DRA529 Acting for the Frame (Fall)

This elective workshop is about the acquisition and development of specialist screen acting skills and techniques. Its primary focus will be developing the essential skills of acting for the size of shot or “frame” — a sophisticated concept that requires concentration and excellent preparation. Screen acting techniques will be explored and practised extensively in front of the camera.

Limited enrollment – Open only to students admitted to the Acting at Shakespeare’s Globe special program as an optional course. Please note that space is limited. Enrollment in DRA529 will be at the Drama Department’s discretion based on availability and academic need. DRA529 is not open to students who take DRA362 in London.

DRA451 The Modern Stage: Theories, Issues, Productions (Fall)

Required of Syracuse University drama majors in London. A variety of current London theatrical productions are viewed and discussed in studying 20th-century theories of theater art and related production approaches, as well as differing ideas about the functions and uses of theater in our society. Discussion topics and assignments vary according to the plays available, but the course will survey the people, concepts, and issues influencing today’s theatrical artists, audiences, and critics. Visits to other venues are required. Performance tickets are purchased in advance based on enrollment numbers at the end of online registration in June/July.

Limited enrollment. Open only to students admitted to the Acting at Shakespeare’s Globe special program (for whom DRA451 is required) with limited availability open to Center students pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Syracuse’s Drama Department.

This course has an associated course fee. See the London Course Fees page for more information.

DRA351 Contemporary British and European Theater: The London Stage (Spring)

This spring-only course will introduce students to the current London theatrical scene, through weekly attendance at productions that are a mandatory part of the course. Students will be encouraged to broaden their understanding of the chosen productions, and of theatre in a wider context, by participating in class discussion, attending talks by theatre professionals, making a backstage visit with the class, visiting the theatre and performance department of the Victoria and Albert Museum, reading related hand-outs and theatre criticism in newspapers, and watching related videos in class. The course will examine the various elements that contribute to the success of stage productions, and will provide some background to the history of theatre in London to set the contemporary London theatre scene in context.

Satisfies Shared Competency for Communication Skills

This course has an associated course fee. See the London Course Fees page for more information.

CRS316 Introduction to Visual Culture (Spring)

Visual culture studies recognize the predominance of visual forms of media, communication, and information in the postmodern world. Visual culture is best understood as a tactic for studying the functions of a world addressed through pictures, images, and visualizations, rather than through texts and words. We negotiate the world through visual culture, and the world itself is negotiated politically through visuality and visual images. This class is an introduction to the key issues of visual culture. It will examine the politics of images, the role that images play in producing cultural meaning, visuality and power relations, and how images are forms of visual communication. We will examine how images circulate through digital media, remakes, and viral networks, and the cross-fertilization of images between various social arenas, such as art, advertising, popular culture, news science, entertainment media, video games, and design.

Key questions and points of consideration are:

Can we study visual culture as a system, but not as a pure state of visuality—that is, a system of visual meanings that are not purely imagistic—not formed only of images—but include texts and graphic design, design of functional objects, architecture, logos?
Are social institutions systems of order that perpetuate, preserve, and legitimize complex forms of collective identity?
What is the role of the visual arts in a mass-mediated visual world?
Can visual culture studies be defined as an interdisciplinary field?

This course may also be registered as AIC 316 or FMA316.

COM505 Communications Law for Journalists (Spring)

London is the ideal place to consider the full scope of communications law in the 21st century. Whatever the US statutes, Constitution, and case law may establish as our basic communications law structure is only part of the picture. Anyone who communicates through modern media is speaking not just to other Americans but, increasingly, to the world. And in London you meet the world. First-hand. The continued vibrancy of London as a media market is apparent on every street corner. Therefore, a significant goal of Com Law as it is taught in London is to give students an appreciation of the many layers of national interests and differing backgrounds that come into play when speech, writings, and other forms of communication cross national borders and engage different cultures. Still, the essence of this Newhouse-required course is a survey of American media law, emphasizing contemporary legal problems confronting broadcast, print and online journalists, graphic artists and photographers, public relations and advertising practitioners, and a wide range of internet creators and other practitioners. Topics include censorship, defamation and libel, invasion of privacy, reporter confidentiality (or lack thereof), fair trial/free press issues, obscenity, corporate speech issues, broadcast and advertising regulation, copyright/database rights, and internet regulation generally. This is the same required course taught at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, but with a significantly enhanced international dimension and cognizance that few communication issues can any longer be limited to one country and its particular laws.

This is a Special Permissions class. To be considered, students must list the course among the Primary Course Selections on their Course Preference form and return the form by the deadline. Enrollment priority is given to Syracuse BJ, MAG and NEW majors.

Satisfies Shared Competency for Critical and Creative Thinking

Syracuse students: may not receive credit for more than one of the following: COM 505, 506, 507, 509.

COM348 Beauty and Diversity in Fashion Media (Fall, Spring)

This course examines critical issues associated with representations of bodies, clothing and appearances in fashion media. For many people, fashion is a cornerstone of modern identity, a crucial aspect of the way we see ourselves and others. In this class, students will identify and debate the challenging issues associated with the fashion industry and the ways that industry communicates with the public through media. Students will explore the concept of beauty, the politics of appearance, the construction/presentation of self, the communicative power of clothing, the impact of media on body image, and other subjects related to fashion media and its representation of diverse groups in global consumer culture.

Satisfies IDEA Course Requirement

Satisfies Shared Competency for Ethics, Integrity, and Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Enrollment priority is given to Syracuse public communications majors who have not yet met their Diversity requirement and to students pursuing the Fashion Milestone.

Syracuse Newhouse students:

This course fulfills the Newhouse diversity requirement within your major.
Prereq: COM107 for Newhouse students (only)

Syracuse students: may not receive credit for more than one of the following: COM 346, 348, 350.

Prereq: Strong academic record

COM346 Race, Gender, and the Media (Fall, Spring)

Race, Gender, and the Media explores sections of British society and their representation via the British print and broadcast media. The course will examine how the United Kingdom’s domestic print and broadcast organisations were established and function today and the influence social and political history has had (and continues to have) on their operation and output. The division of the course into units allows students to explore the chronology of the British media, the evolving composition of the national population and the roots of their contemporary representation. How the representation of the British population — already divided along lines of social class, gender, race, culture, religion, region, ethnicity and sexual orientation — is informed, entertained and self-identifies will be examined via related theories. This will solidify student understanding about the relationship that exists between media history, practice, ethics and social and cultural anthropology.

Satisfies IDEA Course Requirement

Satisfies Shared Competency for Ethics, Integrity, and Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Enrollment priority is given to Syracuse public communications majors who have not yet met their Diversity requirement.

Syracuse Newhouse students:

This course fulfills the Newhouse diversity requirement within your major.
Prereq: COM 107 required for Newhouse students (only)

Syracuse students: may not receive credit for more than one of the following: COM 346, 348, 350.

COM300.1 Engaged Media: Global Storytelling (Spring)

This course looks at the UK’s rapidly changing media landscape, with a particular focus on user engagement, storytelling, and media. In an era of “fake news,” threats to the freedom of the press, big data, and the burgeoning of user-generated content, journalists face unprecedented pressure to retain users’ trust, and redefine their role in the 21st century. At the same time, technological innovations have led to new ways of storytelling across a variety of media. In this class, you will examine how news reporters, broadcasters, and foreign correspondents are adapting in the digital age, and finding innovative and interactive ways to engage audiences. Throughout the semester, you will take part in a series of reporting exercises for different platforms. The course will culminate in a final piece of online journalism in which you employ a variety of engagement strategies.

CMD450 Communications Design Problems (Spring)

This class will involve working in multiple areas within the discipline of visual communications. Students initiate, create and complete three in-depth design projects reflecting unique problems of interest to each student/designer. Strategic planning, marketing, and design based on field research in London and within the EU that will add a global perspective to their problem-solving.

Enrollment restricted and required of all Communications Design students attending the London Design program.

Prereqs: CMD 252 and CMD 282

Coreqs: DES 304

This course has an associated course fee. See the London Course fees page for more information.

WGS454 Family and Gender in Contemporary Italy (Fall, Spring)

Family structures and gender relations in Italy from the Unification to the present.

From the extended family of the 19th century to the nuclear family of today, the history of family and gender in Italy is characterized by reversals and often ambiguous attempts to resist change. Provides critical understanding of sources and methods used to unravel complex developments of this period. Cross-listed with HST 454 and SOC 454.

Counts as an IDEA course requirement for Syracuse students.