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
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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.)