Cinema & Digital Media College of Letters & Science

Jaimey Fisher, Ph.D., Chairperson of the Department; term ends June 30, 2026

Department Office

101 Art Building; 530-752-0105; Cinema & Digital Media; Faculty

Cinema & Digital Media (CDM)

CDM 001 — Introduction to Film Studies (4 units)

Course Description: Analysis of film form and narrative, including cinematography, editing, and sound. Issues in film studies including authorship, stardom, race, gender, class, and cultural identity. Introduction to selected cinematic movements and national film traditions.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 2 hour(s), Discussion 1 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

CDM 002 — Introduction to Technocultural Studies (4 units)

Course Description: Contemporary developments in the fine and performing arts, media arts, digital arts, and literature as they relate to technological and scientific practices.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 3 hour(s), Discussion 1 hour(s).
  • Credit Limitation(s): Not open for credit to students who have taken TCS 001.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL); Writing Experience (WE).

CDM 003 — Media Archaeology (4 units)

Course Description: Evolution of media technologies and practices beginning in the 19th century as they relate to contemporary digital arts practices. Special focus on the reconstruction of the social and artistic possibilities of lost and obsolete media technologies.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 3 hour(s), Term Paper.
  • Credit Limitation(s): Not open for credit to students who have taken TCS 005.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Science & Engineering (SE); Visual Literacy (VL); Writing Experience (WE).

CDM 012 — Introduction to Media Computation (4 units)

This version has ended; see updated course, below.
Course Description: Introduction to key computational ideas necessary to understand and produce digital media. Fundamentals of programming and analysis of how media are represented and transmitted in digital form. Aimed primarily at non-computer science students.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 3 hour(s), Discussion 1 hour(s).
  • Credit Limitation(s): Two units of credit for students that have taken ECS 010, ECS 030, ECS 032A, ECS 036A, or ENG 006.
  • Cross Listing: ECS 012.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Science & Engineering (SE); Quantitative Literacy (QL); Visual Literacy (VL).
  • CDM 012 — Introduction to Media Computation (4 units)
  • Course Description: Introduction to key computational ideas necessary to understand and produce digital media. Fundamentals of programming and analysis of how media are represented and transmitted in digital form. Aimed primarily at non-computer science students.
  • Learning Activities: Lecture 3 hour(s), Discussion 1 hour(s).
  • Credit Limitation(s): Two units of credit for students that have taken ECS 010, ECS 030, ECS 032A, ECS 032AV, ECS 036A, or ENG 006.
  • Cross Listing: ECS 012.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Science & Engineering (SE); Quantitative Literacy (QL); Visual Literacy (VL).
  • This course version is effective from, and including: Winter Quarter 2025.

CDM 020 — Filmmaking Foundations (5 units)

Course Description: Introduction to filmmaking concepts, principles, and methods. Emphasis on form, content and historical dialectic between classical narrative filmmaking conventions and artists' challenges to these conventions.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 001 and/or CDM 003 recommended.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 2 hour(s).
  • Credit Limitation(s): Not open for credit to students who have taken CTS 020.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL).

CDM 020V — Filmmaking Foundations (5 units)

Course Description: Introduction to filmmaking concepts, principles, and methods. Emphasis on form, content and historical dialectic between classical narrative filmmaking conventions and artists' challenges to these conventions.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 001 and/or CDM 003 recommended.

  • Learning Activities: Web Virtual Lecture 3 hour(s), Web Electronic Discussion 3 hour(s), Film Viewing.
  • Credit Limitation(s): Not open for credit to students who have taken CTS 020 or CDM 020.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL).

CDM 041A — History of Cinema from 1895-1945 (4 units)

Course Description: Examination of the cultural context of the emergence of cinema. Discussion of cinema as a product of the age of industrialization and conquest, as well as an element of urban culture, and mass transportation.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 001 recommended.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 2 hour(s), Discussion 1 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Credit Limitation(s): Not open for credit to students who have taken CTS 041A.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Oral Skills (OL); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

CDM 041B — History of Cinema from 1945-Present (4 units)

Course Description: Examines cinema from 1945 through the present, with focus on neo-realist, new wave and third-world movements. Examines social critique in cinema from studio system to New Wave, Cine Novo, postcolonial cinema and contemporary independent cinema.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 001 recommended.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 2 hour(s), Discussion 1 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

CDM 041BV — History of Cinema from 1945-Present (4 units)

Course Description: Examines cinema from 1945 through the present, with focus on neo-realist, new wave and third-world movements. Examines social critique in cinema from studio system to New Wave, Cine Novo, postcolonial cinema and contemporary independent cinema.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 001 recommended.

  • Learning Activities: Web Virtual Lecture 2 hour(s), Web Electronic Discussion 1 hour(s), Film Viewing.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

CDM 072 — Introduction to Games (4 units)

Course Description: Introduction to the history, theory, and practice of play. Survey of both analog and digital games. Overview of gaming cultures, aesthetics, industries, and technologies.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 3 hour(s), Extensive Writing/Discussion 1 hour(s).
  • Cross Listing: ENL 072.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL).

CDM 092 — Internship (1-12 units)

Course Description: Supervised internship, on or off campus, in the area of cinema and digital media.

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Internship 1-12 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated.
  • Grade Mode: Pass/No Pass only.

CDM 098 — Directed Group Study (1-5 units)

Course Description: Directed group study in cinema and digital media.

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Variable 3-15 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated when topics differ.
  • Grade Mode: Pass/No Pass only.

CDM 099 — Special Study for Undergraduates (1-5 units)

Course Description: Special study for undergraduates in cinema and digital media.

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Variable 3-15 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated.
  • Grade Mode: Pass/No Pass only.

CDM 100 — Experimental Digital Cinema I (4 units)

Course Description: Experimental approaches to the making of film and video in the age of digital technologies. Builds upon the foundation provided by CDM 020. Instruction in technical, conceptual, creative, and critical skills for taking a project from idea to fruition.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 020 or ART 012; or consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Oral Skills (OL); Visual Literacy (VL).

CDM 101 — Experimental Digital Cinema II (4 units)

Course Description: Continuation of CDM 100 with further exploration of digital cinema creation. Additional topics include new modes of distribution, streaming, installation and exhibition.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 100; consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL).

CDM 103 — Interactivity & Animation (4 units)

Course Description: Fundamentals of creating interactive screen-based work. Theories of interactivity, linear versus non-linear structures & audience involvement and participation. Use of digital production tools to produce class projects.

  • Learning Activities: Laboratory 3 hour(s), Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL).

CDM 104 — Documentary Production (4 units)

Course Description: Traditional and new forms of documentary, with focus on technocultural issues. Skills and strategies for producing work in various media. Progression through all stages of production, from conception through post-production to critique.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 020; CDM 155; TCS 155; or consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated 2 time(s) when topic differs.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL).

CDM 105 — Feminist Media Production (6 units)

Course Description: Media production as a mode of cultural criticism, furthering feminist and social justice goals. Fundamentals of camera, editing and distribution via a social engagement model. Study and hands-on response to key historic and contemporary feminist and social justice media discourses.

Prerequisite(s): (CTS 020 or CDM 020); or two WMS courses.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s), Fieldwork 6 hour(s).
  • Cross Listing: WMS 165.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Domestic Diversity (DD); Visual Literacy (VL).

CDM 107 — Acting for Camera (4 units)

Course Description: Analysis and practice of acting skills required for camera work and digital media.

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Lab 6 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated 2 time(s) when instructor differs.
  • Cross Listing: DRA 174.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH).

CDM 111 — Community Media Production (4 units)

This version has ended; see updated course, below.
Course Description: Use of video and new media tools to address social issues among neighborhood and community groups. Use basic video, sound, and lighting techniques while working with local groups in a group video project.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 020 recommended.

  • Learning Activities: Laboratory 3 hour(s), Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL).
  • CDM 111 — Community Media Production (4 units)
  • Course Description: Use of video and new media tools to address social issues among neighborhood and community groups. Use basic video, sound, and lighting techniques while working with local groups in a group video project.
  • Prerequisite(s): CDM 020 recommended.
  • Learning Activities: Laboratory 3 hour(s), Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH).
  • This course version is effective from, and including: Spring Quarter 2025.

CDM 113 — Community Networks & Social Media (4 units)

Course Description: Impact and implications of computer-based networks in community, civic, and social life. Subjects may include community-access computer sites, neighborhood wireless networks, the digital divide, open-source software, and citizen action.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.

CDM 121 — Introduction to Sonic Arts (4 units)

Course Description: Introduction to the use of sound within the arts. Techniques and aesthetics of experimental contemporary practices. Creation of original sound works.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.

CDM 121V — Introduction to Sonic Arts (4 units)

Course Description: Introduction to use of sound within the arts. Techniques and aesthetics of experimental contemporary practices. Creation of original sound works.

  • Learning Activities: Web Virtual Lecture 3 hour(s); Web Electronic Discussion.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.

CDM 122 — Intermediate Sonic Arts (4 units)

Course Description: Techniques of recording, editing, mixing, and synthesis to combine voice, field recordings, and electronic signals. Incorporating live, recorded, found sounds to create multidimensional stories. Presentation of live performances, etc.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 121 or CDM 121V; or consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.

CDM 122V — Intermediate Sonic Arts (4 units)

Course Description: Techniques of recording, editing, mixing, and synthesis to combine voice, field recordings, and electronic signals. Incorporating live, recorded, found sounds to create multidimensional stories. Presentation of live performances, etc.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 121 or CDM 121V; or consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Web Virtual Lecture 3 hour(s); Web Electronic Discussion.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.

CDM 123 — Sight & Soundtrack (4 units)

Course Description: Use of sound to articulate, lend mood or subconsciously underscore visual, environmental, or performative situations, combining music, voice, sound effects and other noises to create sound designs that enhance, alter or support action and movement.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH).

CDM 125 — Advanced Sound: Performance & Improvisation (4 units)

Course Description: Culmination of CDM sound courses. Focuses on performance and improvisation, culminating in a final public performance. Expectation of extensive reading and rehearsal outside of class time.

Prerequisite(s): (CDM 121 or CDM 121V); (CDM 122 or CDM 122V); or consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Practice 3 hour(s), Workshop 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH).

CDM 130 — Fundamentals of Computer Graphics (4 units)

Course Description: Foundation course teaches the theory of three-dimensional computer graphics, including modeling, rendering and animation. Development of practical skills through the use of professional software to create computer graphics.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Credit Limitation(s): Not open for credit to students who have taken TCS 130.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Visual Literacy (VL).

CDM 131 — Character Animation (4 units)

Course Description: The art of character animation in three dimensional computer animation. Movement theory, principles of animation, animation timing. Development of technical and practical skills.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 130 or TCS 130.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Credit Limitation(s): Not open for credit to students who have taken TCS 131.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL).

CDM 135 — Object-Oriented Programming for Artists (4 units)

This version has ended; see updated course, below.
Course Description: Introduction to object-oriented programming for artists. Focus on understanding the metaphors and potential of object-oriented programming for sound, video, performance, and interactive installations.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 002 recommended.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Visual Literacy (VL).
  • CDM 135 — Object-Oriented Programming for Artists (4 units)
  • Course Description: Introduction to object-oriented programming for artists. Focus on understanding the metaphors and potential of object-oriented programming for sound, video, performance, and interactive installations.
  • Prerequisite(s): CDM 002 recommended.
  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • This course version is effective from, and including: Spring Quarter 2025.

CDM 136 — Electronics for Artists (4 units)

Course Description: Creative application of electronic technology relevant to media and fine arts involving both electronic principles and hands-on application.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.

CDM 137 — Topics in Virtuality (4 units)

Course Description: Social, political, economic, and aesthetic factors in virtual reality. Artificial environments, telepresence, and simulated experience. Focus on contemporary artists' work and writing.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 002 recommended.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Extensive Writing.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH).

CDM 139 — Histories of Animation (4 units)

Course Description: Introductory survey of animation history. Reading, writing, and discussion about animation.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); Visual Literacy (VL); Writing Experience (WE).
  • This course version is effective from, and including: Fall Quarter 2024.

CDM 151 — Media Theory (5 units)

This version has ended; see updated course, below.
Course Description: Critical and theoretical approaches to the emergence of new technologies since the invention of photography. Examine various approaches to media (formalist, semiotic, structuralist, Frankfurt School, cybernetics, visual and gamer theory).

Prerequisite(s): CDM 002 or CDM 003 recommended.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 2 hour(s), Discussion 1 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s), Extensive Writing.
  • Cross Listing: STS 151.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); Oral Skills (OL); Visual Literacy (VL); Writing Experience (WE).
  • CDM 151 — Media Theory (5 units)
  • Course Description: Critical and theoretical approaches to the emergence of new technologies since the invention of photography. Examine various approaches to media; formalist, semiotic, structuralist, Frankfurt School, cybernetics, visual and gamer theory.
  • Prerequisite(s): CDM 002 or CDM 003 recommended.
  • Learning Activities: Lecture 2 hour(s), Discussion 1 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s), Extensive Writing.
  • Cross Listing: STS 151.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); Visual Literacy (VL); Writing Experience (WE).
  • This course version is effective from, and including: Spring Quarter 2025.

CDM 156 — Epic Television: The Golden Age of TV? Sopranos, Wire, Girls, Walking Dead (4 units)

Course Description: Critically celebrated scripted television since the mid-1990s. Key themes including class, ethnicity, race, violence, and US politics. Major developments in the medium’s history as context for recent wave of epic television.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 2 hour(s), Discussion 1 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Oral Skills (OL); Visual Literacy (VL); Writing Experience (WE).

CDM 158 — Technology & the Modern American Body (4 units)

Course Description: History and analysis of relationships between human bodies and technologies in modern society. Dominant and eccentric examples of how human bodies and technologies influence one another and reveal underlying cultural assumptions.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Term Paper.
  • Credit Limitation(s): Not open for credit to students who have taken TCS 158.
  • Cross Listing: AMS 158.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Writing Experience (WE).

CDM 163 — Art & Cinema: Between the White Cube & the Black Box (4 units)

Course Description: Current debates between cinema studies and contemporary art. Issues covered include, experimental modes of filming, montaging, installing, screening, and displaying images between the White Cube (gallery/museum) and the Black Box (cinema).

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Enrollment Restriction(s): Open to students with upper division standing.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL); Writing Experience (WE).

CDM 163V — Art & Cinema: Between the White Cube & the Black Box (4 units)

Course Description: Current debates between cinema studies and contemporary art. Experimental modes of filming, montaging, installing, screening, and displaying images between the White Cube (gallery/museum) and the Black Box (cinema).

  • Learning Activities: Web Virtual Lecture 3 hour(s), Film Viewing.
  • Enrollment Restriction(s): Open to students with upper division standing.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL); Writing Experience (WE).

CDM 165E — Nazi & Fascist Cinema: Film & other Visual Media (4 units)

Course Description: Analysis of nefarious and noxious cultural products in history: films made under the Nazis and other fascists, 1933-1945. Questions at heart of humanistic studies: relationship of culture to propaganda, politics, and even unfathomable crime.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 2 hour(s), Discussion 1 hour(s), Film Viewing.
  • Cross Listing: GER 165E.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Oral Skills (OL); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

CDM 165L — Human Rights in Film & Television (4 units)

Course Description: Human rights depictions in film and on television, including topics: genocide (Rwanda, Armenia, Indonesia), political persecution (Guatemala), carceral abuses (U.S.), human trafficking (Europe), persecution for sexual preference (Cuba). Documenting abuse as well as remedying it.

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 2 hour(s), Discussion 1 hour(s), Film Viewing 2.5 hour(s), Term Paper.
  • Cross Listing: HMR 165.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Oral Skills (OL); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

CDM 166 — Topics in U.S. Film History (4 units)

Course Description: Study of an aspect of American film history (such as the silent era; the studio system; U.S. avant-garde cinema), including the influences of technological, economic, regulatory, cultural, and artistic forces.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 001; or consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated 2 time(s) when topic differs.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL).

CDM 167 — Topics in Film Genres (4 units)

This version has ended; see updated course, below.
Course Description: Study of one or more of the film genres (such as musicals, film noir, screwball comedy, or westerns), including genre theory and the relationship of the genre(s) to culture, history, and film industry practices. May be taught abroad.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 001; or consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated 2 time(s) when topic differs.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL).
  • CDM 167 — Topics in Film Genres (4 units)
  • Course Description: Study of one or more of the film genres (such as musicals, film noir, screwball comedy, or westerns), including genre theory and the relationship of the genre(s) to culture, history, and film industry practices.
  • Prerequisite(s): CDM 001; or consent of instructor.
  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated 2 time(s) when topic differs.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL).
  • This course version is effective from, and including: Fall Quarter 2024.

CDM 171 — Game Studies Seminar (4 units)

Course Description: Theory and methods for researching games, play, media, and culture. Reading, writing, and discussion about playable media.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Cross Listing: ENL 171.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL); Writing Experience (WE).

CDM 172 — Video Games & Culture (4 units)

Course Description: Critical approaches to the study of video games, focusing on formal, historical, and cultural modes of analysis. History of software and hardware in North American and global contexts. Relations of games to society, politics, economics, media, etc.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 072 or ENL 072 recommended.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 3 hour(s), Extensive Writing/Discussion 1 hour(s).
  • Credit Limitation(s): Not open for credit to students who have taken CTS 172 (former course CTS 172).
  • Cross Listing: STS 172, ENL 172.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Visual Literacy (VL); Writing Experience (WE).

CDM 173 — Introduction to Analog Game Design (4 units)

Course Description: Fundamental theories and practices of analog game design. Pen & paper, dice & cards, checkers & chess to riddles & stories, track & field, and other forms of play. Prototype, playtest, and presentation of original analog games.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 072 or CDM 172 or CTS 172; or consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL).

CDM 174 — Special Topics in Analog Game Design (4 units)

Course Description: Special topics in analog game design for upper division students.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 072 or CDM 172 or CTS 172; or consent of instructor; Recommended: CDM 173, CDM 175 or CDM 177.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated 3 time(s) when topic or instructor differs.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL).

CDM 175 — Introduction to Digital Game Development (4 units)

Course Description: Digital game development. Theories of control, interface, game feel, glitch, mechanics. Design, demo, and distribution of new digital games.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 072 or CDM 172 or CTS 172; consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Science & Engineering (SE); Visual Literacy (VL).

CDM 176 — Special Topics in Digital Game Development (4 units)

Course Description: Special topics in digital game development for upper division students.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 072 or CDM 172 or CTS 172; or consent of instructor. Recommended: CDM 173, CDM 175 or CDM 177.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated 3 time(s) when instructor or topic differs.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Science & Engineering (SE); Visual Literacy (VL).

CDM 177 — Introduction to Game Programming (4 units)

Course Description: Introduction to computer science concepts and programming practices for video games.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 072 or CDM 172 or CTS 172; or consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Science & Engineering (SE); Quantitative Literacy (QL); Visual Literacy (VL).

CDM 178 — Special Topics in Game Programming (4 units)

Course Description: Special topics in game programming for upper division students.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 072 or CDM 172 or CTS 172; or consent of instructor. Recommended: CDM 173, CDM 175 or CDM 177.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated 3 time(s) when instructor or topic differs.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Science & Engineering (SE); Quantitative Literacy (QL); Visual Literacy (VL).

CDM 189 — Special Topics in Cinema & Digital Media (4 units)

Course Description: Special topics in cinema & digital media.

Prerequisite(s): CDM 001 or CDM 002 recommended.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Discussion/Laboratory 3 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated 2 time(s) when topic differs.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL); Writing Experience (WE).

CDM 190 — Research Methods in Cinema & Digital Media (4 units)

Course Description: Introduction to basic research methods for Cinema and Digital Media; e.g., electronic & archived images, sounds & data, etc.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 3 hour(s); Project.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); Writing Experience (WE).

CDM 192 — Internship (1-12 units)

Course Description: Supervised internship, on or off campus, in the area of cinema and digital media.

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor; upper division standing.

  • Learning Activities: Internship 1-12 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated.
  • Grade Mode: Pass/No Pass only.

CDM 195HA — Honors Project in Cinema & Digital Media (1-5 units)

Course Description: Directed reading, research and writing culminating in the completion of a senior honors thesis or significant creative project under direction of faculty sponsor.

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor; GPA of at least 3.500; senior standing.

  • Learning Activities: Independent Study 3-15 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.

CDM 195HB — Honors Project in Cinema & Digital Media (1-5 units)

Course Description: Directed reading, research and writing culminating in the completion of a senior honors thesis or significant creative project under direction of faculty sponsor.

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor; GPA of at least 3.500; senior standing.

  • Learning Activities: Independent Study 3-15 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.

CDM 197T — Tutoring in Cinema & Digital Media (1-5 units)

Course Description: Leading small voluntary discussion groups affiliated with departmental courses under the supervision of the course instructor.

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor. Consent of Department Chair.

  • Learning Activities: Tutorial 1-5 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated 10 unit(s).
  • Grade Mode: Pass/No Pass only.

CDM 198 — Directed Group Study (1-5 units)

This version has ended; see updated course, below.
Course Description: Directed group study in cinema and digital media. For students with upper division standing. May be taught abroad.

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Variable 3-15 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated when topic differs.
  • Grade Mode: Pass/No Pass only.
  • CDM 198 — Directed Group Study (1-5 units)
  • Course Description: Directed group study in cinema and digital media. For students with upper division standing.
  • Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.
  • Learning Activities: Variable 3-15 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated when topic differs.
  • Grade Mode: Pass/No Pass only.
  • This course version is effective from, and including: Fall Quarter 2024.

CDM 199 — Special Study for Advanced Undergraduates (1-5 units)

Course Description: Special study in cinema and digital media. For advanced undergraduates with upper division standing.

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Variable 3-15 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated.
  • Grade Mode: Pass/No Pass only.

CDM 396 — Teaching Assistant Training Practicum (1-4 units)

Course Description: Teaching assistant training practicum.

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor; graduate standing.

  • Learning Activities: Variable 3-12 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated.
  • Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory only.

Film Studies (FMS)

FMS 045 — Vampires & Other Horrors in Film & Media (4 units)

Course Description: History of representations of vampires and horror generally from the 19th-21st centuries. Emphasis on transnational history of the horror genre; psychologies of horror effects; issues of race, gender, and class; intersections with prejudice, medicine, modernity.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 2 hour(s), Discussion 1 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Cross Listing: GER 045.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Domestic Diversity (DD); Oral Skills (OL); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

FMS 090X — Lower Division Seminar (4 units)

Course Description: Study of a special topic in Film Studies in a small class setting.

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor; lower division standing.

  • Learning Activities: Seminar 4 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated when topic differs.
  • Grade Mode: Pass/No Pass only.

FMS 120 — Italian-American Cinema (4 units)

Course Description: Exploration of representations of Italian-American identity in American (U.S.) cinema. Analysis of both Hollywood and independently produced films, especially as they represent ethnicity, gender, and social class of Italian Americans.

Prerequisite(s): FMS 001.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Credit Limitation(s): Not open for credit to students who have taken HUM 120.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Domestic Diversity (DD); Oral Skills (OL); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

FMS 121 — New Italian Cinema (4 units)

Course Description: Italian cinema of the 21st century in the context of profound cultural and social changes in Italy since World War II. Productions by representative directors such as Amelio, Giordana, Moretti, Muccino are included. Knowledge of Italian not required.

Prerequisite(s): FMS 001; and upper division standing, or consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Cross Listing: ITA 121.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Oral Skills (OL); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

FMS 121S — New Italian Cinema (4 units)

This version has ended; see updated course, below.
Course Description: Italian cinema of the 21st century in the context of profound cultural and social changes in Italy since World War II. Productions by representative directors such as Amelio, Giordana, Moretti, Muccino are included. Knowledge of Italian not required. May be taught abroad.

Prerequisite(s): FMS 001; and upper division standing, or consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Cross Listing: ITA 121S.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Oral Skills (OL); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).
  • FMS 121S — New Italian Cinema (4 units)
  • Course Description: Italian cinema of the 21st century in the context of profound cultural and social changes in Italy since World War II. Productions by representative directors such as Amelio, Giordana, Moretti, Muccino are included. Knowledge of Italian not required.
  • Prerequisite(s): FMS 001; and upper division standing, or consent of instructor.
  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Cross Listing: ITA 121S.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Oral Skills (OL); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).
  • This course version is effective from, and including: Fall Quarter 2024.

FMS 127 — Film Theory (4 units)

Course Description: Survey of the conceptual frameworks used to study film (including semiotics, psychoanalysis, spectatorship, auteur, genre and narrative theories). Historical survey of major film theorists.

Prerequisite(s): FMS 001; or consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Oral Skills (OL); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

FMS 129 — Russian Film (4 units)

Course Description: History of Russian film; film & social revolution, the cult of Stalin, dissident visions; film & the collapse of the Soviet empire; gender and the nation in Russian film. Taught in English; Russian films with English subtitles.

Prerequisite(s): Completion of Subject A requirement.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Cross Listing: RUS 129.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

FMS 142 — New German Cinema (4 units)

Course Description: German filmmakers of the 1960s-1980s such as Fassbinder, Herzog, Syberberg, Brückner, Schlöndorf, Kluge, Wenders. Knowledge of German is not required.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Extensive Writing.
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated with consent of instructor.
  • Cross Listing: GER 142.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Oral Skills (OL); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

FMS 176A — Classic Weimar Cinema (4 units)

Course Description: German Weimar (1919-1933) cinema. Fritz Lang, F.W. Murnau, and G.W. Pabst among others. Influence on world-wide (esp. Hollywood) film genres such as film noir, horror, science fiction, and melodrama.

Prerequisite(s): HUM 001.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Credit Limitation(s): Not open for credit to students who have taken HUM 176.
  • Cross Listing: GER 176A.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Oral Skills (OL); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

FMS 176B — Postwar German Cinema (4 units)

Course Description: Exploration of German cinema from 1945 to 1980, when the Nazi past was a central theme. Includes study of postwar "rubble films," escapist "homeland films," and New German Cinema of the 1970s (including films by Fassbinder, Kluge, Syberberg, and Herzog).

Prerequisite(s): FMS 001.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Credit Limitation(s): Not open for credit to students who have taken HUM 177.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Oral Skills (OL); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

FMS 190X — Upper Division Seminar (4 units)

Course Description: Study of a special topic in film studies in a small class setting.

Prerequisite(s): Upper division standing or consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Seminar 4 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated when topic differs.
  • Grade Mode: Pass/No Pass only.