Media Arts

Course Descriptions

Media Arts-Filmmaking

• MAR 252 - Screenwriting

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered autumn. Prereq., Media Arts Major. Intermediate level writing class devoted to short films, with an emphasis on writing camera-ready scripts for spring production. Feature film structure and techniques also discussed.

• MAR 335 - Experimental Animation

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered Spring. This course focuses on the development and creation of experimental animation projects using traditional stop motion animation techniques such as hand drawn, silhouette, object and clay. Projects created in this class may have elements created using iStopmotion, Dragonframe and other digital capture platforms. Open to Media Arts majors only.

• MAR 415 - Short Form Screenwriting

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered Autumn.  Media Arts majors only. Intermediate level writing class devoted to short films, with an emphasis on writing camera-ready scripts for spring production. Feature film structure and techniques are also discussed.

• MAR 442 - Experimental Film

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered autumn.  Media Arts majors only. Surveying a wide range of experimental cinema (film/video) from the 1920's to the present with the central focus being artistic practice in the context of historic and cultural concerns. Students will also create projects focusing on exploring film/video both as a form of personal expression and as a medium, rather than as mass entertainment.

• MAR 443 - Documentary

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered autumn. Designed to bring together Film Studies students (theorists) and Media Arts students (filmmakers) so they may draw from their respective fields to collaborate on the production of documentaries.  After exposure to both documentary history and criticism, students will be required to work with a team of producers in learning the basic skills involved in documentary production.

• MAR 456 - Directing

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered autumn. Media Arts majors only. Developing, directing and editing a five to seven minute fiction movie. In depth work on creation of shooting script, casting, work with actors and location work. Emphasis on collaborative process and diligence and preparation in all levels of production.

• MAR 470 - Adv. Acting for Film I

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered autumn. The class is introduces the student to acting techniques needed to work competently in realistic film work. It consists of acting in several exercises and scenes shot in the studio, as well as research into different film acting styles.

• MAR 471 - Adv. Acting for Film II

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered spring.  A project-based course that combines actors and directors in the collaborative creation of a short fiction film.

Media Arts

• MART 101L - Intro to Media Arts

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered every term. Overview of the media arts and their interaction, integration and development in the creation of story beginning with the early years of photography and movie-making through the introduction of radio and television up to the digital revolution.

  Course Attributes:

  • Literary & Artistic Stds Crse

• MART 102 - Digital Technology in the Arts

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered every term. An introduction to the relationship between aesthetics and the emerging capacities of digital technology. The course will explore the basic evolution of hardware, system software, and the Internet and will present a brief history of the pioneers of both traditional and digital art. It will also look at contemporary and emerging trends in the artistic application of digital technology.

• MART 111A - Integrated Digital Art

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered every term. A project-oriented editing and design course that focuses on artistic expression and its relationship to digital technology. Using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After Effects, students will create audio/visual work in both the still image and time based mediums.

  Course Attributes:

  • Expressive Arts Course

• MART 112A - Intro to Non-Lin Editing

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered every term. Study of the history, process and philosophy of narrative film/video editing and an introduction to Final Cut nonlinear editing software.

  Course Attributes:

  • Expressive Arts Course

• MART 230 - Introduction to Still Image

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered every term. This course provides a thorough introduction to the practices of capturing digital still imagery through scanning, photography, internet acquisition and mobile devices. Emphasis on content, composition, and digital manipulation of images is applied through the creation of various still-image projects. Digital capture techniques, project planning, narrative, and the integration of various forms of digital design are fundamental components of this course.

• MART 235 - Fundamentals of Type

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered every semester. This course is a study of the design and use of basic letterforms, anatomical features, hierarchy of information, major type families and characteristics, and the understanding of typographic grids. Students will learn the historical significance of letterforms and their origins to help fully understand how to use typography correctly within their works and designs. Students will gain experience in the art of typesetting and typographic layout, and learn the necessary skills for expressive typography, conceptual thinking and effective communication.

• MART 255 - Intro Photshp Media Arts

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered every term. Online Course. An introduction to the basic principles and techniques of still image design and manipulation using Adobe Photoshop. This project-based course demystifies the powerful Photoshop toolsets and workspace and enables students to actualize their ideas by helping them to develop an efficient production process.

• MART 256 - Intro Illustr for Media Arts

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered every term. An introduction to the basic principles and techniques of still image design and manipulation using Adobe Illustrator, the industry leading application for creating vector-based content. This project-based course demystifies the powerful Illustrator toolsets and workspace and enables students to actualize their ideas by helping them to develop an efficient production process. No prerequisites required.

• MART 300 - Visions of Film

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered spring. Media Arts majors only.  Study of major film theories that led to the constitution of visual film language and their application in contemporary film narrative and direction.

• MART 301 - Media Arts Practices

  Credits: 1 TO 6. Level: Undergraduate. (R-6) Offered autumn. Prereq., Media Arts majors only. Practical application of the principles of production through work on graduate and upper level undergraduate projects, either as a crew member, production manager, designer, editor, director of photography or actor.

• MART 302 - Intro to Motion Design

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered spring.  Media Arts majors only. This project-oriented course will introduce students to the basic technical and aesthetic components of digital motion design using the industry standard software programs Photoshop and After Effects.

• MART 304 - Modern Horror Film

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered every term. Online Course. This class explores the changing landscape of the horror film since 1960, studying the movies in filmic terms (Acting, Directing, Cinematography, Music, etc.) and sociological importance. Through online discussions, selected readings, multimedia projects, and video lectures, we will seek to understand the often-controversial genre of horror.

• MART 305 - 3D Animation I

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered Autumn. This course is an introduction to fundamental concepts, principles, and practices of 3D digital modeling with Maya. Students will develop 3D modeling techniques, including production of geometric and organic objects. Through lectures, tutorials, in-class exercises and projects, students will be exposed to various techniques that may be used for innovative and artistic content such as filmic animation and compositing. Open to Media Arts majors only.

• MART 320 - Art of Photoshop

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered every term. Online Course. Pre-requisite MAR 230 or consent of instructor. This course provides an understanding of the use of Photoshop as an artistic tool. Exercises and projects will explore areas of customizing & combining tools, depth & perspective, and graphic elements (including text & paths), and will be based on effective production techniques, project planning, and the artistic principles of color theory, content, and layering.

• MART 324 - Stop Motion Animation

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered winter and summer sessions.  Guides students through the active creation of several individual stop motion animation projects while developing their knowledge and expertise in traditional stop motion animation techniques using modern computing technology.

• MART 327 - Intro to Cinematography

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered spring. Media Arts majors only. Preliminary study of digital cinematography including color theory, composition, lens choice, continuity, camera movement/support, lighting for film and video, and grip in both studio and location situations.

• MART 332 - Introduction to Film Scoring

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Media Arts / Music Majors only. Intro to Film Scoring focuses on the role of music in movies. It covers composition, orchestration, and dramatic techniques and how they integrate with the elements of dramatic action. Students will analyze iconic movies and scores and working with media arts film students, create two original film scores. Media Arts / Music Majors only.

• MART 333 - 3D Animation II

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered Spring. Building on the modeling skills learned in 3D Animation I, this course teaches students how to animate, texture map, add visual effects and render. The course will also cover advanced rigging techniques. As a continuation of this series, students will be introduced to animation, dynamics (including particle and fluid systems), and MEL scripting. Open to Media Arts majors only.

• MART 335 - Experimental Animation

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered spring. This course focuses on the development and creation of experimental animation projects using traditional stop motion animation techniques such as hand drawn, silhouette, object and clay. Projects created in this class may have elements created using iStopmotion, Dragonframe and other digital capture platforms. Open to Media Arts majors only.

• MART 336 - Directing the Fic Film

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered autumn. Media Arts majors only.  Developing, directing and editing a five to seven minute fiction movie. In depth work on creation of shooting script, casting, work with actors and location work. Emphasis on collaborative process and diligence and preparation in all levels of production.

• MART 340 - Princ of Interactive Media

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered spring. Media Arts majors only. This course is designed to help students gain the skill sets necessary to successfully create work in the constantly evolving internet environment. It covers the fundamentals of website structure, content design and navigation and focuses on directory structure, visual design, user navigation, audio/video integration and domain management.

• MART 341 - Intro to Web Design

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered every term. Online Course. Students will gain necessary skills in this introduction to the fundamentals of website structure, content design and navigation. Areas of focus will be directory structure, visual design, user navigation, audio/video integration and domain management. This course is open to all university students and geared to non-majors.

• MART 342 - Art & Sci of Interactive Games

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offer every term. Online course. This class is an introduction to the technological achievements and artistic and social impacts involved with the development of interactive games.  It will cover the evolution of the gaming profile and the advanced visual, sonic and narrative properties that make interactive games the explosive growth industry that is today.

• MART 391 - Special Topics

  Credits: 1 TO 12. Level: Undergraduate. (R-12) Offered intermittently. Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, or one-time offerings of current topics.

• MART 395 - Practicum I

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered every term.  This course offers the student the opportunity to apply their media arts skill sets and techniques to a variety of professional level projects that include movies, web site design, and still image design.

  Course Attributes:

  • Internships/Practicums

• MART 416 - Preproduction for Animation

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered Autumn. This course offers a thorough look at storyboarding/previsuals, idea sketches and writing synopsis, as well as identity and promotion of finished animated works. Promotional imaging, treatments and festival entry work will also be a focus in this class. Open to Media Arts majors only.

• MART 422 - Digital Compositing II

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered spring. Media Arts majors only. Combines the common aesthetic and technical language with solid design principles.  Students immerse themselves in the making of a body of integrated-digital 3D work that explores the technical and aesthetic possibilities of multi-layered x y z plane actualizations.

• MART 425 - Tech of Digital Animation

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered autumn. Media Arts majors only. Advanced techniques of 2D animation using Macromedia Flash as well as integrating those techniques with the basic 3D digital animation capabilities of Adobe After Effects, including virtual lighting and the virtual camera.

• MART 432 - Techniques of Film Scoring

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Prereq., MART 332. Focuses on the role of music in movies and expands upon the work accomplished in MART 332. It covers composition, orchestration, and harmonic techniques and integrates these with the elements of dramatic action. Students will work with media arts film students to actualize these techniques by creating original film scores of short scenes. The course will include a student project gallery, a peer review area, downloadable videos specific to the curriculum and a wide variety of online resources applicable to the subject matter.

• MART 440 - Tech Interactive Media Design

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered spring. Media Arts majors only. Pre-requisite MAR 340. Advanced interactive media design class that builds on the foundation of principles taught in MAR 340.

• MART 445 - Sound for Digital Media

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered spring.  Media Arts majors only. This course is targeted at the Integrated Digital Media student and introduces fundamental concepts, principles and practices of digital sound recording and editing.  This will enable students to expand their aesthetic by integrating their sonic and visual creative work.

• MART 446 - Sound for Film

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered spring.  Media Arts majors only. This course is targeted at the Digital Filmmaking student and introduces fundamental concepts, principles and practices of digital location sound recording and post-production editing to picture in order to establish a common aesthetic and technical language.  

• MART 450 - Topics in Film/Media Studies

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered spring. Media Arts majors only. Research and exploration of contemporary film, video, digital art and design. Focus on areas of student research both in commercial and non-commercial venues and styles.

  Course Attributes:

  • Writing Course-Upper-Division

• MART 455 - Visions of Documentary Film

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered spring. Media Arts majors only. Production of short experimental works of non-fiction. Emphasis on pre-production articulation of ideas and goals that lead to competent dramatic footage of actual events and people. Applied concepts: personal point-of-view, metaphor as organizing principle, articulation of subject/thesis, complexity of story, embedded meanings, use of visual motif.

• MART 457 - Postproduction for Animation

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered Spring. This course covers the principles and techniques of finishing projects/animations. Students will focus on advanced rendering tools and applications, refined editing and titles/credits, enabling students to leave with a well polished finished animation project. Open to Media Arts majors only.

• MART 491 - Special Topics

  Credits: 1 TO 12. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-12) Offered intermittently. Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, or one-time offerings of current topics.

• MART 495 - Practicum II

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered every term.  This course offers the student the opportunity to apply their media arts skill sets and techniques to a variety of professional level projects that include movies, web site design, and still image design.

  Course Attributes:

  • Internships/Practicums

• MART 499 - Senior Project

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered spring. Media Arts majors only. This capstone course gives the student an opportunity to create an integrated senior project which brings together all of the elements of their course of study.

• MART 500 - Digital Tech in the Arts I

  Credits: 4. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered autumn.  This course explores the relationship between aesthetics and the emerging capabilities of digital technology. It will cover the historical relationship between science and art up to the end of the 20th century and examine the methodology of critical artistic applications.

• MART 509 - Media Production II

  Credits: 4. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered spring. Continuation of production and post-production practices and techniques introduced in MAR 508. 

• MART 510 - Digi Tech in the Arts II

  Credits: 4. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered spring.  This course expands upon the research begun in MAR 500 by exploring the development of emerging 21st century digital technologies and their impact on aesthetics in artistic production.

• MART 514 - Advanced Composit Tech

  Credits: 4. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered spring.  This course continues the work begun in MAR 422 by furthering the development of artistic principles and practices and culminates in an in-house presentation of graduate level motion design techniques.

• MART 520 - Graduate Teaching Seminar

  Credits: 2. Level: Graduate. Offered autumn.  This graduate seminar is designed for prospective graduate teaching assistants and will cover techniques and best practices for both in-class and online delivery.

• MART 522 - Intro to Inter Digi Media

  Credits: 4. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered autumn. Based upon the research developed in MAR 500 and  MAR 510, graduate students will explore and begin to develop artistic applications of interactive digital media, which will culminate in a semester end in-house presentation.

• MART 523 - Tech in Inter Digi Media

  Credits: 4. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered spring. This course expands upon the work begun in MAR 522 and will culminate in a semester end public presentation.

• MART 524 - Compositing Applications I

  Credits: 4. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered autumn. Based upon the concepts and principles developed in MAR 422 and MAR 514, graduate students will create a compositing project from pre-production through post-production, which will culminate in a semester end in-house presentation.

• MART 525 - Compositing Applic. II

  Credits: 4. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered spring. This course expands upon the work begun in MAR 524 and culminates in a semester end public presentation.

• MART 557 - Advanced Post-Production

  Credits: 4. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered Fall. Advanced Post Production is a graduate level course designed to provide students with advanced technical and conceptual instruction in non-linear editing for narrative films.  The class provides a platform for engaging in conceptual critiques with their films as they are edited as well as a base for professional certification in the Final Cut Pro Application.

• MART 580 - Principals of Cinematography

  Credits: 4. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered autumn. Intermediate study of digital cinematography including color theory, composition, lens choice, continuity, camera movement/support, lighting for film and video, and grip in both studio and location situations.

• MART 591 - Graduate Practicum

  Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered every term.  This course offers the graduate student the opportunity to expand their media arts skill sets and techniques by working on a variety of professional level projects that include movies, web site design, and still image design.

• MART 595 - Special Topics

  Credits: 1 TO 6. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-12) Offered intermittently. Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, and one-time offerings of current topics.

  Course Attributes:

  • Internships/Practicums