11452

FILM 106   Intro to Documentary Media

Ed Halter

               Screening:

. . . . F

. . . Th .

10:10  - 1:10 pm

7:00  - 10:00 pm

AVERY 110

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. Registration priority for first-year students and film majors. Class size: 25

 

11442

FILM 114   History of Cinema II:

The Sound Era

John Pruitt

                Screening:

. T . . .

M . . .

1:30  - 4:30 pm

7:00  - 10:00 pm

AVERY 110

AART

Open to First-year students only. 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; term paper. The second half of the sequence begins with crucial films in the transition to the technology and aesthetic of the sound film on an international scale, those by Lang, Sternberg, Bunuel, Vertov and Vigo. There follows a study of the evolution of the long-take, deep-focus aesthetic in the films of Renoir, Welles and Mizoguchi; of Hollywood genres in the films of Ford, Hitchcock, Hawks and Sturges; the rise of neo-realism in Rossellini, DeSica and Visconti; the contribution of the American avant-garde in Deren, Peterson, Brakhage, Anger, Smith, Conner and Breer; the French New Wave in Godard, Truffaut and Rohmer; the northern tradition in Dreyer and Bergman; selections of Asian filmic practice in films of Ray, Kurosawa, and Ozu; and finally, further European innovations in Antonioni, Varda, the Taviani Bros., Pasolini, et al. Readings by Bazin, Brakhage, Deren, Bresson, Sontag, et al. Class size: 25

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11443

FILM 203   Making Space: Performance

 and Video

Sadie Benning

M . . . .

1:30  - 4:30 pm

AVERY 117/333

PART

This course is designed to introduce students to various forms of video aesthetics with an emphasis on performance, experimentation and notions of

expanded cinema through screenings, discussions, group workshops, and student projects. This production class fulfills a moderation requirement.

Class size: 15

 

11448

FILM 207   Introduction to Video Production

Les LeVeque

. . . Th .

10:10  - 1:10 pm

AVERY 117/333

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: 15

 

11450

FILM 208   16mm Film Workshop

Peter Hutton

. . . Th .

1:30  - 4:30 pm

AVERY 319

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: 15

 

11446

FILM 211   Screenwriting I

Marie Regan

. . W . .

1:30  - 4:30 pm

AVERY 338

PART

An intensive workshop for committed writers/cineasts. From an idea to plot, from an outline to full script ‘ character development and dramatic/cinematic structure. Continuous analysis of students’ work in a seminar setting. Students who wish to participate in this workshop should have a demonstrable background in film or in writing, and be able to share their work with others. Limited enrollment, priority given to Sophomores and Juniors, or by permission of the professor. Submission of work and/or an interview prior to registration is recommended. This production class fulfills a moderation requirement. Class size: 12

 

11457

FILM 222   American Graphic Film:

Abstraction, Animation and Collage

John Pruitt

                Screening:

M . . . .

Su . . . .

1:30  - 4:30 pm

7:00  - 10:00 pm

AVERY 217

AVERY 110

AART

The course will provide a survey of a significant and on-going tradition within the American avant-garde film that connects quite directly to modernist practice in the graphic arts, particularly painting and printmaking, e.g. Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, etc.  Most of the films under discussion eschew dramatic narrative for imagery that provides an "adventure of visual perception." Because the images move over time, we will inevitably have to deal with intricate matters of abstract musical form that is in many cases a deep source of inspiration for these artists. Other theoretical issues to be discussed include the intention behind the drive towards visual abstraction in the first place, and the inherent tension within a photographic medium between the so-called real and the imagined. At first we will focus on the works of several "classic" practitioners who worked primarily in the 50's, 60's and 70's: Joseph Cornell, Harry Smith, John and James Whitney, Robert Breer, Larry Jordan, Pat O'Neill, Jordan Belson, Bruce Conner, George Landow, Paul Sharits and Stan Brakhage. We will then turn our attention to a younger generation who emerged from the 80's onwards and are still quite active today: Jennifer Reeves, Mark Street, Michele Smith, Eve Heller, Craig Baldwin, Lewis Sklar et al. There are no prerequisites. Weekly screenings and required readings. Two essays.  Class size: 18

 

11451

FILM 223   Graphic Film Workshop

Peter Hutton

. . . . F

1:30  - 4:30 pm

AVERY 319

PART

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.  This production class fulfills a moderation requirement.  Interested students should contact Prof. Hutton ([email protected]) prior to registration.  Class size: 15

 

11447

FILM 231   Non-Narrative Film Workshop

Peggy Ahwesh

. . W . .

1:30  - 4:30 pm

AVERY 117

PART

A video production workshop for students interested in social issues, reportage, home movies, travelogues and other forms of the non-fiction film. Working in both small crews and individually, the students will travel locally to a variety of locations to cover particular events, people and natural phenomena.  A final project, that is researched, shot and edited during the second half of the semester, is required of each student.  This production class fulfills a moderation requirement. Class size: 12

 

11456

FILM 242   Script to Screen

Kelly Reichardt

. T . . .

1:30  - 4:30 pm

AVERY 217

PART

Concentration will be on the narrative form with a goal of developing a comprehensive methodology for transforming the text to the screen. Students will be given a script from which to work. Emphasis will be placed on blocking the actors and the use of the camera-as-narrator. Through an extended series of scenes to be shot on video students will explore the dramatic and narrative elements of film, consider motivation for both character and camera, and learn to physicalize on film what is internal in the given text. This production class fulfills a moderation requirement. Class size: 12

 

11455

FILM 249   International Film Noir

Richard Suchenski

                       Screening:

. . . Th .

. . W . .

1:30  - 4:30 pm

7:00  - 10:00 pm

AVERY 110

AART

Cross-listed:  Art History    This course provides an exploration of film noir as a genuinely international form.  We will look intensively at a number of key noir films made in America, Britain, France, Italy, and Japan during World War II and the postwar era, with a focus on visual style and the way in which these atmospheric, morally ambiguous crime dramas are related to, and comment upon, developments in the larger culture.  Attention will be paid to the roots of film noir in the visual arts (especially photography) and hard-boiled fiction, its changes over the course of the 1940s and 1950s, and its influence on subsequent filmmaking.  Readings include novels and short stories as well as a range of essays about film noir and postwar culture.  Directors studied include Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Nicholas Ray, Billy Wilder, Fritz Lang, and Henri-Georges Clouzot.  We will also examine contemporary art movements such as Abstract Expressionism and the work of photographers such as Brassai and Weegee.  Three short papers and a final research essay.  Film and Art History majors will have priority.  Class size: 20

 

11449

FILM 323   Aesthetics of Gaming

Ed Halter

. . . Th .

1:30  - 4:30 pm

AVERY 217

AART

An analysis of videogames as an art form, through philosophy, history, and cultural theory. Topics include the nature of games and their function in society, the relationship of gaming to cinema and other arts, the depiction of gender, race, national identity and war, theories of game design, ludology versus narratology in game studies, “serious games,” game worlds and virtual reality, videogame modification,  machinima , 8-bit and artist-made games. Readings include Wittgenstein, Winnicott, Huizinga, Callois, McLuhan, Jenkins, Nakamura, Dibbell, Aarseth, Juul, Frasca, Poole, Atkins, Manovich, Bogost, Flangan and Galloway. Requirements: previous coursework in film and electronic arts, art history or philosophy. Class size: 15

 

11444

FILM 341   Analog Video

Les LeVeque

. T . . .

1:30  - 4:30 pm

AVERY 117

PART

This production workshop will investigate the making of video art using the recently abandoned technologies of analog video. Throughout the semester we will focus on the video signal as a carrier of luminance and chrominance that can be manipulated and degraded through a reexamination of closed circuit performance and real time processing and mixing. By permission of the instructor.  Class size: 12

 

11642

FILM 344   Sound and Picture Editing

Kelly Reichardt

. . W . .

10:10  - 1:10 pm

AVERY 217

PART

This course will explore the principles and practices of sound design in motion pictures. Through analysis of existing narrative sound works and through student's own sound creations, the class will explore the mutual influence of sound and picture. Over the semester, students will have the opportunity to deeply explore the editing process and discover how sound comes into play when making a cut.  In the first part of the semester, students will record and build layered tracks (ambient, foley, ADR) for sequences from existing films. In the second part of the semester, students will shoot their own footage to integrate with existing soundtracks. Students who wish to take the course should be familiar with the fundamentals of computer-based media and should be willing to share their work with others. Class size: 12

 

11453

FILM 348   Soundtrack: Ambient Sound and Experimental Structures

Sadie Benning

. T . . .

10:10  - 1:10 pm

AVERY 117/333

PART

Two parts post-production (hands-on field recording, individual and collaborative sound projects and critique), one part theory (close analysis of audio and visual texts, visits, discussions, readings), this class explores the relationships between sound, environment and personal experience.  We will explore the aesthetics of field recordings through on–location “listenings,” in which we will focus on gathering audio material to be mixed, edited, and constructed into a final sound project.  Students who wish to take the course should be familiar with the fundamentals of computer-based electronic media and should be willing to share their work with others.  Class size: 12

 

11563

FILM 352   Propaganda in Film

Ian Buruma

M . . . .

Su . . .

1:30  - 4:30 pm

7:00  - 10:00 pm

OLIN 309

PRE 110

HUM

Cross-listed:  Human Rights  This course will be about the use of cinema in political propaganda. The idea is not only to introduce such landmark films as Casablanca (1942), or Ivan the Terrible (1944), but also to explore the nature of propaganda, how it differs in various political systems and periods, how it relates to literature, and how our perceptions change over time; the propaganda of one place and time can become pure art in another. Students should acquire some knowledge of cinema through this course, but also of history and politics. Questions will be raised about the confusion of entertainment and information in our own time, assumptions about the role of cinema in democracies, and about our definitions of propaganda in art. The list of filmmakers will range from W.H. Griffiths to Oliver Stone, and Asian films will be shown as well as Western ones.  Class size: 22

 

11454

FILM 358   Auteur Studies

Richard Suchenski

                   Screening:

. . W . .

. T . . .

1:30  - 4:30 pm

7:00  - 10:00 pm

AVERY 217

AVERY 110

AART

In this seminar, we will undertake a comparative study of major directors, with the focus and theme changing each time the course is offered.  This time, the course will be oriented around the directors John Ford, Jean Renoir, and Ozu Yasujiro, three directors who worked in the same period and became paradigmatic examples of their respective national cinemas.  Each filmmaker returned to the same genres and forms repeatedly over the course of careers lasting for several decades and each mobilized the unique resources and production conditions of the commercial film industries of their countries to make deeply personal statements.  Special attention will be paid to the way each director configures family, community, and society in their films and the way in which major historical events change those dynamics.  We will also consider the relationship between directors and studio systems, the question of periodization and late style, and the ways in which repetition and variation can enrich a filmmakers’ body of work.  Grades based on in-class discussion, short writing assignments, and a final research essay.  Priority will be given to Upper College moderated students.  Class size: 15

 

11445

FILM 405   Senior Seminar

Les LeVeque

. T . . .

5:00  - 7:00 pm

AVERY 110

 

0 credits  A requirement for all 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.   (Meets every other week.)