Summer is the perfect opportunity for students to enroll in popular courses normally only open to Film Studies majors at Yale. Classes are open to everyone until they fill up and include courses, such as a six-week film workshop, screenwriting and international film noir. Faculty members for the Summer Film Institute include actors, directors, industry executives and screenwriters. An "Intensive Filmmaking Workshop" is also offered as a six-week session at Yale and provides students with hands-on experience making narrative films. Another six-week workshop is titled "Acting in Film" and students work closely with filmmaking students to rehearse and produce films to be shown at screenings during the fifth week of the session.
Yale's summer writing program includes two sessions of classes on topics, such as investigative journalism, novel writing and theater and film reviews. Applicants to the program must submit a writing sample of a similar genre as the coursework offered, not analytical essays or term papers. Prospective students are notified by May whether they are accepted for the summer session.
The Summer Conservatory for Actors is a five-week intensive course covering play analysis, acting techniques, vocal skills, movement, scene study and improvisation. The program assigns one faculty member to every four students and classes are held every weekday of the session. Applicants are selected based on academic history, acting experience, personal statements and recommendations and auditions are not required. Student participants in the summer conservatory include high school students, undergraduates from Yale and other universities and post-graduate. The Summer Conservatory emphasizes the growth of the individual performer as students collaborate on projects rather than focusing on a public performance or production.
Yale also offers courses in more than 50 subjects for credit in two summer sessions. Students can study languages, such as German, Portuguese, Italian and Spanish in condensed sessions for advanced progress. Urban studies students can enroll in "Introduction to the Study of the City," which includes games, simulated problems and field trips in New Haven and to New York City. Other courses include science, literature, humanities and travel abroad.