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Media Studies

Media Studies

  • FPN 200 - The Moving Image in Performance I
    Course DescriptionAn investigation into the moving human image on film and the creative potential for the performer in preparation for Performance Studies III. Students will have an opportunity to video a dance, movement, improvisational and acting techniques in order to gain insight into the demands the camera makes on the performer. This course will also examine the equipment and systems employed in the screen industry. The student will gain knowledge and insight into the works of notable dance and drama film makers.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 1 hr. Lab 2 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 201 - The Moving Image in Performance II
    Course DescriptionA continuation of FPN 200, this course will survey the literature and film of the twentieth century. Students will view the works of dance and drama film makers including, Antonione, Cocteau, Fellini, Bergman, Welles and others, and will discuss how these great literary film makers might influence and shape their own film making endeavours. Students will have an opportunity to video a dance or drama project exploring these influences.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 1 hr. Lab 2 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 323 - Sound Design for Visual Media I
    Course DescriptionThis course will expand on basic sound theory and technology and their application within various media productions. Students will explore the conceptualization, production and post-production of sound. Through applied projects, students will further explore sound-image relationships. Material covered will include digital sound systems and techniques. The computer will be introduced as a musical instrument, sequencer and recorder.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 501 - Scenography I: Art Direction
    Course DescriptionThis studio course addresses the visual world of film, video, immersive events, and staged/directorial photography, by retrofitting locations to evoke fictional space. Script adaptations and analysis, character definition, set geography, visual and technical research, swatched palettes, technical drawing and maquettes will form the basis of project proposals that may complement concurrent production courses/thesis projects. Resource analysis, accounting and time management as determining factors in design will be emphasized, as well as key collaborative structures. (Formerly first half of FPN31AB)
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 502 - Directing Screen Performance - Basic Principles
    Course DescriptionThis workshop-style course is based on the premise that the only way to learn how to direct actors is to learn about acting. Students participate in acting exercises, improvisations and discussions on the acting process as it relates to the rehearsal and shooting of dramatic films, from the point of view of actors and directors. (Formerly first half of FPN32AB)
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 503 - Screenwriting I
    Course DescriptionThis workshop course is designed for those students with a special interest in writing for film or television. The course deals with the stages of screenwriting in the dramatic form from the development of the outline to the script treatment. (Formerly first half of FPN33AB).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:MPF 324
  • FPN 512 - Microcinema
    Course DescriptionThis course studies various forms of Microcinema in theory and practice. Microcinema is a flexible term that covers most types of low-budget independent short films inspired by the creative possibilities of new film or video technology, and types of low-budget independent film exhibition. It studies examples of Microcinema leading to the introduction of digital technology and the demythologization of the filmmaking process in the 1990s and the various DIY film cultures that have emerged since.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 513 - Creative Coding
    Course DescriptionThis course introduces students to computer programming as a way of producing artworks, both still and moving, in 2 and 3 dimensions. Using the Processing programming language, students will develop software for generating and manipulating images and 3-dimensional objects in work that functions independently as well as in interactive contexts. This course places equal emphasis on technical work (code) and visual outcomes. No prior coding experience is required.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 519 - Soundscapes and Sonic Environments
    Course DescriptionThis course explores the various aspects of using, generating, and manipulating audio elements in sound and image-based works. It combines concepts and theories drawn from film, communication, cultural, and acoustic theory to study creative uses of sound in film, performance and video art, sound art, and other media such as video games. The course focuses particularly on the composition and manipulation of audio elements in order to create narrative and expressive works.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 531 - Cinematography and Lighting Design I
    Course DescriptionThis workshop is an exploration of cinematography, with a special focus on the stylistics of lighting as an essential aspect of cinematography. It centres on using lighting design not merely to establish a mood or time of day, but to support and further the theme or premise of the work.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:MPF 423
  • FPN 532 - Advanced Studio Lighting
    Course DescriptionThis is a course in studio lighting for photographers. Through practical studio projects within a workshop environment, students will be exposed to more sophisticated ideas about light and lighting in relation to a variety of subjects and techniques. The course is designed to help students expand and deepen their technical, conceptual and aesthetic insight while working with light through creative projects.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:MPS 407
  • FPN 533 - Sound Design for Visual Media II
    Course DescriptionIn this post-production workshop, students will gain greater experience in the methods, systems and techniques employed in the creation and organization of events which will follow the fine-cut picture and dialogue phases of production. It deals with studio recording, sound editing, mixing and addresses the merger of film and video in post-production. Electronic sound creation and manipulation devices used in post-production will be examined.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:FPN 323
  • FPN 534 - Graphic Design
    Course DescriptionThis is an advanced workshop in two-dimensional design problems with an emphasis on typography and layout and their interaction with and within imagery. Exercises are given in artwork preparation for combination with type, graphic and experimental design elements. The visual language of graphics is the principal focus of the course.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 535 - Interaction Design
    Course DescriptionFrom an applied design perspective, this course will allow advanced students to explore the new possibilities and challenges for visual and virtual media. Through the construction of new media objects, students will explore creative applications of communication models and paradigms, including the design implications of alternative modalities and practices with the changing cultures of presentation-reception.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 536 - Media Business Studies
    Course DescriptionThis course will cover general business practices including marketing, finance, accounting, statutes and regulations particularly applicable to the successful operation of small media businesses. A case study approach will be used.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 537 - Immersive Imaging
    Course DescriptionThe objective of this course is to introduce students to the process of developing projects using a cross-platform approach to the fundamental principles of immersive imaging. The course offers an overview of the history of immersive imaging techniques such as stereography, augmented reality, and 360-degree cinema. This is a hands-on approach to production and post-production of immersive imaging utilizing sources from still photographs, motion graphics, and motion picture stereography.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 538 - Visual Storytelling on the Web
    Course DescriptionThis course explores the development of authoring skills for web platforms and examines the rapidly growing field of web-based and interactive storytelling using photography, video, sound, and graphics. Students will produce original fiction and non-fiction work in a variety of formats, in part by assessing what formats best support their material. Topics covered include using and augmenting existing platforms, as well as developing web-based presentations.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 539 - The Human Figure
    Course DescriptionAn investigation of uses of the human figure in traditional fine arts and contemporary graphic media. This workshop course will explore representation of the figure in two- and three-dimensional design contexts as well as in time-based and electronic forms. Participants will have the opportunity to combine studio and laboratory work with theoretical and historical studies.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 541 - Digital Animation Concepts
    Course DescriptionThis course will introduce students to three-dimensional virtual environments, covering visualization of three-dimensional objects represented in a two-dimensional medium as well as navigation through a three-dimensional space. This course will explore the connections between constructed worlds, as well as the requirements and aesthetics of the medium used for delivery. Modelling and animation topics covered will include perspective, composition, movement, rhythm, timing, and imaging in a three-dimensional space. Particular attention will be paid to the aesthetics and other special characteristics of the delivery medium.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 542 - Design for Mobile
    Course DescriptionThis course allows students to explore ideas, applications, and projects in the context of interaction and data-driven work, specifically in the context of the mobile web. Students are encouraged to develop collaborative project ideas, and will spend the course expanding their toolsets in several areas, including database driven applications, connecting to data sources via APIs, multimedia, and geo-location.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 543 - Historical Processes Workshops
    Course DescriptionThis is a production course dealing with the use, design and construction of composite images using various media. Students will be encouraged to explore the use of captured, hand-rendered, and machine-fabricated images, in both static and temporal combinations. Various methods of image construction ranging from photographic to digital will be used. Selected traditional processes as well as experimental techniques will be discussed. The acceptance and use of these will depend on the sophistication and willingness of individuals to explore and take chances in imagery.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 544 - Experimental Film Processes
    Course DescriptionAn exploration of alternatives to conventional ways of producing black and white and colour cinematographic images, including non-standard ways of generating cinematographic images and unorthodox means of transforming them. The exact content of the course will vary according to student interests and abilities.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Antirequisites:CC 8972
  • FPN 545 - Multimedia Workshop
    Course DescriptionThis course is designed to be an independent, self-directed workshop where the student has the opportunity to experiment with a medium other than the primary medium of study. The student can elect to work in any one of the following media: film, video, multi-image and multi-projector slide/tape, 2D or 3D computer animation and interactive media. Students will propose projects in consultation with the instructor.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 546 - Curation and Exhibition
    Course DescriptionThis course will combine lecture and practical experience to explore such topics as the storage, handling, illumination, protection, and all aspects of exhibition management of film, photography and video artifacts.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 547 - Co-Operative Internship
    Course DescriptionThis course will give students the opportunity to work in professional production situations and settings which will provide them with professional experience with the medium/media of choice. Internship contacts will be the responsibility of the student. All internships are subject to departmental approval in advance.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 600 - Film Arts and Visual Effects I
    Course DescriptionThis course deals with newly emerging and advanced digital film technologies. Guest professionals will be invited to give lectures and demonstrations. Field trips may be organized as well. These events may necessitate the scheduling of class meetings outside normal hours.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 601 - Scenography II - Production Design
    Course DescriptionThis studio course models the development of production concepts from script analysis, identifying time-space requirements and research methodologies, to visual proposals for the material culture of constructed realities, whether live/immersive events, film, video, or staged/directorial photography. Students create a full portfolio presentation: the scenographic concept, including character design, performance space and all necessary properties, using renderings, technical drawing, maquettes and storyboards. The portfolio will stress effective communication, combining aesthetic expression, spatial dexterity and narrative logic. (Formerly second half of FPN31AB).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 602 - Directing Screen Performance - Advanced
    Course DescriptionThis workshop-style course puts into practice the fundamentals of acting and directing for the screen. Students will be expected to participate in acting and directing exercises for both sides of the camera using professional screenplays. (Formerly second half of FPN32AB).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:FPN 502
  • FPN 603 - Screenwriting II
    Course DescriptionThis is an advanced workshop course designed to develop film or television writing skills. The course provides the opportunity to work through stages of screenwriting in the dramatic form from the development of the treatment to the finished shooting script. (Formerly second half of FPN33AB).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:FPN 503
  • FPN 631 - Cinematography and Lighting Design II
    Course DescriptionThis course is a continuation of Cinematography and Lighting Design I. It will include exercises in studio lighting as well as an exploration of cinematographic and lighting design problems for location shooting, including colour balancing. The specific cinematographic and lighting aspects of TV commercials, documentaries and feature films will be explored.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:FPN 531
  • FPN 632 - Advanced Studio Lighting II
    Course DescriptionThis is a course in specialized studio and location lighting for photographers. Through practical projects students will develop skills related to lighting as practised at a professional level. Students will be required to further their understanding of lighting equipment and techniques as well develop strong problem solving skills that will enable them to work with confidence in both the studio and location environment. The course is designed to allow students to advance their understanding of both the technical and aesthetic issues surrounding lighting as a crucial element in photographic practice.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:FPN 532
  • FPN 633 - After Images: Topics in Contemporary Art
    Course DescriptionThis course will consider current gallery programming as a topical starting point for thematic contextualization and the production of visual work. Taught by faculty in the School of Image Arts and conducted in collaboration with visiting researchers and artists associated with the Ryerson Image Centre, this interdisciplinary course asks students to respond to current exhibitions through conceptually related readings, seminars, guest presentations and the production of visually related works.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • FPN 634 - Graphic Design II
    Course DescriptionThis course will explore the diverse area of retail branding and advertising. Key issues such as product identification, brand positioning, and packaging solutions based on research of targeted audiences will be discussed. Innovative and creative approaches will be encouraged in a series of projects, which will address packaging identification and brand positioning based on research development. Students will work within a variety of design applications.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:FPN 534
  • FPN 700 - Film Arts and Visual Effects II
    Course DescriptionThis is an advanced-level professional elective providing an exploration of contemporary visual effects techniques. Emphasis will be placed on the aesthetics and creation of successful visual effects. The history of visual effects and classic optical techniques will be covered as well as current digital techniques. Students will work individually and in groups to produce completed visual effects (VFX) shots and scenes. Students are required to have a working knowledge of compositing software prior to taking this course.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:FPN 600
  • NPF 188 - From Page to Screen
    Course DescriptionThis course is an introduction to the adaptation of significant works of literature into the film medium. Following a historical chronology, we will study representative texts of Elizabethan drama, the Gothic and Victorian novels, the novella, contemporary drama, and the short story, and the films into which these works have been adapted. In addition to issues of historical and cultural context, the course will address both thematic and formal elements of the various literary genres and how these translate into the film medium: narrative voice and perspective, dialogue, symbol, imagery, motif, and narrative structure will all be discussed.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Liberal Studies:LL
    Custom Requisites:Not available to students in Image Arts
  • NPF 504 - Technology, Culture and Communication I
    Course DescriptionGuided by the theory that meaning arises in culture, this course introduces the study of patterns of change in the media and communications technology within the context of visual culture. Particular attention will be paid to three inter-related themes of representation, power, and difference. (Formerly first half of NPF34AB).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 505 - Independent Cinema I
    Course DescriptionThe course explores cinema's origins in documentary practices and some of the major movements in documentary cinema, including the G.P.O. documentaries, the W.P.A. documentaries, the founding of Canada's National Film Board and the wartime documentaries of Great Britain, United States and Canada, the Free Cinema, cinéma-vérité, and the institutional documentary. Texts on all these movements, including declarations of important proponents of the various schools, will be examined. (Formerly first half of NPF35AB).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 506 - Contemporary Art History
    Course DescriptionThis course provides an in-depth study of early twentieth-century art and aesthetics. Art historical movements and practices will be examined, in particular their effects on cultural institutions such as the museum. The concepts that constitute modernist thinking, including theories of the avant-garde, will be addressed. (Formerly first half of NPF36AB).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 507 - Critical Theory
    Course DescriptionThis course surveys the influential work of the Frankfurt School of social and cultural theorists whose approach to mass media has provided the foundation for critical studies of contemporary culture. (Formerly first half of NPF37AB).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 548 - Modern Movements/Issues in Photography
    Course DescriptionThe major movements, figures and issues in twentieth-century photography are the focus of this seminar course, which will follow the evolution of the photographic medium over the century's span. The shift from pictorial to realist representation, the influences of surrealism, abstraction and modernism, the fragmentation of movements and styles in recent decades, and the development of new image-forming systems will all be examined. The course encourages individual exploration and research, and presupposes a basic knowledge of photographic history.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 549 - Theories of Photography - Contemporary Topics
    Course DescriptionAs critical and theoretical developments increasingly affect the uses of, and attitudes towards, contemporary photography, an understanding of photographic theory provides a useful basis for interpreting both photographs and writings. This course will examine topics in photographic interpretation and critical methods, with a particular emphasis on texts and issues from contemporary literature on the visual arts.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 550 - Contemporary Media Practices: A Survey
    Course DescriptionThis course provides a survey and overview of new and evolving media forms. Students will be encouraged to apply innovative ideas, techniques and/or approaches studied in this course to their own visual productions. A range of suggested topics will be presented in class and developed via individual research and investigation.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 551 - Interactivity and Networking
    Course DescriptionStudents studying the new media, and innovative aspects of film and photography, have available to them as an aspect of their production practice the relatively new communications discipline of interactivity, most typically by means of high-speed computer-controlled cable and wireless systems. Interactive and/or networked media and media systems will be traced from their beginnings up to the current state of ultra-high-speed computing and optical signal processing. By means of selected historical and contemporary case studies the interrelated cultural phenomena of interactivity and networking will be studied as both first-order paradigms of communicative-behavioural change and as applied creative and expressive modalities for new-media makers.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 552 - The Political Economy of Culture
    Course DescriptionImages are organized into presentations and exhibitions in books and periodicals, cinemas, concerts, plays and performances, at conferences and conventions, in galleries and museums, lectures and readings, on radio, television, closed-circuit systems and digital networks, in recordings and theatres. That is to say, images are produced and presented by an image industry. The course examines the image industry to understand its nature, functioning and operations, its relationship with image users and consumers, and its interaction with individual image-makers. The work of image-makers, and the image industry as a whole, takes place within a pluralistic cultural context of public- and private-sector entities which plan, organize, direct and control the image industry to produce high culture and mass media for audiences increasingly subject to market-place stratification and packaging.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Antirequisites:CC 8948
  • NPF 553 - Modern Movements in the Arts I
    Course DescriptionThis course examines relationships among contemporaneous developments in as broad a range of visual art, music, film photography, literature and dance as time allows. The course is mounted as two segments, offered in successive years; students may elect either one or both segments. The first segment explores the theory and practice of various modernist art movements and consists of the study of selected artistic developments that took place in the first half of the twentieth century. The movements examined will include some of the following: cubism, futurism, suprematism, constructivism, surrealism, abstract expressionism and post-painterly abstraction.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 554 - Modern Movements in the Arts II
    Course DescriptionThis course examines relationships among contemporaneous developments in as broad a range of visual art, music, film, photography, literature and dance as time allows. The course is mounted as two segments, offered in successive years; students may elect either one or both segments. This segment explores the theory and practice of various post-modernist art developments that have taken place in the second half of the twentieth century. Here various post-modernist movements will be examined such as minimalism, intermedia, new image and photo-realist painting, and neo-romanticism. Also considered will be various stylistic and formal developments that have not consolidated under the banner of any particular movement, but have nonetheless furthered the general ideals of post-modernist practices.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 555 - Experimental Media
    Course DescriptionIn the past century, groups of artists have repeatedly called for new methods for the creation of artworks, to revitalize arts that had grown dreary, stale, and predictable. This course comprises workshops and seminars and explores the value of such proposals: means to be considered will be the use of aleatory methods, algorithmic procedures, interference structures (Schillinger methods), exquisite corpses (in words and pictures), practices based on the methods of dreams, and methods based on the deliberate rejection of all formations that can be rationally explained. Workshop projects utilizing these methods will be realized in different media. Seminars will explore both historical questions concerning the provenance of such practices and theoretical questions about the extent to which these practices have the potential their proponents claimed for them. A portion of the course will be given over to considering philosophical questions concerning the role of novelty in the arts.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 557 - Topics in Film
    Course DescriptionThis course enables students to concentrate on specific aspects of the history and theory of film. Each semester will be devoted to a different topic, such as, national cinemas, alternative film practices, film genres and selected filmmakers. The relationship between the aesthetic features of given works and their cultural production context will be emphasized.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:MPF 290 or enrolled in Image Arts program
  • NPF 558 - Topics and Issues in Design
    Course DescriptionThis course will consider the influential role of design in film, photography and new media from a historical and theoretical perspective. The specific content of the course may vary according to the context and the particular focus of the curriculum in any given year. Practical workshops may be offered if appropriate to the material being presented.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 559 - Advanced Topics in Curatorial Practices
    Course DescriptionThis course is an advanced level seminar taught by departmental faculty members or adjunct lecturers. Each semester will be devoted to special topics that become relevant due to the changing practices and needs of the department and students.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 560 - Adv Topics in Film History and Theory
    Course DescriptionThis course is an advanced level seminar taught by departmental faculty members, adjunct or visiting lecturers, (e.g., exchange faculty). Each semester will be devoted to special topics in response to the changing practices and needs of the department and students.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:MPF 290 or enrolled in Image Arts program
  • NPF 561 - Adv Topics in New Media History and Theory
    Course DescriptionThis course is an advanced level seminar taught by departmental faculty members or adjunct and special visiting lecturers. Each semester will be devoted to special topics that become relevant due to the changing practices and needs of the department and students.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 562 - Media and Communication
    Course DescriptionThis course provides students with the opportunity to study the process and media of communication from a variety of theoretical perspectives provided by, for example: aesthetics, business, education, history, information theory, mass media studies, science, semiotics, the social sciences, technology.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 563 - Directors and Composers - 1940 to Present
    Course DescriptionThis is a professionally-related course open to all students with an interest in the evolution of music through its close relationship to film from 1940 to present. A number of key director/composer relationships throughout this period helped to shape and expand the stylistic approach and functions of music in film. Students will learn how the films of directors such as Fellini, Hitchcock, Spielberg and Burton were influenced by the composers with whom they collaborated. The soundtracks of films from various director/composers of the twentieth century will be studied.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 564 - Contemporary World Cinema
    Course DescriptionThe term World Cinema is defined for this course as any national cinema outside of North America and Europe. This course surveys contemporary world cinema since the 1990s, a new beginning for the international expansion of film, and will focus on films that usually fall outside the scope of conventional cinema studies courses. It aims to situate and explain the unique film production environments of various non-western countries within a regional and global context.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:MPF 290 or enrolled in Image Arts program
  • NPF 565 - Contemporary Canadian Cinema
    Course DescriptionThis course introduces students to contemporary Canadian cinema by placing it in the historical context of its development to date. The course tracks the issues that have confronted various attempts to create and define a national cinema in Canada. These include cultural policies and institutions; the tension between a pan-Canadian concept of national cinema, regionalism, Québec national cinema and the cinemas of the First Nations; and the problem of a domestic/foreign film market inundated by Hollywood cinema.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:MPF 290 or enrolled in Image Arts program
  • NPF 566 - History of Animation
    Course DescriptionThis course offers a wide-ranging panorama of the first 100 years of animation, drawing upon a variety of national traditions, production methods and technological developments to contextualize study. The course examines competing imaginaries and production techniques. The course covers cel and digital animation, silhouette animation, puppetry, stop motion, rotoscoping, rotoshopping, computer-generated imaging and motion capture. Students will be exposed to a variety of critical discourses in order to engage with the animated works introduced each week.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:MPF 290 or enrolled in Image Arts program
  • NPF 567 - Exhibition Practices in Contemporary Art
    Course DescriptionThe course integrates a general history of exhibition practice as it has evolved within the visual arts with a critical examination of the various activities, such as curatorial strategy, exhibition design, and audience development, which constitute the field of exhibition practice. Case studies of significant turning-point exhibitions provide students with the opportunity to focus their research on particular topics or issues of relevance to their own discipline or area of interest.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 568 - Analogue as Meaning
    Course DescriptionThis course will examine current debates in photo-based media and trace a shift in the meanings ascribed to images as related to analogue and digital processes. The course will examine how the development of digital imaging has shifted the value and status of the photographic image in recent years. This course will explore theoretical issues through readings and lectures and students will be required to undertake related visual projects.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 569 - Disaster Images: Memory and Response
    Course DescriptionThis course will examine the creative response of visual artists, photographers, filmmakers and new media artists to disaster, conflict and social crisis. Often allegorical, the work of artists will be seen to respond to crisis in modes not available to the fields of journalism or traditional documentary media. The course requires students to produce visual works and to prepare short discussion papers on the themes of disaster, history and memory.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 570 - Advertising and Consumer Culture
    Course DescriptionThis course provides critical skills for analysing advertising as texts, and for posing questions about the culture of consumption as an everyday practice that goes beyond advertisements. In addition to the phenomenon of advertising, the course addresses the pervasiveness of consuming as a social, cultural and economic activity. The approaches will be historical, theoretical, and political in scope and will cover a range of topics such as branding, identity, style, food, domesticity, sexuality, and recycling.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 571 - Introduction to Museum and Gallery Studies
    Course DescriptionThis course will familiarize the student with the day-to-day workings of art galleries and museums through making use of the practical example of the Ryerson Image Centre. The proximity to current exhibitions and research activities in the university gallery along with the opportunity to interact with the staff, guest curators, artists and scholars at the research centre will provide both practical and experiential insight into the gallery and museum contexts in which curators carry out their work.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 572 - Curatorial Practices in Toronto
    Course DescriptionThis course comprises an overview of current curatorial activities in Toronto public and private museums, galleries, and collections. It draws upon the diverse range of institutions and curatorial approaches involved in the public presentation and interpretation of historical and contemporary cultural artefacts. The course, which will be based on lectures by invited curators as well as field trips, will respond to and focus on recent and current exhibitions and curatorial activities.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 573 - Video Games: History, Theory, Culture
    Course DescriptionThis course offers an introduction to the history and theory of video games and their multifaceted fan cultures. The course addresses the military origins of video games, the concept of "gameplay," the ludology-narratology debate, transmedia storytelling, online gaming, casual gaming, game franchises, platform studies, and mimetic interfaces. The emphasis will be put on the medium itself, its makers, players, and fan cultures via case studies and insightful critical readings in video game studies.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 574 - Aboriginal Visual Culture in Canada
    Course DescriptionThe image of "the Native" has historically been used in western popular culture and media as a device of social and political control designed to marginalize, romanticize and assimilate indigenous cultures. This course will examine the historical misrepresentation of Aboriginal people and culture, as well how Aboriginal artists and cultural producers have subverted, critiqued, challenged and changed the perception of Aboriginal people through the media of film and photography.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 604 - Technology, Culture and Communication II
    Course DescriptionThis advanced course will explore cultural expressions in a variety of media. It will emphasize the debate between the social and technological determination of media use and effects. These issues will be approached by surveying the major scholars in this realm and by examining case studies, principally Canadian. (Formerly second half of NPF34AB).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 605 - Independent Cinema II
    Course DescriptionThe course considers a range of practices that take place outside the framework of support offered by the major cinematic institutions - practices that are shaped by the creative drive of individual filmmakers, the so-called "personal film." The work of film artists from France, Germany, the United States, Britain and Canada will be included. Readings will consist largely of manifestos, letters and documents generated by the filmmakers who are the principal subjects of study. (Formerly second half of NPF35AB).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:NPF 505 and MPF 290
  • NPF 606 - Contemporary Art Theory
    Course DescriptionThis course provides an introduction to the study of contemporary art theory. It examines theoretical developments within global systems of visual expression in the postmodern era. Subjectivity and representation, the impact of consumer culture on the art world, and digital modalities are among the issues the course addresses though close analysis of film, photography and new media artifacts. (Formerly second half of NPF36AB).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • NPF 607 - Cultural Studies
    Course DescriptionThis course will introduce students to the interdisciplinary field of cultural studies and will consider the application of contemporary cultural theory to various media texts and practices. (Formerly second half of NPF37AB).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 101 - Introduction to Media Theory and Practice
    Course DescriptionThis course provides an introduction to major media and new media theories, art movements and creative practices of the 20th and 21st centuries. Students learn to think critically about artworks, creative experiments and media. The course culminates in a major assignment where each student delves deeply into a specific theory to examine artworks, current creative practice or the audience's relationship to media.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 102 - Creative Processes
    Course DescriptionThis introductory course focuses on principles, theories and practices of content development for a variety of media genres, formats and distribution platforms. Students explore the development of creative and fact-based content by using processes such as rapid prototyping, iterative design, story-chasing and script writing. Students emerge from the course with an understanding of how to take their creative ideas from inception to the creation of compelling content. (Formerly BDC 102).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 103 - Digital Media Production I
    Course DescriptionThrough a combination of lecture and hands-on workshops, students will broaden their understanding of digital media, develop a critical understanding of the role of digital media in contemporary life, and become conscious consumers and creators of technology and digital media content. Students will be introduced to principles of visual design and communication, and will learn how to use digital media production software for graphic design, web-native production and time-based media. (Formerly BDC 192).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 1 hr. Lab 2 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:This course is only available to Media Production, New Media and Sport Media students.
  • RTA 104 - Sound Production
    Course DescriptionThrough a combination of lecture and in-studio workshops, students learn foundational skills in digital sound production: recording, editing, and mixing. Students then apply these skills through the creation of soundscapes across a variety of media, including radio, screen, etc., and develop a strong appreciation for the relationship of sound to image and the role of sound in media. (Formerly BDC 191).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 1 hr. Lab 2 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:Only Media Production, New Media and Sport Media students are permitted to enroll in this course.
  • RTA 105 - Sport Media Theory and Practice
    Course DescriptionThis course will examine the impact of sport in culture. By way of lectures, students will examine issues utilizing social theories to explain the role of sport in society. How has sport infiltrated everyday life and what is the impact of the commercialization of sport by media? Analysis of the socio-negative attributes associated with professional athletes will also be examined.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 2 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 106 - Introduction to Video Sport Production
    Course DescriptionStudents will gain an introductory knowledge of both single camera (EFP) and multicamera (studio and live production) sports broadcasting operational techniques, including hands-on equipment training. Emphasis in this lecture/lab is placed on crew roles and responsibilities. Production planning and control room protocol will be taught as well as organizational skills for program preparation.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 102
    Corequisites:RTA 211
    Custom Requisites:not available to BA Media Production students.
  • RTA 180 - Music and Film
    Course DescriptionThe use of music with film has evolved from early stereotyped borrowing of nineteenth century classical European repertoire to newly created scores that enhance and support the dramatic themes of the film. This course explores the relationship between music and film, the functions and effects of music and how the music supports or plays against the visual images. Analysis of selected film genres will demonstrate how music can strengthen the film's dramatic themes. (Formerly MUS 110)
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Liberal Studies:LL
  • RTA 183 - Rhythm, Beat and Groove
    Course DescriptionLatin America's music spans nightclub salsa, Brazilian samba, Latin jazz, African-derived carnival music, Haitian voodoo, and urban hip-hop, among others, and reflects dynamic cultural fusions of past and present. Through hands-on musical exercises, lecture, and examination of audio-visual media, this course explores the socio-cultural and aesthetic impact of Latin American musical genres, with a particular focus on Latin rhythm, beat and groove. (Formerly MUS 403).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 201 - Video Art and Production
    Course DescriptionThis studio/lab course approaches video as a unique artistic and standard production medium. Students learn about video art and production through making creative video works. Field trips, screenings, readings and critiques augment hands-on learning. Students will familiarize themselves with the concepts, tools and techniques of basic video making. Project development, production and public presentation strategies are aimed at creating a strong foundation in making moving media for broadcast, narrowcast, and virtual spaces. (Formerly MPM 106).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Antirequisites:RTA 243, RTA 920 (formerly BDC 929)
  • RTA 210 - Media History
    Course DescriptionThis course traces the history of media from the first radio broadcast to today's transmedia storyworlds. Students consider the main forces which shaped our media industry: technological change, commercial imperatives, creative aspirations, demographic trends and government policy and regulation. By looking at the past, students gain a greater appreciation of the current media landscape and, perhaps, the ability to adapt quickly to the future. (Formerly BDC 210).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 211 - Production Theory
    Course DescriptionThis lecture course will introduce analog and digital audio systems, an overview of visual media technical concepts, and computer hardware and networks with an emphasis on understanding the use of technology in audio and digital media production. The course will be taught at a non-engineering level. Lectures will include samples of technology, demonstrations and application of technical knowledge in production. (Formerly BDC 211).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 212 - Media Writing
    Course DescriptionBuilding on RTA 102 (Creative Processes), this courses focuses on writing for the screen and related platforms with an emphasis on fictional storytelling. Students consider major theories and schools of writing which will inform students? work and how they tell stories. Students then build on those theories to write their own script. (Formerly BDC 202).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 102/RTA 102
  • RTA 213 - Production: Introduction to Multi-Camera
    Course DescriptionStudents will gain a practical working knowledge of operational techniques, including hands-on equipment training in a multi-camera television studio with cameras, sound and lighting. Emphasis will also be placed on crew roles and responsibilities. Theory lectures will analyze the process of communicating information and emotion through visuals and sound. Production planning techniques and control room protocol will be taught to help students organize and execute their creative ideas.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 102/RTA 102
    Corequisites:BDC 211/RTA 211
  • RTA 220 - New Media Art History
    Course DescriptionThis course locates contemporary art practices within the historical frameworks of analogue and digital cultures. Students consider the digital movements that underpin current new media art culture. The course also explores the influence of digital cultures on 21st century art practices as well as hybrid forms of aesthetics. The historical, theoretical, and practical aspects of the transformation of author and viewer in new media are also investigated.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 221 - Experiential Media/Interdisciplinary Practice
    Course DescriptionThe city in all its complexity becomes a classroom, as students are invited to critically examine the physical and virtual forces that shape today's reality. The particular focus of the course is on the function of media in the context of experience design. Using an interdisciplinary approach, students explore topics such as intersecting technologies, social relations, cultural conditions, ?high? and ?low? art forms, robotics, transmedia and remediation as they relate to public spaces. (Formerly MPM 107).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 192/RTA 103
  • RTA 222 - Intro to Computational Arts
    Course DescriptionThis studio class introduces students to fundamental concepts, techniques and strategies of computer programming as an art form by teaching how to code interactive programs. The course investigates the interplay between creative expression and technological capability. Emphasis will be placed on computational literacy as well as constructing and evaluating algorithmic creative forms and artefacts. (Formerly second half of MPM16A/B and MPM 206).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 223 - Intro to Experience Design
    Course DescriptionThis foundational design course will build upon strategies developed in New Media Research Methodologies. Students will gain an understanding of what it means to create interactive experiences and learn that people can be your medium as well as your audience. Working individually and in small groups, students are encouraged to evolve their collaborative methodologies and their own artistic thematic and formal concerns through guided production. Emphasis will be placed on finding and creating structure and meaning in new media experiences. (Formerly second half of MPM17A/B and MPM 207).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 231 - Sport Marketing and Promotion
    Course DescriptionThis course provides marketing fundamentals with specific focus on major professional sports marketing as well as for amateur sports and the Olympics. This course will utilize theories and give them practical application.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 232 - Sport, Media and Society
    Course DescriptionBuilding upon the concepts delivered in RTA105 - Sport Theory and Practice, this course will examine ethical theories and their application to sport, the status of women in sport, corporate citizenship and the connection between sport and the society in which it operates.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 233 - Sport Journalism
    Course DescriptionThis course combines the history, practice and technique of sport journalism with extensive practice. The theory covers the style and substance of sport journalism, cross-platform reporting, written and visual story-telling, shaping language for the ear, interview techniques and the legal impacts of sport reporting. Students are introduced to various sport journalism roles in order to build a repertoire of practical experiences.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Antirequisites:JRN 512, NNS 512
  • RTA 234 - Intermediate Multi-Camera Sports
    Course DescriptionIn this lab students will gain a more advanced understanding and practice in multi-camera/studio sport production techniques. Through studio production exercises and a final project, students develop their knowledge of production tools and an understanding of the teamwork and interpersonal skills, both in front of the camera and behind, that are necessary to create successful sport programming.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 6 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 106
  • RTA 235 - Sportscasting
    Course DescriptionThis course examines the history, philosophy and production of sports programming. The relationships between the various players in the sports broadcasting environment will be surveyed. Writing for sports broadcasting, social media and the Web will be explored. The roles and special skills of the on-air talent will be characterized and discussed. The past, present, and future of women in sportscasting will be examined.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Antirequisites:RTA 955 (formerly BDC 955)
  • RTA 236 - Sport Presentation
    Course DescriptionIn this course, students develop on-air presentation skills particular to sports broadcasting: reporter, anchor, sideline, host, play-by-play and analyst. They will write pieces in sports broadcast style and do research into sports teams and statistics, using those pieces during exercises to develop interviewing, stand up and hosting skills. Students will also do research into the performance life of a professional sports broadcaster.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 1 hr. Lab 2 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Antirequisites:RTA 951 (formerly BDC 951)
  • RTA 243 - Production: Introduction to Single Camera
    Course DescriptionThis course will provide an introduction to the technical and aesthetic elements of electronic field production. Students will learn basic skills in single camera production techniques, and will begin to develop an aesthetic understanding of creative composition, production design, and editing. Working in teams, students will learn about production values and working to deadlines, while becoming familiar with how to use a camera, lights, microphone, and non-linear editing equipment to create video productions.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Antirequisites:RTA 201, RTA 920
  • RTA 310 - Media Aesthetics and Culture
    Course DescriptionThis course is designed to broaden understanding of the relationship between culture and media. Students tackle theories and ideas of visual studies, gender, fandom, transmedia, heroism and representation in all different media from TV to webisodes to gaming to comics and music. Students will learn about historical and current examples of boundary-breaking storytelling, and analyze and critique the work of storytellers from the past and present. (Formerly BDC 401).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 311 - Production: Intermediate Audio
    Course DescriptionBuilding on the audio skills acquired in RTA 104, BDC 101 or BDC 191, this course continues to introduce students to various audio production practices. Through a series of guided workshops and assignments in a supervised laboratory, students will produce content for a variety of audio delivery systems. Students will develop their knowledge of audio production tools, and gain an understanding of the teamwork and interpersonal skills necessary to create successful audio and radio productions. (Formerly BDC 301).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 6 hrs.
    GPA Weight:2.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:2.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 191 or RTA 104
  • RTA 312 - Motion Graphics
    Course DescriptionThis course offers intermediate-level skills in digital content production with a focus on motion graphics, animation, and the web. The course includes group-critiques, in-class workshops, production exercises and tutorials, and requires students to have a basic familiarity with computers and digital tools.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 103
  • RTA 313 - Production: Intermediate Multi-camera
    Course DescriptionThis course provides students with more advanced understanding and practice in multi-camera/studio production techniques. Through skill-based workshop rotations, studio production exercises and a major project, students develop their knowledge of production tools, operation and care of equipment, and an understanding of the teamwork and interpersonal skills necessary to create successful programming. As well, the skill set and talent necessary to use the visual medium to tell effective and evocative stories is further developed. (Formerly BDC 303).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 6 hrs.
    GPA Weight:2.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:2.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 211 and (RTA 213 or RTA 243)
  • RTA 314 - Production: Intermediate Single-Camera
    Course DescriptionThis course advances the student's knowledge and applications of lighting, framing, composition, location constraints, sound, and the editing involved in single camera shooting. Students will review the camera/recorder and nonlinear edit suites, the planning techniques derived from scripts, lighting techniques and audio recording. Students will develop story, scripts and production planning paperwork for one short and one longer form production, which they will shoot and edit. New Media students must complete core competencies. (Formerly BDC 304).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 6 hrs.
    GPA Weight:2.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:2.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 211 and [(RTA 201 and RTA 320) or (RTA 213 and RTA 243) or (BDC 201 and BDC 211)]
  • RTA 315 - Business of Creative Media
    Course DescriptionAn introduction to business practices and issues within the creative industries. Students are introduced to the business, operational and legal practices of the media in Canada. Students explore how these diverse businesses function within the Canadian regulatory environment and internationally. Students learn about business applications, as well as the legal/regulatory framework that media professionals operate in, and will explore ethical issues for media and business in general. (Formerly BDC 402).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 316 - Concepts in Narrative
    Course DescriptionFrom memory to conversations to scripted stories, narrative is a profound part of the human experience. How and why do we tell stories? This course examines how stories are told through different media and across different technological platforms. We explore how contemporary writers, theorists, artists and media-makers come to terms with narrative in the digital era, as new technologies impact how we communicate and create new narrative forms that transcend traditional media boundaries.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 202/RTA 212
  • RTA 317 - Digital Media for Evolving Audiences
    Course DescriptionAs social practice, technologies and media content change in the 21st century, our understanding of the types of stories we can tell and our relationship with an active, participatory audience has radically shifted. This course introduces students to the ideas of transmedia narratives and cross-media projects, discusses the properties of various content-platforms for interaction, and examines the dynamics of participatory audiences.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 103
    Antirequisites:RTA 320
  • RTA 320 - Interactive Storytelling
    Course DescriptionThis studio course introduces students to the fundamental concepts and strategies for creating interactive and nonlinear narratives. Students learn classic theories of storytelling and editing, as the foundation to crafting compelling interactive narratives. Through a series of projects, students are introduced to different methodologies for creating interactive narrative experiences, including the creation of storyworlds and narrative maps, and the use of character, perspective and time to build choice and viewer agency into the narrative experience.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 102/RTA 102
  • RTA 321 - Intro to Tangible Media
    Course DescriptionUsing the human body and its senses (vision, acoustic, touch, taste, smell, proprioception - physical sense of self movement) as an organizing model, this course introduces students to Physical Computing practices. Students will learn about digital and analog sensor systems, be introduced to micro-controllers, computer sensor systems and ubiquitous computing. Basic programming skills are an important part of this course. (Formerly MPM 308).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 322 - Technology, Identity and Creativity
    Course DescriptionThis course examines how media technologies relate to racialized, gendered and sexualized bodies. Students consider scholarly and popular works ranging from the cinematic representation of Frankenstein to current studies of cyborgian bodies in order to produce creative work that responds to modern and postmodern ideas about the body.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 323 - Digital Narratology
    Course DescriptionHow has digital culture changed the nature of narrative? How have digital narratives changed our perception of the world? Through critical readings, discussion and writing, this course analyzes digital narrative formats including hypertext, micro-texts, wiki-stories, and interactive narratives. As well, students investigate the work of the cultural theorists and artists who are exploring the meaning of digital media in relation to various narrative practices.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 330 - Advanced Live Sport Production
    Course DescriptionThis course will concentrate on the aesthetic and production values of live production. Students learn advanced cutting edge technologies and the logistics involved in live production. This class will combine lectures with the production of a professional quality remote simulated live event, utilizing remote production equipment.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 6 hrs.
    GPA Weight:2.00
    Billing Units:2
    Count:2.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 234
  • RTA 331 - Transmedia Sports Marketing
    Course DescriptionThis course introduces students to the fundamental concepts, principles and strategies utilized in the marketing of sport on multiple platforms. Covering both theoretical and practical aspects of sport marketing, the course will explore new and innovative means by which sports are marketed on television, radio and the Internet.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 332 - Legal and Business Aspects of Sport
    Course DescriptionThis course will concentrate on the intersection of sports, law and business. Topic areas will include collective bargaining, amateur and professional sports organizations, team and league discipline, drug testing, sports and criminal law, collusion and tampering amongst sports teams.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 406 - Chinese Instrumental Music
    Course DescriptionThis course explores the traditions and practice of Chinese instrumental music through score study, analysis of instrument technique and historiography, examination of pedagogy and transmission, and ensemble performance. Traditional folk, classical, and contemporary nationalized musical forms will be studied, with a particular emphasis on the stylistic differences of once discrete regions. Instruments studied may include: dizi, xiao, erhu, yanqin, ruan, sanxian, liuqin, guzheng, and Chinese percussion. (Formerly MUS 406).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Liberal Studies:LL
  • RTA 430 - Capstone Lecture Series
    Course DescriptionThis course will combine guest lectures from leaders in the sport media and management fields with a group project.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 2 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 431 - Sport Media Practicum
    Course DescriptionStudents self-select into groups to produce professional quality audio, television or multimedia sport media projects. Students engage the support of industry mentors as well as RTA faculty and pitch production ideas to a Sport Practicum Management Committee. Sport Practicum ideas must meet professional industry standards. Students must present sixty hours of documented internship or employment in the media industry or a contribution to RTA Productions or the equivalent contribution to the community accumulated during the student's second, third or fourth year fall terms.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 6 hrs.
    GPA Weight:2.00
    Billing Units:2
    Count:2.00
    Consent:Departmental consent required
  • RTA 432 - Internship/Study Abroad
    Course DescriptionWith faculty support, students will be given the opportunity to find themselves an 80-hour part-time sport media internship position. Students will develop personal contracts with both industry mentors and their faculty advisors to carry out significant research or production work off-campus. In the alternative, a selection of students may apply and be chosen to study abroad. Students will study the sport media and management operations of professional and/or amateur sport broadcasters and organizations hosted by a foreign university. Students will be expected to pay for travel and accommodations.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 6.5 hrs.
    GPA Weight:2.00
    Billing Units:2
    Count:2.00
  • RTA 433 - Issues in Sports
    Course DescriptionBuilding upon the concepts delivered in RTA 105 Sport Theory and Practice, this course will examine ethical theories and their application to sport, the status of women in sport, corporate citizenship and the connection between sport and the society in which it operates.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 232
  • RTA 441 - Music of India
    Course DescriptionIndian tradition holds that the world was created from a single primordial sound. Music is understood to impact mood, health, environment, and even physical matter. Each musical mode (raga) was traditionally to be performed only at a particular time of day and in a specific season. Examining popular and classical traditions through hands on exploration and traditional lecture, this course surveys the unique and sophisticated melodic, rhythmic and cultural traditions of Indian music. (Formerly MUS 107).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Liberal Studies:LL
  • RTA 474 - Gospel Music: Songs for the Spirit
    Course DescriptionEvolving from syncopated African spirituals, field hollers, and Christian hymns, gospel singing has influenced musical traditions from the blues, to rock and soul. Through group singing, lecture, and audio-visual examples, this course will explore the vocal tradition of gospel music through a socio-cultural, historical, and aesthetic lens, and in so doing trace the development of one of the most exuberant and exciting vocal genres of North America. (Formerly MUS 108).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Liberal Studies:LL
  • RTA 484 - Music of West Africa
    Course DescriptionAfrican music has fed and shaped North American popular culture for almost 150 years. Through hands-on drumming and singing, lecture, and study of audio-visual media, this course explores the intersection of drumming, singing and dancing in the exuberant music of West Africa. In so doing, the course investigates the relationships between musical performance, story-telling, community building and African history in a variety of representative genres. (Formerly MUS 109).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Liberal Studies:LL
  • RTA 501 - Project Development - New Media
    Course DescriptionThis course provides an opportunity to experience the entire life cycle of New Media project production including brainstorming, research, planning, proposal writing, building, testing, presentation, and documentation. Through written proposals and oral presentations, this course will teach how to develop creative concepts and explain their relevance in a broader social and technological context.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 322
  • RTA 503 - Project Development - Media Production
    Course DescriptionThrough workshops, lectures, screenings and seminars, students delve into the creative and practical processes needed to take an idea from inception to script or prototype. This course prepares students to produce their major culminating fourth-year Major Thesis project. Working in small self-selected groups and/or individually, students develop proposals for theses, scripts or production for midterm critique and final presentation. At term's end faculty may approve certain proposals to go forward as final projects.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 315
  • RTA 520 - Public Practice
    Course DescriptionPublic practice introduces students to the rigor and demands of the public presentation of creative works, as well as the level of refinement expected of thesis projects. In this hands-on studio course, students will be required to complete an exhibition quality project for the purpose of public presentation. Issues regarding various presentation contexts, gallery timelines, shipping requirements, contracts and artist obligations will be discussed and incorporated into the flow of the term.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 521 - #Activism: Media for Social Change
    Course DescriptionThis course will focus on the intersection of media technologies with activist movements, as well as specific forms of participatory culture that have transpired since the advent of social media. Moving from the 20th to the 21st century, we will examine such moments as: the ?fax revolution? in the Philippines, uses of community cable TV by artists/ activists in Canada, the role of Facebook and streaming video in international protest movements, WikiLeaks, hacktivism, and the re-configuring of social media like Twitter, blogging, YouTube etc. for activist use.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 530 - Chinese Music
    Course DescriptionThis course explores a variety of Chinese musical genres including folk, classical, contemporary hybrid and popular forms. Topics may include: the philosophical roots of music in Chinese cosmology; music and meditation; Beijing and Cantonese opera; censorship and propaganda in the Cultural Revolution; Chinese rock in the Tiananmen Square protest; and the growth of Chinese music internationally. Both Chinese instrumental and vocal music will be examined through a socio-historical, political, and stylistic lens. (Formerly MUS 506).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Liberal Studies:UL
  • RTA 710 - Thesis Project I - Production and Post
    Course DescriptionThis is the culminating project of the student's undergraduate academic career. Building on their development work in Project Development and working closely with an assigned faculty member in small groups averaging five, students produce a professional-level media project. Alternatively, Students may choose to work independently with an advisor on a full-length script or a special project. (Formerly BDC 701). (Note: Students may with express Departmental approval before the fall fourth year term take four electives in place of RTA 710 and RTA 810).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 6 hrs.
    GPA Weight:2.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 711 - Master Class
    Course DescriptionIn this course, students analyze and discuss the current and future overarching issues within the creative and cultural industries, placing them in context within the Canadian milieu. Senior representatives of various media and faculty members will present and discuss topics from their respective fields of expertise. Students will gain insights into opportunities and challenges in the workplace, trends and the impact of emerging technologies on all sectors with particular focus on content creation.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 712 - Thesis Paper
    Course DescriptionAs an alternative to Thesis Project I and II students write a major research paper to refine their scholarship and writing, under close faculty guidance. Included is an advanced library class, an overview of creative approaches to writing a scholarly paper, individual feedback sessions, work-shopping/peer review and discussion of ways of disseminating academic writing. Students create means of making their work available to the RTA community and beyond at the conclusion of the course.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Consent:Departmental consent required
  • RTA 810 - Thesis Project II - Exhibition/Reflection
    Course DescriptionAs the final stage of the student's undergraduate academic career, students publicly exhibit and disseminate their Thesis Project to the RTA community and beyond. The appropriate means and channels of distribution are determined by the nature of the specific projects. Students will use this process to further analyze, reflect upon and hone their own creative work.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 6 hrs.
    GPA Weight:2.00
    Billing Units:2
    Count:2.00
  • RTA 811 - Internship
    Course DescriptionWith faculty support, students find themselves a 240 hour intensive internship in the media, media production and related industries. Internships are subject to faculty approval. Students develop personal contracts with industry mentors to carry out significant research or gain industry work experience off campus. The internship is intended to encourage students to explore their particular career interests. Internships may be completed on a part-time basis throughout 4th year with faculty consent.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 6 hrs.
    GPA Weight:2.00
    Billing Units:2
    Count:2.00
    Consent:Departmental consent required
  • RTA 812 - RTA Productions
    Course DescriptionAs an alternative to RTA 811 Internship, students contribute 240 hour of substantive and significant creative work within the RTA community including, for example, RTA Productions, Spiritlive, RUTV, the Tara awards, approved PSAs and the DMZ. RTA Service is meant both as a means for students to contribute back to the RTA community and to explore their particular career interests. Interested students must demonstrate sixty hours of documented internship or employment in the media industry or contribution to RTA Productions or the equivalent contribution to the community accumulated over the student's second and third years and fall term of their fourth year.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 6 hrs.
    GPA Weight:2.00
    Billing Units:2
    Count:2.00
    Consent:Departmental consent required
  • RTA 813 - Directed Readings
    Course DescriptionUnder the guidance of a faculty member, in this course the senior student completes an individualized study and/or directed reading on a research project of mutual interest. The area of research should not duplicate material covered in other RTA courses and should contain an element of originality. Ideally, the course of study should delve into a specific issue associated with a topic rather than simply survey the topic's area.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 6 hrs.
    GPA Weight:2.00
    Billing Units:2
    Count:2.00
    Antirequisites:RTA 811
    Corequisites:RTA 711
  • RTA 821 - Issues in Experiential Media Art History
    Course DescriptionThis course is an advanced level seminar taught by departmental faculty members or adjunct and special visiting lecturers. Each semester will be devoted to special topics that become relevant due to the changing practices and needs of the department and students.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Corequisites:RTA 82B
  • RTA 82A/B - Thesis Project
    Course Description

    Students create innovative new media productions at an advanced level. Through lectures, workshops and labs, students gain an understanding of the contexts within which work is produced and publicly presented. Students are expected to demonstrate professional level abilities of critical thinking, proposal writing, project production, and public presentation strategy. Advanced production methods and techniques as they relate specifically to their projects are studied. In addition, students have the option to pursue more academic research interests.

    Weekly Contact:Lab 6 hrs.
    GPA Weight:3.00
    Billing Units:2/2
    Count:2.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 501
  • RTA 893 - Social Justice Media: Innovators, Creators
    Course DescriptionMost of us are online most of the time. How do marginalized communities fare in this virtual space? This course will present an exciting roster of media artists/theorists from Aboriginal, LGBT, feminist and racialized communities, who use research and creation to forge alternate discourses and visual/virtual worlds. We will also engage with art and theory on social justice media and activism.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 899 - Media Restoration and Forensics
    Course DescriptionThis course is an introduction to the theory and practice of audio/video restoration and forensics. Students explore various types of media degradation and examine best practice in restoring media, including the use of specialized digital hardware/software. Students will gain experience in media analysis and restoration techniques using both generic and specialist tools. Also examined are similarities and differences when dealing with restoration intended for commercial media repurposing and forensic evidentiary applications in law enforcement.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 1 hr. Lab 2 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 104 and (RTA 243 or RTA 201)
  • RTA 901 - Advertising
    Course DescriptionStudents follow a commercial production and related campaign from inception to completion and its use on traditional and social media. Aspects of advertising to be reviewed include: competitive bidding by agencies; budgeting for commercial production; relationships with production houses; government regulations and broadcaster advertisement codes; and the role of various personnel involved in the bidding, pre-production, production and post-production stages of a commercial. The sociocultural implications, effectiveness and persuasiveness of commercials are also explored. (Formerly BDC 901).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 902 - Social Media
    Course DescriptionStudents will learn how to leverage established and emerging social media platforms for specific purposes such as marketing, storytelling, research, branding, collaboration, etc. Through case studies and hands-on practice, students will gain an understanding of social media strategy, metrics, and best practices. The effects of social media on storytelling, media production, audiences and culture will be explored.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 903 - News and Current Affairs Theory
    Course DescriptionNews as entertainment information, satire, social instructor: audiences interact with the news in many ways. We look critically at ideas like discourse, news value and news filters, and then learn scholarly tools for analyzing news and its audiences. From radio to tabloid journals to E-zines to Twitter, we open up the idea of news in the 21st century, and think about its history, meanings, and future. War news and digital media are a particular focus. (Formerly BDC 903).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 904 - Advanced Media Management
    Course DescriptionIn this course, students will learn about organizational behaviour in the media industry. Topics will include theories of employee motivation, individual behaviour, interpersonal and organizational communication, perception and personality in organizations, work attitudes and values, team dynamics and effectiveness, organizational power and politics, conflict and negotiation, leadership, and stress management. (Formerly BDC 904).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 315
  • RTA 905 - History and Culture of Popular Music
    Course DescriptionThis course will examine the history and development of popular music in Canada, the US, and the UK, from the 1950's through to the present. Students will study popular music, along with the performers, labels, and key individuals behind the scenes who made it all happen. The goal of the course is to examine popular music through the decades in musical, cultural, political, and industrial contexts. (Formerly BDC 935)
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Antirequisites:MUS 505
  • RTA 906 - Marketing for Media Professionals
    Course DescriptionIn this course, students learn the basics of marketing including concepts relating to branding, communications plans, pricing and sales. These concepts will be understood in the context of media product. Students learn basic skills, and become familiar with the overall media marketing work thus better appreciating the importance of assuming a marketing mind set while pursuing any aspect of their media work. (Formerly BDC 906).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 315
  • RTA 907 - Sound Media
    Course DescriptionFrom Edison's first recordings and Fessenden's first broadcast of the human voice to contemporary practices of mashup and podcasts, sound media are ubiquitous in our culture. This course explores historic and contemporary practice in sound media, including screen sound, radio, sound art, soundscape, music, sonic branding, sonic interactive design and noise.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 908 - Business of Producing I
    Course DescriptionFrom the vantage point of the independent producer, students study the business and legal aspects of independent productions. Students examine how producers work with broadcasters, content creators, internet channels, interactive and transmedia platforms, funding agencies and financiers. Students also explore the business aspects of pitching (selling), developing, financing, producing, post-production and commercial exploitation/distribution of creative media properties. (Formerly BDC 908).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 315
  • RTA 909 - Business of Producing II
    Course DescriptionThis course builds on executive producing skills developed in RTA 908/MP 8908. Students form teams to develop the creative, financing, production, and business materials necessary for a complete series proposal for an independent production. These proposals will be competitively pitched to a panel of broadcasters and producers. This course is hands-on with creative, budgetary and business workshops and is intended for those students interested in creating and executive producing television and related transmedia projects. (Formerly BDC 909).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 908 or RTA 908
  • RTA 90A/B - Music in Film and Media
    Course Description

    This is a professionally-related course for Image Arts students that emphasizes the creation, technology and business of scoring for moving images, including television, video games, film and the World Wide Web. Topics include the functions and effects of music in media, new technologies, business and legal issues, and acoustic, psychoacoustic and digital audio theory. The course will develop knowledge of the scoring process to facilitate communication between the composer and the media creator. (Formerly MUS 31A)

    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:2.00
    Billing Units:1/1
    Count:2.00
  • RTA 910 - Production Management
    Course DescriptionThis course focuses on the role of the production manager in film and television. Students will become acquainted with all aspects of a production: development; pre-production; production; post-production. Topics will include legal aspects, financing, insurance, script breakdown and scheduling, budgeting, accounting and cost reports, location management, talent and crew unions, contracts, reporting mechanisms and relevant forms and paperwork as well as a review of key production personnel job descriptions and tips on getting hired. (Formerly BDC 910).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 315
  • RTA 911 - Directing and Performance
    Course DescriptionA general introduction to acting and directing theory and practice. Through lectures, workshops, scene deconstructions and screenings, culminating in a final production experience students learn effective strategies to bring the scripted page to the screen. Students also learn how to create and improvise characters within a limited time scale, study principles of voice, movement and basics of script break-down, blocking for actors and cameras and how lighting, audio and music contribute to mise-en-scène.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 313 or RTA 314
  • RTA 912 - The Audience
    Course DescriptionWhat does the audience want? This course introduces a wide range of research techniques and methodologies used in broadcasting and social media to measure audience and evaluate programming success across a range of platforms. This course also examines audience programming strategies of television networks. Students learn about research methods and decision-making processes used in program development, selection, promotion and scheduling.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 913 - Media Entrepreneurship
    Course DescriptionIn an ever changing industry media graduates must look beyond salaried employment in the corporate or public sector. This course assists media students to develop entrepreneurial options for themselves in the media industry, focusing on growth-oriented business venturing. In the first half of the course, students are introduced to entrepreneurship and business venturing. In the second half of the course, each student develops a business plan for a media startup. (Formerly BDC 913).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 315
  • RTA 914 - Business Case Studies in Communications
    Course DescriptionStudents conduct case studies exploring particular aspects of the media industry. They focus on how components of the production industry and broadcasting system function. Areas of study will include government regulation, market fragmentation, corporate consolidation, new technologies, cultural sovereignty, and international media production and distribution. Students present their findings in class and lead discussion on their particular subject. They also explain what makes their individual research important in the broader context. (Formerly BDC 922).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 315
  • RTA 915 - Legal Issues in Media
    Course DescriptionThis course will provide students with a deeper understanding of the concepts and legal process inherent in the business of broadcasting and communications. Topics to be covered include copyright, contracts, clearance of program rights, legal issues relating to the Internet and multimedia. Issues in entertainment law and sports law will also be reviewed, as will government regulation of the broadcasting and multimedia industries. (Formerly BDC 915).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 315
  • RTA 916 - Advanced Media Marketing
    Course DescriptionBuilding on the concepts introduced in RTA 906 this course explores effective marketing and promotion techniques for various specific media products. Specific areas of discussion include brand development strategies and detailed marketing plans which encompasses a strong communications mix across all platforms.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 906/RTA 906
  • RTA 917 - Public Relations
    Course DescriptionBroadcasters work in a regulated environment and ultimately rely on public support. Much broadcast content is generated by public relations sources. This course provides a broad understanding of Public Relations concepts and principles and their application in today's complex media world. Students explore the significance of current events and apply practical learning through the development of a launch campaign for a television program. Practitioners from the broadcast industry add expert input. (Formerly BDC 917).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 315
  • RTA 918 - Ethics in Media
    Course DescriptionThis course explores ethical and legal case studies in a business context, analyzing problems that arise in typical broadcasting and new media environments. The student's responsibility to society and the ethical choices they will be required to make are compared to the legal framework (both regulatory and statutory) within which they will be working. (Formerly BDC 918).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 919 - The Art of Negotiation
    Course DescriptionNegotiation is a learned skill. This course provides students with a comprehensive introduction to negotiation, enhancing students' abilities in preparing for, opening, bargaining and closing any type of negotiation more effectively. Students will learn theories of negotiation, and will apply those concepts during negotiation exercises, using both general and specific entertainment industry, artist management, and agency negotiation exercises.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 315
  • RTA 920 - Visual Storytelling: Video Production
    Course DescriptionThis course will introduce the production techniques of single-camera video as used in television and other screen-based media. Students will build skills in designing video pieces from beginning to end: pre-production, on location shooting, and post-production editing and finishing. (Formerly BDC 929).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Antirequisites:RTA 106, RTA 201, RTA 243
  • RTA 921 - Advanced Audio Theory
    Course DescriptionThis course is an exploration of Audio Theory for advanced applications. The course will cover modern audio practice as it applies to sound recording studios, live sound and sound reinforcement systems, acoustics and room and studio design, electronic and digital circuits and systems, computer applications in audio as well as Digital Signal Processing and compression systems and technology. (Formerly BDC 921).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 301 or RTA 311
  • RTA 922 - Transmedia Writing
    Course DescriptionStudents explore how to write to extend a story and the audience experience across a variety of platforms. Students write a transmedia bible, create a story world and characters that live for the audience in media including social media, participatory networks, ARG, traditional television and devices and media currently existing and yet undiscovered. Students also research and analyze the meaning and impact of audience-producer relationships.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 102/RTA 102
  • RTA 923 - Intro to Writing for Video Games
    Course DescriptionIn this course, students develop the skills and understanding needed to write sophisticated and emotionally involving video games. Students consider the strengths and limitations of the video game form, how to develop a resonant concept and deep characters, how to integrate gameplay into a story, and how to write for more non-linear and abstract games.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 102/RTA 102
  • RTA 924 - Digital Product Lab
    Course DescriptionThis course offers a unique opportunity to build a digital project with a full interdisciplinary team. Students from multiple disciplines/programs form teams to develop functional digital prototypes. Projects will be cutting-edge Mixed Reality work including wearable technology, location- and context-aware computing, socially-connected apps, and novel interaction paradigms. Teams work closely with professors and mentors to learn new production-skills in digital creativity, collaborative work, programming, demo videos, documentation, and presentation skills.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 925 - Making Objects
    Course DescriptionThis course will introduce students to basic material practices and physical object production. Students will gain the necessary skills to model, design and build physical entities. Students will be introduced to a variety of fabricating techniques as well as a range of materials. Projects will challenge students to work at a variety of scales and within several contexts. Individual and group projects will require development of personal and team based production skills.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 926 - Studies in Genre
    Course DescriptionWith a focus on great scripts from a variety of media, each year the course examines how writing in a specific genre enables artists to define and shape their identities within social and cultural contexts. Students will study the genre in depth as it manifests in television, radio and digital media. Areas of study will include the genre's evolution and conventions, sub-genres, and parody. (Formerly BDC 926).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 927 - Business of Music I
    Course DescriptionThis course explores the history of the music business, music industry organization and the roles of record companies, publishers, songwriters, unions and managers. Topics include A and R, marketing, promotion, sales, business affairs, finance and the use of music in film, TV, and advertising. Formerly BDC 927).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 315
  • RTA 928 - Gaming Theory and Practice
    Course DescriptionComputer games are increasingly recognized as important objects of cultural value. This class looks at how computer and console games are made, why they are made, and how users interpret and respond to them. This course includes discussions of formal game theory, the cultural theory and history surrounding computer games and studies issues regarding 3D modeling, animation, design and development of interactive narratives and storytelling, mobile gaming, and gaming in various online systems. (Formerly BDC 928).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 929 - Multi-platform Narrative
    Course DescriptionIn this studio course, as students develop interactive, nonlinear and transmedia narratives, they are tasked with finding the best platform(s) for each story, as they explore the interplay of medium and narrative. Students will be given a series of projects and narrative design challenges, wherein they must choose the media with which to best convey the narrative goals. Topics explored include the narrative impact of private versus public content, scale and screens, and the use of social networks, ubiquitous media, and "real" space to tell compelling stories.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 320
  • RTA 930 - Social Practices in Hybrid Media Spaces
    Course DescriptionThis course is designed to help students develop awareness of how virtual environments have changed our notions of social life by altering our relationship to time and space. Through research projects that integrate readings, in class discussion and projects in virtual worlds, students will develop experiential design skills to evaluate, repurpose, and otherwise develop virtual environments for social innovation.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 931 - Inside the Frame
    Course DescriptionWhat compromises the "look" of a film, television series or other screen-based work? What theoretical approaches and practical decisions determine how a story is told visually to provide the greatest creative value for the filmmaker and emotional impact on the audience? Students apply theoretical frameworks to classic film and television works to understand how elements of direction, visual composition, mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, production design and technological advances can shape our stories. (Formerly BDC 931).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 932 - Hacking, DIY and Open Source Cultures
    Course DescriptionThis survey course examines the historical role of peer-to-peer practices in western society in order to ascertain the role of informal information economies as sites of cultural and societal change. The course will also examine how networked peer-to-peer practices of the early 21st century have introduced on a mass scale alternate social and cultural changes that mark the beginning of a societal shift similar in scope to the changes that occurred during the Renaissance. Through research projects, students will analyze how these practices have altered contemporary social, cultural and economic practices and norms.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 933 - Hacking, DIY and Open Source Studio
    Course DescriptionIn this studio course, students will develop projects that exist at the intersection of social media, and/or virtual worlds, and their field of study. The goal is to help students develop expertise in cross-disciplinary methodologies and explore the role of social media in their profession. In this course, students will be asked to develop prototypes of projects that integrate social media design methods.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 932
  • RTA 934 - Virtual Identities and Communities
    Course DescriptionThis survey course examines the role of virtual environments in reshaping early 21st century notions of identity, communities and organizations. Through research projects, students analyze how these practices have altered the nature of mainstream society and question the future of western culture.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 935 - Institutional/ Personal Media Platforms
    Course DescriptionIn this studio course, students will develop projects that develop virtual identities, communities and organizations and learn how to use personal and peer culture in a professional and/or institutional setting. The goal is to help students develop expertise in cross-disciplinary methodologies and explore the role of social media in their profession. In this course, students will be asked to develop prototypes of projects that integrate social media design methods.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 936 - The Business of Art
    Course DescriptionSuccessfully creating art works as an independent artist requires a diverse collection of skills that extend well beyond the conceptualization and making of projects. The Business of Art will provide students a framework for taking that great idea, getting it funded, and making it a reality. This course will introduce students to the fundamentals of successful proposal writing, project management and budgeting. Grounded in cases studies and real world examples the procedures and strategies for applying to art councils, self-funding and private investing will be considered.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 937 - Business of Music II
    Course DescriptionExpanding upon the subject matter of Business of Music I, this course continues the examination of the inner workings of the music recording, publishing and management industries. Students concentrate on business models and practices, in-depth analysis of music industry contracts with a focus on emerging marketing and promotion tools and techniques. Students work concurrently with real artists, developing various marketing artifacts, culminating in a term-end public presentation of their selected artist. (Formerly BDC 937).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 927 or RTA 927
  • RTA 938 - Digital Popular Cultures
    Course DescriptionA critical look at the defining digital technologies and transmedia content of popular culture: social media; mobile media; online fandom; gaming; pirating/hacking; open source software; new audience practices for online/streaming television. Using a cultural studies approach, students will read a wide range of texts examining the everyday practices and interactive possibilities of digital popular culture, with attention to presencing, archiving, searching, and new forms of community via digital technologies.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 939 - Aboriginal Media
    Course DescriptionThis course explores Aboriginal media art in the context of the major political and social discourses currently informing contemporary First Nations art. Through screenings, readings and guest artists we will examine critically engaged community-based art practices in the context of Aboriginal aesthetics. Two-spirit, gender, class and race issues will be seen through the lens of Aboriginal artists. The course will compare the function of art from an Aboriginal worldview with that of a Western one.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 940 - Canadian Televisual Studies
    Course DescriptionThis theory-based course comprises a broad-ranging and multi-genre look at Canadian media, with a particular focus on television content from the 1960s to the 21st century, including ways that audiences interact with national broadcasting. We will also examine digital technologies, global discourses of runaway production, and cross-border export /franchise, with a critical look at national myths and practices in the digital era. (Formerly BDC 924).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 941 - Dramatic Writing
    Course DescriptionThis course demystifies the process of writing for the screen and encourages students to find their unique dramatic voice by writing an original script. Students analyze principles of dramatic storytelling and current dramas at the script level. Using story editing exercises, students learn how to structure a story, build dramatic tension and craft moving characters. By the end of the course, students develop an appreciation of the nature and purpose of drama. (Formerly BDC 941).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 212 (formerly BDC 202)
  • RTA 942 - Advertising Copywriting
    Course DescriptionThis course hones the student's abilities in advertising copywriting and commercial writing. Students study and practice copywriting style and mechanics for traditional media such as radio and television and emerging and immersive methods of reaching consumers via Social Media and the Internet. Students learn effective strategies how to evaluate consumer needs and deliver a compelling message to motivate an audience. (Formerly BDC 942).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 212
  • RTA 943 - Comedy Writing
    Course DescriptionThis course covers the fundamentals of comedy writing with special focus on the techniques of writing comedy for television and the web with an emphasis on sketches and sitcoms. Students take part in story editing exercises, designed to simulate industry practices. This course's key goal is to develop students' creative and comic voice in their writing. (Formerly BDC 943).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 102 (formerly BDC 102) and RTA 212 (formerly BDC 202)
  • RTA 944 - Writing for Animation
    Course DescriptionThis course is designed to cover the fundamentals of writing for animated series designed for television and other platforms. Students will learn the language and process of writing for animation and consider the rich creative history of animation. Students will be required to create a fully realized animated script by the end of the semester. (Formerly BDC 944).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:(BDC 102 and BDC 202) or RTA 212
  • RTA 945 - Writing for Factual and Reality Programs
    Course DescriptionIn this course students learn the story chasing/development, writing techniques and production practices related to lifestyle, current affairs, science, business, entertainment and ?reality? programming. Students learn how to shape their research, found material, interviews, narration, b-roll and stills into coherent and emotionally engaging stories while working within tight constraints of time, genre and format. Students also analyze the ethical dilemmas and social trends that fact-based and reality programming represent. (Formerly BDC 945).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 946 - Issues in New Media Theory/History
    Course DescriptionThis course, taught by a different professor each year, will take on different historical and critical approaches to technology and creative practice, looking at mechanical, electronic and digital/interactive platforms. Potential topics to be explored: amateur versus professional practices, creative media practice and domestic space, personal history and media memory, software studies, affect theory and technology, social media and social theory.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 947 - Live Event Media
    Course DescriptionLive events are true "multi-media" challenges, incorporating a mix of live performance, live-to-air and streaming multi-camera video, graphic design and animation, live sound mixing and musical performance, set design, single-camera productions and more. A professional live event builds on a foundation of solid writing, content development, and technical direction. In this course, students ultimately plan and execute a cross-media live event, applying and honing their skills in all of these areas.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 320 or RTA 311 or RTA 312 or RTA 313 or RTA 314
  • RTA 948 - Interactive Spaces
    Course DescriptionInteractive Spaces builds upon and extends the fundamentals introduced in Intro to Computational Art. In this course, scripting and programming skills will be developed and integrated with interaction design skills. Students will produce a variety of experiences based on several modes of interactivity. Emphasis is placed on the production of interactive systems that engage participants through unique and dynamic experiences. (Formerly MPM 307).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 222 or MPM 206 or MPM 16A/B
  • RTA 949 - Directed Study
    Course DescriptionThe Directed Study course makes it possible for a student to work on an independent research project under the supervision of a faculty member. The project should either explore a topic which is not usually covered in the curriculum or propose a more in-depth study of topic covered in an existing course. It is the student's responsibility to identify the topic, develop an appropriate research plan and obtain approval for undertaking a Directed Study.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Consent:Departmental consent required
  • RTA 950 - Selected Topics in Media
    Course DescriptionTopics explored in this course will be determined by available faculty expertise, student interest, and curricular need. Registration may be limited to students in a specific year of the program and may require the Instructor's permission or a prerequisite at the Department's discretion. Enrolment numbers may also be limited. The Department will also consider student proposals for areas of study brought to the Faculty through the Departmental Council. May not be offered every year. (Formerly BDC 950).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Consent:Departmental consent required
  • RTA 951 - Presentation I
    Course DescriptionIn this course, students develop their on-air presentation skills. They will present stories, news and commentaries both on-camera and behind the microphone, and through a series of exercises develop interviewing, stand up and co-hosting skills. Students will also do research into the performance life of a professional broadcaster. Exercises are supplemented with guest lectures from broadcast professionals. (Formerly BDC 951).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 212 and (RTA 313 or RTA 314)
  • RTA 952 - Advanced Presentation and Field Production
    Course DescriptionStudents will use the skills they developed in RTA 951 to write and perform a series of video and audio assignments. Assignments will include studio and field interviews, live and taped field reports, editorials and scripted performances using the teleprompter. Students will develop their presentation skills by producing a half-hour co-hosted show. Students will also learn how to market their produced tapes to producers.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 951 or RTA 233
  • RTA 953 - Mobility and Mixed Reality
    Course DescriptionThis course engages with mobile technologies and their impact on new media art practice through a discussion of contemporary artworks as well as hands-on exercises. This course explores how mobile technologies and mixed reality blur the boundaries between physical and virtual spaces, redefining the relationship we have to interfaces, places and the city. Emphasis will be placed on the production of new participatory experiences focused on specific locations, boundaries and topologies. (Formerly MPM 407).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:(MPM 206/RTA 222 and BDC 192/RTA 103) or MPM 307/RTA 948
  • RTA 954 - Empathy Machines
    Course DescriptionEmpathy Machines continues upon and extends the fundamentals introduced in Intro to Tangible Media. This course emphasizes the role of the interface as a structure for communication. This course examines how traditional forms of input and output are displaced through the design of physical artistic interfaces. Students will develop, produce and reflect upon works that incorporate elements of traditional, hybridized and physical systems by combining electronics and embedded programming techniques with media machines. (Formerly MPM 408).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:MPM 308 or RTA 321
  • RTA 955 - Sports Broadcasting
    Course DescriptionThis course examines the programming philosophy and production of sports programs. The course explores different types of programming including feature production, sports journalism, live-event coverage and interactive Web-based production. It will discuss the behind the scenes responsibilities of executives, editorial staff and technical crews, as well as on air-performance and visual presentation in both traditional and interactive environments. Using this knowledge, students will produce a sports feature and a live production. (Formerly BDC 955).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 313 or RTA 314
  • RTA 956 - Children's Programming
    Course DescriptionStudents examine children's developmental stages, interests and needs, and study contemporary children's television techniques and the influence media has on kids' lives. The course explores societal and regulatory forces that influence children's programming with guest speakers addressing current issues in the industry. Students conduct original research into media intended for children and adolescents and, with the instructor's permission, may produce a short creative work to demonstrate their research. (Formerly BDC 956).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 957 - Documentary Production
    Course DescriptionThis course provides an opportunity for students to produce a documentary short subject, building on key theoretical concepts and storytelling skills developed in Introduction to Documentary. Students work in teams to produce an original 20-minute documentary, previously developed in Introduction to Documentary. Students will develop basic competencies in documentary pre-production, production and post-production practices and create a trans-media strategy to develop the documentary across other media platforms. (Formerly BDC 957).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 301/RTA 311 or BDC 302/RTA312 or BDC 303/RTA 313 or BDC 304/RTA 314 or RTA 234
  • RTA 958 - Communications within Hybrid Environments
    Course DescriptionThis advanced studio will encourage students to refine their artistic voice through the application of skills in the context of emerging hybrid environments. Ubiquitous computing, networking and the mobile individual serve as points of departure for collaborative explorations dealing with the communication potentials of emerging media spaces.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:MPM 206/RTA 222 and MPM 308/RTA 321
  • RTA 959 - Visualization and Generative Processes
    Course DescriptionThis advanced studio course will explore the role of generative algorithms and database visualization approaches in new media art works. Processes of randomization, feedback, behaviour, mapping and emergence will be related to data and structure through the construction of interactive experiences. Students will deepen their understanding of presentation skills and professional practice through the development of individual works.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:MPM 206/RTA 222
  • RTA 960 - Selected Topics in International Media
    Course DescriptionTo understand and effectively communicate stories about our world,, storytellers must be able to see beyond their own borders. Students will work with partner universities from around the world to produce live, international current affairs shows that are informative, artistic and entertaining. This involves developing the theme and look of the show from research, to shooting and editing stories, finding interview guests, etc. Learn about the business of international production and co-production through lectures by professors from other universities.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 311 or RTA 313 or RTA 314 or RTA 312
  • RTA 961 - 2-D and Object Animation
    Course DescriptionThis course is an introduction to the world of 2-D animation and stop-frame object animation. It will include discussion of the history and aesthetic aspects of animation and also allow students to produce their own pieces. Equipment and software for simple animated projects will be introduced, and film, video, new media and interactive forms of delivery will be discussed. (Formerly BDC 961).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 201 or RTA 243
  • RTA 962 - Interaction Design
    Course DescriptionIn this course, students will learn and define modes of interactivity that are available to create experiences and the qualities required to design interesting interactions. The course will examine the history and development of the dialogue surrounding the modern idea of interaction from its influences in theatre, performance, and kinetic sculpture. Students will also explore creative applications of communication paradigms, including the design implications of alternative modalities and practices with the changing cultures of presentation-reception.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 963 - Web Design
    Course DescriptionThis course explores graphic and web design from an aesthetic and functional point of view. Students will learn about the software and technology needed to acquire, manipulate and render effective visual images, and will experience the planning, production, and launch of a web site, using the latest web design and management software. Designing for human usability will be discussed as well as limitations of technology in order to maximize the impact of the creative material. (Formerly BDC 963).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 101 or BDC 192 or RTA 103
  • RTA 965 - Advanced New Media Topics
    Course DescriptionThis course will allow students to explore leading-edge research, developments and projects in new media. New media practitioners and researchers will be encouraged to submit proposals for this workshop. Collaborative and community-based projects will also be actively sought and encouraged. The particular structure of the workshop will be responsive to the nature of the ongoing projects but the students will be active participants in the design, development and prediction of the accepted projects.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 102 (formerly BDC 102)
    Antirequisites:FPN 542
  • RTA 966 - Cooperative Internship
    Course DescriptionThis course gives students the opportunity to work in professional production situations and settings which provide them with professional experience with the medium/media of choice. Internship contacts are the responsibility of the student. All internships are subject to departmental approval in advance. (For senior BFA students only)
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Consent:Departmental consent required
  • RTA 967 - Interactivity and Net-working
    Course DescriptionThis course examines the notion of interactivity and networking in establishing an experiential culture in early 21st century western society. Using selected historical and contemporary case studies, students will explore the interrelated cultural phenomena of interactivity and networking and will study how experiential culture influences their profession.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Antirequisites:NPF 551
  • RTA 968 - Malleable Media
    Course DescriptionThrough hands-on, participatory and practice based strategies this course will explore how DIY culture and rapidly changing technology platforms expand, alter and enhance personal practice. By focusing on several strands of this new web, currently being woven, we will examine how new and emerging technologies can be incorporated into daily practice. We will develop strategies for adopting new methods and materials and reflect upon how new practices inspire or challenge us.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 321
  • RTA 969 - Television Technical Producing
    Course DescriptionAn advanced course in television technical producing, this course is a continuation of technical production knowledge obtained in previous context and craft courses in television (both multicamera and EFP). Students will explore large live-event coverage (sports, elections, music specials, awards shows), and tours will be arranged to technical production facilities in the Toronto area. The course culminates with a live teleproduction at the end of the semester. (Formerly BDC 972).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:(BDC 211 and BDC 303) RTA 314 or RTA 313
  • RTA 970 - Lighting, Grip and Effects Specialty
    Course DescriptionLighting and special effects technicians work behind the scenes to add realism or dramatic effect to a television production. This course will engage the student in theoretical and practical aspects of this element of production. Emphasis will be on the aesthetics, professionalism, discipline, technical ability, equipment and safety considerations necessary to achieve the desired results. (Formerly BDC 973).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 303 or BDC 304 or RTA 314 or RTA 313
  • RTA 971 - Audio Post Production and Sound Design
    Course DescriptionThis course will introduce students to the creative and technical aspects of creating a soundtrack for the moving image. Through a combination of lecture, screenings, discussion, and practical workshop modes, students will learn about the audio post production process, including dialog recording and replacement (ADR), Foley and sound effects editing, music and score, and mixing techniques. (Formerly BDC 974).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 101 or BDC 191 or RTA 104
  • RTA 972 - Sound Synthesis
    Course DescriptionThis course will cover practices and principles of analog and digital sound synthesis and their historic origins; related audio equipment and applications; theories of sound samplers; algorithmic composition; synthesizers and sequencers; computer music; digital signal processing; computer synchronization; and MIDI applications in sound synthesis and recording production. Advanced sound synthesis techniques are studied and supplemented with sound synthesis studio laboratory work. (Formerly BDC 975).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 973 - Independent Production
    Course DescriptionIn this course senior students produce professional level audio, video or new media projects following a carefully designed planning process. This course is for that individual student who wishes to stretch their technical, organizational and, most importantly, creative skills on a project that does not fit within the constraints of the fourth year Master Thesis. (Formerly BDC 976).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 301/RTA 311 or BDC 302/RTA 312 or BDC 303/RTA 313 or BDC 304/RTA 314
  • RTA 974 - Radio Broadcasting
    Course DescriptionThe course will explore commercial and public radio programming and production. Radio advertising and formats will be explored. Students will have the opportunity to practice their skills in these areas by planning and producing content that reflects various formats and target demographics. (Formerly BDC 979).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 101 or BDC 191 or RTA 104
  • RTA 975 - Video Compositing and Special Effects
    Course DescriptionA large number of images that appear on our TV screens are treated with special effects prior to completion. Students will work with a range of basic image treatment software and will acquire skills on more sophisticated systems both on and off campus. They will learn the why and when for such effects treatments as special effects decisions can involve ethical elements. (Formerly BDC 982)
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 302/RTA 312 or BDC 303/RTA 313 or BDC 304/RTA 314 or RTA 320
  • RTA 976 - Broadcast Journalism
    Course DescriptionIn this course, students will learn foundational aspects of broadcast journalism and build hands-on skills in news gathering and reporting for radio and TV. Students will learn what makes a story 'newsworthy,' news ethics, how to write broadcast news stories, researching, fact-checking, gathering actualities and b-roll, and line-up editing. Students will prepare and execute live news reports regularly as part of the course evaluation.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 313 or RTA 314
    Antirequisites:RTA 233
  • RTA 977 - Current Affairs Production
    Course DescriptionCurrent affairs stories and programs examine events and issues of social and political interest and importance happening in the world right now. They are detailed and well researched, but also artistic and entertaining. In this course students will learn to create unique and interesting video/audio stories and develop their writing and interviewing skills. Then students will work in small groups to create first, a half-hour radio current affairs show and then a half-hour TV program.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 903/RTA 903 or RTA 976 or RTA 951 or RTA 313 or RTA 314
  • RTA 978 - Editing Specialty
    Course DescriptionThis is an in-depth course designed to provide a thorough understanding of video editing techniques and processes. Through exercises, the process is followed from the initial planning stages to the final edit session. Topics covered include aesthetics and emotion, the importance of audio in video productions, story structure and the editing different genres. Students apply this knowledge to execute a series of projects in a professional editing environment. (Formerly BDC 988).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 302/RTA 312 or BDC 303/RTA 313 or BDC 304/RTA 314 or RTA 234
  • RTA 979 - Advanced Television Editing
    Course DescriptionStudents learn about advanced editing and finishing. Creative use of special effects, filters, colour correction and advanced audio mixing are among the topics covered. As well, organizational skills, post-production protocol, editing for different genres and advanced workflows including budgeting and scheduling needed to handle large amounts of media will be discussed.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 988/RTA 978
  • RTA 981 - Advanced Audio Production
    Course DescriptionThis course is an advanced master class for students specializing in Audio. Building on the basic and intermediate training in the first and second years of the program, this course will explore the theory and practice of Advanced Audio Production. The course will include discussion of the history of audio and focus on the aesthetics of quality audio, and applying these principles to senior level production assignments. (Formerly BDC 601).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 6 hrs.
    GPA Weight:2.00
    Billing Units:2
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 301 or RTA 311
  • RTA 982 - Advanced Digital Media Production
    Course DescriptionThis course is an advanced masterclass for students specializing in interactive digital media. Building on the basic and intermediate training in the first and second years of the program, this course explores the theory and practice of an Advanced Interactive Media Production. It includes in-depth case-studies, with a focus on the design, aesthetics, production and performance of interactive media productions. Students plan, design, create and launch large-scale digital-media productions as part of this course. (Formerly BDC 602).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 6 hrs.
    GPA Weight:2.00
    Billing Units:2
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 302 or RTA 312
  • RTA 983 - Video Production - Advanced
    Course DescriptionStudents will undertake self-selected advanced level workshops to further develop their proficiency and expertise in specific craft and production roles, including but not limited to: producing, direction, technology, creative and post-production. In production teams, students will produce projects that will provide an opportunity to implement skills and knowledge gained from the specific craft and production concentrations.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 6 hrs.
    GPA Weight:2.00
    Billing Units:2
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 313 or RTA 314
  • RTA 984 - Single-Camera Production - Advanced
    Course DescriptionThis course concentrates primarily on the aesthetic and production values of the video image, complemented by the progressive investigation of high definition (HD) and lighting technologies. This class investigates how light, colour and the perception of colour, motion, and the compositional elements of dimensionality, visualization and perspective in high definition production can be used at a sophisticated level to tell a story. (Formerly BDC 604).
    Weekly Contact:Lab 6 hrs.
    GPA Weight:2.00
    Billing Units:2
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 304 or RTA 314
  • RTA 985 - Sound for Video Producers
    Course DescriptionA great video production requires great sound. In this course, designed for students primarily interested in video production, students learn various techniques for capturing sound on set and in the field, as well as post-production editing and mixing techniques for a variety of screen-based media. Creative, technical, and theoretical aspects of sound design are also explored.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 191/RTA 104
  • RTA 986 - International Development
    Course DescriptionStudents will learn about international development, and the role that media plays in it, through both classroom work and travel abroad to engage in a community development project. Depending on the proposed project, students may be expected to fund raise, create media productions, plan events, and/or teach others how to use and produce media. Enrolment in the course is strictly by permission of the RTA School of Media only. Course may not be offered every year.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Consent:Departmental consent required
  • RTA 987 - Comedic TV Production
    Course DescriptionThe course will explore the production of sitcoms, sketch comedy and comedic talk shows. After analyzing the structure of these genres, students will develop scripts and produce examples of comedic television. The course will explore the business and technical requirements as well as the writing and production opportunities in this field. Students will have an opportunity to research comedic performers, producers and writers as well as develop their own skills in these areas.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:BDC 303/RTA 313 or BDC 304/RTA 314
  • RTA 988 - International Media Storytelling
    Course DescriptionThis course explores the opportunities and challenges of developing media content for the world market. The course will focus on international co-production and distribution of television, internet and other platforms. It will include an exploration of the development process of being a storyteller and media producer and executive for a global audience.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
  • RTA 989 - Emerging Media Markets/Entrepreneurship
    Course DescriptionAvailability of fast and ubiquitous communications networks and the advent of powerful mobile devices such as mobile phones, tablets and wearable technologies have created new opportunities for media economics and how media is curated and consumed. The next generation of media economics and the effect of crowd sourcing, collective intelligence and role of Data Science will be discussed. Students will be exposed to new business models and will learn the importance on product design, and digital media entrepreneurship, its requirements and best practices.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 315
  • RTA 991 - Sport Writing
    Course DescriptionThe intention of this course is to introduce students to the particulars of sport writing, building upon the theories and practice first introduced in Sport Journalism. A course in sport writing will involve learning the fundamentals of sport writing for television, radio and digital media. Students learn the language of sport writing and are required to write a number of broadcast scripts across all broadcast media.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 233
  • RTA 992 - Social and Interactive Media for Sports
    Course DescriptionIn this course students will be introduced to transmedia platforms and their application to the sport industry. By way of lectures, case studies and in-class workshops, students will learn new modes of story-telling by maintaining the overall narrative through multiple outlets. Social media, gamification techniques, digital media and other cross-platform destinations will be examined. This course will also introduce students to the creation of sports games on multiple platforms.
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Antirequisites:RTA 902
  • RTA 993 - Sport Graphics
    Course DescriptionIn this course, students will explore and create a variety of on-air and online graphics used in sport media. An understanding of and ability to develop graphics for promos, show packages, studio shows, tickers, boards, transitions, as well as digital media for online ads, contests, social and print media. Students will develop design and animation skills as it applies to the fast-paced sport media environment, using still, 2D and 3D software.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 103
  • RTA 994 - Advanced Sportscasting
    Course DescriptionThis course builds on the content of RTA 235 - Sportscasting. Students will develop their particular areas of interest and career development within the sport industry and grow in their capacity to recognize and respond creatively to opportunity, and initiate and manage change. The course will focus on statistical information presented on various media, the design and implementation of multi-platform sports presentation, and advanced concepts related to the sport media field.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 235
  • RTA 995 - Embodied Digital Media: Research/Design
    Course DescriptionFew digital technologies make use of the connection between our bodies and minds to support creativity and knowledge production. This new research and design centered course will provide students with the unique opportunity to envision the shape of research-based education in digital and embodied media, while working in collaboration with peers from Georgia Tech's Synaesthetic Media Lab (Synlab) on cutting edge research projects in Tangible and Embodied Interaction for creativity and expression.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Consent:Departmental consent required
  • RTA 996 - Beyond the Radio Format
    Course DescriptionIn this course, students will learn about the role of public broadcasting in Canada and beyond, and produce public-style programming such as Current Affairs, Arts and Entertainment, Drama, etc. Additionally, students will study audio podcasting's asynchronous, subscription-based approach and produce their own pilot podcast.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 104
  • RTA 997 - Advanced Gaming Theory and Practice
    Course DescriptionBuilding on the theoretical and design concepts covered in Gaming Theory and Practice I, this class affords students the opportunity to continue to expand their knowledge surrounding game design, development, and dissemination. This course will cover a myriad of topics, ranging from the historical foundations of video games, through to the importance of audio in gaming, as a means of innovating modern game creation in the growing transmedia landscape.
    Weekly Contact:Lab 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Prerequisites:RTA 928
  • RTA 999 - RTA in LA
    Course DescriptionStudents are given a window into business, organizational and creative practices of the Los Angeles-based media industry. The focus is on television with significant discussion of transmedia and feature films. The course culminates in an intense two weeks in Los Angeles working in small tutorial groups of lectures/case studies/workshops with current US industry professionals. Spring/Summer course which may not be offered every year. (Note: Students bear additional costs for transportation, room and board).
    Weekly Contact:Lecture 3 hrs.
    GPA Weight:1.00
    Billing Units:1
    Count:1.00
    Consent:Departmental consent required