Course Descriptions

Receive an introduction to design principles, including 2D design, color/value, typography, and composition in this foundational course. Students will study and make connections between historic movements and current trends that have inspired specific communication designs. In addition, they will examine common design issues that occur across still media and motion production. Through the use of Adobe Illustrator and InDesign, they will develop foundational knowledge of digital design tools and workflows. Course projects address still and motion graphics production with respect to title treatments, credit billing blocks, copy, and critic review quotations as applied to key art. Through lecture, discussion, and studio time, students will employ design thinking skills to explore and solve problems. This course provides an ideal start for learning fundamental graphic design skills that can be applied to still media and motion production.

Prerequisite: None

Learn the essentials of digital asset creation as they apply to producing key art, motion graphics, and logo design. In this course, students will build on foundational knowledge acquired in Introduction to Graphic Design and refine learned skills and practices to effectively communicate the message of a client or business to an audience. Using tools including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Procreate, students will complete assignments using digital tools while considering industry best practices and workflows. This hands-on course introduces students to designing layouts for social media posts, banner advertising, and YouTube thumbnails.

Prerequisite: None 

Review and analyze iconic campaigns that have shaped today’s entertainment marketing and design industry. In this course, students will examine the timeline of entertainment marketing and its evolution from vaudeville to streaming and beyond, with the goal of understanding theoretical practices within the history of entertainment marketing and design. Assignments will guide  them as they develop familiarity with research—and the importance of this process in developing a campaign—as well as various advertising platforms including print, digital, AV, social, and Out of Home; and how these platforms are used to develop comprehensive campaigns.

Prerequisite: None 

Discover what is behind a good trailer through a historical and technical overview of editing practices relevant to trailers and advertising. This course provides a deep dive into critical and analytical thinking through trailer reviews designed to help students develop a vocabulary for giving notes and learning the lexicon of editing. They will be exposed to the classics, various trailer styles, basic structures, and genres as they explore how trailer editing is evolving. Assignments address applications of essential terminology and common workflow tasks in Adobe Premiere, such as file management; importing footage, organizing files, and making sub-clips of footage; basic editing, arranging clips, and working in multiple layers; and applying/adjusting basic video and audio effects. Topics include the role of music and sound as a primary element in trailer/promo editing.

Prerequisite: None  

Develop the ability to quickly capture and present visual ideas using essential illustration tools and techniques. This introductory course provides an overview of illustration terminology including thumbnails, photoshoot preparation, and storyboards. Students evaluate a subject through research, study, and experimentation. They create their own illustrations and sketches that demonstrate facility with gesture, motion, perspective, and a grasp of anatomy while exploring stylistic and conceptual approaches to illustration. In addition, students are introduced to career paths specific to illustrators and sketch artists. 

Prerequisite: None

Create motion graphics that can be applied to trailers through design and animation techniques used for trailers and other motion designs. Using Adobe After Effects and Photoshop, students will develop proficiency in using digital tools and an awareness of industry practices and workflows relevant to motion design. Under the guidance of instructor expertise, they will apply motion to typographic elements for social media and trailers, make animated GIFs, and design “motion-posters” or cinemagraphs. Topics include designing critic quotes and understanding how those work in a trailer. This course builds on knowledge acquired in Introduction to Graphic Design & Typography and Digital Design I.

Prerequisite: Introduction to Digital Design 

Learn techniques and best practices for creating assets for promotional material, social posts, and marketing events. Through hands-on assignments and discussions, students learn about production pipelines and workflows. Students will make campaign boards to plot out the course of a campaign: teaser, payoff, outdoor, various media buys, merchandise  for events, including  t-shirts, hats, and related materials. Assignments include a social media campaign featuring “for your consideration” and critic quotes. Throughout this course, students will hone their use of design principles and how to apply them to every stage of asset development. The course will be supplemented by guest lectures by working designers at the top of the interactive digital media field.

Prerequisite: Introduction to Digital Design

Establish the foundational knowledge required for writing copy and scripts. Students will develop techniques for brainstorming and writing clear and effective communications that articulate visual and conceptual ideas. Course assignments lead students through preparing copy and campaign direction based on research and inspiration, defining themes, moods, and tone, and creating word banks and thoughts that can fine tune messaging. Students will examine how to research, including the context of a project, its pedigree, timeline, and its place in history. Over the course of the class, they will create a script synopsis and script pulls to direct creative development.

Prerequisite: Completion of Term 1

Learn to write the strategy required to guide a creative brief, inspire a brainstorming process, or govern approaches to audience, themes, messaging, and campaign roll out. In this course, students will examine and dissect existing campaign strategies and dig deeper into creative strategy terminology that includes, but is not limited to audience targets, marketing goals, universal truths, thematic pillars, positioning, messaging strategies, and campaign roadmaps. Students will be introduced to strategic documents including creative briefs and marketing plans. Assignments include writing and presenting a strategy deck.

Prerequisite: Writing for Visual Communication

Experience hands-on practice with creating a deck that includes compelling copy to accompany a creative presentation using key art. In this course, students will write scripts for a variety of visual content and social shares, such as clip-based trailers, tv spots, and social video content. Through the study of iconic taglines used in historic campaigns, they will analyze the relationship between copy and design and how each inspires the other.  Assignments include developing a full copy pass and presentation across various platforms that target distinct audiences.

Prerequisite: Writing for Visual Communication

Examine the most recent trends in marketing while studying how they have evolved. Through research projects, lectures, and exposure to a wide range of industry guest speakers, students will discover the  influences behind shifts in the marketing landscape in recent history and how those shifts have impacted global culture. Topics include novel approaches to ad space, influencers as marketers, ad-free streaming, and new age product placement.

Prerequisite: Introduction to History of Entertainment Marketing & Design
 

Present a final project to industry professionals at the culmination of campaign assignments. Students will prepare verbal, written, and visual presentation materials. While students receive ongoing critical feedback throughout the development of their capstone projects, this course provides an opportunity to receive final feedback as they refine and complete their projects.

Prerequisite: Completion of Terms 1-3 coursework

Gain an understanding of the practices, technical knowledge, terminology, and work processes central to the business of design. Topics include technical understanding of nomenclature, structure, and implications of entertainment industry contracts, such as Scope of Work and NDAs; copyrights; usage; and best practices for the use of source materials, fonts, and creative product. Students will review a project lifecycle from client request to account management, and through the various departments that bring a creative vision to life. In addition, they will learn about the diverse career paths available across the entertainment marketing industry.

Prerequisite: None

Develop conceptual skills by collecting research and inspiration, and conveying visual ideas for key art. Building upon design knowledge acquired in Introduction to Graphic Design and Typography, students will develop key art assignments that apply basic design principles (such as scale, hierarchy, and cropping). Through assignments, they will develop research practices for key art through sourcing stock imagery, collecting research content, and keeping track of inspiration. Ultimately, they will create sketches and thumbnails for key art, layouts, talent, and type treatments.  

Prerequisite: Introduction to Graphic Design and Typography

Acquire the knowledge and skills required to prepare artwork for print and digital delivery. Using Adobe Illustrator and InDesign, students will finish artwork and delivery files for publication. Assignments lead students to strengthen their editorial design skills applied to thoughtful deck layouts, while producing key art with attention to industry workflows. Techniques include compositing, masking, lighting, shadows, and perspective to create a piece of key art. As students acquire digital design technical knowledge, they will create a deck of comps for television and film properties.

Prerequisite: Key Art Concepts, Introduction to Digital Design

Learn the fundamentals of an awards campaign. Students will achieve crucial design skills required for reformatting key art into various formats, including extreme horizontals, extreme verticals, and square format. Topics include how to set text for critic quote ads, as well as other practices commonly used for movie poster applications. Students will complete 2 assignments: (1) a billboard campaign that includes billboards and bus shelters and (2) a social media campaign that includes  character shares and a countdown.

Prerequisite: Key Art Concepts

Engage in the process behind bringing key art to a final stage. Assignments lead students to finesse their skills and techniques and develop processes for doing rounds and rounds… and more rounds. They will achieve practice with critical thinking and analysis; navigating input; communicating and art directing other creatives; collaborating with teammates; and making revisions with respect to feedback. Students will learn to design responsibly, doing a deep dive into scrap-stealing and resources while being mindful of legal implications. Through case studies presented in class, they are exposed to the layered journey involved in arriving at a final brief.

Prerequisite: Intermediate Digital Design

Achieve industry relevant Premiere Pro proficiencies as determined by Adobe’s Premiere Certification course. Adobe has worked with creative industry experts to identify the skills and concepts that are critical to using Adobe Premiere Pro in a professional context.  This includes critical concepts such as interface setup and program settings that assist in an efficient and effective workflow, as well as knowledge of  importing digital assets for a project. Certification also requires a thorough understanding of project structure, including layers, tracks, assets, and the tools that affect sequences within the project. A foundational understanding of publishing and exporting video and audio sequences in multiple formats for various publishing platforms is also covered. By taking this course, students will have the tools to prepare for Adobe’s certification exam. 

Through assignments and quizzes, students will develop techniques and apply them using content from accompanying editing coursework (including Writing for Visual Communication). 

Prerequisite: Introduction to Trailer Editing

Build on editing technical knowledge established in Introduction to Trailer Editing as you build your own trailer. Topics include film breakdown, strategizing cuts/campaigns, scripting, selecting music/sound, and budgeting. Students will develop skills in selling an idea through pre-visualization, animatics, brainstorming and presenting visual works in progress as well as written proposals or presentation decks as appropriate. Assignments lead students to address various spot ratios based on viewing platform; trimming/solo’ing/nesting; and speed effects for picture. Through this course, students will  cut a trailer down to a 15-30 second piece using a new cue or sound design.

Prerequisite: Introduction to Trailer Editing

“There is a strategy across marketing” is the guiding principle behind this production course. Building on knowledge acquired in Introduction to Trailer Editing Concepts, students advance editing and conceptual skills towards producing a trailer. They will develop a vocabulary that identifies how to connect strategy to their creative output; build their confidence in communicating a perspective; and draw on their knowledge of history to come up with their own individualized strategies. Areas of focus include storytelling and the three-act structure; advanced music and sound design; narration/dialogue replacement; advanced effects in Adobe Premiere; mixing; and graphics (including Premiere and After Effects). Students complete 2 assignments: (1) Edit an engaging 30-second spot from a full film television show with a pre-determined script, along with basic graphic creation—including title cards, motion graphics, quotes, call to action, and tune-in times—and (2) Create a social spot for a chosen social media platform such as Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook.

Prerequisite: Introduction to Trailer Editing and Premiere Techniques

Build on knowledge acquired in Trailer Editing Production I and develop advanced editing skills in areas of sound design and music. Topics include notes as a method of communication; advanced sound/music skills; and designing a spot for reviews. Students will complete 2 assignments: (1) Design an edit that employs cutting ripomatics and animatics techniques, and (2) create a presentation of a full trailer 30-second spot using different platforms and mattes.

Prerequisite: Trailer Editing Production I

Gain the skills needed to prepare you for an assistant editor position. Building on cumulative knowledge developed in the Trailer Editing courses, students will achieve advanced knowledge of  the following: finishing; dailies/episode/WIP cut organization; server media management; relinking media; doing quick cut-downs; dialogue stringouts; and stock footage pulls. Students will complete the following assignments: relink a trailer and overcut, then do full preps.

Prerequisite: Trailer Editing Production I

Use Adobe Illustrator and ProCreate to further develop illustration skills and dig more deeply into iterative workflows, final art delivery, and production methods. Through studying cinematography for reference points, students will  explore sequential art for storyboarding. During the course, they will develop sketching techniques based on written concepts (briefs, outlines, elevator pitches) and begin cultivating  a shorthand for representing genres in sketches. In-class exercises and long term assignments lead them through practice with revising and reformatting versions digitally to help prepare them for working on key art.

Prerequisite: Introduction to Illustration

Explore, practice, and master illustration styles and techniques with projects that take individualized approaches to fruition. Assignments emphasize traditional illustration skills such as visual problem-solving, rendering, and drawing, while exploring digital possibilities to execute artwork. Students will develop projects that begin with sketches and quickly transition to the digital realm to complete assignments. Students will choose preferred digital tools (including Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Procreate, After Effects, and ZBrush) as relevant to their project goals and particular technical emphasis. Projects include finished illustrations that incorporate processes including world-building from scratch. Crossing software and mixing media is encouraged to promote confidence in moving from analog to digital seamlessly (and vice-versa). This course includes guest speakers to provide students with exposure to a range of full-time agency and freelance practicing illustrators.

Prerequisite: Intermediate Illustration

Apply knowledge learned in Introduction to Typography and begin dipping into hand-drawn type for logos and title treatments. As students learn about the intricacies of type applications across platforms, they will study the impact of motion on typography, and work on projects ranging from social assets (GIPHY stickers, Twitter error pages) to movie/tv-related assignments (on-screen graphics, title cards, show logos). While students work primarily in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, they will also have the opportunity to experiment with ProCreate and Adobe Animate.

Prerequisite: Introduction to Graphic Design & Typography

Enhance your skills in designing 3D elements for various art, including logos, title treatments, presentations, and illustrations. This survey course provides fundamental technical knowledge in industry standard 3D tools, including ZBrush and Adobe After Effects. Students will acquire essential knowledge of 3D modeling, texturing, and lighting to create compelling and lifelike objects and environments. Assignments include a 3D logo and title treatment and a cardboard standee.

Prerequisite: None