Courses For Individual Major

 

English 257, Creative Writing, Fiction and Poetry:
And where does any film begin, but with a story? But how to tell the story? How to structure it? Whether a screenplay or a short story, the art of storytelling is the same and is a necessary field of study for anyone hoping to enter the arts, whether as a writer or not. In this class we read and critiqued short stories and poems (both our own, our classmates', and published works) as well as writing a story, a poem, and a folder full of writing exercises.

UEA Creative Writing Dissertation:
While the above-mentioned creative writing course was infantile at best, regurgitating basic writing techniques already familiar to me and doing more to damage my writing than improve it, the creative writing course I took during my semester abroad was entirely the reverse. Instead of a workshop format class (as most creative writing is taught in this country) I was working one-on-one with the instructor, a published writer with enough personal talent to merit my respect (Erin Soros). The duration of the semester was spent working on one, 5,000 word piece, and after each revision we would meet, talk, and deconstruct what I had done. This method of focusing directly and intensely on my work proved incredibly helpful, and even better was receiving advice from someone who knew what they were doing instead of from my piers who, by definition, are only as skilled as me. All in all, this is one of the best courses I took during my time here. Here is the short story I completed there.

Art 113, Foundational Color Design:
Once the screenplay is written, thoughts turn to design. I took this class in the hopes that it would provide me with a foundation for thinking about color, no matter what the artistic medium, for while the composition of a shot is commonly taught (cinematography, photography, etc.) color composition seems to be less thought about and, even in professional film, far less considered. Save for the obvious use of color in films like Schindler's List and Sin City, I wanted to learn a little more about the principles used to such sublime effect by M. Night Shyamalan, most notably in The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs.

Theatre 150, Scenery and Costumes:
This course gave an overview of the technical development for the visual side of a show. Although it is designed for theatre, it gives important insight on how to take a script and determine how to translate it visually, how to extract from that written work precisely how it not only will look, but should look. So while the technicalities of film differ greatly from those of theatre, many of the design and aesthetic principles learned will translate to other mediums.

Theatre 232, Intro to Stage Direction
See below

Theatre 338, Intermediate Stage Direction
These two courses are meant to give some instruction as to how to go about the job of 'director,' how to cement your concept for the piece you are working on and how to function as part of a whole, or rather, as the head. This also teaches methods for working with actors and for the rehearsal process and pre-filming process as a whole.

History 290, American History in Cinema
This course is the only part of the major which reflect at all upon the history of cinema. At this point I feel that the study of film as it is, how it is made now, is more important than how it got here. History 290, however, will provide some insight into the direct use of cinema as a way to impact society. I do not wish to downplay the importance of cinematic history, but at this point in my career it is more important to learn "how," and not why it got this way. College provides a brief window of time where I can learn and experiment with the art, a freedom that will vanish after graduation. Meanwhile, the ability to study and learn the history of the craft will never leave me, with hundreds of books at my fingertips no matter where I go.

UEA 16mm Film Project
Apart from simply providing much-needed production experience, this course allowed me to learn skills and increase my knowledge in an area completely lacking at St. Olaf, the world of film stock. Any practical experience I had before or since was digital, but as most Hollywood films and many independent films today are still shot on 35mm, learning to work with this material was an important step in my education.

Theatre 130, Intro to Acting
See below

Theatre 230, Intermediate Acting
These two courses, which seems to have been overlooked by many other film students, are perhaps some of the most important to my development as a director and my interaction with my cast. Although you can study the art of directing as much as you wish, you can never replace practical acting experience as a learning tool. These courses taught me how actors think, different ways they work, and how they approach a role. By knowing what an actor wants it is much easier to work with them as a director. Ironically, over my time at St. Olaf my acting classes have taught me much about directing while all my directing experience has made me a much better actor.

Other courses taken and experience:
Assistant Director, Life is a Dream (for course credit)
Assistant Director, The Life of Galileo
Writer/Director, Graduation Day (short film)
Writer/Director, We Are the Sum (short film, senior project)