Courses - CMS Winter 2026

Listings for future quarters are tentative and subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, please consult the UW Time Schedule. For a listing of all courses potentially offered, see the Course Catalog.

Winter 2026

CMS 240 A: Writing in Cinema and Media Studies

  • MW 10:30am - 12:20pm / SIG 226
SLN: 12524
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
  • Composition and W-courses
GE Requirements Met:
  • C
  • W
A critical approach to film and/or media texts and a workshop on writing papers in English. Topics vary. Offered: AWSpS.

CMS 240 B: Writing in Cinema and Media Studies

  • TTh 8:30am - 10:20am / SIG 226
SLN: 12525
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
  • Composition and W-courses
GE Requirements Met:
  • C
  • W
A critical approach to film and/or media texts and a workshop on writing papers in English. Topics vary. Offered: AWSpS.

CMS 240 C: Writing in Cinema and Media Studies

  • MW 8:30am - 10:20am / MGH 074
SLN: 12526
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
  • Composition and W-courses
GE Requirements Met:
  • C
  • W
A critical approach to film and/or media texts and a workshop on writing papers in English. Topics vary. Offered: AWSpS.

CMS 272 A: Perspectives on Film: Genre

  • TTh 10:30am - 12:20pm / KNE 110
SLN: 12527
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
  • A&H
Introduction to study of film and/or television genre. Literary, mythic, and historic aspects of film and/or television genre.

CMS 274 A: Perspectives on Media: Critical Concepts

  • TTh 12:30pm - 2:20pm / KNE 210
SLN: 12528
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
  • A&H
Provides an introduction to media studies, with particular attention to critical concepts including, but not limited to, audience studies, formal analysis, and ideological critique. Specific media analyzed varies. Course overlaps with: TCOM 247.

CMS 295 A: Study Abroad

  • to be arranged / * *
SLN: 12529
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
  • A&H
Equivalency for 200-level CMS courses taken on UW Study Abroad programs or direct exchanges.

CMS 301 A: Film and Media Studies: Analysis

  • TTh 8:30am - 10:20am / MGH 231
SLN: 12530
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
  • Cinema & Media Studies Core
GE Requirements Met:
  • A&H
Introduction to the analysis of film. Covers major aspects of cinematic form: mise en scene, framing and camera movement, editing, and sound and color. Considers how these elements are organized in traditional cinematic narrative and in alternative approaches.

CMS 303 A: Genre Studies

  • MW 12:30pm - 2:20pm / MGH 287
SLN: 12531
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
  • A&H
Introduction to the history and significance of genre in film and/or television. May examine one or a selection of several genres, drawn from a list including, but not limited to, the western, melodrama, musical, thriller, sitcom, film noir, and documentary. Topics include form, ideology, authority, history, innovation, and parody. Offered: AWSp.

CMS 315 A: History of New Media

  • TTh 2:30pm - 4:20pm / SIG 225
SLN: 12532
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
  • A&H
Study of new media histories and methodologies for research, with particular emphasis on new and emergent technologies such as the Internet and other digital forms. Specific media to be analyzed vary.

CMS 320 A: Cinema and Nation

  • TTh 2:30pm - 5:20pm / DEN 259
SLN: 12533
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
  • A&H
Examines the cinema of a particular national, ethnic or cultural group, with films typically shown in the original language with subtitles. Topics reflect themes and trends in the national cinema being studied. Offered: AWSpS.

CMS 320 AA: Cinema and Nation

  • F 2:30pm - 3:20pm / MGH 284
SLN: 12534
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
Examines the cinema of a particular national, ethnic or cultural group, with films typically shown in the original language with subtitles. Topics reflect themes and trends in the national cinema being studied. Offered: AWSpS.

CMS 320 AB: Cinema and Nation

  • F 3:30pm - 4:20pm / MGH 284
SLN: 12535
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
Examines the cinema of a particular national, ethnic or cultural group, with films typically shown in the original language with subtitles. Topics reflect themes and trends in the national cinema being studied. Offered: AWSpS.

CMS 370 A: Basic Screenwriting

  • MW 10:30am - 12:20pm / ECE 054
SLN: 12536
Instructor:
  • Warren Etheredge
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
  • A&H
Students develop collaborative critical and creative skills; studying screenwriting manuals and techniques; adapt stories for screenplays; and/or write synopses, treatments, and first acts of their own screenplays.

CMS 395 A: Study Abroad

  • to be arranged / * *
SLN: 12537
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
  • A&H
Equivalency for 300-level CMS courses taken on UW Study Abroad programs or direct exchanges.

CMS 397 A: Special Topics in Cinema and Media Studies

  • TTh 12:30pm - 2:20pm / SIG 224
SLN: 12538
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
  • SSc
  • A&H
Varying topics relating to film in social contexts. Offered by resident or visiting faculty.

CMS 470 A: Advanced Screenwriting

  • MW 2:30pm - 4:20pm / MGH 284
SLN: 12539
Instructor:
  • Warren Etheredge
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
  • A&H
Students hone their understanding of screenwriting techniques; enhance their editing/critiquing skills; and develop their own screenplays, synopses, and treatments of various genres, including but not limited to silent, poetic, dramatic, and news-based scripts. Course overlaps with: T FILM 450. Prerequisite: CMS 370.

CMS 480 A: Senior Capstone

  • MW 12:30pm - 2:20pm / OUG 141
SLN: 12540
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
  • Capstone for Cinema
GE Requirements Met:
  • A&H
Capstone course in cinema and media studies. Includes research, creative, and/or reflective project. Topics vary. Prerequisite: CMS 301.

CMS 480 B: Senior Capstone

  • TTh 10:30am - 12:20pm / SIG 226
SLN: 12541
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
  • Capstone for Cinema
GE Requirements Met:
  • A&H
Capstone course in cinema and media studies. Includes research, creative, and/or reflective project. Topics vary. Prerequisite: CMS 301.

CMS 490 A: Directed Study or Research

  • to be arranged / * *
SLN: 12542
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
Individual study of topics in cinema and media studies by arrangement with the instructor and the Comparative Literature, Cinema, and Media Department advising office.

CMS 491 A: Internship

  • to be arranged / * *
SLN: 12543
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
Supervised experience in local businesses and other agencies. Open to upper-division cinema and media studies majors with approval of departmental internship supervisor.

CMS 520 A: Methods and Issues in Cinema and Media Studies

  • W 2:30pm - 5:50pm / MGH 085
SLN: 12544
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
Provides a basic grounding in the theory, history, and criticism of film and media studies, and introduces central debates, topics, and methods in the field.

CMS 571 A: National Frameworks

  • M 1:30pm - 4:50pm / MGH 082A
SLN: 12545
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
Approaches to national, transnational, global, diasporic, and/or regional cinemas and media. Content varies.

CMS 573 A: Aesthetics

  • T 2:30pm - 5:50pm / MGH 085
SLN: 12546
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
Inquiry into such areas as the sensory perception, cultural valuation, or close analysis of cinema and media. Formal, theoretical, and philosophical approaches. Content varies. Offered: AWSp.

CMS 590 A: Master of Arts Essay

  • to be arranged / * *
SLN: 12547
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
Research and writing project under the supervision of a faculty member. Offered: jointly with C LIT 590; AWSpS.

CMS 597 A: Special Topics in Cinema and Media Studies

  • W 2:30pm - 5:20pm / SMI 409
SLN: 12548
Instructor:
  • Chrystel Oloukoi
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
Varying topics in cinema and media studies. Offered by resident or visiting faculty.

CMS 600 A: Independent Study or Research

  • to be arranged / * *
SLN: 12549
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
Offered: jointly with C LIT 600.

CMS 800 A: Doctoral Dissertation

  • to be arranged / * *
SLN: 12550
Instructor:
Department Requirements Met:
GE Requirements Met:
Offered: jointly with C LIT 800.