DRA 106 Film Appreciation: Introduction to Film
3 hours, 3 credits
An introduction to the popular art, the movie. An introduction to basic concepts leading to a greater appreciation of film forms, an elaboration and elucidation of selected films.
DRA 243 Black Female Sexuality in Film
3 hours, 3 credits
This course examines how film both reflects and shapes the perception of society about the sexuality of black women. It explores three black film movements — the pre-Civil Rights era; the 1970s
Blaxploitation era; and the black film culture that has emerged since the 1980s — from an historical, sociological, and psychological perspective, illustrating each movement with screenings and discussion. Films are examined from their cultural archetypal
“feminine” coding, their “messages” and influence, and how audiences responded to them. The course will also examine films from the economic and social context in which they were made and the conditions under which they were produced. Students will expand their media literacy skills by learning to develop a critical eye as consumers of media images.
Prerequisites: ENG 101, SPE 113, and sophomore standing
DRA 261 Video Production Basics
4 hours, 4 credits This pre-professional course teaches the fundamentals of video production. Students will learn practical techniques for story development, develop skills in camera operation and sound recording, and become proficient in computer-based editing on Final
Cut Pro software. Workshop sessions focus on hands-on experience with the equipment, the analysis of clips from award-winning films and the application of knowledge and creativity to individual and group video projects. The ethical implications of the choices made when producing videos are explored.
Prerequisites: ENG 101, SPE 113
DRA 301 Directing
3 hours, 3 credits
Introduction to the directing of plays: script analysis, coordination of production elements, consideration of styles and composition, actor relations, rehearsals, blocking and mounting the play.
Prerequisites: ENG 102 or 201
DRA 346 Documentary Film and Media
3 hours, 3 credits
This course provides an introduction to the history of documentary film and the role it plays in shaping our understanding of the world around us. Through the study of documentary film and TV, docudramas and fictional mockumentaries, students will explore the role nonfiction media plays in establishing truths and shaping social realities. This course will explore how forms of documentary media forms present viewers with an argument about the nature of the world around them; examine the role of documentary images as evidence; explore the creative processes that underlie all nonfiction media making; and examine the ethics of documentary making. To deepen their media literacy and understanding of truth and fiction in the media, students will view documentary films and videos and read popular and scholarly texts exploring the historical and theoretical aspects of documentary film and non-fiction media.
Prerequisites: ENG 102 or ENG 201, DRA 106
DRA 399 Film Criticisms
3 hours, 3 credits
In this course students will master a range of approaches to the study of the cinema.
They will watch and study individual films, including thrillers, comedies, musicals and horror movies, and study film movements and national cinemas, such as Asian action films, Bollywood dramas, European art cinema, feminist filmmaking, and cinema from developing nations. Students will apply a range of critical and theoretical approaches to these films and cinema movements, such as historical criticism, auteur theory, genre study, rhetoric, feminist and Marxist criticism, queer theory, postcolonial, and aesthetic theory. Students will generate written and verbal studies of film and deepen their critical, argumentation, and reasoning skills through participation in classroom debates and discussions. The topics explored will vary from semester-to-semester depending on the instructor’s area of specialization.