Courses

Summer at Columbia courses are taught by Columbia’s faculty of filmmakers, artists, designers, and other creative practitioners. They bring their experience as working professionals into the classroom every day.

For additional information about schedules, supplies, working at the college level, and other important items, please visit our FAQ Page.

Big Chicago: Live Action Role Playing
Step into an adventure where Chicago becomes the setting for your learning experience. In this Big Chicago course, you’ll explore the city through immersive live-action role playing inspired by Homer’s The Odyssey, using well-known Chicago neighborhoods as locations for quests, challenges, and collaborative storytelling. Throughout the course, you’ll consider archetypes and big ideas that help you reflect on your own experiences while connecting ancient themes to modern life. You’ll work with other students to design original games, think creatively, and apply your ideas in real Chicago locations. This course is great for students who enjoy stories, exploring the city, and learning in an engaging, hands-on way.

COURSE NUMBER: CCCX 101
FACULTY: Bill Guschwan
FORMAT: In-person
MATERIALS REQUIREMENT: None
Film and Television Production
This hands-on course explores film and television production techniques through collaborative individual and group projects. Students practice conceptualization, visualization, camera and lighting techniques, sound recording, and editing techniques through video projects, exercises, presentations, and critique sessions.

COURSE NUMBER: MEDI 102
FACULTY: Wenhwa Ts’ao
FORMAT: In-person
MATERIALS REQUIREMENT: None
Explorations in Creative Writing
This hands-on, exploratory course in creative writing is open to all students across the College and is required for creative writing majors. By reading and writing a wide range of poems, stories, nonfiction, and hybrid texts-- with possible forays into other art forms--students will become familiar with a wide range of approaches to creative writing and a rich array of human responses to the culture(s) of their time as expressed in literature and other arts.

COURSE NUMBER: CRWR 101
FACULTY: TBD
FORMAT: In-person
MATERIALS REQUIREMENT: None
Fashion Styling
This course provides an introduction to the fashion stylist’s role. A historical overview of fashion and costume styling will provide context for understanding the cultural significance of this practice. Students will also be introduced to the actual work and responsibilities of fashion stylists, and will actively engage in conceptualizing ideas, working in collaborative teams, shopping and prepping merchandise, styling hair and makeup, learning how to evaluate and hire models, managing and executing the final products.

COURSE NUMBER: FASH 285
FACULTY: TBD
FORMAT: In-person
MATERIALS REQUIREMENT: None
Film and Television Storytelling and Aesthetics
This course explores elements of storytelling for film and television that are used to articulate theme, evoke emotion, and create personal connections with an audience. Students will study and analyze written, visual and audio techniques and strategies that are used in film and television to support character and story, communicate meaning, and engage viewers.

COURSE NUMBER: MEDI 101
FACULTY: TBD
FORMAT: In-person
MATERIALS REQUIREMENT: None
Introduction to Game Development
In this course, students learn about and practice foundational skills in the interdisciplinary field of game development, including the areas of game design, game art, programming, sound design, UI/UX, and project management. Additionally, students are introduced to the business and career requirements of the game industry. They will learn the personal management skills of a developer. They will identify the skills relevant to game development disciplines and devise a plan for demonstrating these skills in a professional portfolio. Throughout the course, students will build a prototype digital game, giving them exposure to all aspects of game development and the production process.

COURSE NUMBER: GAME 110
FACULTY: Bill Guschwan
FORMAT: In-person
MATERIALS REQUIREMENT: None
Introduction to Illustration
This course is designed to introduce students to the field of illustration and basic illustration processes. Students will experiment within a studio environment with a variety of traditional and digital materials, techniques, styles, and their hybrids. Classes are supplemented with a series of presentations on contemporary illustrators, market trends, demonstrations, and documentation.

COURSE NUMBER: ILLU 101
FACULTY: TBD
FORMAT: In-person
MATERIALS REQUIREMENT: None
Painting
This studio course introduces the artistic medium and discipline of painting. Students learn painting materials, techniques, and its technical vocabulary through direct, hands-on experimentation with a broad range of painting media, tools, and processes (for example, oil, acrylics, ink, etc.). Studio instruction may be augmented with field trips, slide lectures, readings, critiques, and discussion that help critically, currently, and historically situate painting as a fine arts practice.

COURSE NUMBER: ARTS 220
FACULTY: TBD
FORMAT: In-person
MATERIALS REQUIREMENT: Painting Supplies TBD
Photography: Camera + Vision
This course is an exploration of photography as a medium for self-expression and visual communication. Students will be challenged to hone their skills of observation to use the camera as a distinctive picture making tool and gain a greater understanding of how photographs can be used in the world. Using DSLR/DSLM cameras and cell phone cameras, students will learn to manually control shutter speed, ISO and aperture in deliberate ways to affect motion and depth of field in their photographs. Issues of composition, aesthetics and context will be introduced as students are encouraged to develop and hone their own unique photographic vision.

COURSE NUMBER: PHOT 101
FACULTY: TBD
FORMAT: In-person
MATERIALS REQUIREMENT: TBD
Storytelling
Stories often feel fundamental to human understanding, social connectedness, and even survival. In this course, we explore the broad historical sweep of storytelling from oral traditions through analog and then contemporary digital media, drawing upon rich traditions of story from a range of cultures, practices, and regions. We consider how technological shifts shape the ever-changing landscape of storytelling and its vital role in human culture, and we place our own stories and storytelling practices within the broader context of storytelling.

COURSE NUMBER: HUMA 101
FACULTY: Brendan Riley
FORMAT: In-person
MATERIALS REQUIREMENT: None