According to the World Health Organization, 6.5 million people will die prematurely this year due to air pollution. That’s more deaths due to breathing bad air than from AIDS, auto accidents, cholera, malaria, and war combined. Climate change, fossil fuels, lack of drinking water, over-population, GMOs, pollution, and the wholesale corporate campaign to discredit science are among the most critical problems of our time. Living in denial of these issues has become the West’s de facto cultural standard with only a fraction of the public taking action. How can artists, citizen-scientists, and storytellers intervene in existing narratives regarding some of humanity’s most life-threatening issues? How will you further important conversations and seize the potential to activate change? Green World explores contemporary environmental issues while guiding artists to create informed, responsible works of positive social change using technology as a force multiplier. This course is open to all NYU students interested in developing an activist’s artistic, social, and/or scientific leverage point to help save the world.
Category Archives: January 2027
TV Nation: Inside and Out of The Box (FMTV-UT 1086)
TV Nation: Inside and Out of the Box gives students the opportunity to experience, first hand, how the world of network television works from two points of view: business and creative. Students will gain an understanding of the business aspect through the vantage point of the network executives and programmers. They will also learn the creative process from development to pitching, from the vantage point of writers and producers in the industry. In TV Nation, students will role play the entire process as the key players who put together a season for broadcast and cable networks. This course allocates as a Craft for Film & TV majors. COURSE SUBJECT TO DEPARTMENTAL FEES.
Digital Audio Workstations: ProTools (REMU-UT 1020)
During this course, students will acquire an in-depth, theoretical and practical knowledge of Digital Audio Workstations using the industry standard Pro Tools software through a weekly, lab-based workshop. Each class will be a combination of lecture and immediate application. An emphasis will be placed on getting to know Pro Tools, getting inside Pro Tools, creating sessions, working with media in sessions, audio recording, audio editing, file management techniques, MIDI recording, editing techniques, mixing techniques, backups and stereo mix-down.
Traditions in Narrative: Comedy in America (FMTV-UT 1231)
The history of comedy in 20th century America is the history of America itself. Comedians from all walks of life have provided a funhouse mirror as well as a perceptive lens for American society and culture. This course will examine significant periods and players of the 20th century comedic genre and analyze them against their historic context and legacy. Humor will be used as a platform to discuss how comedy was governed by and ultimately responded to the influence of American society. This course will observe how comedians in turn shaped American life, running the gamut from silent movies to Vaudeville; screwball comedies of the 1930s and ‘40s to the Golden Age of Television; from the sitcom to the political comedies of present day. Equally important, this course will analyze the genesis and evolution of the comedic persona in performance: what worked, what did not work, and why. Comprehensive analysis of performances will help this course determine how performers did what they did and why they made the choices they made. This course will assess how the work of the comedian has evolved and grown over the course of a career, what methods have withstood the test of time, and why.
The Virtual Producer: Beats & Beatmaking (REMU-UT 1016)
This course will cover various professional Music Production Techniques & Strategies such as: Sampling (& Sample Chopping), Drum Programming / Drum Design, Synthesis & Sound Design, Music Theory (in the context of Music Production), MIDI Editing, as well as numerous Mixing Techniques. Over the course of the class, through the utilization and knowledge of these various skills, students will learn how to create Original Music Compositions & Productions. The primary DAW platform for the course is Ableton. While a Beatmaker / Composer / Producer must be well versed in the application of various software and hardware tools, as well as the many Production skills & techniques, they must also have artistic vision and creative efficacy. So while the course is about Music / Beat Construction and the tools involved, there will also be a strong emphasis on innovative envision, inventive mobility, and how to think / strategize like a Music Producer.
Media Moguls in the 20th Century (OART-UT 562)
This course attempts to track the American entertainment industry from its plebian origins through its rise to becoming the predominant mass entertainment culture in the world. Students discover the origins of the production practices that are employed in the entertainment industry today by following the legendary characters, movie moguls, and media titans of the early 20th century and the companies they built. The emphasis is on the way the visionaries of the time impacted seemingly risk-averse systems to invigorate and sometimes completely revolutionize them. These innovative men and women include, but are not limited, to Louis B. Mayer, George Lucas, Maya Deren, Shirley Clark, Nam Jun Paik, Lucille Ball, Russell Simmons, Clive Davis, Julie Taymor, and Steve Jobs.
The Language of Film (FMTV-UT 4)
Language of Film is an introduction to the craft, history and theory of filmmaking and film-watching. The main challenge facing all filmmakers is to show the story: in other words, to visualize the drama. Over the past century, narrative, experimental and documentary filmmakers have developed a variety of creative strategies and techniques designed to give their audiences compelling, multi-sensorial experiences. The goal of this class is to explore how filmmakers in different historical and cultural settings have contributed to the evolution of film as a powerful, complex and captivating art form.. This course allocates as History & Criticism for Film & TV majors.
Intro to Programming for Games (GAMES-UT 180)
Introduction to Programming for Games is a course that introduces students to the concepts, problems, and methods of computer programming, and how these apply to the creation of video games. The course assumes no prior programming knowledge, and is designed to touch on the basic principles of digital design in the form of computer code. There will be an emphasis on programming fundamentals; they will be motivated through the lens of designing and producing video games.
Intro to Game Design (GAMES-UT 150)
This class is an intensive, hands-on workshop addressing the complex challenges of game design. The premise of the class is that all games, digital and non-digital, share common fundamental principles, and that under- standing these principles is an essential part of designing successful games. Learning how to create successful non-digital games provides a solid foundation for the development of digital games. In this workshop, students will: analyze existing digital and non-digital games, taking them apart to understand how they work as interactive systems; create a number of non-digital games in order to master the basic design principles that apply to all games regardless of format; critique each other’s work, developing communication skills necessary for thriving in a collaborative field; explore the creative possibilities of this emerging field from formal, social, and cultural perspectives; develop techniques for fast-prototyping and iterative design that can be successfully applied to all types of interactive projects.
Intro to Game Studies (GAMES-UT 110)
This class is an overview of the field of games that approaches them from several theoretical and critical perspectives. No special theoretical background or prior training is needed to take the course, but to have had a broad practical experience with and basic knowledge of games is a distinct advantage. Also, an interest in theoretical and analytical issues will help. You are expected to actively participate in the lectures, which are dialogic in form, with ample room for discussion. The course will prepare the student to: Understand and discuss games from a theoretical perspective, as well as the components of a game; Apply new theories and evaluate them critically; Assess and discuss game concepts and the use of games in various contexts; Analyze games, and understand and apply a range of analytical methods.
Producing Essentials (OART-UT 1006)
The role of the creative producer in the entertainment industry is integral to bringing a project to fruition. This introductory course covers both the creative and physical production time-line and provides students with an understanding of the producer’s role through a semester-long team-based pitch project, which culminates in written and verbal pitch presentations. Students are encouraged to work on a project that best suits their area of interest: feature film, episodic/streaming, theatre, performance, podcasts, VR/AR or individualized multi-media. The course focuses on the dynamics of producing, including producer skill sets, tasks and responsibilities necessary to effectively and efficiently develop a project.