This class guides students toward the creation of dynamic stories and complex characters through the exploration of their own personal life journeys. Understanding that each student has a unique milieu of convictions, emotional life experiences, and passions, this class helps them translate these gems into riveting story ideas. The craft, structure, and fundamentals of dramatic writing will be explored while engaging the writing process from the artist’s intimate perspective. Utilizing the wisdom of sages like Aristotle and Lajos Egri, students will engage in writing exercises that thrust them into the journey of story creation, theme conception, and character development.

Offered: Online

Visual storytelling has transcended the movie theatre to handheld media devices. This course lays the foundation for "visual thinking" across various platforms of visual storytelling and begins the exploration of cinematic elements and scripting as they are currently defined in film, television, webisodes, animation, interactive media, and gaming.

Offered: Online

Online Prerequisite: Online Prerequisite: CINE 600

This course explores the use of theology in cinema and seeks to answer the questions many Christians face about movies as an artistic medium. Focus is placed on helping students approach movies with the eyes of a theologian in order to interpret movies from a philosophical perspective through the prism of a Christian worldview. This will involve viewing movies and examining how the worldview is revealed through storyline, theme, and ultimate message.

Offered: Online

This introductory course will examine the fundamental elements of screenwriting and the application tools used by professionals in this field. This course will include an overview exploration of story structure as applied to crafting the screenplay, a study of the three-act structure, the mapping of plot points, an analysis of character development, and a look at the characteristics of various film genres. Screenwriting software, such as Final Draft, will be discussed in conjunction with the practices of proper script formatting to industry standards.

Offered: Online

Learn how to use the start-with-the-end-in-mind approach to create successful exhibitions. Begin by reverse engineering the process, working backward from distribution and marketing to assembling a creative team and securing financing. Other topics covered include working with agents and managers, the development process, and budget creation.

Offered: Resident

Online Prerequisite: Online Prerequisite: CINE 600 and CINE 630

Great stories rely on great characters. This course looks at the development of character and how the elements of character drive the narrative of story. Attention will be given to the exploration of character flaw, backstory, motivation, and character makeup. Focus will also be placed on character conflict, crafting the antagonist, and the dramatic action of the story. Students will be required to design multi-dimensional characters and craft them into complete short stories

Offered: Online

The screenwriting course focuses on teaching focused concepts of storytelling for digital media production across various venues and genres. Students will learn through theoretical and practical approaches, ensuring a thorough understanding of redemptive and other forms of modern media. The course aims to teach students how to write compelling stories that captivate the audience. They will also learn how to edit, create characters, and pitch their resulting screenplay.

Offered: Resident

The course discusses principles and applied techniques used in cinema and television to create captivating images that tell a story and evoke emotions in the audience. The students will learn about lighting, composition, color theory, camera angles and movements, visual effects, and editing through lectures, seminars, and hands-on applications.

Offered: Resident

Storytellers must create stunning light designs to bring their work to life through hands-on practice and creative exploration! This course teaches how to create aesthetically pleasing images for TV and movies by using light and shadows effectively. You will learn about various lighting techniques, colors, and shadows to achieve desired effects for different production settings. Additionally, the course delves into the history of lighting design in cinema and TV and the artistic and philosophical aspects of cinematography.

Offered: Resident

This course encourages students to embrace their creative gifts with an unfettered freedom of expression. Students will develop and refine their personal worldviews through reading and discussion of salient critical texts and the contemplation of worldview proposals in the Christian marketplace. “At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor that it will not always be so.” -- C. S. Lewis

Offered: Online

Online Prerequisite: Online Prerequisite: CINE 600 and CINE 610 and CINE 630 and CINE 645

Selling your screenplay. This course immerses the student in the marketplace of the film industry. Students will explore the opportunities for getting their “spec” screenplay to producers, directors, and star talent, as well as the prospects for hire as a screenwriter within the industry. Examination of intellectual property rights and personal story development will also be discussed. Students will draft “elevator” pitches and synopses of their screenplays and receive feedback from industry professionals. Additionally, key focus will be placed on the art of self- branding to promote the students’ screenwriting careers.

Offered: Online

Great screenplays are considered "great" for a reason. In this course, various genres will be studied through close examination in order to understand how many of these stories have withstood the test of time and connected with audiences across social and cultural barriers. Additionally, these films will be observed in regards to their dramatic themes, expression of worldviews, and universal truths.

Offered: Online