Introduction to Communications covers the fundamental concepts and theories of the communications field, as well as their practical applications in the media field. Topics include the history of communication as an academic discipline, communication as identity and relationship construction, nonverbal communication and listening, communication media and technology, and communication in a variety of interpersonal, familial, group, and workplace settings. This course centers on individual creative projects, team exercises, and hands-on work throughout, and is required for both the Communications Major and Minor.

Media Production Fundamentals develops motion-picture creative and production skills, including directing, cinematography, camera operation, lighting, audio capture, and non-linear editing. Students will learn how to safely operate camera, audio, and lighting equipment in a dedicated production studio and on location. Students will become familiar with the roles of departments, their crew positions, and the equipment associated with each department. Students will be involved in the design and creation of narrative, commercial, broadcast/streaming, and documentary projects, rotating through the different crew positions required for each style of production.

Visual Storytelling and the Natural World teaches students the principles of documentary filmmaking through the lens of ecological inquiry. Students will explore the concept of ecosystem health, examine real-world environmental threats, and address the impact of ecosystem failures on biodiversity and human well-being. CMM 120 uses lectures, screenings, workshops, and hands-on production to assist students as they research, script, produce, shoot, and edit a short documentary focused on a local or global natural ecosystem-related issue. Emphasis is placed on critical inquiry, creative storytelling, and responsible media-making with ecological impact.

The Media Literacy course explores a specific media platform such as film, television or social media and provides students with an in-depth look at the evolution and the current state of that medium. The goal of the course is to expand students’ knowledge of a particular medium so that they can better evaluate the media and its messages in a more critical and active way, particularly how the medium is used by and affects society.

This course provides a detailed overview of the evolution of American television. Students will explore the technical evolution of the television medium and become familiar with television's story-telling forms including genres and other narrative opportunities. . This course also discusses how technical, business and cultural factors have shaped this powerful communication medium.

This course examines the ecologies of media production through reading, conversation, and making. Here, we will consider ‘ecology’ to include both the environment in which we are embedded (“the natural world”) as well as the interrelational environment we co-create (“the social world”). We will explore together the ecological impacts of media creation at all levels, and how we might move toward methods less harmful to the nonhuman world and each other. Through collaborative creative projects, we will think through ways media might be able to shift our narratives and values.

This course will provide an in-depth survey of the documentary film, including the evolution and history of this important non-fiction film genre. Students will become familiar with the different styles and techniques of documentary film making and how this film genre is closely wound with global history, society and ethics.

The Understanding Media course provides both a practical and a theoretical framework for thinking about and relating to our current and future media systems. Course participants will learn how to analyze the role of media in producing culture and evaluate the effects of media on groups of people as well as on individuals. The course will also look at the media industry in terms of how it operates and how it performs in a functional, legal and ethical context.

This course provides an overview of journalistic writing, reporting, and production across a variety of mediated contexts, including investigation of the role of the journalist historically and in the present day. Topics include news gathering and interviewing, reporting on public events, feature and headline writing, digital media, and journalistic law and ethics.

This hands-on course explores the theory and practice of HD single-camera video field production as a story-telling medium. Students will learn the technical basics of HD video shooting and editing. Class demonstrations and readings will allow students to explore best practices for pre-production, production and postproduction of short form videos. Students will have the opportunity to create their own field production projects and to collaborate with classmates.

This course is designed to provide students hands-on practical experience with sports field production including the creation of game footage, participant interviews and game analysis. Students will write and produce short form sports-related stories and use HD video field equipment to create their own projects and to collaborate with classmates. This course will also include an introduction to multi-camera live sports production and an orientation to a digital three-camera streaming video studio.

The practices of digital storytelling bring the digital creation tools of the current age together with the varied traditions of storytelling. Digital storytelling connects the creative energies of the author-artist to the digital media techniques through which the artist expresses their creativity. Students in the course will exercise their creative energy in telling stories digitally as they develop their ability to use relevant digital (hardware and software) tools. Digital storytelling encompasses storytelling through sound, video, image, the intersection of word and image, and more. Accordingly, it lends itself well to the topics-based approach.

This class provides instruction in the fundamentals of television news writing essential to all careers in television news. The class will concentrate on writing news scripts that are accurate, clear, concise and conversational. The course will explore the world of broadcast news as students gather stories and distill them into succinct stories appropriate for television broadcast news. Students will also have an opportunity to learn how a news broadcast is prepared including the staffing that is necessary to mount a successful newscast.

The Documentary Video course provides in-depth hands-on exploration of documentary video creation. During the course students will write, shoot and edit documentary videos. Students will also be immersed in the history of the documentary film and become familiar with the filmmakers who have played an important role in the evolution of the documentary film form.

Public Relations in the Digital Age surveys the field of public relations, with special emphasis on the role of the communications specialist as a public relations practitioner. Topics covered include the history of public relations, campaign design, execution, and evaluation, public relations writing, and public relations law and ethics.

This course is an introduction to multi-camera video production including script writing, video and sound capture and video and audio editing. Students will learn how to operate the cameras and sound and lighting equipment in a dedicated streaming video studio. Students will also become familiar with the various studio and control room crew positions and equipment associated with a live video broadcast. Students will be involved in a number of broadcast projects, allowing them to experience a number of the different crew positions required for studio productions.

The Digital Video Production course introduces students to the fundamentals of video and audio production by taking the student on an experiential journey from initial concept, through the writing process, to the production and final editing of video projects. The class will cover single camera video production including shooting, lighting, and editing. Students will learn to use professional video and audio equipment and a non-linear editing system: Final Cut Pro X.

This refines the motion picture production skills of writing, producing, directing, cinematography, and editing. From script-to-screen, preproduction to postproduction, the final deliverable will be a Nor’easter Stormin’ Short (NSS), a 5-minute, sync-sound narrative film. With each student writing and directing their own short film, the Nor’easter Stormin’ Short demonstrates a student’s understanding of visual storytelling, tests their technical proficiency, and provides an opportunity to work in creative collaboration with a crew. This course provides practical learning opportunities and immersive applications of the core filmmaking areas through group and individual writing, production, and editorial exercises. Students create their NSS narrative script using industry-standard Final Draft software; film the NSS using a range of audio and video tools, from consumer iPhones to higher-level UNE department equipment; and finish the NSS project using the DaVinci Resolve post-production ecosystem.

This course introduces students to the communication problems, issues and consequences that accompany interaction between people from diverse cultures. Globalization and the close economic ties between the countries necessitate a need for communication students to develop practical skills as intercultural communicators. Students will be exposed to methods and strategies for intercultural communication and research dealing with intercultural communication.

The Women and Film course provides a detailed look at the evolution of women’s roles in the 20th and 21st century cinema. This course examines the work of female directors, editors and screenwriters from the silent to the contemporary era and also looks at actresses who have had a profound effect on film art. Students will be involved in experiential learning as they engage in the visual study of how women have excelled in a male-dominated industry and how cultural and film industry factors have shaped the work of women filmmakers.

This course provides an advanced multi-camera studio production learning experience. Students will be provided opportunities to assume production roles in the control room and multi-camera studio including floor director, technical director, lighting director, camera operator and editor. Students will also be given the opportunity to serve as reporters and anchors on a variety of assignments that are designed to create and produce professional news stories. The course emphasis will provide students with the opportunity to deepen skills whether they wish to work in in front of the camera or behind the camera.

The Writing for the Screen course provides an introduction to writing for film, television and other digital media platforms. The course explores the role of the writer in the film/television production process and provides a detailed look of how a film or television project is taken from initial idea through the writing process and to a completed production. Students will write their own script projects using Final Draft, the industry standard for Hollywood film production.

Introduction to Sports Writing and Reporting offers a semester-long course focusing on craft, practice, voice, interviewing, and storytelling skills, all grounded in real-world experience. We’ll be viewing our subject matter as a laboratory and lens through which to focus on the human experience. The course will include: Reading and discussion, on-the-ground reporting at local events, drawing out reticent interview subjects, narrative strategies, and drafting and revision as the foundation for serious sports writing and reporting.

An internship is a high impact learning experience where knowledge and theory from students’ program of study are integrated with shadowing, volunteering, or paid employment with a private company, not-for-profit organization or government agency toward the intentional development of transferable knowledge, skills and abilities and practical application of professional competencies. Prior to registering for the class, students must work with the Internship Coordinator and course instructor to identify, apply for, and secure an internship. In addition to the hands-on experiential learning that occurs at the internship site, students attend class to discuss the experience, reflect on their learning, and explore ways the internship extends course-based learning. Through guidance, support and regular feedback from the mentor and the course instructor, students learn and practice their internship position and achieve their learning objectives.