Note to first-year students: the Film Department tries to accommodate as many seriously interested students as possible, whether they are prospective film majors or not. We do this by offering Film 109 An Introduction to the History and Aesthetics of Film solely for first-year students. Film 109 serves as a prerequisite for those who are thinking of making film a focus of their studies.
Professor: M. Zryd
CRN: 92510
Distribution: C/F
Time: F (lecture) 1:20 pm - 4:20 pm PRE
FILM
Th (screening) 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm PRE FILM
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. Films by Griffith, Chaplin, Keaton, Renoir, Rossellini, Hitchcock, Deren, and others are studied. Readings of theoretical works by authors including Vertov, Eisenstein, Pudovkin, Munsterberg, Bazin, and Arnheim.
Professor: P. Ahwesh
CRN: 92507
Distribution: F
Time: W 9:30 am - 12:30 pm PRE
Professor: P. Hutton
CRN: 92508
Distribution: F
Time: F 9:30 am - 12:30 pm PRE
Introduction to the basic problems (technical and theoretical) related to the film medium through classroom production of short films and out-of-class assignments. Coupled with Film 102, this course is designed to be taken in the sophomore year and leads to a spring Moderation project. Prerequisites: A 100- or 200- level course in film history
Professor: L. Gilliam
CRN: 92509
Distribution: F
Time: Tu 1:20 pm - 4:20 pm PRE
This workshop will emphasize the techniques and strategies related to small video production. Class sessions will include screenings of film, digital, and video work, with a focus on the history of video as an art form. There will be weekly production exercises, and all students will produce a substantial final project. By permission of the instructor.
Professor: P. Ahwesh
CRN: 92511
Distribution: C
Time: Tu 9:30 am - 12:30 pm PRE
The course will provide an historical overview and critique of the documentary form with examples from ethnographic film, social documentary, cinema verite, propaganda films and travelogues. We will investigate the basic documentary issue of truth and/or objectivity and will critique films with readings from feminist theory, cultural anthropology, general film history/theory, etc.
Professor: A. Mekas
CRN: 92512
Distribution: B/F
Time: W 1:20 pm - 3:20 pm PRE
From an idea to plot; from an outline to script. Character development, dramatic/cinematic structure. Continuous analysis of students' work. Students who wish to take the course should have a demonstrable background in film or writing and be willing to share their work with others. Admission by permission of the professor; samples of work (finished or in progress) must be submitted prior to registration.
Professor: A. Mekas
CRN: 92934
Distribution: F
Time: M 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm PRE
Designed to give the student an in-depth understanding of a particular period, style or national school of film making. Weekly screenings of films which have influenced the direction of cinema, and related seminars, comprise the bulk of the course. There are no prerequisites. The topic for fall 1997 is: HORROR CINEMA. An historical look at horror genre films, from the very beginning of cinema to the late 70s (ending just before the explosion of slasher/blood&gore films). One basic book; extensive out-of-class viewing; two papers. (In lieu of paper, an oral presentation will be accepted). Limited enrollment.
Professor: P. Hutton
CRN: 92513
Distribution: F
Time: W 9:30 am - 12:20 pm PRE
This class will explore the materials and processes available for the production of graphic film or graphic film sequences. The course consists of ongoing 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.
Professor: L. Gilliam
CRN: 92515
Distribution: F
Time: W 1:20 pm - 4:20 pm PRE
A class designed to introduce Juniors and Seniors concentrating in Film and Video to current non-linear editing systems. This class will combine traditional post production strategies and theories in conjunction with computer based editing techniques. Students will be required to create short works based on film or video material.
Professor: A. Mekas
CRN: 92651
Distribution: F
Time: Th 9:30 am - 12:30 pm PRE
The purpose is to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas prior to Senior Project work and to make available technical information useful to individual projects though combined theory-practice sessions. Students are required to complete a short film and to share their work with others. In addition, films will be screened and readings assigned to establish a common ground for discussion and argument.
Professor: P. Ahwesh
CRN: 92617
Distribution: F
Time: Th 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm PRE
A workshop in sync sound editing, laying of effect tracks, scoring, track separation, A&B cutting, preparation for sound mixing and for an answer print. This course is designed for Juniors and Seniors.
Professor: J. Pruitt
CRN: 92650
Distribution: C
Time: Tu (lecture) 1:20 pm - 3:20 pm
PRE
M (screening) 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm PRE
The seminar will focus on historical and theoretical issues (with a creative workshop component) that are crucial to an understanding of much narrative cinema but are often either overlooked or elude precise analysis: namely, the notion of film performance per se; and by extension, the "direction" of film performance. Inevitably we will commence our study at the intersection of two major art forms -- film and theater, an intersection which generates a meaningful aesthetic friction. For example, in the early days of film, the evolution of cinematic language was interpreted by influential theorists as defining the film medium's necessary break with theatrical values. At the time, theater, in all its various manifestations (cabaret, drama, circus, etc.), quite significantly held the number one position among the popular arts, a position which film then quickly usurped. Yet ironically, a number of the major, seminal practitioners of film, towards the end of their long careers, produced mature cinematic meditations on the nature of theater and performance. We will take a serious look at these films: Sergei Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible; Jean Renoir's The Golden Coach; Charles Chaplin's Limelight; Carl Dreyer's Ordet. Besides studying additional films by other "cross-over" artists like Georges Melies, Buster Keaton, Ernst Lubitsch, Orson Welles, Luchino Visconti, and Ingmar Bergman, we will briefly touch upon at least one non-western theatrical tradition; and, in so doing, we will look at two classic Japanese films, both direct studies of theatrical life: Yasujiro Ozu's A Story of Floating Weeds and Kenji Mizoguchi's The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum. Readings will be primarily short theoretical works ranging from a 14th century treatise on Noh drama to essays by twentieth century film theorists and critics like Hugo Munsterberg, Andre Bazin and Susan Sontag. Juniors and seniors only; primarily designed for integrated arts, film, and drama majors, but open to non-majors who have some appropriate experience; requirements will include a long critical essay and several performance and video workshop assignments of a didactic nature.
Professor: P. Hutton
CRN: 92618
Distribution: F
Time: F 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm PRE
An examination of the history of documentary filmmaking from Vertow to Wiesman in the context of a production class. Working in small crews, and using film and video equipment, the class will create weekly newsreels of local and regional events.