Courses

Tech Arts: Post Production delivers a practical introduction to the post production process, a vital part of filmmaking. The course will look at the process of moving efficiently from production to post production, the techniques of non-linear editing and ultimately the process of professionally finishing a film for modern distribution. Students will learn foundational post terminology, how to create the best workflow for your film, how to manage data/footage in the edit room, and offline and online editing. Additionally, the class will cover other key steps in the post production process including audio syncing, transcoding, exporting and mastering. The hands-on lessons and exercises will be conducted using the industry-standard Non-Linear Editing System, Davinci Resolve, and will serve as a primer for other professional systems, including Adobe Premiere and Davinci Resolve. Each lecture will consist of hands-on demonstrations and self-paced practice using content created by the students and/ or content provided by the program.

We are entering a new age of creativity, where generative AI is transforming how artists and creators work. This course invites undergraduate and graduate students at Columbia's School of the Arts to explore the powerful intersection of AI and creative practice. Through hands-on experimentation with AI tools—ranging from large language models (LLMs) to image and video generators—students will unlock new creative potential across ideation, visual development, and storytelling.

The course emphasizes how AI can augment existing creative methods, from generating ideas and developing personas to blending AI with traditional storytelling techniques. Students will also critically engage with the ethical implications of using AI in art. Culminating in a speculative design project, this course prepares students to envision and prototype the future of creative practice, where AI becomes a true collaborator in the artistic process.

The seminar zero in on the relationship between Hollywood and the Chinese film industry as a case study to tease out a cluster of issues concerning the politics, economy, and culture of transnational entertainment and media practices. The course aims to introduce students to foundational texts as well as the most updated research topics and approaches concerning Chinese cinema and media. Seminar participants are encouraged to utilize the research tools learned in the class to explore their own research topics and facilitate their own research projects.

Documentaries are increasingly proliferating across small and large screens around the world. They circulate as market commodities, forms of entertainment, and vehicles for social change. In this seminar we will compare different national and regional contexts of contemporary documentary production, including projects created within the media industries of Mexico, Peru, India, China, Cambodia, and Israel. We will also examine how documentaries resonate locally, but can still transcend geographic borders and engage viewers across the globe. Crucial to our course will be the close analysis of how documentaries actively address civil rights struggles, oppressive government regimes, cultural trends, environmental crises, and progressive social movements to create more inclusive, equitable communities. So, too, will we examine emerging technologies (such as VR/AR), strategies of international co-production, star-studded film festivals, as well as the global reach and impact of mega studios such as Netflix and Wanda. This course fulfills the Global Core requirement.

Equivalent to FREN UN1101. Designed to help students understand, speak, read, and write French, and to recognize cultural features of French-speaking communities, now with the help of a newly digitized audio program. Students learn to provide information in French about their feelings, environment, families, and daily activities. Daily assignments, quizzes, laboratory work, and screening of video material.

Prerequisites: one term of college French or one year of secondary school French. $15.00= Language Resource Fee, $15.00 = Materials Fee , Equivalent to FREN UN1102. Continues the work of French S1101D and completes the study of elementary French. Students continue to develop communicative skills, narrating recent events (past, present, and future), describing daily life activities, and learning about cultural features of France and of the wider Francophone world. Following the communicative approach, students, with the help of the instructor, learn to solve problems using the language, to communicate their feelings and opinions, and to obtain information from others. Daily assignments, quizzes, laboratory work, and screening of video materials.

Prerequisites: one term of college French or one year of secondary school French. $15.00= Language Resource Fee, $15.00 = Materials Fee , Equivalent to FREN UN1102. Continues the work of French S1101D and completes the study of elementary French. Students continue to develop communicative skills, narrating recent events (past, present, and future), describing daily life activities, and learning about cultural features of France and of the wider Francophone world. Following the communicative approach, students, with the help of the instructor, learn to solve problems using the language, to communicate their feelings and opinions, and to obtain information from others. Daily assignments, quizzes, laboratory work, and screening of video materials.

Primarily for graduate students in other departments who have some background in French and who wish to meet the French reading requirement for the Ph.D. degree, or for scholars whose research involves references in the French language. Intensive reading and translation, both prepared and at sight, in works drawn from literature, criticism, philosophy, and history. Brief review of grammar; vocabulary exercises.