Course Offerings

Have you yearned to start a novel, a collection of related short stories or narrative essays, a memoir, or a series of poems? This cross-genre, seminar-style course is designed for students who want to pursue larger, more advanced creative writing projects. Students will submit project proposals for discussion and approval, and then present significant installments of writing at regular intervals during the semester. Revisions will be required along with student-professor individual conferences. Readings will be used as guiding examples, and required reaction papers will be tailored to individual projects.May be taken twice for credit. This course must have faculty approval in order to be registered.

How does the unique language of cinema make meaning and convey emotions? This course provides multiple answers to that question by introducing the formal characteristics of film and enables the students to acquire the key vocabulary necessary to critically describe, analyse and interpret contemporary cinema. Each week, classes will focus on a foundational concept, ranging from principles of narration to different components of film style, and from why cinema matters to issues of spectatorship. Throughout the course, students will encounter a wide array of feature films from different genres around the globe. Students will also have the opportunity to practise close textual analysis through
assignments, and during class discussions delve deep into interpreting the dramatic functions of elements of style in the context of a single film.
Students are expected to participate in these activities in order to build their confidence and command over technical terminology, and work towards attaining their own carefully reasoned interpretations of film texts. In addition, students will learn about Parisian film culture and different approaches to film criticism through lectures and assignments.

This course is designed to give you strong technical and creative abilities in filmmaking. In addition to preparing you for future work in film and video production, students will develop skills that are useful in many other fields, including journalism, media and communications, and studio art. Filmmaking I will also allow you to go on to take more advanced film production courses at AUP. Through group and individual projects, you will become proficient in camera operating, sound recording, and video editing. You will learn to develop a film project from start to finish, including pre-production planning, working collaboratively on set, and the post-production stages of editing, sound mixing, and color grading. Each project will challenge you to explore new skills, techniques, and forms related to documentary, fiction, and experimental filmmaking. Class time will be made up of technical demonstrations, in-class exercises, editing labs, and screenings and discussions. You will regularly use AUP cameras and sound equipment to shoot projects and exercises outside of class.

In Art of Screenwriting students consider the elements necessary for successful screenwriting practices, with close attention to the theory of screenwriting as influenced by other arts. In particular, a close emphasis of the course is on the art of narrative and the central role played by adaptation of novels in screenwriting practice. Character development, structure, dialogue and conflict are analyzed through exemplary scripting such as in the works of Jane Campion, Roman Polanski and others. The course culminates in a hands-on guided approach to scriptwriting by students.