Courses - CMS Winter 2026

Listings for future quarters are tentative and subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, including instructor and location, 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

SLN: 12524

Department Requirements Met:

Composition and W-courses

GE Requirements Met:

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

SLN: 12525

Department Requirements Met:

Composition and W-courses

GE Requirements Met:

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

SLN: 12526

Department Requirements Met:

Composition and W-courses

GE Requirements Met:

A critical approach to film and/or media texts and a workshop on writing papers in English. Topics vary. Offered: AWSpS.

CMS 271 A: Perspectives on Film: Great Directors

TTh 10:30am - 12:20pm

SLN: 22127

Department Requirements Met:

Pre-req to Declare Cinema & Media Studies Major

GE Requirements Met:

Introduction to authorship in the cinema. The work of a major director or directors.

CMS 274 A: Perspectives on Media: Critical Concepts

TTh 12:30pm - 2:20pm

SLN: 12528

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

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

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

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

SLN: 12530

Department Requirements Met:

Cinema & Media Studies Core

GE Requirements Met:

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

SLN: 12531

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

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

SLN: 12532

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

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

SLN: 12533

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 AA: Cinema and Nation

F 2:30pm - 3:20pm

SLN: 12534

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

CMS 320 AB: Cinema and Nation

F 3:30pm - 4:20pm

SLN: 12535

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

CMS 370 A: Basic Screenwriting

MW 10:30am - 12:20pm

SLN: 12536

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

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

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

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

SLN: 12538

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

Varying topics relating to film in social contexts. Offered by resident or visiting faculty.

CMS 470 A: Advanced Screenwriting

MW 2:30pm - 4:20pm

SLN: 12539

Department Requirements Met:

GE Requirements Met:

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

SLN: 12540

Department Requirements Met:

Capstone for Cinema

GE Requirements Met:

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

SLN: 12541

Department Requirements Met:

Capstone for Cinema

GE Requirements Met:

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

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

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

SLN: 12544

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

SLN: 12545

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

SLN: 12546

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.