FILM 204 or FILM_OX 204 or FILM 205) or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisites.
Cross-Listed
None

History and theory of one or more major Hollywood genres, such as the Western, the gangster film, the musical, the horror film, film noir, and science fiction and their international analogues (e.g., the American Western and the Japanese chambara film). Weekly screenings required.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 102 and (FILM 201 or FILM 202 or FILM 203 or FILM 204 or FILM_OX 204 or FILM 205) or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisites.
Cross-Listed
None

The course explores the history and development of Chinese cinema. It discusses "film in China" and "China in film" by focusing on the function of cinema and reconfigurations of time, space, gender, and history in Chinese films under different historical conditions since the early twentieth century.

Credit Hours
3
GER
HAP
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • CHN 394
  • EAS 394

The course explores the history and development of Chinese cinema. It discusses "film in China" and "China in film" by focusing on the function of cinema and reconfigurations of time, space, gender, and history in Chinese films under different historical conditions since the early twentieth century.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAPW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • CHN 394W
  • EAS 394W

Close study of the development of a specific national or regional cinema in terms of aesthetic, theoretical, and sociopolitical dimensions. Weekly screenings required.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HSC
Requisites
FILM 102 and (FILM 201 or FILM 202 or FILM 203 or FILM 204) or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

Variable credit; only four hours count toward major or minor. Need a department faculty advisor in advance. The internship must be at least 10 hours a week. Students must regularly meet their faculty advisor and complete writing assignments. Students must be a declared major/minor in the department.

Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

FILM 400-Level Courses

A writing-intensive course in critical aesthetics for upper-level undergraduates, with a focus on the critical assumptions underlying various methodologies. Weekly screenings required.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 301 or FILM 301W or FILM 302 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

A writing-intensive course in critical aesthetics for upper-level undergraduates, with a focus on the critical assumptions underlying various methodologies. Weekly screenings required.

Credit Hours
5
GER
HAPW
Requisites
FILM 301 or FILM 301W or FILM 302 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

First of a two semester sequence. Learn about media literacy, media education, and basic pedagogy. Become familiar with key theories, methodologies and practices. Begin forging relationships with students in the area through mutual writing and observation.

Credit Hours
3
GER
None
Requisites
FILM 301 or FILM 301W or FILM 302 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

Second of a two semester sequence. Apply knowledge gained in the first semester by teaching developed curriculum in the classroom and assessing student outcomes.

Credit Hours
4
GER
None
Requisites
FILM 402A as prerequisite
Cross-Listed
None

Examines American screen entertainment history, specifically the key trends, individuals, institutions and technologies that have shaped these different forms them from the 19th century through the present day. Students perform practical experiments in industrial analysis.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 301 or FILM 301W or FILM 302 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

Films, television programs, and other media forms analyzed in cultural, historical and political perspective with regard to how societal norms, visual style and aesthetics affect the representation of gender. Weekly screenings required.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 301 or FILM 301W or FILM 302 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

An historical/theoretical survey of the experimental avantgarde as an alternative to mainstream narrative, with an emphasis on its wide variety of forms. May include a filmmaking component. Weekly screenings required.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 301 or FILM 301W or FILM 302 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

A seminar in film and media historical methods for upper-level undergraduates that involves extensive reading and some primary research. Weekly screenings required.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 301 or FILM 301W or FILM 302 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

Only open to Film and Media Management Concentration students. Learn from industry professionals to obtain critical perspectives and practical experience in generating content. Students will collaborate on a capstone project that will be presented to academic and industry stakeholders.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 301 or FILM 301W or FILM 302 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

This course compares depictions of temporality across a range of media in an effort to understand how particular media are suited to particular conceptions of time, what limitations particular media might have in depicting time and how media can enable new ways of thinking about temporal relations.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 301 or FILM 301W or FILM 302 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

A supervised project to be determined by the instructor and student in the semester preceding the project. Requires faculty approval prior to registration. Only four credit hours can be applied toward fulfillment of the requirement of the major.

Credit Hours
4
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

In this capstone course for seniors, students will create, direct, and executive produce a work that showcases their accumulated experience as filmmakers and film scholars. Students will advance their skills in film analysis, synthesis, directing, casting, and producing.

Credit Hours
4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 107 and FILM 376 and FILM 377 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

This course is designed to give advanced students the opportunity to investigate intensively a specialized topic in film and media studies. May be repeated for credit when topic varies.

Credit Hours
3 - 4
GER
HAP
Requisites
FILM 301 or FILM 301W or FILM 302 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

This course is for students in their senior year who are completing an honors thesis in Film & Media. The course will cover methodologies of research, writing, and production within the field, as well as workshopping students' writing/creative work.

Credit Hours
4
GER
None
Requisites
FILM 301 or FILM 301W or FILM 302 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

Prerequisite: Admission to the Honors Program and approval of adviser. Open to students writing honors theses. This course fulfills the postfreshman year writing requirement.

Credit Hours
3
GER
XA
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Prerequisite: Admission to the Honors Program and approval of adviser. Open to students writing honors theses. This course fulfills the postfreshman year writing requirement.

Credit Hours
1 - 8
GER
HAPW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

A supervised production project to be determined by the instructor and student in the semester preceding the independent study. Requires faculty approval prior to registration. Only four credit hours can be applied toward fulfillment of the requirement of the major.

Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

A supervised project in an area of study to be determined by the instructor and student in the semester preceding the independent study. Requires faculty approval prior to registration. Only four credit hours can be applied toward fulfillment of the requirement of the major.

Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
HAP
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None