Non-Credit Filmmaking Certificate Program

Courses for the non-credit Filmmaking Certificate introduce you to all aspects of filmmaking, including: shooting, directing, writing, cinematography, editing, and producing. A certificate is awarded to students who successfully complete three (3) non-credit required courses within one or two successive years.

Please note: You must enroll in the non-credit (NCRD-UT
or SPEC-NT)
 sections of the courses below to earn the non-credit certificate. Credit-bearing courses do not count toward the non-credit certificate.

"The non-credit certificate in Filmmaking enabled me to experiment with film shooting, editing, and producing, as well as writing a full-length screenplay, and directing a short narrative. I was able to quickly learn the basics on which I continued to build and integrate within the fields of performance and visual arts."

— Gabriella Willenz, non-credit Filmmaking Certificate alumna

Required Course

All students must complete the following course to earn the Filmmaking Certificate.

Click the course title for more information and how to register.

Writing for the Screen (Online)

SPEC-NT 1000
Course Availability: Fall, Spring, Summer


Participants will examine the principles and processes of writing for the screen. Topics include finding and developing story ideas, film language and script structure. By the end of the course, students will have participated in in-depth film analysis and intensive screenwriting exercises and discussions. At the end of the course, students are expected to complete a film treatment (prose description of your film) with a step outline for a feature film or TV episode you plan to write. In addition, you must hand in the first scene (3-5 pages) of your script with dialogue.

This is a 2-unit equivalent course.

Please visit the Tisch Professional/Online Course Registration Process to enroll.

Additional Courses

Additionally, students must complete two (2) of the following production courses to earn the Filmmaking certificate.

Click the course title for more information and how to register.

Fundamentals of Sight and Sound: Filmmaking

NCRD-UT 43
Course Availability: Summer


Every student will conceive, produce, direct and edit five short projects (3 silent and 2 with sound) with digital filmmaking technology. Working in crews of four, students will be exposed to a variety of specific assignments in visual storytelling that feature a broad spectrum of technical, aesthetic, craft and logistical problems to be solved. Collaborating with other students through rotating crew positions will be a central focus of all production work. Lectures, labs, critiques, technical seminars, screenings and written production books will be an important component of this class. All student work is screened and discussed in class. Students should not schedule any other course on the same days as Sight & Sound: Filmmaking.

This is a 6-unit equivalent course.

View course schedule in Albert.
View summer tuition and fees.
Apply as a visiting summer student.

Fundamentals of Sight and Sound: Documentary

NCRD-UT 80
Course Availability: Summer


The course teaches students to look at their world and to develop the ability to create compelling and dramatic stories in which real people are the characters and real life is the plot. Through close study and analysis of feature length and short documentaries, as well as hands on directing, shooting, sound-recording and editing, students rigorously explore the possibilities and the power of non-fiction storytelling for video. The course is a dynamic combination of individual and group production work in which each student will be expected to complete five projects.

This is a 6-unit equivalent course.

View course schedule in Albert.
View summer tuition and fees.
Apply as a visiting summer student.

Intermediate Experimental Workshop

NCRD-UT 1046
Course Availability: Summer


Prerequisite: NCRD-UT 43 | Sight and Sound Film Production

A production course in which students experiment with non-narrative approaches to content, structure, technique, and style. Themes and orientations include many possibilities, such as music, choreography, visual or audio art, investigations of rhythm, color, shape, and line; poetry, fragmentation and collage, abstraction, performance; and subversion of linear narrative and documentary conventions.

This is a 4-unit equivalent course.

View course schedule in Albert.
View summer tuition and fees.
Apply as a visiting summer student

Intermediate Production: The Short Commercial Form

NCRD-UT 1246
Course Availability: Summer


Prerequisite: NCRD-UT 43 | Sight and Sound Film Production

From the Silver Screen and the television screen to computer portals, the iPod and cell phones, the proscenium for motion pictures, videos, commercials and new forms of web based media has evolved/de-evolved into ever decreasing screen sizes for moving image based media content and distribution.  As screen sizes have decreased, opportunities have increased for emerging technologies to facilitate the production and distribution of both long and short form film, video and animation based work. This class is intended for students with an interest in exploring the creative and commercial aspects of the short form (30 seconds to 7 minutes).  The goal of this class is for students to produce work that results in a series of final projects that can serve as the basis of a demo reel that will also be "uploaded" to a class created web site.  10 Advanced Short Form projects will be selected on the basis of a variety of classroom research projects and concept pitches.  Students will be able to produce up to 15 minutes of completed "short form" work throughout the semester working in a variety of short form genres.

This is a 4-unit equivalent course.

View course schedule in Albert.
View summer tuition and fees.
Apply as a visiting summer student.