Intermediate Film is a year-long course emphasizing technical production in sync sound film making. Theoretical concerns and cinematic techniques are stressed. We explore concepts of (and the relationships between) narrative, documentary and experimental filmmaking. The first half of the Fall semester, students work in assigned teams, completing a series of short exercises. In the second half of the term, class members individually create their own longer films for final projects. Students screen their work in class at various stages of completion: rushes, rough cuts, and fine cuts. In addition, there are weekly screenings of works by relevant filmmakers. Participation in class discussions is required.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $500.00 Deposit $150.00

Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.

Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video | Live Action

Intermediate Film is a year-long course emphasizing technical production in sync sound film making. Theoretical concerns and cinematic techniques are stressed. We explore concepts of (and the relationships between) narrative, documentary and experimental filmmaking. The first half of the Fall semester, students work in assigned teams, completing a series of short exercises. In the second half of the term, class members individually create their own longer films for final projects. Students screen their work in class at various stages of completion: rushes, rough cuts, and fine cuts. In addition, there are weekly screenings of works by relevant filmmakers. Participation in class discussions is required.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $500.00 Deposit $150.00

Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.

Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video | Live Action

In Video Practices, students will work with digital video cameras, sound recorders and microphones, and editing and color correction software. Through projects, screenings, in-class assignments, and readings, students will explore key concepts in digital moving-image making to build, expand, and deepen their time-based practice.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $60.00

Deposit: $150.00

Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.

Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video

In Video Practices, students will work with digital video cameras, sound recorders and microphones, and editing and color correction software. Through projects, screenings, in-class assignments, and readings, students will explore key concepts in digital moving-image making to build, expand, and deepen their time-based practice.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $60.00

Deposit: $150.00

Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.

Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video

In this course students explore the fundamentals of animated movement, timing, and materials through various animation techniques, including working directly on film, drawing on paper, pixilation, cut-out animation, and modified-base processes. Over the course of the semester, students will create six short animations and a wide range of animated films will be studied to augment the student's understanding of the field.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $40.00

Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.

Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video

In this course students explore the fundamentals of animated movement, timing, and materials through various animation techniques, including working directly on film, drawing on paper, pixilation, cut-out animation, and modified-base processes. Over the course of the semester, students will create six short animations and a wide range of animated films will be studied to augment the student's understanding of the field.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $40.00

Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.

Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video

In this course students explore the fundamentals of animated movement, timing, and materials through various animation techniques, including working directly on film, drawing on paper, pixilation, cut-out animation, and modified-base processes. Over the course of the semester, students will create six short animations and a wide range of animated films will be studied to augment the student's understanding of the field.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $40.00

Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.

Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video

The intermediate year of animation study witnesses a significant transformation, in which the student grows from novice to independent director. This year-long studio develops an integrated understanding of the diverse aesthetic tools of animation, and teaches students directing for the animation medium. The course is comprised of four elements. First, weekly in-class structured experiments and homework awaken and refine the student's understanding of movement, timing, writing, editing, sound design, art directing, and use of materials. Second, students receive technical training in 2D animation production. Third, students screen and discuss animated works spanning history, culture, and design approach. Fourth, each student designs, animates, directs, and produces two independent projects, one in the fall and one in the spring.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $300.00 Deposit: $150.00

Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.

Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video | Animation

The intermediate year of animation study witnesses a significant transformation, in which the student grows from novice to independent director. This year-long studio develops an integrated understanding of the diverse aesthetic tools of animation, and teaches students directing for the animation medium. The course is comprised of four elements. First, weekly in-class structured experiments and homework awaken and refine the student's understanding of movement, timing, writing, editing, sound design, art directing, and use of materials. Second, students receive technical training in 2D animation production. Third, students screen and discuss animated works spanning history, culture, and design approach. Fourth, each student designs, animates, directs, and produces two independent projects, one in the fall and one in the spring.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $300.00 Deposit: $150.00

Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.

Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video | Animation

The intermediate year of animation study witnesses a significant transformation, in which the student grows from novice to independent director. This year-long studio develops an integrated understanding of the diverse aesthetic tools of animation, and teaches students directing for the animation medium. The course is comprised of four elements. First, weekly in-class structured experiments and homework awaken and refine the student's understanding of movement, timing, writing, editing, sound design, art directing, and use of materials. Second, students receive technical training in 2D animation production. Third, students screen and discuss animated works spanning history, culture, and design approach. Fourth, each student designs, animates, directs, and produces two independent projects, one in the fall and one in the spring.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $300.00 Deposit: $150.00

Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.

Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video | Animation

This is a course demonstrating and exploring the basic techniques of Stop-Motion Puppet Animation, with the intent to provide students with hands-on creative experience in learning the potentials of the medium, and an introduction to filmic language. Studio exercises strengthen individual technical skills in basic armature construction and model making, animating pose-to-pose movement, the basic walk, expressions and gestures, clay animation with lip-sync, set construction and lighting for three-dimensional animation. Basic sound recording, mixing and editing are also covered. Conceptual skills are exercised through exploring intent, storytelling, storyboarding, editorial concepts, character performance, art direction, and basic sound design. This class is based on process and experimentation. It is meant to provide a strong foundation in the basics of stop-motion animation filmmaking, as well as the confidence to experiment further in one's future work. The idea is to enjoy the process by understanding it; control is born of experimentation and experience. This is a one semester class repeated in the spring.

Estimated Cost of Materials Cost: $40.00

Elective

Students in this course become engaged with sound as a partner in the language of time-based media. Through selected screenings, readings, and concept-driven design projects, the students develop ideas they can use as design principles in planning and working with sound. In addition, students get a hands-on overview of working with sound in a contemporary production environment, focusing on microphones, field recorders, and DAW software. Students learn to be better listeners and to be aware of how sound affects their perception of the world around them, as well as becoming technically competent to execute their creative ideas.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00

Deposit: $150.00

Elective

This year-long video production studio focuses on the possibilities of the video medium and the development of an individualized practice within it. Students will be exposed to a wide range of forms including but not limited to single-channel production, installation, performance, documentary, and digital cinema.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $125.00 Deposit: $150.00

Department permission is required to register for this course; this course is not available via web registration. Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.

Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video | Open Media

This course identifies core principles of digital production, to enable students to continually adapt to the ever-changing world of software. Students research and produce artworks that demonstrate their understanding of these principles. This primary knowledge includes digital film and video formats, project asset management, compression techniques, understanding program interface design, color spaces, channel mixing and filters, and the creation and use of extra channels (such as alpha and depth).

Estimated Cost of Materials: $30.00

Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.

Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video

This course identifies core principles of digital production, to enable students to continually adapt to the ever-changing world of software. Students research and produce artworks that demonstrate their understanding of these principles. This primary knowledge includes digital film and video formats, project asset management, compression techniques, understanding program interface design, color spaces, channel mixing and filters, and the creation and use of extra channels (such as alpha and depth).

Estimated Cost of Materials: $30.00

Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.

Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video

This course is an examination of all forms of writing relevant to film and media creation. This includes a thorough study of traditional 'story film' screenwriting, as well as writing techniques for documentary production and preproduction writing problems, such as proposals, treatments, and outlines. It is also a study of nontraditional writing problems in filmmaking: writing for nonlinear or experimental films, writing for a framework for improvisation, using text as a direct generator of filmed work, and even using text as the content of film. And last, but certainly not least, there is considerable attention paid to developing skills in critical writing. By the end of this course, students will have a portfolio of written work, including a polished draft of a short film or long-form first act, which demonstrates a wide variety of techniques for relating the written word to media.

Estimated Materials Cost: $25.00

Elective

The course will teach lighting, modeling and animation, with an emphasis on basic principles as they relate to 3D tools. The overall goal of this course is to generalize the study of the 3D world and to give students basic problem-solving skills needed for continued use of 3D animation software. After a series of lectures covering the basics of navigating the interface, each student produces a short animation. Each student has focused, individual time with the instructor. The class will be taught in Blender, but students who demonstrate a sufficient proficiency in other suitable packages may elect to use them for some assignments.

Course may be repeated once for credit.

Elective

In the Directing class, the ongoing focus throughout the semester is an exploration of the methods of communication between directors and actors. Students are encouraged to go beyond the first instinct or idea, and to develop a project to its fullest potential, particularly with respect to meaning and to potential modes of execution. Students work on a variety of scenes throughout the semester, complete several short assignments during and outside of class, and read handouts and excerpts from texts. Students direct: (1) each other, (2) young actors from the Carriage House School, (3) professional actors from the community (brought in for two classes), and (4) actors of their choosing for final projects. As they direct rehearsals, students utilize a variety of specific tools that enable them to maximize the creativity and fertility of their relationships with actors, and to make adjustments in performances quickly and effectively. The latter third of the semester also focuses on techniques for script analysis. These are used to discover the range of creative possibilities in a given text, and to thoroughly prepare and organize directors for rehearsals and shoots. An ongoing, general goal of the course is also for each student to reflect upon and identify their personal themes as a director.

Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.

Elective

This course is a study of the theories and methods of character design as applied to narrative forms. This class asks students to push beyond stereotypical designs to develop two-dimensional characters that are both personally and culturally resonant and imaginative. Particular emphasis is placed on the expressive power of abstract forms and color. Through exploring individual perceptions of good and evil, success and failure, as well as beauty and ugliness, students create characters that are highly original. Research, thorough craftsmanship, and sophisticated design are stressed.

Elective

This studio investigates monitor and projector based installation through critical readings and studio practice. Emphasis is placed on concerns of material, site, space and interactivity. The course revisits the television monitor and television viewing context as the original video installation site. Students also explore the projector and projection beam, including its shape and volume, capacity to serve as a pure light source and as a means of resurfacing three-dimensional objects. Active installation artists visit the class for lectures and critiques.

Estimated Materials Cost: $150.00 Deposit: $150.00

Elective