200. Introduction to Film, Video and Television Production. (3). (CE). Laboratory fee ($50) required.
This course will provide students with a basic introduction
to hands-on production in film, video, and television. Pre-production, production, and post-production (from basic script form to directing
to editing) are all covered, and the differences as well as the
similarities of these three related media are explored. Cost:2
WL:2 (Ching, Rayher, Sarris)
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Times, Location, and Availability
236/RC Hums. 236. The Art of the Film. (4). (HU). Lab fee ($45).
See RC Humanities 236. (Cohen)
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Times, Location, and Availability
300. Filmmaking I. Film-Video 200. (3). (Excl). Laboratory fee required.
This is the introductory 16mm motion picture production course.
This laboratory-workshop course is designed to give students a
solid understanding of how film technique can be used to communicate
ideas in narrative, documentary, and experimental expression.
Working in small groups, students script, shoot and edit exercises
build around these three types of film. In creating their short
motion pictures, students master master-shot/coverage procedures, screen direction and continuity, and artificial and available
light shooting techniques. Lectures and exercise critiques engage
students in theoretical/aesthetic discussions of the relationship
between film idea and film form. Evaluation: production assignments, mid-term test, final project. Text: Cinematography by
Kris Malkiewicz. Cost:4
WL:2 (Beaver)
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Times, Location, and Availability
301. Video Art I. Film-Video 200. (3). (Excl). Laboratory fee required.
This course is designed to introduce students to the terminology, aesthetics, and methods of single-camera video production. Using
Super-VHS equipment, students will learn the techniques of single-camera
videomaking including pre-production, production, and post-production.
Students design and produce video projects in a variety of genres, including narrative, documentary and experimental. Evaluation
will be based on production projects and scripts and participation
in class discussion and critique. This course is designed to teach
students to analyze the relationship between technique and content
in video production and to allow students to explore the creative
potential of the video medium. Limited to 20 students, with preference
given to Film and Video concentrators. Cost: 2 WL:2
(Ching)
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Times, Location, and Availability
302. Television Studio I. Film-Video 200. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in Comm. 421. (3). (Excl). Laboratory fee ($35) required.
This course is designed to introduce students to the terminology, aesthetics, and methods of mulit-camera television studio production.
Students will learn the techniques of multi-camera production, including scripting, directing, and practical operation of studio
equipment and will gain hands-on experience in all studio crew
positions. Students will be assigned a series of directing exercises
with increasing complexity and will learn to direct various types
of studio productions. Evaluation is based on completion of these
studio projects, participation in studio and class critiques, short diagnostic quizzes, and one short paper. The goal of this
course is to teach students to analyze the relationship between
technique and content in the shaping of television programs. The
course will meet in LS&A Television Studio, located at 400
Fourth Street. Students should plan their schedules to allow for
travel time. Cost:1
WL:2 (Sarris)
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Times, Location, and Availability
310. Screenwriting. Film-Video 200. Completion of the introductory composition requirement. (3). (Excl). Laboratory fee required.
This course teaches students to write a feature-length screenplay
in acceptable format. Students will learn to develop an idea first
into a written "concept," then into a "treatment,"
"step outline," and finally into a full script. The
class will focus on such subjects as screenplay structure, plot
and subplots, characterizations, shots, scene, sequence, dialogue, thinking visually, and soundtrack. Students will also learn the
importance of rewriting their work. As part of the process, the
class will study select screenplays, then view the films which
were made from these scripts. Students will also read and discuss
each other's work. Given this "workshop" approach, attendance
is critical. Students can expect to write between five and ten
pages a week. Cost:2
WL:2 (Burnstein, Briley)
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Times, Location, and Availability
350. The History of American Film. (3). (HU). Laboratory fee ($35) required.
This course is required for concentrators in the Program in
Film and Video Studies, but is open to all students. The course
will trace the history of American film from the earliest days
of the kinematograph and the Nickelodeon to movies in the age
of video, with concerns both for the contributions of individual
filmmakers as well as the determining contexts of modes of production
and distribution. The primary emphasis will be on the Hollywood
narrative film, but some attention will be paid to independent
cinema movements. The course aims to develop a sense of the continuing
evolution of American film, in its internal development, in its
incorporation of new technologies, and in its responses to other
national cinemas. Films by the following directors, among others, will be screened: D.W. Griffith, King Vidor, Buster Keaton, Ernst
Lubitsch, Howard Hawks, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Blake Edwards, and John Cassavetes. Students will attend three
hours of lectures and discussion as well as view two or three
hours of film each week. They will write a series of short papers
and take a midterm and final examination. Cost:3
WL:1 (Paul)
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Times, Location, and Availability
361/WS 361. Women and Film. (3). (Excl). Laboratory fee ($45) required.
An examination of films made by, for, and about women. The
class will include theatrical and experimental films from the
beginning years of film, through the heyday of the studio system, and into the development of alternative, specifically feminist
film forms. Films will be analyzed in historical perspective to
reveal how societal norms and film language construct the representation
of women. In the first part of the term, attention will be paid
to mainstream cinema's preoccupation with female sexuality as
well as how it represents differences among women, especially
differences of race, ethnicity, and class. Feminist perspectives
on these issues will be emphasized, as will the critical and theoretical
debates that have emerged around the cinema as a "male gaze"
and the pleasures of female viewing. The remaining part of the
course will be devoted to analyzing how women have used film for
self-representation through both narrative and experimental filmmaking.
Cost:3 WL:1
(Studlar)
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Times, Location, and Availability
370. Television History. (3). (HU). Laboratory fee ($35) required.
This course traces the development of television from the medium's
historical, industrial, and technological roots in radio to the
advent of new audiences, technologies and forms in the 1990s.
Addressing television as a global phenomenon, we will investigate
television's institutions, structures, and programming from various
perspectives in order to understand television's role in mass
culture of the late twentieth century. Cost:3
WL:1 (Ohmer)
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Times, Location, and Availability
399. Independent Study. Permission of instructor. (1-4). (Excl). Laboratory fee required. (INDEPENDENT). May be repeated for credit.
Independent study on a subject to be determined by student
in conjunction with a faculty member. Does not count toward concentration
requirements. Must be approved by Program in term prior to enrollment.
In exceptional cases, students can petition for enrollment during
current term.
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Times, Location, and Availability
400. Filmmaking II. Film-Video 300 or equivalent experience in filmmaking and permission of instructor. (3). (Excl). Laboratory fee required.
This is an advanced 16mm motion picture production course.
The primary goal of this course is to familiarize students with
dramatic film production from interpreting the screenplay through
shooting, editing, and post-production. The relationship of these
activities to aesthetic development being the fundament of the
course, and the basis of its connection to Film Studies. You will
have access to a state-of-the-art Panaflex 16mm camera in addition
to standard production equipment. Students work in small groups
to produce a substantial sync-sound final project, as well as
participating in a large in-class dramatic production (collaboration
with Theatre and Drama students). Evaluation: participation in
in-class projects, production assignments, final project. Text:
Pincus and Ascher Filmmaker's Handbook. Cost:4
WL:2 (Rayher)
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Times, Location, and Availability
401. Video Art II. Film-Video 301 or equivalent experience with video production and permission of instructor. (3). (Excl). Laboratory fee required.
This course covers various production strategies and concerns:
building rhythm and structure, creative use of sound and its relationship
to image, realizing non-linear narrative, experimental use of
lighting, conceiving and distributing video in ways other than
single-channel, and socio-political issues around representation.
It aims to help students realize their own voices in independent
videomaking within the historical context of Video Art. A/B roll
editing with digital effects and various computer editing software
including the AVID and Premiere will be covered.
Evaluation is based on projects, reading and writing assignment, and class participation. Cost:2
WL:2 (Ching)
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Times, Location, and Availability
405. Computer Animation I. Film-Video 200. (3). (Excl). Laboratory fee required.
This animation course will investigate and exercise the basic
concepts of Macromedia Director. It is a hands-on beginning level
course that will explore the mechanics of Computer generated 2-D
animation, including the integration of sound, motion, and basic
interactive programming. Fundamentals of the perception of motion
over time, rotoscoping, storyboarding, and final output options
of finished animations. Students should have a basic working knowledge
of Macintosh illustration and paint programs. Must have permission
of instructor. Cost:3
WL:2 (Farley)
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Times, Location, and Availability
406. Computer Animation II. Film-Video 405 or equivalent experience with video production, and permission of instructor. (3). (Excl). Laboratory fee required.
This advanced class will cover Lingo scripting, a programming
language in Macromedia Director. Non-linear presentation design, human interface concepts, and icon design will be explored to
create interactive visual communications. Cost:3
WL:2
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Times, Location, and Availability
410. Screenwriting II. F/V 310. (3). (Excl). Laboratory fee ($35) required. May be repeated for a total of 6 credits.
Students will learn to cast a critical eye on their own first
drafts by first analyzing other class members' screenplays. Working
in teams, students will break down screenplays in terms of structure, story logic, character development, character relationships, dialogue, visuals, and theme. Using feedback from their fellow students
and instructor, students will strive to fix the problems in their
own individual screenplays. A major rewrite and a polish will
be required. Cost:2
WL:2 (Briley)
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Times, Location, and Availability
412/English 412. Major Directors. (3). (HU). Laboratory fee ($35) required. May be repeated for a total of nine credits.
See English 412. (Konigsberg)
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Times, Location, and Availability
413/English 413. Film Genres and Types. (3). (HU). Laboratory fee ($35) required. May be repeated for credit with department permission.
See English 413. (Bauland)
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Times, Location, and Availability
414. Film Theory and Criticism. (3). (Excl). Laboratory fee ($35) required.
This course is required for concentrators in the Program, but
is open to all students with some background in film. The class
will focus on a few specific areas of film theory and criticism.
We will compare and contrast the viewpoints of influential thinkers
on film such as Eisenstein and Bazin, as well as analyze recent
commentary that takes up questions regarding film as a representation
of culture, as a medium for narrating stories, as a source of
psychological fascination, and as a technologically unique process.
Emphasis will be given to the application of ideas to film viewings.
Students will participate in several essay exams and write one
paper. Cost:3
WL:1 (Nornes)
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Times, Location, and Availability
441. National Cinemas. F/V 360. (3). (Excl). Laboratory fee ($50) required. May be repeated for a total of 6 credits.
An in-depth exploration of the evolution and forms of a specific national or regional cinema in terms of its stylistic, socio-political, economic, and technological dimensions. Close study of the development of a cinema (e.g., Japanese, Eastern European, British) or of a film movement, e.g., Italian Neorealism, German Expressionism, French New Wave.
Section 001 – Asian Cinema. For Fall Term, 1997, this section is offered jointly with Japanese
475.001. (Nornes)
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Times, Location, and Availability
442/CAAS 442. Third World Cinema. (3). (Excl). Laboratory fee ($35) required.
This course surveys the cinematic practices of the Third World, a term which, under United Nations parlance, is commonly used
to describe the developing nations of Africa, Asia, Latin America
and the Middle East. This filmic practice, at once revolutionary
and ideological, has not only produced some of the world's most
striking filmic innovations, but is now recognized as having initiated
a new phase and expanded definitions of the art of cinema. Despite this accomplishment, such films remain virtually unknown in the
United States. Our purpose will be to study some of these rarely
seen narrative/fictional and documentary films in order to provide
a historical, theoretical, and comparable analysis of a wide variety
of styles and themes found in contemporary Third World cinema.
The issues to be addressed include: the development of a national
cinema, the commonalities and differences in modes of production, the relationship of film to the society's values and cultures
(ideology), the impact of politics on film style and the role
of cinema as a mediation of history. The films to be screened
include: COURAGE OF THE PEOPLE (Bolivia), RODRIGO D: NO FUTURE
(Columbia), COFFEE COLORED CHILDREN (Nigeria), LA VIE EST BELLE
(LIFE IS ROSY) (Zaire), and HOW TASTY WAS MY LITTLE FRENCHMAN
(Brazil). Screenings, readings, journals and final paper required.
Cost:4 WL:3,4
(Ukadike)
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Times, Location, and Availability
455. Topics in Film Studies.
(3). (Excl). Laboratory fee ($35) required. May be
repeated for a total of nine credits.
Section 001 – Psychology and Film. Film was born in 1895
at the same time that Freud was putting together his theory of
dreams. For the past hundred years film and psychology have impacted
significantly on our culture while also responding to one another
instinctively and tellingly. Film criticism frequently concerns
itself with an analysis of character. Film scholars and psychologists
often involve themselves in the subject of creativity especially
as it applies to auteur filmmakers. Perhaps most impressive has
been the steady amount of theorizing on the psychological experience
of the audience at the cinema. This class will examine all of these issues and through them try to understand the nature of the filmic medium. The class will explore the applicability of
such schools of thought as cognitive psychology, psychoanalytic theory, social psychology, and feminist theory to the cinema.
The class will read some basic theoretical texts in both film
and psychology while viewing a variety of film genres and types
as the basis for its study. Cost:2
WL:1 (Konigsberg)
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Times, Location, and Availability
470/CAAS 470. Cultural Issues in Cinema. (3). (HU). Laboratory fee ($35) required.
See Afroamerican and African
Studies 470. (Ukadike)
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Times, Location, and Availability
480. Internship. Concentration in Film and Video Studies. (2). (Excl). Offered mandatory credit/no credit. May not be included in a concentration in Film/Video. (EXPERIENTIAL). May be repeated for a total of six credits.
This course is restricted to Film/Video concentrators who work, under careful supervision, in some part of the film or video industry.
Students will work in some aspect of preproduction, production, or postproduction, in the creative or business areas of film and video, documenting their experiences and learning in a journal that must be submitted for final credit.
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Times, Location, and Availability
490. Senior Honors Research. Acceptance as an Honors Candidate in Film and Video Studies. (1-4). (Excl). Laboratory fee required. (INDEPENDENT). May be repeated for a total of 4 credits.
This course is restricted to students taking Honors in the
Program in Film and Video Studies. Students work independently
with a faculty member in the Program on a thesis or on a film
or video project during their senior year.
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Times, Location, and Availability
500. Directed Study in Film and Video. Permission of instructor. (1-4). (Excl). Laboratory fee required. (INDEPENDENT). May be repeated for a total of six credits.
Advanced course permitting intensive study of film and/or video
subject under supervision of a Film/Video faculty member.
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Times, Location, and Availability
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