UW Bothell Course Descriptions
UW Tacoma Course Descriptions
Glossary
Detailed course offerings (Time Schedule) are available for
CMS 240 Writing in Cinema and Media Studies (5, max. 15) C
A critical approach to film and/or media texts and a workshop on writing papers in English. Topics vary. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 240
CMS 270 Perspectives on Film: Introduction (5) A&H
Introduction to film form, style, and techniques. Examples from silent film and from contemporary film. Course equivalent to: BIS 261 and T FILM 201.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 270
CMS 271 Perspectives on Film: Great Directors (5) A&H
Introduction to authorship in the cinema. The work of a major director or directors.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 271
CMS 272 Perspectives on Film: Genre (5) A&H
Introduction to study of film and/or television genre. Literary, mythic, and historic aspects of film and/or television genre.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 272
CMS 273 Perspectives on Television: Analysis (5) A&H
Provides an introduction to television styles and aesthetics, with particular attention to camerawork, narrative, acting, and sound. Course overlaps with: TCOM 347.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 273
CMS 274 Perspectives on Media: Critical Concepts (5) A&H
Provides an introduction to media studies, with particular attention to critical concepts including, but not limited to, audience studies, formal analysis, and ideological critique. Specific media analyzed varies. Course overlaps with: TCOM 247.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 274
CMS 275 Perspectives on Visual Culture: Sex, Race and Power (5) A&H/SSc, DIV
An introduction to the study of visual texts such as film, television, comics, or digital media. Focus on the representation of cultural differences including, but not limited to, sexuality, gender, ability, and race. Topics vary.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 275
CMS 295 Study Abroad (1-5, max. 20) A&H
Equivalency for 200-level CMS courses taken on UW Study Abroad programs or direct exchanges.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 295
CMS 297 Special Topics in Cinema and Media Studies (5, max. 10) A&H
Varied topics related to film and/or media. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 297
CMS 301 Film and Media Studies: Analysis (5) A&H
Introduction to the analysis of film. Covers major aspects of cinematic form: mise en scene, framing and camera movement, editing, and sound and color. Considers how these elements are organized in traditional cinematic narrative and in alternative approaches.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 301
CMS 302 Media Arts and Cultures (5) A&H
Examines cultural expressions and aesthetic formations across media forms, with an emphasis on electronic and digital media. Media arts analyzed vary, including but not limited to comics, cell-phones, mash-ups, games, electronic literature, video installations, photography, and soundscapes.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 302
CMS 303 Genre Studies (5, max. 10) A&H
Introduction to the history and significance of genre in film and/or television. May examine one or a selection of several genres, drawn from a list including, but not limited to, the western, melodrama, musical, thriller, sitcom, film noir, and documentary. Topics include form, ideology, authority, history, innovation, and parody. Offered: AWSp.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 303
CMS 304 Television Studies (5) A&H
Provides an overview of key issues in the study of television. Explores what television is, what television does, and how television shapes our fundamental assumptions about space, time, image, and sound.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 304
CMS 310 History of Film: 1895-1929 (5) A&H
Film history from its beginnings in the 1890s through the golden era of silent film in the 1920s. Topics include the invention of major film techniques, the creation of Hollywood and the studios, and movements such as expressionism, constructivism, and surrealism.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 310
CMS 311 History of Film: 1930-1959 (5) A&H
Film history from the introduction of sound through the late 1950s. Focuses mostly on the golden age of the Hollywood studios and on alternative developments after World War II in Italy (Neo-Realism), France (the New Wave), and Japan.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 311
CMS 312 History of Film: 1960 - 1988 (5) A&H
Covers the vast changes in filmmaking since 1960. Topics include the continuing influence of the French New Wave, the New German Cinema of the 70s and the "New Hollywood" of the 70s, American independent film of the 80s, and the resurgence of Chinese filmmaking since 1980.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 312
CMS 313 History of Film: 1989-Present (5) A&H
Addresses the latest trends in international filmmaking typically with an emphasis on world cinema and issues of globalization and diaspora. Sometimes taught in conjunction with the Seattle International Film Festival.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 313
CMS 314 History of Television (5) A&H
Covers issues, problems, and themes in the history of televsion. Topic may include changes in television styles and representional forms, television's historical relationship with other media, transitions from broadcast to satellite through cable and digital distribution, and television's changing audiences.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 314
CMS 315 History of New Media (5) A&H
Study of new media histories and methodologies for research, with particular emphasis on new and emergent technologies such as the Internet and other digital forms. Specific media to be analyzed vary.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 315
CMS 320 Cinema and Nation (5, max. 15) A&H
Examines the cinema of a particular national, ethnic or cultural group, with films typically shown in the original language with subtitles. Topics reflect themes and trends in the national cinema being studied. Offered: AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 320
CMS 321 Oppositional Cinema/Media (5) A&H, DIV
Approaches film and related media as socially and politically engaged practice, with focus on screen media produced or received in "opposition" to dominant cultural and entertainment industry norms. Topics vary.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 321
CMS 322 Race, Representation, and Television (5) A&H, DIV
Historical view of race and representation on television in the U.S. by examining a range of television programs across genres from the 1950s to the present day. Recommended: CMS 273 or CMS 274. Offered: W.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 322
CMS 370 Basic Screenwriting (5) A&H
Students develop collaborative critical and creative skills; studying screenwriting manuals and techniques; adapt stories for screenplays; and/or write synopses, treatments, and first acts of their own screenplays.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 370
CMS 395 Study Abroad (1-5, max. 20) A&H
Equivalency for 300-level CMS courses taken on UW Study Abroad programs or direct exchanges.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 395
CMS 397 Special Topics in Cinema and Media Studies (3-5, max. 10) A&H/SSc
Varying topics relating to film in social contexts. Offered by resident or visiting faculty.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 397
CMS 423 East European Film (5, max. 15) A&H
Studies major East European film makers who left their countries at some point in their careers. Compares East European and Western production of those directors who worked partially in the West. Offered: jointly with SLAVIC 423.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 423
CMS 470 Advanced Screenwriting (5) A&H
Students hone their understanding of screenwriting techniques; enhance their editing/critiquing skills; and develop their own screenplays, synopses, and treatments of various genres, including but not limited to silent, poetic, dramatic, and news-based scripts. Course overlaps with: T FILM 450. Prerequisite: CMS 370.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 470
CMS 480 Senior Capstone (5) A&H
Capstone course in cinema and media studies. Includes research, creative, and/or reflective project. Topics vary. Prerequisite: CMS 301.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 480
CMS 490 Directed Study or Research (1-5, max. 10)
Individual study of topics in cinema and media studies by arrangement with the instructor and the Comparative Literature, Cinema, and Media Department advising office.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 490
CMS 491 Internship (1-5, max. 12)
Supervised experience in local businesses and other agencies. Open to upper-division cinema and media studies majors with approval of departmental internship supervisor.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 491
CMS 497 Special Topics in Cinema and Media Studies (3-5, max. 10) A&H
Varying topics in cinema studies. Offered by resident or visiting faculty.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 497
CMS 520 Methods and Issues in Cinema and Media Studies (5)
Provides a basic grounding in the theory, history, and criticism of film and media studies, and introduces central debates, topics, and methods in the field.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 520
CMS 525 Cinema and Media Studies Pedagogy (5, max. 10)
Pedagogical approaches to cinema and media studies. Introduces teaching tools, technologies and modes of practice. Offered: AWSp.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 525
CMS 570 Media Lab (5, max. 30)
Practical approaches to cinema and media studies. May include archival research, production of videographic or audiographic criticism, film programming, public scholarship, or hands-on work with media devices and technologies. Offered: AWSp.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 570
CMS 571 National Frameworks (5, max. 30)
Approaches to national, transnational, global, diasporic, and/or regional cinemas and media. Content varies.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 571
CMS 572 Historiography (5, max. 30)
Assessment of processes through which film and/or media histories are constructed. Incorporates methodologies for retrieving and analyzing primary materials relevant to course subject matter. Content varies. Offered: AWSp.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 572
CMS 573 Aesthetics (5, max. 30)
Inquiry into such areas as the sensory perception, cultural valuation, or close analysis of cinema and media. Formal, theoretical, and philosophical approaches. Content varies. Offered: AWSp.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 573
CMS 590 Master of Arts Essay (5/10, max. 10)
Research and writing project under the supervision of a faculty member. Offered: jointly with C LIT 590; AWSpS.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 590
CMS 597 Special Topics in Cinema and Media Studies (3-5, max. 15)
Varying topics in cinema and media studies. Offered by resident or visiting faculty.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 597
CMS 599 Special Seminar or Conference (1-9, max. 30)
Group seminars or individual conferences scheduled to meet special needs. Prerequisite: permission of graduate program adviser. Offered: jointly with C LIT 599.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 599
CMS 600 Independent Study or Research (*-)
Offered: jointly with C LIT 600.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 600
CMS 800 Doctoral Dissertation (*-)
Offered: jointly with C LIT 800.
View course details in MyPlan: CMS 800
