Aesthetics of Film

 

Professor:

Richard Suchenski

 

Course Number:

FILM 109

CRN Number:

10622

Class cap:

24

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      1:30 PM - 4:30 PM Avery Film Center 110

 

Screening:

Mon       7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Avery Film Center 110

 

Distributional Area:

AA Analysis of Art  

Designed for first-year students, this course will offer a broad, historically-grounded survey of film aesthetics internationally. Key elements of film form will be addressed through close analysis of important films by directors such as Griffith, Eisenstein, Dreyer, Hitchcock, von Sternberg, Rossellini, Powell, Bresson, Brakhage, Godard, Tarkovsky, and Denis, the reading of important critical or theoretical texts, and discussions of central issues in the other arts.  Midterm exam, two short papers, and final exam. Open to all students, registration priority for First-Year students and film majors. This film history course fulfills a moderation/major requirement.

 

Introduction to Video

 

Professor:

Jacqueline Goss

 

Course Number:

FILM 111 A

CRN Number:

10623

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

Mon       1:30 PM - 4:30 PM Avery Film Center 333

 

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts  

This course is designed to introduce various elements of video production with an emphasis on the fundamentals of moving image art. The course work centers on several individual assignments and one final group project. To facilitate this final project, there will be several 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 be conducted during the Lab on Fridays and will include cameras, Adobe Premiere, studio lighting and lighting for green screen, key effects, microphones and more. Prerequisites: All students must complete one Film History course prior to taking this course. Registration open to second semester First-years and Sophomores. Students must also select a Lab section. This production course fulfills a moderation/major requirement.

 

Introduction to Video

 

Professor:

Alison Nguyen

 

Course Number:

FILM 111 B

CRN Number:

10624

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

   Thurs    10:10 AM - 1:10 PM Avery Film Center 333

 

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts  

This course is designed to introduce various elements of video production with an emphasis on the fundamentals of moving image art. The course work centers on several individual assignments and one final group project. To facilitate this final project, there will be several 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 be conducted during the Lab on Fridays and will include cameras, Adobe Premiere, studio lighting and lighting for green screen, key effects, microphones and more. Prerequisites: All students must complete one Film History course prior to taking this course. Registration open to second semester First-years and Sophomores. Students must also select a Lab section. This production course fulfills a moderation/major requirement.

 

Introduction to Video Lab

 

Professor:

Marc Schreibman

 

Course Number:

FILM 111 LBA

CRN Number:

10625

Class cap:

12

Credits:

0

 

Schedule/Location:

    Fri   10:10 AM - 12:10 PM Avery Film Center 333

 

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts  

Students taking FILM 111 A or 111 B should register for one of these lab sections. This course cannot be taken without registering for either of those courses and acceptance into the lab is solely determined by the acceptance into FILM 111 A or FILM 111 B. This lab is designed to provide an introduction to video production and post-production techniques, equipment and software. The film technology that will be introduced and practiced with hands-on opportunities will include cameras, Adobe Premiere, studio and location lighting, microphones and audio recorders, dollies, and more.

 

Introduction to Video Lab

 

Professor:

Marc Schreibman

 

Course Number:

FILM 111 LBB

CRN Number:

10626

Class cap:

12

Credits:

0

 

Schedule/Location:

    Fri   2:00 PM - 4:00 PM Avery Film Center 333

 

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts  

Students taking FILM 111 A or 111 B should register for one of these lab sections. This course cannot be taken without registering for either of those courses and acceptance into the lab is solely determined by the acceptance into FILM 111 A or FILM 111 B. This lab is designed to provide an introduction to video production and post-production techniques, equipment and software. The film technology that will be introduced and practiced with hands-on opportunities will include cameras, Adobe Premiere, studio and location lighting, microphones and audio recorders, dollies, and more.

 

History of Cinema since 1945

 

Professor:

Masha Shpolberg

 

Course Number:

FILM 116

CRN Number:

10627

Class cap:

20

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    10:10 AM - 11:30 AM Avery Film Center 110

 

Screening:

      Sun 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Avery Film Center 110

 

Distributional Area:

AA Analysis of Art  

This is the second part of a year-long survey course, but may be taken independently. The course explores the evolution of cinema since World War II around the globe. We will learn about Italian Neorealism, the French New Wave, postcolonial cinema, Bollywood, New Hollywood, American Independent Cinema, the New Iranian Cinema, and other movements. Directors studied include Rossellini, Ozu, Resnais, Hitchcock,  Sembène,  Varda, Godard, Muratova, Mambéty, and Farhadi, among others. We will pay particular attention to changes in film style and the way these works responded to broader cultural and technological shifts.

 

Gesture, Light, & Motion

 

Professor:

Kelly Reichardt

 

Course Number:

FILM 205

CRN Number:

10630

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

  Wed     10:10 AM - 1:10 PM Avery Film Center 333

 

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts  

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 course fulfills a moderation/major requirement.

 

Performance and Video

 

Professor:

Alison Nguyen

 

Course Number:

FILM 206

CRN Number:

10628

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

  Wed     1:30 PM - 4:30 PM Avery Film Center 116

 

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts  

This course explores intersections of video and performance art. Course participants develop strategies for exploring  video's most fundamental property: its ability to transmit  real-time synchronized images and sounds. How does video technology mediate between on-screen performer and audience? How can artists interested in creating critical and self-reflexive media respond to video’s immediacy and “liveness”? How can performance artists use video playback devices, displays, projectors, interactive elements to shape and enhance live art? The first half of the course concentrates on the creation of performance “tapes” (or tape-less video recordings) and the history of experimental video focused on performance for the camera. The second half of the course concentrates on the use of video as a central component within live performance art, as well as within digital forms such as online performance, motion capture performances within virtual worlds, and sound-based work. We will read about and carry on a sustained conversation about the cultural and psychological impact of video technology on subjectivity and conceptions of the artist as "medium." Readings on and viewings of work by Marina Abramović, Vito Acconci, Laurie Anderson, Trisha Baga, John Baldessari, Paul Chan, Patty Chang, Chris Burden, Coco Fusco, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Joan Jonas,Mike Kelley, George Kuchar, Kalup Linzy, Tata Mateik, Shana Moulton, Jayson Musson, Bruce Nauman, Nam June Paik, Sondra Perry, Walid Raad, Michael Smith, Ryan Trecartin, William Wegman, among others. Performance and Video is organized in a flexible format utilizing presentations, by both instructor and students, guest speakers, field trips, screenings, and discussions to aid the creation and further the understanding of the mediums. The goal of this course is to give artists an understanding of the various creative choices within the making mediated performances in an art context and the basic technical knowledge to help realize their vision.This production course fulfills a moderation/major requirement.

 

Introduction to 16mm Film: Production

 

Professor:

Ephraim Asili

 

Course Number:

FILM 208

CRN Number:

10631

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

   Thurs    1:30 PM - 4:30 PM Avery Film Center 319

 

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts  

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. Prerequisite: all students must complete one Film History course prior to taking this course. This production course fulfills a moderation/major requirement. Registration open to Sophomores and above.

 

Writing the Film

 

Professor:

A. Sayeeda Moreno

 

Course Number:

FILM 256

CRN Number:

10632

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

  Wed     10:10 AM - 1:10 PM Avery Film Center 338

 

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts  

 

Crosslists: Experimental Humanities; Written Arts

An introductory writing course that looks at creative approaches to writing short films and dialogue scenes. Starting with personal histories, lineage, and identities, students learn the tools to write invigorating, character-driven short screenplays. Building characters through transcription and investigation to enhance character development and story arc ultimately creating a visual language, students develop and workshop a short screenplay (maximum 10-15 pages). This course will require extensive outside research and you are responsible for committing to a writing and rewriting process. Registration open to Sophomores and above.

 

Introduction to Film Theory and Criticism

 

Professor:

Joshua Glick

 

Course Number:

FILM 269

CRN Number:

10633

Class cap:

20

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     10:10 AM - 11:30 AM Avery Film Center 110

 

Screening:

      Sun 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Avery Film Center 110

 

Distributional Area:

AA Analysis of Art  

A survey of how major thinkers have conceptualized and debated cinema since its inception. We will read works by Walter Benjamin, Maya Deren, James Baldwin, Glauber Rocha, Stuart Hall, Susan Sontag, Gilles Deleuze, Trinh T. Minh-ha, bell hooks, and Bilal Qureshi. Their ideas continue to shape our understanding of moving images and their impact on society. Each week we investigate a different theoretical concept through a core set of texts and a central film. Along the way, we engage with questions of realism, authorship, spectatorship, aesthetics, race and representation, and emerging technology. Looking across different genres of writing, including philosophical treatises, manifestos, reviews, and videographic criticism, leads to an understanding of how and why moving images make meaning in the world.

 

Indigenous Cinema: Decolonizing the Frame

 

Professor:

Zack Khalil

 

Course Number:

FILM 299

CRN Number:

10670

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

Mon       1:30 PM - 4:30 PM Avery Film Center 117

 

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts  

 

Crosslists: American and Indigenous Studies

This course examines the settler-colonial roots of the cinematic form and uses the work of Indigenous filmmakers as a launching point to interrogate and reimagine cinematic conventions through the lenses of place, relationality, collective memory, and non-linear conceptions of time. We will cultivate non-fiction filmmaking practices which investigate these themes, and learn from Indigenous ethics and formal strategies - not to imitate and replace - but to incorporate, deepen understanding, and expand the conceptual ground of our work. Students will produce their own short videos, individually and in groups, through a series of assignments and a final project. Course time will also be devoted to discussing media screenings and related readings, including work by Alanis Obomsawin, Barry Barclay, Shelley Niro, Theo Cuthand, Juan Downey, Los Colectivo Ingrávidos, Fox Maxy, Sky Hopinka, and Victor Masayesva Jr. Prerequisites: Intro to Video or similar production course.

 

Reframing Reality

 

Professor:

Fiona Otway

 

Course Number:

FILM 315

CRN Number:

10634

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      1:30 PM - 4:30 PM Avery Film Center 333

 

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts  

How can documentary filmmaking open a portal for learning about ourselves and the world we live in? This advanced production course is designed as a laboratory to explore curiosities, complexities and conundrums. We will use documentary filmmaking as a means to articulate provocative, nuanced, juicy questions about how the world works and what it means to be human. In the process, we will interrogate how power is embedded in authorial voice, question how documentary grammar can be used to subvert or reify metanarratives, probe the relationship between form/content and process/end product, examine the intersection of filmmaking and social justice, challenge our own assumptions and the assumptions of others. We will use filmmaking exercises, field research, writing, theoretical readings, screenings, critiques, and class discussions to build creative muscles. Skills and ideas introduced in "FILM 278: Documentary Production Workshop" will be expanded and deepened through the completion of a more ambitious documentary project developed over the entire semester. All students must have completed one Film History/Criticism/Theory course and Intro to Video (or the equivalent) prior to taking this course. This production class fulfills a moderation requirement.

 

Script to Screen

 

Professor:

Kelly Reichardt

 

Course Number:

FILM 330

CRN Number:

10635

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      1:30 PM - 4:30 PM Avery Film Center 117

 

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts  

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 a feature film chosen by the professor. Each student will produce, direct and edit a sequence of the feature-length film. The production course fulfills a major requirement and is intended for Junior level Film and Electronic Arts majors.

 

Auteur Studies: The Legacies of Jean Renoir

 

Professor:

Richard Suchenski

 

Course Number:

FILM 358

CRN Number:

10637

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

Mon       1:30 PM - 4:20 PM Avery Film Center 110

 

Screening:

 Tue      starting at 7:00 PM

 

Distributional Area:

AA Analysis of Art  

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 primary subject is Jean Renoir, whose rich body of work extends the deep tradition of French realism and continues to serve as a paradigm for international art cinema. Among other things, we will examine the filmmaker’s relationship with both French and cross-European artistic, musical, and theatrical cultures (especially Impressionism); chains of transmission and influence across periods and regions; and the development of auteurial film style, with a special focus on cinematic space, mobile camerawork, film sound, and cinematic adaptation. In addition to studying Renoir’s films, we will watch films by directors who shaped his approach and filmmakers who he influenced such as Robert Bresson, Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Altman, and Paul Thomas Anderson. We will also study works by related artists in other media like the Impressionist painters, the sculptor Auguste Rodin, and photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. Readings will include a range of relevant criticism along with contextual material and literary works by Gustave Flaubert and Émile Zola. Grades based on in-class discussion, short writing assignments, and a final research essay. Upper-college students who have taken courses in film criticism and history will have priority. Students should send an email explaining interest and motivation in advance of registration.

 

Chronicle of a Season

 

Professor:

Jacqueline Goss

 

Course Number:

FILM 368

CRN Number:

10669

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

  Wed      10:10 AM - 1:10 PM Avery Film Center 117

 

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts  

Adapted from the title of Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch’s famous 1960 Paris documentary Chronicle of a Summer, this is a joint film production course taught simultaneously on several Bard campuses (Annandale, AUCA, Al-Quds) and OFF University in Istanbul in which the theme is to create a cinematic chronicle of each locality.

The theme of these synchronized chronicles is also derived from Morin and Rouch’s film; each local film project takes as its prompt the deceptively simple question, “Are you happy?” By using this device, Chronicle of a Summer reveals a city filled with inhabitants considering ways in which colonialism, war, capital, race and gender shape their personal and social experiences. In our course, the asking of this question can show the complexities of contemporary life in specific locations within a limited time-frame. Ideally the making of these films will reveal points of connection for course participants and provide opportunities to learn about the subtleties of contemporary life in each locality.

Our joint-taught media production course will be structured around initial viewings of Chronicle of a Summer (as well as other films derived from Chronicle), shared conversations about its tools and techniques, and the parallel making of films derived from the asking of the question, “Are you happy?” The six instructors bring a wealth of diverse skills and knowledge to the leading of this course. This is an advanced course. Students are expected to have some experience with video camera operation and editing. This course fulfills a moderation/major requirement.

 

Sound and the Moving Image

 

Professor:

Joshua Glick

 

Course Number:

FILM 369

CRN Number:

10636

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      1:30 PM - 4:30 PM Avery Film Center 217

 

Screening:

Mon      5:00 PM  Preston 110

 

Distributional Area:

AA Analysis of Art  

 

Crosslists: Experimental Humanities; Music

This seminar explores the vibrant relationship between sound and the moving image arts. We will examine such topics as live musical accompaniment in early cinema, soundtrack design, sync sound in cinéma vérité, blockbuster aesthetics, audio-visual installations, experimental ethnography, and collaborations between the recording and film/TV industries. A core set of films along with writings of major Sound Studies theorists, critics, and historians will animate our discussions. Turning to the contemporary moment, we also examine points of intersection between the moving image arts and podcasting, musical performance, and AI-enabled synthetic media. Students will learn to use tools to create media that center the presence of sound, including essay films and augmented reality projects.

 

Communist Science Fictions

 

Professor:

Masha Shpolberg

 

Course Number:

FILM 374

CRN Number:

10639

Class cap:

15

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

   Thurs    1:30 PM - 4:30 PM Avery Film Center 338

 

Screening:

Mon       5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Avery Film Center 110

 

Distributional Area:

AA Analysis of Art  

 

Crosslists: Russian and Eurasian Studies

Science fiction has a storied tradition in Eastern European film, literature, and theater. The word ‘robot’ derives from the Czech word for hard labor, ‘robota’. One of the earliest Soviet feature films produced was the science fiction epic “Aelita” (1924). In the postwar period, the Polish Stanisław Lem and the Soviet Strugatsky brothers became some of the most widely read authors, with many of their novels adapted into film. Yet science fiction produced in communist countries looks markedly different from the genre as we have come to know it from Hollywood productions. Instead of spectacle, these works often stress the psychological and mystical dimensions of their stories. In this class, we examine science fiction films produced in a number of Soviet republics as well as Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. We discuss the genre’s complex interaction with official state ideology and the way it both promoted and pushed back against communist ideas. We also use the films to interrogate our understanding of science fiction as a genre and the very idea of genre as such. What makes something a science fiction film? How do genres work and why do we still rely so heavily on this notion? Finally how does medium specificity—whether something is a short story, novel, or a film—influence the work’s form?

 

Sound and Vision: Scoring Film

 

Professor:

Brent Green Sarah Hennies

 

Course Number:

FILM 388

CRN Number:

10455

Class cap:

15

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      12:30 PM - 2:50 PM Blum Music Center N117

 

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts  

 

Crosslists: Music

Music plays an inextricably powerful role in film - shifting tone, timing, tension; forming characters and environments; unfolding story. Many of the most iconic films in cinema history are widely recognizable from a few notes of their tell-tale scores. It can change an entire movie. In this class, students will build original compositions and work with found scores to explore the dialogue and creative give-and-take of editing between film and music & sound. Projects will cover editing films in response to music, editing music and sound in response to film, and the creation and performance of scores for live cinema. Music composition and film editing tutorials will support students from both disciplines, and students will be encouraged to innovate and stretch within their established skill sets. Project work will be informed by viewing (and listening to) a range of cinematic references and discussion on the role of music in each film.

 

Senior Seminar

 

Professor:

A. Sayeeda Moreno

 

Course Number:

FILM 405

CRN Number:

10638

Class cap:

35

Credits:

0

 

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Avery Film Center 110

 

Distributional Area:

None   

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 maker guests 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.

 

Crosslisted Courses:

 

Form and Structure in Movie Musicals

 

Professor:

James Bagwell

 

Course Number:

MUS 204

CRN Number:

10463

Class cap:

8

Credits:

4

 

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    11:50 AM - 1:10 PM Blum Music Center N211

 

Distributional Area:

AA Analysis of Art  

 

Crosslists: Film and Electronic Arts