Narrative Cinematography: The Craftof Visual Storytelling (FILM 3432 R)
Term: 2026-27 Academic Year Fall
Description
This course will pair the core concepts of cinematography (lighting, framing, lens choice, exposure principles, camera movement) with the equally important question of “why?”. Students will learn the tools of the trade with an emphasis on collaborative art-making. How does one take ideas from a script—emotion, tone, nostalgia—and translate that into images using practical tools? How do you develop a shared language with your collaborators on a project to make something unique? The course will emphasize developing each student's unique eye and visual taste. Using a weekly approach to core concepts, students will learn to operate a cinema camera, light creatively, construct a scene, and shepherd their creative vision through color grading. This will be achieved through hands-on work with equipment, detailed conversation about photographic techniques, and the recreation (and reinterpretation) of scenes through cinematic history. At the end of this course, students will possess the tools to craft images for their own projects and confidently work on larger film productions.