Course Descriptions | Cinema & Media Studies (2025)

Listings for future quarters are tentative and subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, please consult the UW Time Schedule. For a listing of all courses potentially offered, see the Course Catalog.

Spring 2025

CMS 240 A: Writing in Cinema and Media Studies

  • MW 10:30am - 12:20pm / ECE 054

SLN: 12451

Instructor:

Department Requirements Met:

  • Composition and W-courses

GE Requirements Met:

  • C

A critical approach to film and/or media texts and a workshop on writing papers in English. Topics vary. Offered: AWSpS.

CMS 240 C: Writing in Cinema and Media Studies

  • TTh 10:30am - 12:20pm / ECE 054

SLN: 12452

Instructor:

Department Requirements Met:

  • Composition and W-courses

GE Requirements Met:

  • C

A critical approach to film and/or media texts and a workshop on writing papers in English. Topics vary. Offered: AWSpS.

CMS 273 A: Perspectives on Television: Analysis

  • MW 1:30pm - 3:20pm / KNE 210

SLN: 12453

Instructor:

  • Stephen Groening

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

  • A&H

Provides an introduction to television styles and aesthetics, with particular attention to camerawork, narrative, acting, and sound. Course overlaps with: TCOM 347.

CMS 274 A: Perspectives on Media: Critical Concepts

  • MW 10:30am - 12:20pm / SMI 120

SLN: 12454

Instructor:

  • Mal Ahern

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

  • A&H

Provides an introduction to media studies, with particular attention to critical concepts including, but not limited to, audience studies, formal analysis, and ideological critique. Specific media analyzed varies. Course overlaps with: TCOM 247.

CMS 275 A: Perspectives on Visual Culture: Sex, Race and Power

  • WF 12:30pm - 2:20pm / MGH 242

SLN: 12455

Instructor:

  • José Alaniz

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

  • DIV
  • SSc
  • A&H

An introduction to the study of visual texts such as film, television, comics, or digital media. Focus on the representation of cultural differences including, but not limited to, sexuality, gender, ability, and race. Topics vary.

CMS 295 A: Study Abroad

  • to be arranged / * *

SLN: 12456

Instructor:

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

  • A&H

Equivalency for 200-level CMS courses taken on UW Study Abroad programs or direct exchanges.

CMS 304 A: Television Studies

  • MW 10:30am - 12:20pm / WFS 201

SLN: 12457

Instructor:

  • Stephen Groening

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

  • A&H

Provides an overview of key issues in the study of television. Explores what television is, what television does, and how television shapes our fundamental assumptions about space, time, image, and sound.

CMS 310 A: History of Film: 1895-1929

  • TTh 10:30am - 12:20pm / MGH 231

SLN: 12458

Instructor:

  • Diana Flores Ruíz

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

  • A&H

Film history from its beginnings in the 1890s through the golden era of silent film in the 1920s. Topics include the invention of major film techniques, the creation of Hollywood and the studios, and movements such as expressionism, constructivism, and surrealism.

CMS 311 A: History of Film: 1930-1959

  • TTh 1:30pm - 3:20pm / ART 003

SLN: 12459

Instructor:

  • Sudhir Mahadevan

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

  • A&H

Film history from the introduction of sound through the late 1950s. Focuses mostly on the golden age of the Hollywood studios and on alternative developments after World War II in Italy (Neo-Realism), France (the New Wave), and Japan.

CMS 313 A: History of Film: 1989-Present

  • TTh 12:30pm - 2:20pm / OUG 141

SLN: 12460

Instructor:

  • Yomi Braester

Department Requirements Met:

  • Cinema & Media Studies Core

GE Requirements Met:

  • A&H

Addresses the latest trends in international filmmaking typically with an emphasis on world cinema and issues of globalization and diaspora. Sometimes taught in conjunction with the Seattle International Film Festival.

CMS 315 A: History of New Media

  • MW 1:30pm - 3:20pm / ART 003

SLN: 12461

Instructor:

  • Mal Ahern

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

  • A&H

Study of new media histories and methodologies for research, with particular emphasis on new and emergent technologies such as the Internet and other digital forms. Specific media to be analyzed vary.

CMS 320 A: Cinema and Nation

  • TTh 3:30pm - 5:20pm / OUG 141

SLN: 12462

Instructor:

  • Yomi Braester

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

  • A&H

Examines the cinema of a particular national, ethnic or cultural group, with films typically shown in the original language with subtitles. Topics reflect themes and trends in the national cinema being studied. Offered: AWSpS.

CMS 320 B: Cinema and Nation

  • MW 3:30pm - 5:20pm / LOW 205

SLN: 21377

Instructor:

  • Amanda Doxtater

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

  • A&H

Examines the cinema of a particular national, ethnic or cultural group, with films typically shown in the original language with subtitles. Topics reflect themes and trends in the national cinema being studied. Offered: AWSpS.

CMS 370 A: Basic Screenwriting

  • MW 2:30pm - 4:20pm / MUE 154

SLN: 12463

Instructor:

  • Warren Etheredge

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

  • A&H

Students develop collaborative critical and creative skills; studying screenwriting manuals and techniques; adapt stories for screenplays; and/or write synopses, treatments, and first acts of their own screenplays.

CMS 395 A: Study Abroad

  • to be arranged / * *

SLN: 12464

Instructor:

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

  • A&H

Equivalency for 300-level CMS courses taken on UW Study Abroad programs or direct exchanges.

CMS 397 A: Special Topics in Cinema and Media Studies

  • TTh 10:30am - 12:20pm / MGH 085

SLN: 12465

Instructor:

  • Kimberlee Gillis-Bridges

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

  • SSc
  • A&H

Varying topics relating to film in social contexts. Offered by resident or visiting faculty.

CMS 397 B: Special Topics in Cinema and Media Studies

  • MW 10:30am - 12:20pm / MGH 082A

SLN: 12466

Instructor:

  • Warren Etheredge

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

  • SSc
  • A&H

Varying topics relating to film in social contexts. Offered by resident or visiting faculty.

CMS 480 A: Senior Capstone

  • TTh 9:30am - 11:20am / MGH 251

SLN: 12468

Instructor:

  • Eric Ames

Department Requirements Met:

  • Capstone for Cinema

GE Requirements Met:

  • A&H

Capstone course in cinema and media studies. Includes research, creative, and/or reflective project. Topics vary. Prerequisite: CMS 301.

CMS 480 B: Senior Capstone

  • MW 12:30pm - 2:20pm / JHN 111

SLN: 12469

Instructor:

  • James Tweedie

Department Requirements Met:

  • Capstone for Cinema

GE Requirements Met:

  • A&H

Capstone course in cinema and media studies. Includes research, creative, and/or reflective project. Topics vary. Prerequisite: CMS 301.

CMS 490 A: Directed Study or Research

  • to be arranged / * *

SLN: 12470

Instructor:

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

Individual study of topics in cinema and media studies by arrangement with the instructor and the Comparative Literature, Cinema, and Media Department advising office.

CMS 491 A: Internship

  • to be arranged / * *

SLN: 12471

Instructor:

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

Supervised experience in local businesses and other agencies. Open to upper-division cinema and media studies majors with approval of departmental internship supervisor.

CMS 570 A: Media Lab

  • M 3:30pm - 6:50pm / THO 215

SLN: 12472

Instructor:

  • Jennifer M. Bean

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

Practical approaches to cinema and media studies. May include archival research, production of videographic or audiographic criticism, film programming, public scholarship, or hands-on work with media devices and technologies. Offered: AWSp.

CMS 573 A: Aesthetics

  • W 3:30pm - 6:50pm / CHL 025

SLN: 12473

Instructor:

  • James Tweedie

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

Inquiry into such areas as the sensory perception, cultural valuation, or close analysis of cinema and media. Formal, theoretical, and philosophical approaches. Content varies. Offered: AWSp.

CMS 590 A: Master of Arts Essay

  • to be arranged / * *

SLN: 12474

Instructor:

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

Research and writing project under the supervision of a faculty member. Offered: jointly with C LIT 590; AWSpS.

CMS 597 A: Special Topics in Cinema and Media Studies

  • W 2:30pm - 5:20pm / SMI 409

SLN: 12475

Instructor:

  • Chrystel Oloukoi

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

Varying topics in cinema and media studies. Offered by resident or visiting faculty.

CMS 599 A: Special Seminar or Conference

  • to be arranged / * *

SLN: 12476

Instructor:

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

Group seminars or individual conferences scheduled to meet special needs. Prerequisite: permission of graduate program adviser. Offered: jointly with C LIT 599.

CMS 599 B: Special Seminar or Conference

  • to be arranged / * *

SLN: 12477

Instructor:

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

Group seminars or individual conferences scheduled to meet special needs. Prerequisite: permission of graduate program adviser. Offered: jointly with C LIT 599.

CMS 600 A: Independent Study or Research

  • to be arranged / * *

SLN: 12478

Instructor:

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

Offered: jointly with C LIT 600.

CMS 600 B: Independent Study or Research

  • to be arranged / * *

SLN: 12479

Instructor:

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

Offered: jointly with C LIT 600.

CMS 800 A: Doctoral Dissertation

  • to be arranged / * *

SLN: 12480

Instructor:

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

Offered: jointly with C LIT 800.

Course Descriptions | Cinema & Media Studies (2025)

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