Curriculum for Filmmaking Major

Your career in filmmaking begins now with Champlain’s Upside-Down Curriculum. Discover the difference that doing on day one has on your success.

Filmmaking Curriculum

Our Upside-Down Curriculum is designed to prepare filmmaking students to foster the creative and master the technical skills of filmmaking. It offers a strong foundation in film history, hands-on experience with cutting-edge production software and cameras, and a study of the business side of film, comprehensively preparing you for success in the film industry.

The curriculum covers a wide range of topics, including audio production for film, cinematography, lighting, production management, the business of film, video compositing and special effects, documentary filmmaking, and integrative film practices. Students gain a deep understanding of the filmmaking process and the . Plus, it emphasizes a hands-on approach to learning, giving you opportunities to engage in production projects and field experiences that provide practical applications of filmmaking concepts and skills. Students in this program are so prepared, they often snag paid gigs in the community after just one year in the program.

Interested in studying abroad for a semester? We’ve designed the curriculum so you can take a semester studying abroad without getting behind on required courses for your major.

Learning Outcomes for Filmmaking

First Year
Fall Semester
- FLM 110 Filmmaking, Introduction to
- COM 120 Media and Society
- MTH XXX Math Elective
- COR 101 Navigating Higher Education
- COR 102 First Year Inquiry: Reading, Writing, &
Spring Semester
Second Year
Fall Semester
Spring Semester
Third Year
Fall Semester
- FLM 315 Filmmaking II
- FLM 330 Video Compositing and Special Effects
- XXX FLM Elective or General Elective
- COR 301 Core Foundations: Connecting Place and Identity
- COR 302 Field Methods
Spring Semester
- CCC 310 Integrative Film Practies
- FLM 260 Documentary Filmmaking
- SCI XXX Science w/Lab
- COR 303 Core Foundations: Connecting Past and Present
- COR 304 Digital Methods
Fourth Year
Fall Semester
- FLM 301 Topics in Cinema
- FLM 415 Filmmaking III
- FLM XXX FLM Elective
- FLM XXX FLM Production Elective
Spring Semester
- CCC 410FLM College Capstone:Filimmaking
- CCM 493 Communication and Creative Media Internship —OR—
  CCM XXX CCM Elective
- XXX General Elective
- XXX Upper-Level Media Theory Course
- XXX Media/Cinema Studies Elective

In this course students are introduced to the language of film. Through a combination of lectures, screenings, readings, discussions, and film exercises, students will investigate the fundamentals of screenwriting, producing, directing, composition, sound design, and editing. Students will be exposed to documentary, narrative feature, short and web series, and experimental films from around the world representing different perspectives and experiences. They will explore the evolving landscape of production and the social impact of filmmaking.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

This course is an introduction to the electronic, film and print media and their functions. It includes an examination of the background, organization, current influence and future trends of books, newspapers, radio, film, audio recordings, television and the internet. Contemporary problems of the media are covered such as the legal, social, economic and psychological implications of their relationships with society. Application of advertising and public relations and their use of the eight mass media outlets are addressed.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Why go to college? What does it mean to be educated? In this course you'll begin to answer these questions. We'll explore the academic expectations of higher education, college as a diverse community, and the significance of education around the world. By examining how these issues are negotiated and implemented at Champlain and elsewhere, you'll gain perspective on your own education and a deeper understanding of the ways that the college experience can be both liberating and transformative.

Prerequisites	Take Cor-102 concurrently.
Credits	3

Inquiry is about learning how to ask the right kinds of questions, and figuring out how to answer those questions through discussion and reflection. This course introduces you to the types of inquiry necessary to succeed at Champlain and beyond. You will explore the intersections of reading, writing, and thinking by focusing on a specific topic or theme. You will approach that focus through the interrogation of relevant texts and analysis that draws upon multiple analytical frameworks. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-one

Prerequisites	Take COR-101 concurrently.
Credits	3

Through weekly film screenings and critical exposure to a variety of films, students' will develop their ability to analyze and discuss various aspects of the film craft, including screenwriting, cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing, sound, and acting. Students will learn to look at films closely, critically, and analytically. This course must be taken three times for credit.

Prerequisites
Credits	1

This course covers the theory and practice of field/location and studio audio recording for motion pictures. Students learn techniques in the use of field/studio recorders and mixers, microphones, and boom poles. The class covers digital recorders, time-code synchronization management, foley recording, and additional dialogue replacement (ADR). Students will complete two (2) sound recording projects by the end of the course.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

This course provides an introduction to screenwriting. In seminar and writing workshop style, students will read and discuss short and feature-length screenplays, including their own works-in-progress, as well as compare scripts to their final films. Students will learn basic structures of screenplays, character development, conflict, dialogue writing, industry standards for script formatting and ways to ignite their creative spark. Students will complete one short film script.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

This course focuses on cinematic storytelling, and explores digital video cinematography techniques for both studio and field. Students will familiarize themselves with multiple digital video camera formats. Students will also use lighting equipment, determine set and lighting needs, block scenes, and become familiar with topics including film space, continuity, lenses, color, filters, and camera control. Over the course of the semester, students will collaborate to produce a number of short works in both field and studio environments.

Prerequisites	Take FLM-110 or BRD-110
Credits	3

What makes an argument good or bad? What counts as evidence in our post-truth world? How can you understand and assess the truth value of a claim when you're not an expert? In this course you'll learn rhetorical strategies about how to examine arguments and types of evidence in different disciplines and fields of study. To help learn these strategies, you will do close readings of texts from a variety of disciplines in the liberal arts and sciences, popular culture, and social media.

Prerequisites	Take COR-104 concurrently.
Credits	3

This course introduces you to interdisciplinary inquiry using applied, project-based, and/or experiential methods. Regardless of the specific course focus, you'll have opportunities for making and doing interdisciplinary knowledge creation through a variety of approaches and activities. You will collaborate with other students, iterate on ideas, and work to develop a project. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-one

Prerequisites	Take Cor-103 concurrently.
Credits	3

Prerequisites
Credits	1

Through an overview of film history and aesthetics, students will explore film history from 1895 to 1949. The class will watch and discuss experimental, narrative, and documentary films from various countries, genres, movements, and directors/producers/screenwriters.

Prerequisites	Must complete 12 credits before taking this course.
Credits	3

Through a combination of classroom instruction and project-based work, students will learn and gain command of industry standard software and fluidly demonstrate picture editing, sound design, transitions, and professional workflow. Students will view and analyze the work of master editors and apply these techniques to their individual projects. The class will be exposed to the editing process in experimental, documentary, and narrative feature and short pieces.

Prerequisites	Complete FLM-110 or BRD-110.
Credits	3

The course provides student filmmakers with practical tools for working with actors. Students will be introduced to different acting techniques, participate in acting exercises, and direct and act in scenes. Students will analyze texts, break down scripts, and identify subtext.

Prerequisites	Take FLM-128 or CREM Major.
Credits	3

Science holds an elevated place in society. The knowledge and meaning that science makes are seen as having a particular and special value. This course explores knowledge and meaning making in order to allow a thoughtful analysis of, and then engagement with, science as a way of knowing, and then engages with the methods and theories of the sciences themselves, to understand the analytical, creative, and generative possibilities of science.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

While each section of COR 202 addresses a different problem, issue, or topic, they all focus on interdisciplinary research. You will collect, analyze, and assess information from different disciplines in order to recognize patterns, contextualize arguments and synthesize ideas while collaborating on a project. Emphasis will be placed on helping you translate and apply what you learn about interdisciplinary research to other professional contexts. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-two

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

Prerequisites
Credits	1

A continued overview of film history and aesthetics, this course picks up where Film History I (FLM 210) leaves off by exploring film history from 1950 to present day. The class will watch and discuss experimental, narrative, and documentary films from various countries, genres, movements, and directors/producers/screenwriters.

Prerequisites	Take FLM-210 OR any COR-2XX.
Credits	3

Each student will make their own narrative short with a maximum five minute run time. Before principal photography begins the class will focus on script writing, pitching, production management, risk management, crew responsibilities, location sound recording, and casting. Upon completion of the production phase students will screen and critique dailies, rough cuts, and final cuts. Students will strengthen their collaborative and storytelling skills.

Prerequisites	Film majors only. Complete FLM-225 and FLM-230.
Credits	3

Students will explore the role of assistant director and unit production manager through an in-depth study and practice of breaking down a feature script, budgeting, and creating a production schedule. Students will become adept with industry-standard production management software that is integral to film production. This course is designed for students who aspire to be film directors.

Prerequisites	Complete 36 credits.
Credits	3

This course examines the changing landscape of the moving image industry, highlighting areas where film and business intersect, including funding, promotion, international co-production norms, tax breaks and other incentive programs, festivals, grants, distribution options, and career pathways.

Prerequisites	Must complete 36 credits before taking this course.
Credits	3

Culture impacts everything we do, experience, and learn, but what is culture? Where does it come from, how does it form, and why does it have such a wide and deep impact on people's lives? This course explores culture as a system of meaning and meaning-making in order to allow for a more thoughtful analysis of, and then engagement with, cultural texts and media using different methodological approaches.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

In this course, you will go in depth about a theoretical perspective that asks you to interrogate systems of power and power relationships. You will learn about the history of that perspective, including how it too was shaped by multiple contexts and compares with other viewpoints. You will use that perspective to analyze a specific topic, collection of texts, or cultural phenomena. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-two

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

Students will pitch, write scripts, and shoot, either individually or in small teams, a film with a maximum eight minute run time. By creating a documentary, narrative, or experimental film, students will develop skills in production design, which includes set design, costume, make-up, props, and color scheme. The focus will be on directing, with an emphasis on working with actors and crew. These skills, along with advanced cinematography and sound design, will enable students to enhance production quality and express their vision.

Prerequisites	FLM-215
Credits	3

This course introduces students to special effects and compositing. Through classroom instruction and project-based work, students will learn and gain command of industry standard software. By the end of the semester, students will have the ability to skillfully demonstrate the use of effects, animation, keying, motion graphics, and color correction.

Prerequisites	Complete FLM-230
Credits	3

Where we are shapes how we understand ourselves and each other. In this course, we will dig into the relationship between place and identity. We will learn how to think spatially, recognizing how one's identity is situated within and constructed through movement through different spaces--be they natural and built environments, rural and urban, or actual and virtual. COR 301 will help us understand the complex meanings of identity in a world defined by movement and change.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Field methods are a collection of practices used in the sciences, arts, and humanities to understand phenomena in situ or as it is happening in a specific time and place. In this course, we will apply one or more field methods to research a topic, theme, or question that varies by section. We will learn practices associated with research in the field including but not limited to participant observation, data collection, and experimentation in order to navigate an uncontrolled environment. We will also examine the power dynamics between the researcher, informant, and subject matter to help us understand how, if not practiced ethically, field methods can create or reinforce biases rather than helping us learn with and make sense of the world around us. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-three

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Integrative thinking is an integral part of creative work, and is one the competencies of which students must demonstrate mastery in the senior Capstone course. In this 1 credit course, students will explore and apply integrative thinking to filmmaking in general, will create a preliminary proposal for their senior film that demonstrates their use of integrative thinking, and will examine some concepts of ethics in the filmmaking profession.

Prerequisites	Film majors only. Take FLM-315 as a pre-requisite or co-requisite.
Credits	1

Students will study and practice documentary writing, camera use, location sound recording, lighting, picture and sound editing, pre-production techniques, and the art of the interview while exploring the craft of documentary filmmaking with a focus on social impact and personal expression. Students will apply creative common and fair use options and create an individually or small group produced short form documentary as a final project.

Prerequisites	Complete FLM-110 or BRD-110.
Credits	3

By learning from the past, we can make sense of the present and prepare for the future. In this course, we will learn how the 21st century has been and continues to be shaped by past social practices, ethical frameworks, power relations, and discourses. COR 303 is a course about how we know what we know about the past, and the ways different narratives about the past shape the present. Making connections between past and present will help us better understand how to live and make decisions in a globalized world defined by constant change.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Digital methods are widely used forms of inquiry that employ technological tools to interrogate research questions important to the humanities and sciences (including the social sciences). Some examples include digital archiving, data mining, and story mapping. In this course, we will use one or more digital methods or tools to research a topic, theme or question that varies by section, with the express purpose of critiquing and reflecting on its application. This includes an examination of the values, flaws, and impacts of the methods or tools we are using, paying particular attention to their ethical implications and power dynamics. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-three

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Topics in Cinema is a rotating-subject course designed to introduce students to a wide range of concepts within the field of film studies. Its scope is broad and changes from semester to semester; topics may include but are not limited to the study of specific filmmakers, specific film genres, certain national cinemas, film movements, or other special topics.

Prerequisites	This course is only open to film majors and film minors. Film majors must complete FLM-210 or COR-2XX and complete 36 credits. Film minors must complete COR-2XX and complete 36 credits.
Credits	3

Students, working individually or as a group, will complete pre-production and principal photography on a portfolio film with a maximum 15 minute run time. The course calls upon all of the techniques and skills acquired in the first three years. The film should demonstrate a marked progression in screenwriting, producing, directing, cinematography, and sound recording. Students will also explore various fundraising avenues.

Prerequisites	DFM-315
Credits	3

The college capstone is an opportunity for students to pursue a self-directed experience in their professional program that intentionally integrates their liberal learning in the Core curriculum with their program learning. In addition to the substantive professional-based hands-on project in this class, the capstone will include a professional ethics component and a self-evaluation/self-reflection component.

Prerequisites	Must complete COR-310, COR-320, and two sections of COR-330 All Game majors (EGPR.BS, GDES.BS, GART.BS must also complete EGD-320 with a minimum grade of C.
Credits	4

Students in the CCM Division who enroll in this course earn 3 academic credits for successfully completing 175-214 hours of an internship position at a designated pre-approved internship site. Students will apply skills and aptitudes developed in the classroom and engage in hands-on work in professional settings alongside and under the direction of a worksite supervisor. The student's internship performance is assessed by the site supervisor and a CCM designated internship coordinator.

Prerequisites	CCM Division students only, with 75 credits or more OR students who have taken 1 credit prep course: COM 355, CRE 240, EGD 240, WRT 301, OR VCD 250. CCM 491 through 496 internship courses may be taken multiple times for a maximum of 12 credits total. Internship site and hours must be pre-approved by CCM Dean's office/Internship Coordinator prior to student enrolling in the class for credit
Credits	3

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