Film & Television

  • COM FT 201: Screen Language: The Aesthetics, Grammar and Rhetoric of the Moving Image
    In this course, students study and practice the art and craft of expressing themselves persuasively through audio-visual media. The aim is both to familiarize students with the conventions of screen language and to test the validity of those norms. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Creativity/Innovation.
    • Digital/Multimedia Expression
    • Creativity/Innovation
  • COM FT 250: Understanding Film
    Understanding Film introduces students to key aesthetic aspects of film. Students study a variety of historical and contemporary examples of fiction and nonfiction films that illustrate the expressive possibilities of image and sound. Students learn to analyze, explain and write about these formal elements. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Critical Thinking
  • COM FT 303: Understanding Television
    This course examines television (and its foundation in radio) as it emerged, stabilized as an aesthetic and technological form, interacted with other media, was regulated and deregulated, and was shaped by and shaped the culture around it. We will use the sitcom and soap opera genres as aesthetic through-lines for this study and examine their evolution in historical contexts. Throughout the semester, we focus on broadcasting's beginnings, expansion, establishment as the national, mass medium in America, and eventual fracturing into niches. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Critical Thinking
  • COM FT 304: Film Industry
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM FT 250.
    A survey of current business trends in the motion picture industry. Focuses on script development; studio structure; agents, attorneys, and contracts; independent filmmaking; and distribution.
  • COM FT 310: Storytelling for Film & Television
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120).
    An introduction to the art and craft of storytelling through the moving image. Particular emphasis will be given to writing short scripts. Topics covered include character development and narrative structure as it applies to shorts, features and episodic television. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Creativity/Innovation.
    • Creativity/Innovation
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • COM FT 325: Creative Producing I
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM FT 303.
    This course takes students through the process of creating non-fiction TV programming. Think talk shows, reality programs, and documentaries. How to create a concept, write a proposal, cast a program, and develop a marketing reason to do the program. It's all part and parcel of being a creative producer.
  • COM FT 353: Production I F1
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM FT 201; with a grade of B- or higher
    An intensive course in all the fundamental aspects of motion picture production. Students learn to use cameras, sound recording equipment and editing software and then apply these skills to several short productions. The course emphasizes the language of visual storytelling and the creative interplay of sound and image.
  • COM FT 401: Romantic Comedies and Melodramas
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM FT 250.
    This class will view and discuss romantic comedies and domestic melodramas made in Hollywood in the 1930's and 1940's. these films were some of the most popular and culturally significant of their time, involving many of the era's best screenwriters and directors and most prominent stars. The films set standards for dialogue writing, rich characterization, film performance and story structure.
  • COM FT 402: Production II
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: FT353 with a grade of B- or higher and one of the following: FT502 orFT508 or FT526 or FT565 or FT592 or FT 593
    Intermediate motion picture production with an emphasis on narrative storytelling, high definition cinematography, sync-sound location recording, and multi-track editing. Students develop, produce, direct, shoot, record and edit medium-length productions that are of film festival quality, and which can be incorporated into highlight and demo reels. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Teamwork/Collaboration.
    • Oral and/or Signed Communication
    • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • COM FT 404: Asian Cinema
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM FT 250.
    This course studies the astonishing artistic flowering of contemporary East Asian film, focusing on selected works from directors working in China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Thailand. The course focuses on post-1997 films, though it occasionally references earlier films made by the key directors or that influenced them. By examining a range of genres, styles, and themes, the course looks at a variety of important East Asian films during this period. Discussions deal with auteurist styles/themes, industry developments in Asia that affected the kinds of films produced and distributed, and the cultural values and history embedded in these films. Some notable directors discussed: Bong Joon-Ho, Park Chan-Wook, Lee Chang-Dong, Zhang Yimou, Jia Zhangke, Ann Hui, Wong Karwai, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Hayao Miyazaki, and Edward Yang.
  • COM FT 411: Screenwriting I
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM FT 310.
    Developing your first feature-length narrative screenplay; creation of characters, narrative outline, and scenes. . Each student will create a step outline, develop a treatment and write the first act of a feature- length screenplay. First draft screenplay pages will be discussed in class, and will be revised for the final project. Students will be advised to either work on a major rewrite of Act One or go deeper into Act Two, while outlining the remainder of the story. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing- Intensive Course, Creativity/Innovation.
    • Creativity/Innovation
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • COM FT 412: Screenwriting II
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM FT 411.
    Further study of narrative screenwriting, dramatic structure, and character development. Each student will develop and write a full feature-length screenplay. First draft materials will be discussed in class and will be revised for the final project.
  • COM FT 417: TV Management
  • COM FT 425: Creative Producing II
  • COM FT 430: Producing the Short Script
    Developing a producible student film begins with a solid short screenplay that takes all parameters into account. Students will watch, analyze, and discuss successful short films while examining screenplay structure, plot, genre, theme, and character. Based upon short film analysis, feedback received during workshops, and one-on- one consults with the professor, students will write and revise two short screenplays (under10 pages & 10-15 pages). Students will be expected to have a firm grasp on narrative structure, character development, and cinematic storytelling. Final body of work will be two polished scripts that could potentially be produced either independently or within one of The Department of Film & Television's advanced production courses (i.e. Prod. II - FT 402 or Prod. III - FT 468). Pre-req FT310
  • COM FT 454: Pitch to Pilot
    First class in a series which will culminate in a collaborative project with CFA to produce a live action sitcom pilot, to be filmed at the Booth theater in Spring 2023. This is a writing class. more information in the FTV newsletter or email filmtv@bu.edu. Pre-req FT 512 or FT 522
  • COM FT 457: American Masterworks
    Subjects vary with the instructor. Directors discussed include D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, King Vidor, Frank Borzage, Victor Fleming, Howard Hawks, Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, John Huston, Elia Kazan, George Cukor, Orson Welles, Robert Altman, John Cassavetes, and Woody Allen.
  • COM FT 458: International Masterworks
    An eclectic and unsystematic survey of a small number of the supreme masterworks of international film created by some of the greatest artists of the past eighty years. The focus in on cinematic style. What does style do? Why are certain cinematic presentations highly stylized? What is the difference from realistic, representational work? We will consider the special ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling that highly stylized works of art create and devote all of our attention to the function of artistic style and form to create new experiences and ways of thinking and feeling.
  • COM FT 468: Production III
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM FT 402; application required
    This is an honors thesis class for undergraduates who have taken Production II as well as other high-level production classes, such as Directing, Cinematography, Sound Design, Motion Picture Editing, etc. Students apply to the class as either as producers, directors, cinematographers, editors, sound designers and production designers. Directors submit scripts for consideration. The production faculty then selects eight directors, based on the scripts and each candidate's previous work. Faculty then selects the producers, cinematographers, editors, sound designers, and production designers based on their previous production work and their ability to work as members of a team. The class forms production teams to make eight thesis- quality films that can compete with the best student films in America. Maximum running time for each film is fifteen minutes.
  • COM FT 491: Directed Studies
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: consent of supervising faculty and department chair
    Individual projects; opportunity for advanced students who have completed a major portion of their degree requirements to engage in-depth tutorial study with specific faculty in an area not normally covered by regular curriculum offerings.