This course explores the visual style, narrative tradition, and cultural implications of American filmmaking. Cinema is examined both as an art and as an industry. The development of the studio system, the star system, film genres, and today's new talent are among the topics which will help students learn to think and write critically about film.

This course will familiarize students with the process of script writing, from the conception of a story through the developed narrative. Students will learn to critique films and scripts and will compose their own screenplays.

This examines science fiction cinema in its historical, cultural and artistic contexts. The focus is on narrative and thematic implications of selected films, as well as the artistic choices of the creative team. We focus on the tropes of science fiction, aliens technology, and the future to guide the critique of issues of identity, power, equality, and gender.