92006

FILM 106

 Intro to Documentary

Edward Halter                          Screening:

    F        10:10 am-1:10 pm

Th          7:00 pm-10:00 pm

AVERY 110

AVERY 110

AA

AART

An introductory historical survey of the documentary, from the silent era to the digital age. Topics addressed will include the origins of the concept of the documentary, direct cinema and cinema verite, propaganda, ethnographic media, the essay film, experimental documentary forms, media activism, fiction and documentary, and the role of changing technologies. Filmmakers studied will include Flaherty, Vertov, Riefenstahl, Rouch, Pennebaker, Maysles, Wiseman, Marker, Farocki, Spheeris, Hara, Riggs,Honigman, Morris, and Moore. Grades will be based on exams, essays and other research and writing projects. Open to all students, registration priority for First-Year students and film majors.  Class size: 25

 

91996

FILM 109

 Aesthetics of Film

John Pruitt

                        Screening:

M            1:30 pm-4:30 pm

Su             6:00 pm-9:00 pm

AVERY 110

AVERY 110

AA

AART

A one-semester survey course comprising weekly screenings and lectures designed for first-year students, especially those who are considering film as a focus of their undergraduate studies. Central cinematic issues are addressed both in terms of the films viewed and the assigned theoretical readings: narrative design, montage, realism, film and dreams, collage, abstraction, and so forth. Films by Chaplin, Keaton, Renoir, Rossellini, Hitchcock, Deren, Brakhage, Bresson, Godard and others are studied. Readings of theoretical works by authors including Vertov, Eisenstein, Pudovkin, Munsterberg, Bazin, Brakhage, Deren and Arnheim. Midterm and final exam; term paper.   Class size: 25

 

91995

FILM 115

 History of Cinema before WWII

Richard Suchenski

                       Screening:

 T  Th     11:50 am-1:10 pm

  W begins @   7:00 pm

AVERY 110

AA

AART

Designed for first year students, this course (the first part of a two part survey) will address the history of cinema during its first fifty years.  In addition to offering an interdisciplinary look at the development and significance of the cinema during this period, we will consider the nature and function of film form through lectures, discussions, the reading of key texts, and close study of works by exemplary directors such as Méliès, Griffith, Chaplin, Eisenstein, Vertov, Hitchcock, Dreyer, Lang, Murnau, Renoir, Ford, Welles, and Mizoguchi.  Special focus will be paid to film’s relationship to related arts and to the larger history of culture.  Attendance and participation is assumed and there will be a midterm exam, two short papers, and a final examination.  Class size: 25

 

91994

FILM 203

 Digital Animation

Jacqueline Goss

 T           10:10 am-1:10 pm

AVERY 333

PA

PART

Cross-listed: Experimental Humanities  In this course we will make video and web-based projects using digital animation and compositing programs (primarily Adobe Animate and After Effects). 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. This production class fulfills a moderation requirement. Class size: 12

 

91997

FILM 205

 Gesture, Light & Motion

Kelly Reichardt

 T           1:30 pm-4:30 pm

AVERY 333

PA

PART

A filmmaking workshop introducing the student to the narrative form through the qualities of gesture, light and motion on screen. Focusing on these elements above dialogue and literary approaches to storytelling allows the filmmaker to develop expressive control to communicate a deep sense of character.  Approaches to visual storytelling, examination of narrative strategies, hands-on shooting, and solutions of practical and/or aesthetic problems, as they are encountered in the making of a film. This production class fulfills a moderation requirement.  Class size: 12

 

91998

FILM 207

 Electronic Media Workshop

Ephraim Asili

(Justin Weldon )

 T           1:30 pm-4:30 pm

AVERY 217 / 333

PA

PART

This course is designed to introduce you to various elements of video production with an emphasis on video art and experimentation.  The class culminates with the completion of a single channel video piece by each student.  To facilitate this final project, there will be a number of camera and editing assignments that are designed to familiarize you with digital video technology while investigating various aesthetic and theoretical concepts. Class sessions will consist of technology demonstrations, screenings, critiques and discussions. Technology training will include: cameras, Final Cut Pro, studio lighting and lighting for green screen, key effects, microphones and more. No prerequisites, permission from instructor. This production class fulfills a moderation requirement. 

Class size: 12

 

92003

FILM 208

 Introduction to  16mm Film

Ephraim Asili

(Justin Weldon )

  W         1:30 pm-4:30 pm

AVERY 319

PA

PART

An introduction to filmmaking with a strong emphasis on mastering the 16mm Bolex camera. Students will be required to shoot six different assignments designed to address basic experimental, documentary, and narrative techniques. A wide range of technical and aesthetic issues will be explored in conjunction with editing, lighting, and sound recording techniques. No prerequisites, permission from instructor.  This production class fulfills a moderation requirement. 

Class size: 10

 

92001

FILM 221

 Found Footage, Appropriation and pranks

Peggy Ahwesh

   Th       10:10 am-1:10 pm

AVERY 217 / 333

PA

PART

Cross-listed:  Experimental Humanities  This course surveys the history of appropriation in experimental media from the found footage, cut-up and collage films of the 1950's through the Lettrists and Situationists and up to current artistic and activist production efforts such as culture jamming, game hacking, sampling, hoaxing, resistance, interference and tactical media intervention.  The spectrum of traditions which involve the strategic  recontextualizing of educational, industrial and broadcast sources, projects that detourn official 'given' meaning, re-editing of outtakes, recycling of detritus, and a variety of works of piracy and parody which skew/subvert media codes will be examined for their contribution to the field.  Issues regarding gender, identity, media and net politics, technology, copyright and aesthetics will be addressed as raised by the work.  Students are required to produce their own work in video, gaming, installation, collage and/or audio through a series of assignments and a final project. Class size: 12

 

91999

FILM 230

 Film Among the Arts

Richard Suchenski  

                          Screening:

  W         1:30 pm-4:30 pm

T   begins @  7:00 pm

AVERY 110

AVERY 110

AA

AART

Cross-listed: Art History   This course will be an intensive exploration of the ways in which cinema has been informed and enriched by developments in the other arts.  Each week we will look at a particular media or theme and consider the ways in which it has been used as a catalyst for distinctly cinematic creativity in various periods.  Attention will be paid not only to the presence of other arts within the films but also to the ways in which consideration of relationships between different media provide new ways of looking at and thinking about cinema.  Directors studied include Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman, Marguerite Duras, Sergei Eisenstein, Jean Epstein, Jean-Luc Godard, Alfred Hitchcock, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Stanley Kubrick, Chris Marker, Michael Powell, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Alain Resnais, Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, Teshigahara Hiroshi, and Peter Watkins. Two short papers and a final research essay.  Prior coursework in Film and/or Art History preferred.  Class size: 12

 

92004

FILM 233

 Art & the Internet

Ben Coonley

   Th       1:30 pm-4:30 pm

AVERY 333

PA

PART

Cross-listed:  Experimental Humanities; Science, Technology & Society   This production course considers the Internet as a source of creative material, an exhibition context, and begetter of new art forms. With reference to electronic media history and theory, we survey the contemporary landscape of online media production. Topics covered include: the origins of “net.art,” hypertext narratives, social networks, surf clubs and group blogging, web video, machinima, hacktivism, online games, online performance, digital readymade and assemblage art, among others. Students complete independent and collaborative creative projects designed to respond to and engage with Internet technologies and online networks. No special expertise with computers is required, but all work for the seminar will be produced using the digital media we study.  Class size: 12

 

92002

FILM 235

 Video Installation

Ben Coonley

  W         1:30 pm-4:30 pm

AVERY 117

PA

PART

This production course investigates video installation as an evolving contemporary art form that extends the conversation of video art beyond the frame and into live, hybrid media, site-specific, and multiple channel environments. Presentations, screenings, and readings augment critical thinking about temporal and spatial relationships, narrative structure, viewer perception and the challenges of presenting time-based work in a gallery or museum setting. Workshops hone technical skills and problem solving. Students develop research interests and apply their unique skills sets to short turnaround exercises and more expanded self-directed projects for gallery and non-theatrical contexts.  Class size: 12

 

91992

FILM 240

 Sound and Picture

Jacqueline Goss

M            1:30 pm-4:30 pm

AVERY 333

PA

PART

This course will explore the principles and practices of sound design in motion pictures. Through analysis of existing works, discussion of weekly readings, and through our own creations, we will develop a deeper understanding of the mutual influence of sound and picture.  In the class, we will think about sound, not as accessory to image, but as a unique, fruitful site for making meaning within the context of film and videomaking.  We will consider how filmic sounds are different from images and music and pay particular attention to human voices as soundmakers.  We will also investigate the complex relationship of sound to the real and imagined spaces they activate, how sound design suggests modes of time and tense, and we will consider the roles silence and music play in filmmaking.  During the course of the semester these conversations will inform the making of our own timed-based media --with particular emphasis on sound design. Some familiarity with video production and editing required. Class size: 12

 

91993

FILM 256

 Writing the Film

 Lisa Krueger

M            1:30 pm-4:30 pm

AVERY 117

PA

PART

Cross-listed: Written Arts  An introductory writing course that looks at creative approaches to writing short films and dialogue scenes. There will be writing and research exercises, screenings, discussions, readings and script critiques. The course will focus on researching and developing ideas and structure for stories, building characters, poetic strategies and writing comedic, realistic and awkward romantic dialogue.  Class size: 12

 

92005

FILM 307

 Landscape & Media

Peggy Ahwesh

  W         1:30 pm-4:30 pm

AVERY 217 / 333

PA

PART

This class is an investigation into the natural (and manufactured) landscape in relationship to its representation in (digital) media.  We will compare and contrast a variety of forms of landscape offered throughout the history of cinema and painting and for our own image production, visit local sites through which we will consider environmental issues, the social uses of land and parks, travel and tourism and more generally, the politics of place. A broad range of tools and techniques will be introduced, such as: panoramas, cartography, image archives, drones, creative geography, 360 degree cams and others. Films relevant to our topic by Thom Anderson, Farocki, Jennifer Baichwal, Ruiz, Antonioni, Sharon Lockhart, Teshigahara, Abbas Fahdel and Jia Zhangke will be screened.  Students are required to complete a short video every two weeks in response to local site visits that will be regularly scheduled throughout the semester and may occasionally involve commitment outside of class time. Class size: 12

 

91991

FILM 330

 Script to Screen

Kelly Reichardt

  W         9:30 am-12:30 pm

AVERY 333

PA

PART

This is a live-action film workshop. Concentration will be on the narrative form as a means of exploring visual storytelling strategies. Students will collectively produce a dramatic re-creation of the 1929 Hitchcock film BLACKMAIL. Each student will produce, direct and edit a sequence of the feature-length film. 

Class size: 12

 

92007

FILM 343

 Big Noise Films: COLLABORATIVE DOCUMENTARY - Immigration

Richard Rowley

Jacqueline Soohen

    F        1:30 pm-4:30 pm

AVERY 117 / 333

PA

D+J

PART

A course centered on the production of a collaborative long-form observational documentary on the broad topic of migration. In the context of an international migration ‘crisis,’ and shifts in national immigration policy, we will look for local stories that interrogate this theme. Within the larger class project students will work individually and in pairs to research, film, organize and edit short scenes.  Students will work together to combine these scenes into a cohesive larger piece.  The course will explore documentary techniques for researching complex topics, expose students to a multi-staged production process, and help develop strong communication skills essential to collaborative filmmaking.   Assigned viewings include films like “Who Is Dayani Cristal?” (Silver, 2012), “New Americans” (James, 2004)Farmingville” (Sandoval and Tambini, 2004), “The Overnighters” (Moss, 2014), and “La Ciudad” (Riker, 1998) This course is part of the Liberal Arts Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement and Education initiative.  Class size: 12

 

92008

FILM 366

 American Innovative Narrative

John Pruitt                          Screening:

 T           1:30 pm-4:30 pm

M            6:00 pm-9:00 pm

AVERY 110 / 117

AVERY 110

AA

AART

The course is an exploration of unconventional, usually low-budget, narrative cinema that is trying to find radical, innovative form that moves against the grain of standard populist work. The filmmakers are most often (but not always) highly independent figures working away from the Hollywood system. The range moves from bold realism to a search for a continuity that mirrors the movement of interior consciousness. Largely the time period covered will be from the late fifties to the early seventies when there were a number of dynamic experiments in narrative, but we will also look at relatively contemporary work as well, including films by Bard faculty members. Films to be studied include those by Shirley Clarke, Michael Roemer, Adolfas Mekas, Curtis Harrington, Monte Hellman, Robert Frank, Yvonne Rainer, Charles Burnett, Julie Dash, David Lynch, Richard Linklater, Susan Seidelman, Jim Jarmusch and others. One long essay will be due at the end of the semester.  Class size: 12

 

92000

FILM 405

 Senior Seminar

Ben Coonley

 T           5:00 pm-7:00 pm

AVERY 110 / 217

 

 

A requirement for all Film majors, the Senior Seminar is an opportunity to share working methods, knowledge, skills and resources among students working on Senior Project. The course will have a number of film and video makers in to discuss their process and techniques, artistic life-after-Bard skills workshop, a review of distribution and grant writing opportunities and critique of works in progress. The course is an integral aspect of Senior Project for all seniors in Film and carries no credit. (Meets every other week.) Class size: 35

Cross-listed course:

 

92225

ANTH 351

The Interview: reportage, human rights, literature, ethnography, film

John Ryle

  T                3:10 pm – 5:30 pm

HEG 102

SA

 

SSCI

 

Cross-listed:  Environmental & Urban Studies; Film, Human Rights; Written Arts