Film Courses

100 - The Art of Motion Pictures
An introduction to the art of motion pictures. The course will examine a representative selection of films covering the history of cinema and many of its basic aesthetic premises.

101AA - Art of Mobile Photography
This course introduces students to the basics of mobile photography as a way to communicate ideas emphasizing content, composition, and technique.

200 - Introduction to Film Production
Exploring the differences between photographic, film, video and audio processes, students will study the characteristics of these media through hands on assignments. *Note: Restricted to Film majors.* *Note: Creative Technologies Program Option.* *Additional Fee: $150.*

201 - Film Production 1
The course focuses on the development of practical techniques in film production. ***Prerequisite: FILM 100 and 200.*** **Corequisite: FILM 209. Permission of the Department Head is required to register.** *Additional Fee: $150.*

202 - Film Production 2
A continuation of Film 201. ***Prerequisite: A passing grade in FILM 201.*** *Additional Fee: $100.*

203 - Animation
Basic principles, technical knowledge and a variety of animation techniques related to non-cell animation. *Additional Fee: $100.*

205 - Black and White Photography
Students will be introduced to the fundamentals of black and white photography and darkroom practices. *Note: Students may receive credit for only one of FILM 205, ART 222, FILM 280AB, or FILM 385AC.* *Additional Fee: $150.*

209 - Technical Fundamentals
The course provides technical fundamentals for students entering the BFA program in film production, with a focus on developing solid technical understandings of cameras, lenses, lighting, audio, and editing. ***Prerequisite: FILM 200*** **Permission of the Department Head is required to register** *Additional Fee: $100.*

210 - Introduction to Screenwriting
Introducing the fundamentals of writing for the screen.

220 - Technical Fundamentals
The course provides technical fundamentals for developing solid technical understandings of cameras, lenses, lighting, audio and editing. *Note: The course is intended for NON Film majors. Students cannot receive credit for both Film 220 and Film 209* *Additional Fee: $100.*

221 - The Art of Podcasting
An introduction to the creative and technical aspects of creating a podcast. Students will develop, record and edit podcast episodes in a variety of genres. They will share their work via web pages and an RSS feed that can be accessed through various podcast clients. *Note: Students may only receive credit for one of FILM 221 or FILM 280AD.* *Additional Fee: $100.*

245 - Genre
Examines the origin, evolution, function and theory of genres, including themes and styles. *Note: Students may only receive credit for one of FILM 245 and FILM 380AR.*

253 - Narratives for the Digital Age
This course examines narrative structures and traditions and their relevance for film, TV serials, computer games, and new media data-based story-telling. *Note: Students may not receive credit for both FILM 251 and FILM 253*

254 - Documenting Reality
This course offers an overview of the documentary genre in film, television and journalistic contexts. It will investigate the genre in terms of subject matter and style, historical origins, forms and conventions, and relationships to cultural contexts. *Note: Students may not receive credit for both FILM 250 and FILM 254*

255 - World Cinema
Examines international world cinemas with a focus on comparing the work of prominent directors from around the globe.

256 - Underground Film
This course will introduce the most important developments in the history of experimental cinema. A discussion of international avant-garde films will be included, with a focus on the evolution of the avant-garde’s alternative techniques, themes modes of production and audiences. *Note: Students may not receive credit for both FILM 340 and FILM 256*

286AA - Anime: Popular Animation from Japan
An introductory survey of Japanese animation produced from the 1970s to the 2010s. We will critically investigate the western scholarship on the subject as well as examine the global fan communities connected with the culture of Anime.

286AB - Women in Film
This course will examine films made by women, with a focus on mysteries, fantasies, social realism, and documentaries. The range of works will include independent shorts to big-budget blockbusters. *Note: Students may receive credit for one of FILM 286AB or FILM 390AN.*

286AC - Cult Cinema
This course offers a critical insight into the sensational and downright weird films that came to be called 'cult cinema.' Focusing on notions such as popular culture, art-house and genre cinema, excess, camp, contexts of audience reception - the course examines what makes a film "CULT."

286AD - Aliens in Film
This course will examine the Alien, or Extra-Terrestrial, as the science-fiction film genre's exploration of identity. As a collective expression of desire for, and fear of, the Other, the Alien allegorizes common attitudes towards cultural difference, that partly overlap with Orientalist discourse.

286AE - The Revisionist Western
The Revisionist Western examines films from the 1960's to the present, which question the tropes, styles, themes and politics of the traditional Western genre for the purpose of contemporary social and cultural critique. Topics include colonial expansion and race, good versus evil, cowboy masculinity, and gender.

286AF - Warner Brothers Cartoons
This course will introduce students to films produced by the Warner Brothers animation department between 1930 and 1970. Topics will include the studio's institutional history, aesthetic and thematic characteristics, significant socio-historical contexts, reflexivity and intertextuality, and the representation of race, gender and class.

286AG - Genre-French Gangster Films
This course examines the history and evolution of the French gangster/crime thriller genre from the 1930s onward. It situates the genre within its cultural context, exploring its frameworks of production and reception, its visual and narrative signatures, themes, and national and transnational influences and modes of expression.

300 - Film Production 3
The course focuses on creative techniques and approaches in film production. ***Prerequisite: FILM 202.*** *Additional Fee: $150.*

301 - Film Production 4
Introduction to documentary film practice. ***Prerequisite: FILM 300.*** *Additional Fee: $150.*

303 - Advanced Animation
An advanced exploration of the animated image, bringing together diverse and traditional digital approaches including audio. ***Prerequisite: FILM 203.*** *Additional Fee: $100.*

305 - Cinematography
A study of the electronic and photochemical imaging techniques, and lighting, for film. ***Prerequisite: FILM 202.*** *Additional Fee: $100.*

306 - Post Production
Post-production processes and techniques in film production. ***Prerequisite: FILM 202.*** *Additional Fee: $100.*

307 - Advanced Audio Production
The creative use of sound is studied across disciplines with a mixture of theory, history, and practical components. ***Prerequisite: FILM 202.*** *Additional Fee: $100.*

310 - Writing for the Screen
The course expands on the knowledge and focuses on the creativity of writing for the screen. ***Prerequisite: FILM 202 or FILM 210***

311 - Advanced Darkroom Photography
An advanced course in photo-chemical photography and darkroom techniques. ***Prerequisite: FILM 205 or FILM 280AB.*** *Additional Fee: $150.*

312 - Advanced Digital Effects
The course focuses on the creation of digital effects in post-production. Students will work with software like Adobe Photoshop, After Effects and Premier, among other software tools. ***Prerequisite: FILM 209 or FILM 220 or CTCH 211 or CTCH 214.*** *Additional Fee: $100.*

320 - Expanded Cinema
This course is designed for students to explore works that alter and reconfigure the familiar cinematic materials, forms, and spaces of conventional filmmaking. Collaborative and self-initiated projects with emphasis on developing conceptual skills and engagement with the process of critique. ***Prerequisite: FILM 202.*** *Note: Students may only receive credit for one of FILM 320 or FILM 386AB.* *Additional Fee: $100.*

345 - Canadian Cinema
Examines Canadian cinema from early work of the National Film Board to present-day international feature co-production. Treats the development of Quebec cinema and the films of many Canadian directors. *** Prerequisite: Completion of 30 credit hours or permission of the Department Head. ***

348 - Thinking about Film
The development of film theory and criticism from the silent period to the present. Major writings in silent film theory, montage theory, realism, auteurism, semiotics, psychoanalytic and spectatorship theories will be investigated. ***Prerequisite: Completion of 30 credit hours***

350 - The Art of Film Directors
Examines the work of no more than two directors, with particular attention given to style, historical and cultural influences on the filmmaker, and the manner in which the work has influenced others. *** Prerequisite: 30 Credit Hours or permission of the Department Head ***

380AH - Film Genre Theory
This course will address a number of key issues in the theory of film genre, including the history of genre theory, the origin and evolution of genres, thematic and stylistic parameters, the commercial and ideological functions of genres, generic hybrids and the role of the viewer.

380AI - The Cinema of Singapore
An introduction to the history of film in Singapore, this course will exemplify the cultural impact of political change in South-East Asia following the Second World War, including the transition from Malay to Chinese-language filmmaking after Singapore achieved political independence in 1965. *** Prerequisite: FILM 251 ***

380AJ - Traditions in Animation
This course will introduce aesthetics, modes of production, themes, audiences and political developments in the history of animation with a focus on four traditions: Walt Disney, Japanese anime, the National Film Board of Canda, and Eastern Europe. ***Prerequisite: FILM 100*** *Note: Students may only receive credit for one of FILM 380AJ and FILM 480BN.*

380AO - African Cinema
This course offers an overview of African filmmaking practices and the political and social issues that have become central to African cinema. The course will expose students to the major directors of African cinema, and the aesthetic and narrative concerns of various regional cinemas of Africa.

380AP - Indigeneity in Film
This course will examine the representations of First nations people by Indigenous and non-Indigenous filmmakers. Topics will include the construction of non-Indigenous identities, exoticism and otherness, tradition and moderity.

380AQ - Indigenous Voices in World Film
This course looks at how films produced in various parts of the world reflect Indigenous narratives and critical discourses, local and global issues, how they are understood by Indigenous, international and diasporic audiences, and how they exist within a transnational understanding of film language, production and exhibition.

380AR - Genre
Examines the origin, evolution, function and theory of genres, including themes and styles. *Note: Students may only receive credit for one of FILM 245 and FILM 380AR.*

386AC - Film Festival Administration
The course focuses on the planning, programming and presentation of the Living Skies Student Film Festival. **Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

386AE - Aliens in Film
This course will examine the Alien, or Extra-Terrestrial, as the science-fiction film genre's exploration of identity. As a collective expression of desire for, and fear of, the Other, the Alien allegorizes common attitudes towards cultural difference, that partly overlap with Orientalist discourse.

386AF - Lensing Culture: Ethnographic Filmmaking
Building toward a critical and/or investigative approach to an aspect of culture, class discussions, assignments and readings focus on issues of ethics, self-reflexivity, production, post-production and distribution of film projects, interview techniques, and ethnographic modes of inquiry. ***Prerequisite: FILM 200.*** *Additional Fee: $100.*

386AG - The Photo Essay
This course will examine the approaches of creating a photo essay, developing writing skills and learning how to create, select, and edit photographic images. ***Prerequisite: FILM 205.***

390AJ - Aboriginal Cinema In Canada
This course will survey current issues in Aboriginal filmmaking in Canada with a focus on theoretical approaches such as identity formation, post-colonialism, and feminist perspectives.

390AN - Women in Film
This course will investigate contemporary women filmmakers, focusing on authorship and gender through a feminist lens. *Note: Students may receive credit for one of FILM 390AN or FILM 286AB.*

400 - Senior Production l
Advanced course incorporating development, research and production. ***Prerequisite: FILM 301.*** *Additional Fee: $175.*

401 - Senior Production ll
A continuation of FILM 400 in which students will produce a major production. ***Prerequisite: FILM 400.*** *Additional Fee: $175.*

403 - Producing for Film
Examining the creative, organizational, and managerial roles of the producer. ***Prerequisite: FILM 301.*** *Additional Fee: $100.*

410 - Senior Screenwriting
The course builds on the screenwriting skills developed in Film 310, and allows students to pursue more ambitious writing projects for screens (Film/TV/Web) across a range of genres. ***Prerequisite: Film 310***

411 - Directing the Dramatic Film
Concentrated focus on the director's role and working relationship with actors, crew, and script. ***Prerequisite: FILM 202.*** *Additional Fee: $100.*

412 - Directing the Experimental Film
Engaged creation of a diverse range of film and video as experimental form. ***Prerequisite: FILM 300.*** *Additional Fee: $100.*

413 - Directing the Documentary
Advanced methods of documentary production. ***Prerequisite: FILM 301.*** *Additional Fee: $100.*

480AC - Photography and Film
This course will focus on the technological, aestethic and ideological relationships between photography and film. Topics will include realism, reflexivity, and the influence of photography on film. Students will apply the theories of Andre Bazin, Roland Barthes, and others to films such as "Blow-Up: and La Jetee". *** Prerequisite: Any 300-level film and video studies course. ***

480AE - Theories of Authorship
This course's goal will be to discuss the theoretical assumptions underlying the auteur approach to studying and interpreting films. Topics will include romantic theory, the intentional fallacy, auteur-structuralism, intertextuality, enunciation, the author in a commercial context, etc. *** Prerequisite: Any 300-level film and video studies course. ***

480AF - Cronenberg
David Cronenberg is Canada's foremost auteur, celebrated as a taboo-breaking genius by his fans and dismissed as a dangerous pervert by his detractors. This seminar examines his idiosyncratic films as they challenge the boundaries of genre, gender, and good taste in their explorations of mind and body, desire, the technologies of modernity, and the limits of human existence.

480AI - Post-Soviet Russian Cinema
This senior course examines the most recent developments in Russian cinema in the context of national cinema discourse, and investigates issues of film production, film aesthetics, national belonging and gender identities. The seminar discussions are organized around weekly screenings of new Russian films. *** Prerequisite: One course from FILM 345, 346, 348, 350, or 380AA-ZZ, or permission of the Department Head. ***

480AL - Kubrick: Photography and Film
Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick's work as a photojournalist for Look magazine in the late forties influenced his development as a visual story-teller. This course will focus on the narrative aspects of his photo-essays and the photographic aspects of his films. *** Prerequisite: Any 300-level film and video studies course. ***

480AN - French New Wave
This course offers an introduction to French New Wave (1959-1969) in light of the most recent critical studies of its historical and stylistic aspects. It focuses on prominent New Wave directors (Truffaut, Godard, Chabrol, Rivette, Rohmer, Varda, Resnais, Melville) as well as on the world-wide influence of their works.

480AO - Horror And Mysticism On Film
This senior course focuses on the horror genre from historical perspective and in the context of narrative, anthropological and psychoanalytical theories. The seminar discussions are organized around weekly screenings of early representative works of mystery and mysticism on film through Hitchcodk to the latest developments in the psychological and slasher sub-genres.

480AR - Film Music Theory
This course will examine music's contribution to the movie soundtrack from narratological, psychological and aesthetic perspectives. Exploring these theories of film music will provide students with analytical tools allowing them to describe and discuss the forms and functions of a traditionally "ineffable" aspect of film. *** Prerequisite: Film 100 ***

480AS - Godard
Designed as homage to the legacies of the great film director Jean-Luc Godard, this course features a representative selection of films, which facilitate the discussion of his influence on film aesthetics and the politics of representation, as well as in such diverse spheres as music, dance, philosophy, and new media.

480AV - Censorship and Propoganda in the Media
This course will introduce students to an interdisciplinary critical approach to the study of (self) censorship, propaganda and persuasion in the media on the basis of films, posters, and other artifacts from the early 20th century to the present.

480AW - Orientalism
Using the Southeast Asian City-State of Singapore as a case study, this course will examine historical, theoretical and aesthetic dimensions of Orientalism in fim and television, i.e. Western representations of the East.

480AY - Cinematic Cities
This is an advanced course exploring questions of the relationship between the city and cinema in modern and postmodern contexts.

480AZ - Theorizing Small Cinemas
This course will examine the ongoing aesthetic, economic and political existence of various "small cinemas," such as the cinemas of small nation-states, Edison's Nickelodeon, the cinemas of ethnic and religious minorities, experimental film, the cinemas of closed communities and the cinemas of international struggle and resistance, etc. *** Prerequisite: Any 300-level film and video studies course, or permission of instructor. ***

480BB - Post-Colonialism in Film
This course will examine the enduring legacy of colonialism in filmic representations of South-East Asia, both from Euro-American and Asian producers.

480BF - Jungian Archetypes in Film & New Media
This advanced undergraduate seminar course focuses on aspects of C.G. Jung's analytical psychology, with an emphasis on his theory of archetypes and their applicability to contemporary cinema, computer games, and the media.

480BH - Advanced Documentary Studies
This course will investigate advanced topics in documentary studies, and could include topics such as contemporary questions of nation, identity, politics, environment, etc.

480BJ - Advanced Expanded Cinema
This course engages in advanced theories and concepts of expanded cinema. Topics could include performing the self in social media; archiving the self; film and new media in the gallery space; art and immersion; expanded cinema as expanded consciousness; artists as case studies, etc.

480BK - Arab Cinema
This course offers an overview of Arab filmmaking practices and the political and social issues that have become central to Arab cinema. The course will expose students to the major directors of Arab cinema, and the historical, ideological, aesthetic and narrative concerns of their films. ***Prerequisite: Completion of 30 credit hours***

480BL - Afrofuturism
This course will examine Afrofuturism in films from around the world. Focussing on themes and concerns of the African diaspora through a technoculture and science fiction lens, the course will explore a range of media artists with a shared interest in envisioning black futures that stem from Afrodiasporic experiences.

480BM - Atom Egoyan's Diasporic Cinema
This course explores the narrative features and lens-based film installation work of Atom Egoyan, one of Canada's most famous cinematic auteurs.

480BN - Traditions in Animation
This senior seminar course will introduce important aesthetic, thematic and political developments in the history of animation cinema, its modes of production and audiences, focusing on four major traditions: Walt Disney and the Japanese animé, Canadian NFB, and the (Eastern) European school of animation. *Note: Students may only receive credit for one of FILM 380AJ and FILM 480BN.*

480BO - Horror and Indigenous Mysticism
In light of Jungian, Freudian, and Lacanian approaches, and on the basis of studies in comparative mythology and religion, this senior seminar course examines the indigenous roots of cinematic tropes of horror and mysticism.

480BP - Transnational Screens
This course focuses on the interface between global and local, national and transnational production and reception contexts of cinema mostly from the global south. The course will look at non-Eurocentric approaches to reading transnational films within debates and influences of postnationalism, postcolonialism, Third cinema, and intercultural contact zones.

481AC - Science Fiction Film
This course serves as an introduction to the theory of science fiction and of genre. An attempt will be made to circumscribe the science fiction genre by defining its main features, and examining some representative films which may or may not challenge that initial definition.

486AS - Film Festival Administration
The course focuses on the planning, programming and presentation of the National Student Film Festival. **Permission of the Department Head is required to register**

486AV - Advanced Animation II
Students will specialize on an animation technique of their choice and focus on the creation of a single sophisticated animated project.

486AY - Advanced Film Directing
A personalized course of study with a focus on film directing.

486AZ - Long-form film production
Students will work together in creative and hands-on capacities to develop and create a serial-style narrative film headed by the course instructor. Professional tools and strategies and a hierarchical production model will be employed. *Additional Fee: $100.*

490AK - Honours Thesis Comic Book Films
This Honours Thesis course will explore gender in comic book films.

492AE - Film Festivals: Cultures and Curations
This course examines the proliferation of film festivals around the world as integrally tied to changes in geopolitical and digital media cultures. It will use several different festivals as sites of analysis to ascertain festival mandates and themes, curatorial strategies and programming, cross platform exhibition, marketing, funding and outreach.

496AY - Feature Film Screenwriting
In collaboration with the instructor and a fellow directed studies student, the student will create a feature film screenplay based on an existing treatment.