Film and Digital Media Elective Courses
Elective Courses Spring 2022,
Summer/Fall 2022
Film Production
Script Supervision
If everyone hates you, you are doing it right. Script supervision is one of the most
essential and thankless tasks on a film set. But a good script supervisor is worth
whatever you need to pay. Script supervisors often create and review all pre-production
paperwork, in addition to their real job: watching every move actors make and listening
to every word they speak. If takes don’t match, editors can’t edit. Production has
wasted time and money…mainly money. Eliminating such waste is the reason script supervisors
are among the privileged few who can immediately approach directors and cinematographers
and sound mixers on set. If you are detail oriented, work well under pressure, and
keep cool while your comrades are slowly losing their minds, you qualify. (Internships
available as CSU productions demand.)
223JFLM460
Instructor: T Steppe
Cost: $239
Dates: March 21-April 11
Days: Mondays
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
Sessions: 4
Campus: Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=223JFLM460
224JFLM460
Dates: May 18-June 8
Days: Wednesdays
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
Sessions 4:
Campus: Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=224JFLM460
Production Management
What do assistant directors, production managers, and producers do? How do they set
budgets, keep track of costs, measure time spent, and manage resources? And what are
a production’s legal parameters and ramifications. Welcome to a crash course in the
details that give a production legs and keep it moving forward.
223JFLM465
Instructor: T Steppe
Cost: $239
Dates: February 7-28
Days: Mondays
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
Sessions: 4
Campus: Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=223JFLM465
224JLFM465
Dates: April 13-May4
Days: Wednesdays
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
Sessions: 4
Campus: Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=224JFLM465
Color Theory
The classic film, “The Wizard of Oz,” made obvious the impact of color. Why is Dorothy’s
everyday world colorless and flat, yet her fantasy is vivid and alive? What does that
stylistic choice tell us about Dorothy’s character, her hopes, her dreams, her story?
These and other aspects of color, its effects on our perception and reception of film,
are addressed in this course.
223JFLM475
Instructor: Teresa Steppe
Cost: $189
Dates: March 3-24
Days: Thursday
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
Sessions: 4
Campus: Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=223JFLM475
Crowd Funding Basics
Crowdfunding balances what you need, from whom you need it, and how much time you
have to invest. Your selection always depends on which way you want to go. To help
refine your options, this course explores the types of crowdfunding sites available
(who is their audience?), their fees and policies (how much do they cost?), and their
typical posting needs (how much time do you have?). Potential funding platforms—like
Kickstarter, Patreon, CircleUp, Causes, and LendingClub—form the basis of examination
and discussion. Participants will conduct their own needs assessment and match what
they have with what they want. They will leave with specific “cheat sheets” that summarize
various platform’s potentials and pit-falls and feel more able to make informed decisions.
Contract training sections are available. Please call 678.466.5085.
223OLFM110, 223OLFM110B, 223OLFM110
(3 separate sessions: January-March 2022)
Instructor: Teresa Steppe
Cost: $160
Time: 6:30-8:30pm
Sessions: 1
Medium: Online
Dates:
January 12, 2022, Thursday
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=223OLFM110
February 2, 2022, Thursday
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=223OLFM110B
March 14, 2022, Thursday
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=223OLFM110C
224OLFM110, 224OLFM110B, 224OLFM110C
(3 separate sessions: April-June 2022)
Time: 6:30-8:30pm
Sessions: 1
Medium: Online
Dates:
April 14, 2022, Thursday
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=224OLFM110
May 20, 2022, Tuesday
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=224OLFM110B
June 6, 2022, Monday
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=224OLFM110C
Directing Actors for Film
How do directors get the most out of each actor? How can they help actors to give
the performance the story needs? Students examine the role and responsibilities of
the director in each of the phases of directing actors: scripting, casting, creative
work with the actors, and communicating effectively with actors in order to achieve
a specific vision.
223OLFM416
Instructor: Brent Lambert-Zaffino
Cost: $239
Dates: February 3-24
Days: Thursdays
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
Sessions: 4
Medium: Online
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=223OLFM416
224JFLM416
Dates: April 6-27
Days: Wednesdays
Time 6:30-9:30pm
Sessions 4
Campus: Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=224JFLM416
Film Writing Courses
Screenwriting
With a working knowledge of the screenwriter’s craft, students focus on the three
dynamics of a good screenplay or teleplay: Character, dialog, and action. Classroom
discussions focus on examples of plot development, character creation, voice and point
of view. In addition, students participate in practical in-class exercises that focus
on these story creation elements in the context of proper formatting and grammar.
A completed script for a short film or a substantive excerpt for a feature will be
produced by the end of this course.
223JFLM470
Instructor: Teresa Steppe
Cost: $259
Dates: February 9-March 30
Days: Wednesday
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
Sessions: 8
Campus: Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=223JFLM470
Imaginary Worlds
Ask avid readers what they enjoy so much about their favorite genres, and they will
inevitably cite their emersion in a world unlike their own and yet very like their
own. Where do these worlds come from? From writers. Writers create these worlds—their
physical descriptions, properties, and attributes—and their inhabitants—their abilities,
their potential story arcs and adventures, and yes, even their occasional conversations.
All this description becomes a writer’s bible. Students will create a writer’s bible
of their own. They will generate the over-arching story concept. They will practice
potential plotting devices. They will create detailed character biographies and location
geographies.
223OLFM405
Instructor: Thomas Stein
Cost: $239
Dates: March 8-April 12
Days: Tuesdays
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
Sessions: 6
Medium: Online
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=223OLFM405
Documentary Writing: Biography
It is not an interview, but it is. It is not history, but it is. It is not a story,
but it is. It is a life's history--how personality and time intersect. And we can
recount the life history of strangers or family, family pets or wild parrots, the
living or the long-since passed. But what makes for an evocative biography? Certainly,
a daily dairy is not interesting: it is a list. But making those daily details reveal
the importance of the individual to an audience can be very interesting. Students
will examine and discuss selected short biographic documentaries to generate a working
definition of a relevant and engaging life history. Students will use that definition
to script a short life history of a person important to them.
224JFLM471
Instructor: Teresa Steppe
Cost: $169
Dates: April 18-May 23
Days: Mondays
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
Sessions: 6
Campus: Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=224JFLM471
Documentary Writing: Situations
Things happen. Things that excite, amuse, annoy, provoke. How do writers translate
that emotional goading into a filmic experience equally compelling to others? Is it
the action? The voice over? The seeming concern of the narrator? The overwhelming
nature of the event itself? And in writing that event, what constitutes proof? What
is just enough information v. too much v not enough? Students will examine PSAs, news
stories, and short documentaries to determine what makes for a dynamic analysis of
a situation that motivates its audience to act. Students will then craft a series
of PSAs or a short documentary on a situation personally relevant that calls its audience
to action
224JFLM472
Instructor: Teresa Steppe
Cost: $169
Dates: April 21-May 26
Days: Thursdays
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
Sessions: 6
Campus: Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=224JFLM472
Acting Courses
Acting for Film
This course provides actors with an intricate study (both theoretical and practical)
of the fundamentals of “on-camera” acting, including techniques for video auditions.
Through voice, speech, and movement exercises, on-camera assignments, and constructive
analysis of on-camera performances, students will gain the foundational acting tools
and techniques necessary to begin or continue their “on camera” journey as professional
actors.
223OLFM725
Instructor: Shirley Norman
Cost: $249
Dates: March 3-30
Days: Monday & Wednesday
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
Sessions: 8
Medium: Online
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=223OLFM725
224OLFM725
Dates: April 5-28
Days: Tuesdays & Thursdays
Time: 6:30-9:30
Medium: Online
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=224OLFM725
Acting for Presentations
Rarely do job descriptions include "must have on-camera skills." However, in one way
or another, our jobs, especially this year, have required our developing a virtual
presence. Acting Fundamentals for Presentations develops the skills needed by anyone
tasked with developing an on-screen persona and delivery. The 3-hour course walks
presenters through the basics of script structure and breakdown, vocal techniques,
acting techniques, and filming techniques. Contract training sections are available.
Please call 678.466.5085 for information.
223OLFM120
Instructor: Brent Lambert-ZaffinoCost: $249
Date: January 26
Day: Wednesday
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
Sessions: 1
Medium: Online
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=223OLFM416
224OLFM120
Date: April 4
Day: Monday
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
Medium: Online
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=224OLFM120
224OLFM120B
Date: June 20
Day: Monday
Time: 6:30-9:30
Medium: Online
https://aceware.clayton.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=224OLFM120B
Film and Digital Media: Film Production
Film Production Management
What do assistant directors, production managers, and producers do? How do they set budgets, keep track of costs, measure time spent, and manage resources? And what are a production’s legal parameters and ramifications? Welcome to a crash course in the details that give a production legs and keep it moving forward.
Instructor: Teresa Steppe
224JLFM465B | 4 Sessions | $239
Wednesday | 6/1-6/22 | 6:30-9:30pm
CSU Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
231JLFM465 | 4 Sessions | $239
Thursday | 9/8-9/29 | 6:30-9:30pm
CSU Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
Script Supervision
Script supervisors create and review all pre-production paperwork, in addition to their real job: watching every move actors make and listening to every word they speak. If takes don’t match, editors can’t edit. Production has wasted time and money…mainly money. Eliminating such waste is the reason script supervisors are among the privileged few who can immediately approach directors and cinematographers and sound mixers on set. If you are detail oriented, work well under pressure, and keep cool while your comrades are slowly losing their minds, you qualify. (Internships available as CSU productions demand.)
Instructor: Teresa Steppe
224JFLM460 | 4 Sessions | $239
Wednesday | 5/18-6/8 | 6:30-9:30pm
CSU Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
232JFLM460 | 4 Sessions | $239
Thursday | 10/6-10/27 | 6:30-9:30pm
CSU Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
Color Theory
The classic film, The Wizard of Oz, made obvious the impact of color. Why is Dorothy’s everyday world colorless and flat, yet her fantasy is vivid and alive? What does the stylistic choice tell us about Dorothy’s character, dreams, hopes, her story? These and other aspects of color, its effects on our perceptions and reception of film, are addressed in this course
Instructor: Teresa Steppe
232OLFM475A | 4 Sessions | $189
Monday | 11/7-11/28 | 6-9pm
CSU Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
Lighting for Film
In film, stories get told 3 times: on the page, on the screen, in the edit room. This course focuses on lighting as means of not only shaping objects but of story itself. Light can be hard, specular, and direct; it can be soft and diffused. And light has color, inherent color, not tinted or gelled. How do these qualities effect the affect of a scene or a film? Students will study and practice the lighting setups expected by audiences of comedies and dramas and documentaries (etc.) not just to understand how to quickly create the “proper” lighting, but also to understand how to play with audience expectations to craft a visual story not quite as expected.
Instructor: TBD
232JFLM420A | 4 Sessions | $239
Tuesdays | 10/4-10/25 | 6:30-9:30pm
CSU Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
Cameras and Lenses
They told us “going digital” would make our lives easier. Perhaps. But such simplicity also reduced our choices. Initially. Today’s digital film and video cameras come in a variety of configurations with a multiplicity of sensor arrays, lenses, and exposure options. We’re back to the same quandaries: what lens do I use, at what ISO, for which aperture setting to achieve the “look” I want given the camera I have or might soon buy? What does a codec have to do with any of this? And don’t start on focal length! This course helps clear up the confusion by answering some of the whats and hows of digital film and video photography. Students will evaluate and practice with cameras provided, but are very welcome to bring their own.
Instructor: TBD
231JFM421 | 4 Sessions | $239
Tuesdays | 9/6-9/27 | 6:30-9:30pm
CSU Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
Shot by Shot
Just as light affects what we see, so too does where we put our cameras. What’s in the frame? What’s out? Why? How wide is a wide shot? What is a close up? When do we use either to greatest effect. And if we choose “motion,” whether by dolly or by body harness, what effect does it have? This course offers students moments to assess film sequences and design their own.
Instructor: TBD
224JFLM429 | 4 Sessions | $239
Wednesdays | 6/15-7/6 | 6:30-9:30pm
CSU Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
Crowd-funding Basics
Crowdfunding balances what you need, from whom you need it, and how much time you have to invest. Your selection always depends on which way you want to go. To help refine your options, this course explores the types of crowdfunding sites available (who is their audience?), their fees and policies (how much do they cost?), and their typical posting needs (how much time do you have?). Potential funding platforms—like Kickstarter, Patreon, CircleUp, Causes, and LendingClub—form the basis of examination and discussion. Participants will conduct their own needs assessment and match what they have with what they want. They will leave with specific “cheat sheets” that summarize various platform’s potentials and pit-falls and feel more able to make informed decisions. Contract training sessions are available. Please call 678.466.5114 for contract training information.
Instructor: Teresa Steppe
1 Session | $160 | Online
224OLFM110B | 5/11 | Wednesday | 6:30-9:30pm
224OLFM110C | 6/6 | Monday | 6:30-9:30
232OLFM110D | 10/10 | Monday | 6:30-9:30
232OLFM110E | 12/5 | Monday | 6:30-9:30
Film and Digital Media: Writing
Voices In Your Head
Some stories are born from inciting incidents. The action carries you and your characters along in a series of adventures that reach their inevitable climax. Some stories begin with that annoying voice in your ear, the one that won’t silence until you write it out. Obviously, that voice is urgent and distinct. But how do you make distinct the other voices, those of the characters swept along by the adventure? Students, after examining examples, will craft a series of monologues and conversations that practice the use of verbal tics and motifs, accents and dialects, sentence metrics and rhythms to create distinct character voices worthy of carrying, as opposed to being carried away by, the action. Words, which ones and how said, are important.
Instructor: Teresa Steppe
231JFLM408 | 6 sessions | $239
Tuesdays | 7/12-8/16 | 6:30-9:30pm
CSU Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
232JFLM408 | 6 sessions | $239
Thursdays | 11/3-12/15 | 6:30-9:30pm
CSU Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
Documentary Writing: Biography
It is not an interview, but it is. It is not history, but it is. It is not a story, but it is. It is a life's history--how personality and time intersect. And we can recount the life history of strangers or family, family pets or wild parrots, the living or the long-since passed. But what makes for an evocative biography? Certainly, a daily diary is not interesting: it is a list. But making those daily details reveal the importance of the individual to an audience can be very interesting. Students will examine and discuss selected short biographic documentaries to generate a working definition of a relevant and engaging life history. Students will use that definition to script a short life history of a person.
Instructor: Teresa Steppe
224JFLM471 | 6 Sessions | $239
Monday | 4/18-5/23 | 6:30-9:30pm
CSU Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
Documentary Writing: Situation
This course addresses how writers translate everyday situations, whether amusing or annoying, into a compelling film experience. Through voiceover and action, students will examine PSAs, news stories, and short documentaries to determine what makes for a dynamic analysis of a situation that motivates its audience to act. Students then craft a series a series of PSAs or a short documentary on a situation personally relevant that calls its audience to action.
Instructor: Teresa Steppe
224JFLM472 | 6 Sessions | $239
Thursday | 4/21-5/26 | 6:30-9:30pm
CSU Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
Imaginary worlds
Ask avid readers what they enjoy so much about their favorite genres, and they will inevitably cite their emersion in a world unlike their own and yet very like their own. Writers create these worlds—their physical descriptions, properties, and attributes—and their inhabitants—their abilities, their potential story arcs and adventures, and yes, even their occasional conversations. All this description becomes a writer’s bible. In this course, students will create a writer’s bible in preparation for world building of their own.
Instructor: TBA
232OLFM405A | 4 Sessions | $239
Wednesday | 10/5-10/26 | 6:30-9:30pm | Online
Writing for Graphic Media
Like comedy, comic books and cartoons are not easy. This course explores the options for scripting media that merges pictures and words into seamless wholes…unless, of course, the seams are the message. Students will script short sequences using traditional and A/V script formats.
Instructor: Mark Smith
231OLFM479 | 8 Sessions | $299
Thursdays | 8/4-9/22 | 6-9pm | Online
Prose into Pictures
This course is intended for individuals who have some experience with script writing. Students will focus on adapting materials from sources to begin to craft a short screenplay: these sources might be news stories, other narratives, poems, any event/story that is not “original.” Students will craft a scene for a screen play, particular emphasis will be placed on the process of crafting: the use of storyboards and A/V scripts, shot lists and/or lined scripts, to merge prose into pictures.
Instructor: Teresa Steppe
231JFLM473A | 6 Sessions | $239
Thursdays | 7/7-8/11 | 6:30-9:30
CSU Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
232JFLM473A | 6 Sessions |
Wednesdays | 11/2-12/14 | 6:30-9:30
CSU Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
Film and Digital Media: Directing
Directing Actors
How do directors get the most out of each actor? How can they help actors to give the performance the story needs? Students examine the role and responsibilities of the director in each of the phases of directing actors: scripting, casting, and creative work with the actors, and communicating effectively with the actors in order to achieve a specific vision.
Instructor: Brent Lambert Zaffino
231JFLM416 | 4 Sessions | $239
Wednesdays | 9/7-9/28 | 6:30-9:30pm
CSU Lucy Huie Hall, Jonesboro
Directing Interviews
Interviews are everywhere, and not just in the news. We see them in documentaries, reality TV, social media, commercials, and on corporate websites. But just because they are everywhere does not mean that they are easy to do. Directing interview is not as simple as asking questions. It typically involves a great deal of preparation and research. Directing interviews also requires the ability to be an active listener. The goal of this seminar is to show students how to prep and conduct an interview on a variety of topics and in a variety of situations, culminating in the presentation and evaluation of student-to-student interviews.
Instructor: Brent Lambert Zaffino
232OLFM417 | 4 Sessions | $239
Wednesdays | 10/5-10/26 | 6:30-9:30pm | Online
Directing Comedies
Make ‘em laugh. But how? Comedy is serious business. Finding a script, targeting an audience, coaching actors, working on timing and delivery. Comedy is a intricate dance whose choreography shapes mind and body into patterns both known and unknown, ultimately making the familiar new, amusing, and a little provoking.
Instructor: Brent Lambert Zaffino
232OLFM401 | 4 Sessions | $239
Tuesdays | 11/1-11/22 | 6:30-9:30pm | Online
Film and Digital Media: Editing
AfterEffects
This course introduces students to the creative
power of AfterEffects. Through a combination of lecture and hands-on learning, students will develop the basic skill set needed to navigate the AE interface; to import clips and render exports; to effectively keyframe and mask and blend; to create shapes and use motion tools for animation effects; to track and stabilize video.
Instructor: Mark Smith
224OLFM430 | 8 Sessions | $329
Tues & Thurs | 6/7-6/30 | 6-9pm | Online
Film and Digital Media: Performance
Improvisation for Actors
The Meisner Method prepares actors to focus on character development through their understanding of characters’ wants and needs. By defining and identifying characters, actors come to empathize with how and why characters make the choices they do and what will move the story forward. Combining Meisner training with improvisation gets rid of the memorization of long passages and allows actors to focus on their character’s motivations and the motives of the characters around them. Actors will work through a series of excises that enhance their comfort with improvisation, with spontaneously accessing emotion, and with developing personal responses to a scripted character.
224OLFM700A | 8 Sessions | $239
Mon & Wed | 5/2-5/25 | 6-9pm | Online
231OLFM700A | 8 Sessions | $239
Mon & Wed | 7/6-8/1 | 6-9pm | Online
231OLFM700B | 8 Sessions | $239
Tue & Thur | 8/9-9/1 | 6-9pm | Online
232OLFM700A | 8 Sessions | $239
Mon & Wed | 10/3-10/26 | 6-9pm Online
Acting for Presentations
Rarely do job descriptions include “must have on-camera skills.” However, in one way or another, our jobs require our developing a virtual presence. Acting Fundamentals for Professionals develops the skills needed by anyone tasked with developing an on-screen persona and delivery. The 3-hour course walks presenters through the basics of script structure and breakdown, vocal techniques, acting techniques, and filming techniques.
Instructor: Brent Lambert-Zaffino
224OLFM120B | 1 Session | $259
Monday | 6/20 | 6:30-9:30pm | Online
232OLFM120 | 1 Session | $259
Monday | 12/12 | 6:30-9:30pm | Online
Voiceover: Target your Purpose
Assessing needs, the script’s needs, the audience’s needs and your employer’s needs, is a balancing act. Making everyone happy demands compromise. Students will analyze and perform short commercial scripts for content and affect, targeting their purpose as interpreter, presenter, and performer.
Instructor: Kozmo Miller
224OLFM535A | 6 Sessions | $599 231OLFM535A | 6 Sessions | $599
Thursday | 5/5-6/9 | 6:30-9:30 | Online Wednesday | 8/3-9/14 | 6:30-9:30 |Online
232OLFM535A | 6 Sessions | $599
Thursday | 11/3-12/15 | 6:30-9:30 | Online