This course explores the tools, concepts and methods of moving image production with an emphasis on digital production and post-production using Adobe editing software. Students are introduced to a full array of technical competencies to film, edit and exhibit their projects. This course also explores the relationships between narrative, documentary, portraiture, experimental, and video art genres. Through screenings, technical workshops, readings, and discussions, students develop a time-based language along with the skillset to craft distinguished short films.

Students make films that deal with composition, camera movement, editing and time/space manipulation. Topics covered include the use of 16mm cameras and film editing. The development of a visual language of film and creative uses of the medium are stressed. Students produce two short film projects and one longer final project. Students are responsible for the purchase of two materials packages from the MICA Bookstore.

This course focuses on the art of storytelling, exploring the building blocks that make a strong and compelling story. Students study examples from film, literature, art and graphic novels, radio programs, television, advertising and public speaking; participate in writing exercises, complete a number of short written assignments to present their work in class. The final project, prepared over the course of the semester, is a story in a medium of the students choosing with accompanying milestones (treatments, beat-sheets, and log lines) throughout the course.

Explores the significant role sound can play in shaping, placing and defining our connection to film & video, animation, and other moving-image based works. Through the use of practical hands-on activities students are introduced to sound recording techniques, tools, track mixing and sound composition. Technical and creative sound design applications are used for story development and immersive sound construction. In-class workshops include: field and studio recording, Foley and sound effects, automatic dialogue replacement (ADR), and score composition.

Students learn professional high definition cameras and advanced production techniques while working both individually and in groups. Readings and screenings explore artistic uses of moving images and continues to develop a sophisticated understanding of the language of the cinema. Each student creates a final project that involves shooting with a crew.

This course presents students with an investigation into the various origins and forms of moving image art; spanning the history of the video medium to more contemporary approaches and presentation formats. Structured to create a focused environment for individual experiments, students present and discuss their work in a series of group critiques. Assignments address both technical and thematic topics including: portraiture, the studio as space/place, the screen & counterculture, installation & performance and the realm of the cinematic.

This course explores a wide variety of documentary styles and genres with an overview of the history of documentary filmmaking. Topics covered include: pre-production planning, shooting interviews and verité material, recording sound in the field and editing in post-production. Students produce short projects throughout the semester in addition to a longer final project, individually or in teams.

Personal computers have provided a low-cost method for previously high-cost video post-production. Through invention and with patience one can develop unique visual effects. This course explores 2-D animation, matting, keying and visual effects utilizing Adobe AfterEffects.

This course challenges how video pieces are considered, developed, and viewed. Students are asked to abandon preconceived notions of movie-viewing environments and build visually exciting and engaging pieces that can occupy a number of different contexts: projections for live performance, animations that function as moving paintings or sculptures, and more. The practices of contemporary moving-image artists that create innovative bodies of multimedia work for galleries, concerts, and/or for online audiences is examined. Topics address how media has been incorporated into the Internet age, and consider how artists deal with society’s shortened attention span. Through a rigorous schedule of lectures, workshops, and projects, video is taken out of its comfort zone.

This pre-production course brings together student filmmakers from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and Johns Hopkins University (JHU), providing intensive training in the crucial aspects of preparing to shoot a successful narrative film. Students work with a professional screenwriter, allowing students to hone and improve their existing screenplays, practice the elements of writing for film, and learn how to do a script breakdown. Workshops on working with actors, taught by a professional actor, students are taught the ins and outs of casting and directing. Supplemental workshops cover elements of pre-production such as budgets, production schedules, call sheets, and legal issues. Film screenings train students to see films with an eye towards what constitutes exciting, innovative filmmaking. Students who wish to enroll in this course should have a prepared treatment, outline or script for a short film that they wish to develop during the semester.

Students participate in the production of a short narrative film and are required to present one to two short scripts at the beginning of the course. Two to three of these screenplays are selected for production. The class divides into production teams focused on one of the chosen scripts. Through a series of workshops on production design, directing, cinematography, and art direction, each group sees their project through to completion. The course includes a number of screenings and workshops with film-makers; and is a collaboration between MICA and Johns Hopkins University.

This course examines the signs and syntax that are the backbone of great narrative films. Mise en scene- the framed image and diachronic shot, use of color and tone, montage, use of sound and iconography are examined. Students produce a cinematic sketchbook of film moments based on the signs and syntax of films screened in class. Films and readings are based on the book, “How to read a film” by James Monaco.

A comprehensive, hands-on studio course, exploring the technical and theoretical dimensions of motion picture cinematography and lighting, using both 16mm film and mini-DV videotape as creative formats. The course covers the practical aspects of camera and lighting techniques as applied to a variety of genres (documentary, narrative and experimental); also screen and analyze a wide range of film and video material as examples of creative cinematography.

Throughout history, artists have explored and often romanticized demonized subject matter and categories that fall into the strange and inaccessible. Mysticism, magic and the occult have long been attractors to persons working creatively regardless of their spiritual beliefs. This thematic course examines various unorthodox traditions and the artists & artworks inspired by them. Lectures, screenings and readings focus on the occult and include topics such as: subliminal design, witches & spells, supernatural frequencies, and a guide to satanic verse. Although the focus of the works examined in this course are primarily time based, students may complete their projects using a variety of mixed media.

Heroes in all forms, gendered and non-gendered, expand our sense of possibility. As a result, similar metaphorical storytelling structures show up globally in narrative, documentary, and experimental films. The protagonist, whether human, animal, or of further invention embarks on a journey to seek an answer, goal, or treasure. In this course, storytelling structures are examined via Hollywood Blockbusters and International Indie films. When truly understood, metaphor is one of the most powerful tools to connect with one’s audience. This course enables students interested in genres such as dreamlike-experimental, poetic-documentary, and science fiction to gain a deeper understanding of the universal elements that structure these types of storytelling. Additionally, students actively engage in expanding the filmic-definition of a worthwhile life and hero.

The learning objectives of this course are geared toward a specific topic of current interest generally not covered in other courses offered by the department. These courses, typically not offered continuously in the department, provide students and faculty the opportunity to explore new content and course formats. The specific topic is announced in the course schedule.

Alternative narratives blur the boundaries of traditional forms: fiction-nonfiction, personal-political, linear and nonlinear narratives, mainstream movie formulas and video art. Using alternative structures of space and time, artists often portray alternative ways of looking, thinking, analyzing, viewing and existing. Course themes and subjects include: identity politics, sexuality, race and gender, autobiographical based narratives, family relationships, addiction, comedy skits, love and the subconsciousness of a city. Alternative narrative structures also often allow stories to be told without large crews, actors, dialogue and lengthy screenplay structures of the traditional three act mainstream movie. Students produce short projects throughout the course to explore a variety of alternative narrative forms.

Geared as a course to help guide and moderate seniors while they produce their senior thesis projects. Students are expected to focus and cultivate an in-depth final project from beginning to end, beginning with proposal development and ending with a final public exhibition and screening event. Meetings are structured to highlight the benefits of feedback from within a group environment. The groups respond to project proposals and work in progress with a focus on strengthening individual artistic practices and work methods. Various aspects of production, post-production, and professional development are addressed including the packaging, marketing, and screening of their work. Professional development skills and explores various options for artists within the film industry, non-profit organizations, and the fine arts market are emphasized. Lectures, screenings, readings, speakers, trips and other related events address issues pertaining to lecture topics and student inquiry.

This course is a continuation of Film & Video Senior Thesis I with the completion of the course resulting in a finished thesis project and a professional portfolio package. While the focus of Film & Video Senior Thesis I tends to address the needs of research, development and pre-production; Film & Video Senior Thesis II addresses topics and student needs as related to production, post-production, and final presentation formats.