FILM 113 - 114: HISTORY OF CINEMA
The one-year sequence, conducted as a lecture course,
is designed to give the student a broad introduction to the history and
aesthetics of film from a roughly chronological perspective. There are weekly
screenings of major films widely acknowledged as central to the evolution of
the medium as well as supplementary reading assignments which provide both a
narrative history and a strong encounter with the leading critical and
theoretical issues of cinema, often within a context of 20th century
art and literature. While the student can take either half of the sequence, the
program recommends that both parts of the course are taken, especially for any
student contemplating film as a
concentration. Mid-term and final exams; web responses; term paper.
Open
to First-year students only.
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CRN |
93148 |
Distribution |
A |
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Course
No. |
FILM 113 |
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Title |
History
of Cinema |
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Professor |
John Pruitt |
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Schedule |
Tu 10:00 am - 1:00 pm PRE Screening:
Sun 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm PRE
Mon 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm PRE |
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The first half of the sequence begins with the
early so-called primitive films of Lumiere, Melies, Porter, Sennett, and
Feuillade; and then explores the rapid evolution of the medium through the
works of a number of major artists, including the narrative pioneers Griffith,
von Stroheim, Weber, and Dreyer; the silent comedians, Keaton and Chaplin; the
soviet montage artists, Kuleshov, Vertov, Eisenstein and Dovzhenko; the German
expressionists, Murnau, Lang and Pabst; the major Japanese figures, Kinugasa
and Ozu; and practitioners of the French avant-garde, Leger, Clair, Man Ray,
Bunuel, and Dulac; as well as innovative documentaries by such filmmakers as
Ruttmann and Flaherty. Readings by Arnheim, Eisenstein, Munsterberg, et al
|
CRN |
93264 |
Distribution |
F |
|
Course
No. |
FILM 201 A |
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|
Title |
Introduction to the Moving Image I |
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|
Professor |
Leah Gilliam |
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Schedule |
Tu 1:30 pm -4:30 pm PRE |
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Introduction to the basic problems (technical and
theoretical) related to film and/or electronic motion picture production.
Coupled with Film 202 (offered in Spring), this course is designed to be taken
in the sophomore year and leads to a spring Moderation project in the Film and
Electronic Arts Program.
Prerequisite: a 100 or 200-
level course in Film or Video History.
|
CRN |
93265 |
Distribution |
F |
|
Course
No. |
FILM 201 B |
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|
Title |
Introduction to the Moving Image I |
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Professor |
Jacqueline Goss |
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Schedule |
Wed 9:30 am - 12:30 pm STUDIO B |
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Introduction to the basic problems (technical and
theoretical) related to film and/or electronic motion picture production.
Coupled with Film 202 (offered in Spring), this course is designed to be taken
in the sophomore year and leads to a spring Moderation project in the Film and
Electronic Arts Program.
Prerequisite: a 100 or 200-
level course in Film or Video History.
|
CRN |
93266 |
Distribution |
F |
|
Course
No. |
FILM 201 C |
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|
Title |
Introduction to the Moving Image I |
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|
Professor |
Peggy Ahwesh |
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|
Schedule |
Wed 1:30 pm -4:30 pm PRE |
||
Introduction to the basic problems (technical and
theoretical) related to film and/or electronic motion picture production.
Coupled with Film 202 (offered in Spring), this course is designed to be taken
in the sophomore year and leads to a spring Moderation project in the Film and
Electronic Arts Program.
Prerequisite: a 100 or 200-
level course in Film or Video History.
|
CRN |
93267 |
Distribution |
F |
|
Course
No. |
FILM 201 D |
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|
Title |
Introduction to the Moving Image I |
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Professor |
Peter Hutton |
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Schedule |
Th 1:30 pm -4:30 pm STUDIO B |
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Introduction to the basic problems (technical and
theoretical) related to film and/or electronic motion picture production.
Coupled with Film 202 (offered in Spring), this course is designed to be taken
in the sophomore year and leads to a spring Moderation project in the Film and
Electronic Arts Program.
Prerequisite: a 100 or 200-
level course in Film or Video History.
|
CRN |
93147 |
Distribution |
F |
|
Course
No. |
FILM 203 |
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Title |
Electronic
Media Workshop: Digital Animation Techniques |
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Professor |
Jacqueline Goss |
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Schedule |
Mon 1:30 pm -4:30 pm HDR 106 |
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Cross-listed:
Integrated Arts
In this course, we will make short video projects
using digital animation and compositing programs (Macromedia Flash, Adobe After
Effects, and Maya). The course is
designed to help students develop a facility with these tools and to find
personal animating styles that surpass the tools at hand. We will work to
reveal techniques and aesthetics associated with digital animation that
challenge conventions of storytelling, editing, figure/ground relationship, and
portrayal of the human form. To this
end, we will refer to diverse examples of animating and collage from film,
music, writing, photography, and painting.
Prerequisite: familiarity with
a nonlinear video-editing program.
|
CRN |
93150 |
Distribution |
F |
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Course
No. |
FILM 214 |
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Title |
History
of Yiddish Cinema |
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Professor |
Adolfas Mekas |
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Schedule |
Tu 1:30 pm -4:30 pm PRE 203 |
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Cross-listed: Jewish Studies
From Second Avenue vaudeville houses to the golden
age of Yiddish theatre and cinema in Vilnius, Warsaw, Lower East Side and
Hollywood. The seminar will consist of viewing selected Yiddish films,
suggested private screening of additional films, assigned reading and class
discussions. Knowledge of Yiddish is good, but not required (all films shown
will have English sub-titles). Two papers. Enrollment is limited to 16
students.
|
CRN |
93159 |
Distribution |
F |
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Course
No. |
FILM 214 |
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|
Title |
Topics
in History of Cinema: The American Avant-garde Film 1942 - 1975 |
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Professor |
Scott MacDonald |
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Schedule |
Fr 10:00 am - 1:00 pm PRE Screening:
Th 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm PRE |
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A lecture, survey course
devoted to one of the most significant artistic movements in film following
World War II, a movement closely tied to art forms like poetry and painting,
which thus calls into critical question the medium's normal association with
narrative fiction. The course will focus on a relatively small number of major
filmmakers: the early pioneers of the 1940's, Deren, Peterson, Menken, Maas,
and Broughton; the mythopoeic artificers of the 1950's and early 1960's, Anger,
Brakhage, and Baillie; and the formalists of the late 1960's, Frampton, Snow
and Gehr. We will also pay attention to the strong graphic/collage cinema of
artists like Cornell, Conner, Smith, and Breer as well as to the anarchic,
comic improvisations of figures like Jacobs, Kuchar, and MacLaine. We will end
in the mid 1970's by touching on the movement's then future prospects, e.g. the
revitalisation of storytelling through autobiography (Mekas) and
feminist/critical narrative (Rainer). Supplementary readings, including many
theoretical works by the filmmakers themselves as well as material touching on
parallel avant-garde movements in painting, photography, poetry, and music from
the same era, works by highly influential artists like Charles Olson, John
Cage, et al. Two essay exams and a term paper. Open enrollment.
|
CRN |
93154 |
Distribution |
F |
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Course
No. |
FILM 223 |
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Title |
Graphic
Film Workshop |
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Professor |
Jennifer Reeves |
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Schedule |
Wed 1:30 pm -4:30 pm STUDIO B |
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This course explores the materials and processes
available for the production of graphic film or graphic film sequences. It
consists of instruction in animation, rephotography, rotoscoping, and drawing
on film and of viewing and discussing a number of films that are primarily
concerned with the visual.
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CRN |
93268 |
Distribution |
F |
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Course
No. |
FILM 231 |
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Title |
Documentary
Workshop |
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Professor |
Peggy Ahwesh |
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Schedule |
Th 1:30 pm -4:30 pm PRE |
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Cross-listed: Human Rights
This is an intermediate-level workshop for students
interested in social issues, reportage, landscape, travelogue and various forms
of the “newsreel” and the “actuality”
film. Working in small crews or individually and shooting with both film and
video, the class will create timely newsreels of the local region and will
travel locally to a variety of locations to cover particular events, people and
natural phenomena.
|
CRN |
93669 |
Distribution |
A |
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Course
No. |
FILM 240 |
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|
Title |
Chinese
Cinema |
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Professor |
Jean Ma |
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Schedule |
Wed 10:00 am – 1:00 pm PRESTON Screening: Tu
7:00 pm – 10:00 pm PRESTON |
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Cross-listed: Asian Studies
This course surveys the cinemas of mainland China,
Taiwan, and Hong Kong from a comparative perspective that focuses on the
differences between them. Although our
discussion will address the history of these three regions and its effects upon
the development of their film industries, the emphasis will be upon
contemporary works and the diversity of genres represented in them - ranging
from art cinema and the new cinema movements that emerged in the late 70s and
early 80s, to popular genres like the martial arts film and the gangster
film. The scope of the course will be
transnational as well as national, addressing topics related to global
spectatorship such as cult audiences and film festivals, as well as
interregional influences.
|
CRN |
93151 |
Distribution |
F |
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Course
No. |
FILM 278 |
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|
Title |
Film
Production Workshop |
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|
Professor |
Jennifer Reeves |
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Schedule |
Tu 1:30 pm -4:30 pm STUDIO B |
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Who's to say "too many chefs spoil the
meal?" As this class functions as
a rotating production team, the talent, imagination, and industry of each
student will combine to create an original 16mm film. The narrative will be styled by the class and each student will
have an opportunity to write, direct, and edit a scene, acting as crew or cast
in other scenes. Issues of art
direction, narrative continuity, and collaboration will be tackled as they
arise. The primary goal of the class is
for students to develop their technical and story-telling proficiency through
working in a variety of roles of a film production.
|
CRN |
93142 |
Distribution |
F |
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Course
No. |
FILM 303 |
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Title |
Film
in the Digital Media Age |
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Professor |
Leah Gilliam |
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Schedule |
Th 9:30 am - 12:30 pm HDR 106 |
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Cross-listed: Integrated Arts
What is Digital Cinema? What is a Computer Film?
Technology offers so many options for digital acquisition, manipulation and
presentation, that it is difficult to keep track of the semiotic and technical
distinctions between film/video and the ubiquitous "new media." With
an emphasis on hybridity of form and format,
students will conceive individual projects utilizing available desktop
computer and analog video resources. These projects in conjunction with
lectures, demonstrations and screenings will form a matrix for the examination
of "cinema" and "emerging technology." Issues for
discussion include media essentialism and technological development, the rise
of the digital feature, the Dogme Vow of Chastity, "the future of film and
video," and digital delivery.
|
CRN |
93160 |
Distribution |
C |
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Course
No. |
FILM 307 |
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|
Title |
Landscape
& Media |
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|
Professor |
Peter Hutton |
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Schedule |
Fr 1:30 pm -4:30 pm PRE |
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A class designed for Junior level film and video
majors. The class will study and compare representations of the American
landscape through the history of film and painting vs. the depiction of
landscape and environmental issues manifest through television and video.
Students will be required to complete a short film or video referencing these
issues. Required reading: B. McKibbon’s The
Age of Missing Information.
|
CRN |
93155 |
Distribution |
F |
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Course
No. |
FILM 312 |
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|
Title |
Scriptwriting
Workshop |
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|
Professor |
Adolfas Mekas |
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Schedule |
Wed 1:30 pm -4:30 pm PRE 203 |
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An intensive seminar/workshop designed specifically
for someone who plans to make a narrative, documentary or avant-garde film for
moderation or senior project. In a seminar setting, we will work on each
student’s project to develop a concise (and interesting!) script to become a
basis for a short film.
Prerequisite: film-making
experience. Non-film majors must see the professor prior to registration.
|
CRN |
93670 |
Distribution |
A |
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Course
No. |
FILM 318 |
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|
Title |
Theories
of Film |
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|
Professor |
Jean Ma |
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|
Schedule |
Th 10:30 am – 12:30 pm PRESTON Screening: Wed
7:00 pm – 10:00 pm PRESTON |
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This course covers the
critical discourse on the cinematic form, style, ideology, and spectatorship,
including the "classical" film theory of the early twentieth century,
Frankfurt School media theory, apparatus theory, feminist film theory,
psychoanalysis, and theories of modernity.
The aim is to provide students with a foundational knowledge of key
texts and moments in the conceptualization of the medium, as well as to situate
these discussions within a historical context.
|
CRN |
93149 |
Distribution |
F |
|
Course
No. |
FILM 362 |
||
|
Title |
Electronic
Discourses: Theories and Practices of
New Media |
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|
Professor |
Jacqueline Goss / Thomas Keenan |
||
|
Schedule |
Tu Wed 2:00 pm -4:00 pm HDR 106 |
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This course will examine the electronic networks of our contemporary digital culture, and its recent past, by exploring a variety of information systems, virtual communities, and on-line art projects. These various worlds, each distinct interactive models, will be examined critically in readings from cultural theory, policy, history, and aesthetics. How have virtual technologies transformed our experiences of language, reality, space, time, publicity and privacy, memory, and knowledge? To answer these questions, we will produce a number of projects and do extensive reading in new media history and theory, studying things like: the World Wide Web, MOOs and MUDs, listservs, email and newsgroups, mobile phones, PDAs, pagers, and the Global Positioning System, among others. Each student will be expected to spend significant amounts of time on-line, to tackle several technologies as they apply to activities on the net and to design and mount an on-line project. No special expertise with computers is required, but all work for the seminar will be produced using the digital media we study.