In 2003, the Television, Film and New Media Program joined the Theatre Department to form the new School of Theatre, Film and Television (TTF). This move opened numerous creative and academic possibilities and has proven to be a fruitful collaboration. The most immediate benefits have been greater access to quality actors and to acting in general; another has been to open up our design area (we consider production design an important part of what we offer). The School of Theatre, Television and Film is part of an Arts complex that includes Music & Dance, Art, Design and Art History, Theatre, Film, TV and New Media production.
It should be emphasized from the outset that the TFM Graduate Program stresses hands-on creative endeavor. Ultimately, it is your artistic achievement that will determine your success in this program. All incoming TFM Graduate Students start in the fall semester with the same curriculum, and thus form a tightly knit group. The collaborative alliances students form in the first two semesters are very likely to extend through their graduate careers (and beyond) and strongly influence the success of their creative work in the program. These alliances are not necessarily limited to other graduate students; there are many talented and industrious undergraduates who support crew production.
OVERVIEW OF THE CURRICULUM
Your production work will be linked to the courses you take, with several independent or “Special Studies” courses available to you. Over the course of your graduate studies, you are required to take a total of 30 graduate units (10 3-unit courses), culminating with a directed thesis project (TFM 799A). You may, of course, take more than 30 units, but only 30 will count towards your degree (you, with the advice of the Graduate Advisor, will designate which 30). Graduate courses are considered those with a 600 level catalogue number or higher. Courses with a 500 level number are advanced undergraduate courses. You will be allowed to take up to three 500 level classes for graduate credit. This is an attractive option for most of our graduate students since many of these undergraduate classes offer valuable craft skill content. As you will learn, you can use various “clerical workarounds” to take additional lower division undergraduate courses (those with numbers below 500). Moreover, you are allowed to take up to four Special Studies courses (2 TFM 798 courses and 2 TTF 795 courses) for graduate credit (see “elective” below). Finally, you may take up to three courses in departments outside the School for Masters credit. As you can see, we offer an unusually flexible “elective-heavy” curriculum designed to support ongoing creative productivity.
To check the current course offerings, go to http://www.sdsu.edu/schedule.html
Just select the appropriate calendar and click on it. Under “Class Schedule” in the upper left corner of the page, click on the department you would like to see. (TFM or THEA, for example). To see our program listings, go to “TFM.”
Normally, TFM graduate students are expected to take 9 units per semester (three classes) in order to graduate in two years. Sometimes students take only 6 units, for example, if they hold down demanding jobs, but this is not recommended and should be avoided if at all possible. Many TFM graduate students extend beyond the expected two years in order to complete thesis projects. Although technically you are allowed up to six years to complete your program of study and your thesis, going beyond a third year is strongly discouraged.
Following is a “snapshot” of the first year of study:
Each graduate student is required to begin the fall semester with two seminar classes: TFM 600 and TFM 615. In addition, each student will take one elective class to fulfill the 9-unit recommendation/requirement. Following is a brief description of these classes.
TFM 600 (required fall semester): The Filmmaker-in residence, Prof. Jack Ofield, conducts the TFM 600 seminar. This is a weekly meeting of new graduate students organized around the production of two short films: a documentary and a fiction narrative film. The class will familiarize you with each other, with the second and third-year grads, and with undergrads whose skill sets are often quite impressive. You will learn about the TFM equipment and facilities, and will be introduced to the faculty and staff. You will gain a working knowledge of the hardware and software you will be using to carry out your projects. Apart from the focus on creative/collaborative work, this seminar also focuses your thinking on questions of media literacy and on the critical appraisal of your and others’ work.
TFM 615 (required fall semester): This is taught by Professor Lee Marshall. The primary purpose of the seminar is to address the process of screenwriting. The seminar will cover both fictional narrative screenwriting and documentary screenwriting. The goal of the seminar is to complete a viable short film screenplay (fiction or documentary) that you will put into production in the spring semester in TFM 660 for your Midway Review Project. Your screenwriting will be subjected to frequent and comprehensive critiques by the instructor and by the seminar participants. More than write your screenplay, you will effectively rewrite it until it is deemed ready for production.
ELECTIVE: Depending on what your interests are, and where your strengths and weaknesses lie, you will elect one more course for the fall semester. Some of you will feel a need hone your technical skills, and may therefore elect to take one of the intensive undergraduate classes such as beginning or Intermediate Film Production, Beginning or Intermediate Television Production, or Intermediate or Advanced Cinematography. Because most of these classes have a numerical designation below 500, you must use one of the four allowable Special Studies classes (the TFM 798 or TTF 795) as a means to enroll in these undergraduate classes. In other words, you contract with your advisor to take TFM 798 or TTF 795 to receive credit for attending the elected undergraduate class. For example, you may wish to take TFM 260 (Scene Study) or TFM 327 (Editing) for Special Studies credit. Remember, since you are only allowed three upper division (500 level) undergraduate courses and four TFM 798/TTF 795 courses for credit towards your Masters, you will want to use these judiciously. Of course this is not the only way you can use the Special Studies option. You could, for example, arrange with an appropriate instructor a personalized guided study in some area of personal interest such as filters and image control.
You will find that the TFM Program offers a great deal of elective flexibility. Among the 30 units you must take to earn the Masters Degree, only four courses are required: TFM 600, TFM 615, TFM 660 and TFM 799A. As you progress through the required 30 course units, more and more elective options will become available to you.
TFM 660 must be taken during the spring semester of your first year. In this class, you will complete your Midway Review Project which will be presented as an authored DVD with commentary and “bonus features.” This will be buttressed by a written analysis of your project, its aesthetic and conceptual influences and its design. This project/written report combination is a dress rehearsal for the thesis and thesis defense to come later. Like the final written thesis report, this paper must demonstrate a scholarly dimension, requiring that you pay a good deal of attention to the quality of the writing.
THE FIRST YEAR REVIEW is the first big hurdle each graduate Student must jump over on his or her way to the Masters Degree. It is analogous to the qualifying exam in a Ph.D. Program in that you must pass the First Year Review before you can qualify for thesis work. The Midway Review takes place at the end of the spring semester in TFM 660. The written reports will be carefully scrutinized and evaluated by the TFM 660 Professor and a committee of TFM faculty will review the projects and make recommendations. Each student will be given an appraisal of his or her First Year Review work with advice and recommendations. Students who do not pass this review will have one more chance to bring up the quality of their work to passing standards. If you pass the Midway review, you will be eligible to present a thesis proposal.
Once you have passed your First Year Review and the three seminars required the first year, you become eligible to propose a thesis project to the TFM faculty. The thesis proposal follows a prescribed format, which is the first three chapters of the written thesis. A template for the proposal is provided, but basically the proposal reflects the creative preparation a filmmaker or screenwriter engages in at the initial stages of production: A conceptual framework is proposed, film and literary sources are identified for research, a script or treatment is generated along with a production plan, schedule and budget. When you submit the proposal, you will propose a graduate Thesis Committee to be composed of a Thesis Chair, a Second Reader from the School of Theatre, Television and Film, and an Outside Committee member chosen from a relevant discipline outside TTF. If your proposal is approved you are recommended for Advancement to Candidacy. Your committee members must sign the Committee form, which is then submitted to the Graduate Affairs Division for final approval. Once approved, you are assigned a TFM 799 (Thesis Project Class).
The thesis takes the form of a serious media project (narrative short, documentary, TV program, etc.) and a scholarly project report, often referred to as the written thesis. You will work with your Thesis Committee, especially the Thesis Committee Chair, to shape both the project and the written thesis. When the Chair deems your work ready, your will schedule a Thesis Defense. This is a formal presentation of your work before the Thesis Committee. A decision is rendered immediately. Sometimes the Committee will request small changes in the written thesis at this point. Once the entire Committee is in agreement, they sign off on your thesis and it is submitted to the Graduate Affairs Office for technical review.
That is it – a snapshot of your next two plus years in Graduate School culminating in your Masters Degree. Below is a summary of the equipment and facilities TFM offers.
TFM FACILITIES
For a detailed summary of the TFM equipment and facilities, including the facility policy, see Rosebud, the TFM facilities Policy manual.
The TFM offices and facilities are located in the Communication Building. Following is a partial list of the equipment and facilities offered through the TFM Program:
EQUIPMENT CHECKOUT
The TFM equipment checkout facility is open five days a week from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. It houses a full complement of production gear including DV cameras, HDV cameras, 16 and super-16 mm film cameras, studio lights, location lighting kits, grip and gaffing support gear including several grip and mounting kits, a pneumatic dolly, doorway dolly, camera mounts, digital (solid-state) and analogue audio recorders, and two digital sound effects libraries. The film cameras include CP-16-R (super-16 conversions) and CP-16-A sound cameras as well as Cannon MOS cameras. Advanced student productions are sometimes shot in 35 mm, but as of this writing, no 35 cameras are offered through Checkout.
STUDIO A
Located in the Communication Building. Two full-time engineers support this studio. The studio is outfitted with a Master Control area, three studio pedestal-mounted studio cameras, an automated lighting console, Mole-Richardson lighting, an audio control suite with digital audio console, state-of-the-art digital switcher, chroma-key wall and CG.
STUDIO C “SOUND STAGE”
This is a larger studio once occupied by KPBS, the local PBS affiliate, which is now based on the south end of the campus. Studio C now stands as a “shell” equipped with 300 amps of electrical power and a scene dock with a variety of flats used to create sets. Advanced and graduate student filmmakers use Studio C to build free-standing sets for single-camera style shoots.
THE NEW POSTPRODUCTION FACILITY
In 2000, a 20-room postproduction facility was dedicated to TFM. The facility includes one room dedicated to ADR and foley sound work. This room includes a Pro Tools TDM system, and is acoustically engineered for voice-over recording and ADR work. Each editing room in the post facility is equipped with Apple G5 quad processor hardware and Apple Final Cut Studio Suite. These computers also include the Adobe Creative Suite and many other applications relevant to production work. Additionally, there are several rooms outfitted with Pro Tools, including one high-end Pro Tools TDM System with 24-bit sound and a robotically controlled external mixing board (a Mackie HUI). Software is being continuously updated and expanded.
COMM-153 COMPUTER LAB
Equipped with 20 Macintosh Quad processor G5 computers. This lab supports the new TFM Maya Animation, Editing and After Effects Compositing curriculum.
SMART CLASSROOMS
There are several “smart classrooms” equipped with Macintosh and PC computers and DLP video projectors.
THE PRODUCTION CENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY AND DRAMA
Directed by Filmmaker-in-Residence Jack Ofield, the Production Center provides selected students extensive practical experience in narrative, documentary and community service media projects. It also provides important substantive professional credits. The Center also produces The Short List, a nationally syndicated program of international short films.
