The heart of a television, radio and film master’s experience is a sequence of eight elective courses from a broad range of topics.
You will begin the one-year program in early July. Most students finish with a major-market internship during the first six weeks of the following summer. You must take 36 credits and pass a comprehensive examination to complete the degree. You’ll also have opportunities to participate in weeklong industry seminars in New York City or Los Angeles.
If you have any questions, please contact the Academic Advising Office at nhadvise@syr.edu.
Second Summer Session (7 credits):
| TRF 610 Proseminar in Television, Radio and Film (Phase I) Review of fundamental theories and questions in the field, with an emphasis on understanding the development of the discipline and implementations of practice, including film, television, radio, music, gaming, Internet, and mobile media. | 1 |
| TRF 636 Critical and Historical Perspectives on Television, Radio and Film Non-print media as art forms and social, political and cultural forces. Critical analysis of individual products of broadcasting and motion pictures in relation to the systems for which they were created. | 3 |
| TRF 655 Screenwriting and Production Workshop Introduction to writing, designing, planning, and producing programs for radio, television, and film. | 3 |
Fall Semester (13 credits):
| TRF 610 Proseminar in Television, Radio and Film (Phase II) Review of fundamental theories and questions in the field, with an emphasis on understanding the development of the discipline and implementations of practice, including film, television, radio, music, gaming, Internet, and mobile media. | 1 |
| TRF 635 Industry Forces Origins and dynamics of corporate structures, revenue models, content, distribution, and regulation in the television, radio, film, and interactive media industries. | 3 |
| TRF 696 Research for Entertainment Media This course focuses on research practices in relation to entertainment media questions and problems. Students become critical consumers and evaluators of qualitative- & quantitative-based reports and metrics. Students apply methodological procedures to questions of particular interest. | 3 |
| Master’s electives (see list below) | 6 |
Winter Session (0 credits):
| Proseminar Trip (Week-long industry immersion in either New York OR Los Angeles) NOTE: This trip is optional. | 0 |
Spring Semester (13-15 credits):
| TRF 610 Proseminar in Television, Radio and Film (Phase III) Review of fundamental theories and questions in the field, with an emphasis on understanding the development of the discipline and implementations of practice, including film, television, radio, music, gaming, Internet, and mobile media. | 1 |
| TRF 637 Telecommunications Law and Policy Introduction to the law and policies that influence the telecommunications industries. Covers the policy environment, historical, and current developments. | 3 |
| Master’s electives (see list below) | 9-11 |
Date TBA: TRF Comprehensive Exam (must have completed 30 credit hours)
First Summer Session (1-3 credits):
| TRF 675 Entertainment Industry Practicum Students work in a professional setting for a minimum of six weeks. Students are responsible for online participation in discussions, selected readings, written exercises, a journal of observations, and a paper. (If taken for 1-2 credits, students take other electives approved by Program Director) | 1-3 |
Total Credits: 36
TRF Master’s students tailor their programs to fit their unique learning goals with specialized coursework from a list of more than 65 courses. Among those are the following:
| TRF 510 Specialized Practice (one-credit modules) | 1 |
| TRF 530 Pop Culture Studies In-depth examination of critical issues, aesthetics, genre, and authorship involved in electronic media and cinema. Topics range from television genres to film classics. | 3 |
| TRF 592 Film Business Economics of the film industry. Financing of films, budgets, sources of funds, contracts. Securing distribution. National and international marketing of films. Film rental. Booking films for television or theater. Exploitation of ancillary markets. | 3 |
| TRF 595 Programming and Audience Analysis Immersion in the principal programming functions of content development and acquisition, scheduling, and promotion. Survey of scheduling strategies and case studies, hits and misses. Research techniques to understand audience program preferences and choices. | 3 |
| TRF 600 Selected Topics | 1-6 |
| TRF 611 Dramatic Writing for Television and Film Preparing and writing scripted dramatic material for small and large screen. Script evaluation, working as a professional writer, and the stages of script development. | 3 |
| TRF 622 Comedy Writing Study and practice of the craft of comedy writing for television and film. | 3 |
| TRF 624 Script Development Screenwriting theory and the script development process: writing topics include story structure, genres, character development, dialogue, and script formatting. Business topics include pitching, writing script coverage, supervising development, and breaking into the industry. | 3 |
| TRF 642 Multicamera Television Production Students write, design, produce, direct, and program projects specifically for television presentation. | 3 |
| TRF 648 Audio Storytelling Intermediate study and practice in creating fictional and nonfictional audio content for broadcast and online distribution. | 3 |
| TRF 651 Directing The study and practice of the art of motion picture directing for film and single camera television content. Emphasis is on developing skills necessary to create festival-quality short works with public impact. | 3 |
| TRF 656 Sound for Picture Introduction to theory and production of sound for television and film. Includes information processing, aesthetics, perception of sound, sound/picture relationship, analog and digital sound studios, production recording, signal processing, nonlinear editing and mixing. | 3 |
| TRF 659 Documentary Production Student teams write, produce, and edit documentary projects. | 3 |
| TRF 661 Entertainment Business Capstone Business of communications industry focusing on management skills and their effective application. | 3 |
| TRF 667 Screenwriting Master Class Advanced practice built around professional workshops, sponsored by the Center for Popular Television, and guest speakers. Students interact with professionals while working on their screenwriting portfolios. | 3 |
| TRF 669 Advanced Filmmaking Students propose independent film projects (fiction or documentary), and if approved, produce them using digital video and sound technology. | 3 |