Courses
The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.
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COM FT 729: Script Analysis
A detailed and exhaustive analysis of selected screenplays through which we will focus on the cultivation of critical skills leading to a sharpened perception, and a heightened awareness of how a screenplay can be vastly improved. Utilizing these analytical skills, students will provide in-depth analysis for participating production companies who are in need of pre- production revisions. Each student will examine the chosen scripts, write coverage, write a more in-depth report for some of the production companies and meet with representatives from each project. Using the model of our workshops, the class will conduct story meetings with writers, directors and producers involved in each project. Students will be expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner through both their written reports and their verbal consultations. In addition, students will look at how source material, such as short films, stage plays and/or books can be adapted for the screen. Each student will then design a pitch based upon chosen source material and do pitch presentations. -
COM FT 730: Screen Adaptation I
Graduate Prerequisites: COM FT 713.
More than half of Oscar nominated films are literary adaptations. This course analyses the current commercial and artistic reasons behind the surge in adaptations, touches upon adaptation theory, and studies novels and short stories that have been adapted for film. Students present papers on film adaptations and begin the adaptation of a short story. -
COM FT 731: Screenwriting IV
Graduate Prerequisites: COM FT 730.
Restricted to Graduate Screenwriting students. Through a rigorous writing schedule, the students complete a feature-length screenplay. A solid first draft of a new feature-length screenplay and two sets of revision. -
COM FT 736: Film Theory
In-depth survey of key debates in film and digital theory between film practitioners, involved observers, and theoreticians and philosophers. Part I surveys theories of medium specificity and of film exhibition (cinema of attraction, film as mass culture) and of film as art (Gestalt theory, French Impressionism) and as a revolutionary tool (Soviet Montage). We study the debate around the relation between film and reality in theories of realism. Part II covers film theory form the 1960s to the 1990s. Topics include structuralism and semiotics, apparatus theory, genre and authorship, psychoanalytic film theory, and the impact of debates in gender, sexuality, and race on film theory. We survey theories of oppositional gazes in their struggles against sexism, racism, classism, and colonialism. Further, we cover discourses in phenomenology, cognitive film theory and the theory of affects. Part III focuses on recent developments related to digital media. We will investigate the relationship between the digital image and reality (theories of simulacra) and consider the role of infrastructures and economies of digital distribution. -
COM FT 825: Thesis Project
Creation of an original work in any one of four areas: producing; scriptwriting; directing/production; or a research paper. One-on-one advisor supervision throughout the entire process. -
COM FT 851: Thesis Preparation
This course, required of second semester film production graduate students, explores the aesthetic and technical parameters of the short film format with the goal of celebrating the short form as a genre unto itself. Students also develop and write their thesis scripts in preparation for thesis production the following year. -
COM FT 852: Thesis Project
Devoted to completion of thesis projects in film production and film studies. -
COM FT 951: Directed Studies
Graduate Prerequisites: consent of supervising faculty and department chair.
Individual projects: opportunity for advanced graduate students who have completed a major portion of their degree requirements to engage in in-depth tutorial study with specific faculty in an area not normally covered by regular curriculum offerings. -
COM FT 952: Directed Studies
Graduate Prerequisites: consent of supervising faculty and department chair
Individual projects: opportunity for advanced graduate students who have completed a major portion of their degree requirements to engage in in-depth tutorial study with specific faculty in an area not normally covered by regular curriculum offerings. -
COM FT 953: Internship
On the job professional experience in media industries: television stations, film and video production studios, networks, cable television operations, advertising agencies, digital media companies, and related corporations. -
COM FT 954: Internship
On the job professional experience in media industries: television stations, film and video production studios, networks, cable television operations, advertising agencies, digital media companies, and related corporations. -
COM JO 150: Hist/Prin of Jo
This course description is currently under construction. -
COM JO 200: Newswriting
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) and COM CO201.
Students acquire fundamental newsgathering and writing skills needed to thrive as a journalist working in any platform. The course is based in the classroom, but students are expected to learn and adhere to professional newsroom standards. The course focuses on essential practices and principles that apply to reporters, photographers, bloggers, producers and editors at newspapers, magazines, radio, television and online media. The class emphasizes news judgment, storytelling and reporting skills as well as writing clearly and quickly. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing- Intensive Course, Critical Thinking, Research and Information Literacy. -
COM JO 205: Visual Storytelling
Required of journalism majors. An introductory course designed to provide students with a basic working knowledge of the media required for professional journalism, including photography, sound, video, and editing for production of multimedia packages. No previous experience in visual media is required. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Creativity/Innovation. -
COM JO 210: Reporting in Depth
Undergraduate Prerequisites: JO 200 and JO 205
In J0210 you will learn and practice in-depth reporting in a community. You will develop sources, walk the streets, cover a beat, attend meetings, shoot photos and provide readers with public interest journalism. This is a working newsroom. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Writing- Intensive Course, Research and Information Literacy. -
COM JO 300: Media & Democracy - Journalism in an Age of Disinformation
Undergraduate Prerequisites: JO150 and at least junior standing.
This course is for anyone who reads the news or produces it, for those who want accurate information and those who want to provide it. Students will gain a true-north understanding of the role of the free press in a democracy, the rise and allure of online fake news, and how empowered individuals and the news media can push back against this 21st century threat to freedom. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, The Individual in Community, Research and Information Literacy. -
COM JO 309: Feature Writing
Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM JO 210.
The course invites students to refine their reporting and writing skills in projects that will showcase their mastery of the craft. Projects will span a variety of lengths, deadlines, and forms. Prerequisites: COM JO 200, 205 and 210. Four credits, fall and spring semesters. -
COM JO 312: Photojournalism I
Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM JO 205.
An introductory course for students interested in pursuing a career in photojournalism and visual reporting. Students photograph assignments to the standards of professional news outlets and advance their skills in digital photography for use on websites and in publications. Prerequisites: COM JO 205. Four credits, fall and spring semesters. -
COM JO 322: Smart Phone Reporting
Undergraduate Prerequisites: JO200
This course teaches video journalism- how to identify, research, shoot, write and edit accurate, compelling news videos on deadline, using smart phones equipped with Adobe software. Students will become informed citizen journalists as well as adopt the standards and skill sets of professional mobile, multimedia journalists. Smart Phone Reporting teaches news and visual literacy, multimedia expression and applied writing skills to non- journalism majors while also training students to acquire a multimedia skill set required to become journalists. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Writing-Intensive Course, Research and Information Literacy. -
COM JO 350: Law and Ethics of Journalism
This interactive course introduces the core legal and ethical issues affecting how journalists, including the student press, gather, verify and communicate news. This course offers an exciting deep-dive into the key concepts affecting newsgathering and dissemination today.Students will discover the underpinnings of a free press as well as practical tools to use when confronted with government efforts to block legitimate newsgathering. Students will gain a working knowledge of how and why the First Amendment protects them as they gather, verify and disseminate the news. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Ethical Reasoning, Research and Information Literacy.
