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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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236/RC Hums. 236. The
Art of the Film. (4). (HU). Laboratory fee ($45)
required.
This course examines the dramatic and psychological effects of the elements and techniques used in film making and television, and some of the salient developments in film's artistic and technological
history. This course provides students with the basic tools and methods for film appreciation and study. Students write five two-page
exercises, a seven-page analysis of a current movie, and a final
exam. A lab fee of $50.00 is assessed to pay for the film rentals.
(H. Cohen)
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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
built around these three types of film. In creating their short
motion pictures, students learn master-shot/coverage procedures, screen direction continuity, and artificial and available lighting
techniques. Lectures and exercise critiques engage students in theoretical/aesthetic discussions of the relationship between
film idea and film form. Evaluation: production assignments, midterm
test, final project. Text: Cinematography by Kris Malkiewicz.
Cost:4 WL:2
(Beaver)
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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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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 multi-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 LSA 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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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, Staff)
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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
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). Does not
count toward film-video concentration requirements. 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. 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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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. Cost:4
WL:2 (Rayher)
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Times, Location, and Availability
405. Computer Animation
I. Film-Video 200, and permission of instructor.
(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. 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 explores the theories and applications of
interactive animation design. Individual student projects are
developed using Macromedia Director along with other software
tools such as Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia SoundEdit 16. Graphics, sound, and interactivity are utilized to create highly conceptual
non-linear environments. Through critical analysis of both student
assignments and professional works, we will investigate the success
and failure of various types of interactivity to communicate with
an audience. Cost:2
WL:2 (Kinnen)
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Times, Location, and Availability
410. Screenwriting II.
Film-Video 310. (3). (Excl). Laboratory fee ($35)
required. May be repeated for a total of six credits.
Students will learn to cast a critical eye on their own first
drafts by 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 polish will be
required. Please note: A maximum of twenty students will be admitted
to this course. Students will be selected based on the quality
of their original screenplays and/or their Screenwriting I instructor's
recommendation. Other factors being equal, preference will be
given to senior concentrators in film and video.
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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.
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414. Film Theory and Criticism. (3). (Excl). Laboratory fee ($35) required.
This is primarily a reading course designed to provide the student
with an overview of how people through the twentieth century have thought about film. Theories of cinema offer a philosophical approach
to understanding film as an art form. Starting with Hugo Munsterberg
and Vachel Lindsay in the 1910s, students will read a wide range
of theoretical approaches as they proceed through this 100 year
history. 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. This course is required for concentrators in the
program, but is open to all students with some background in film.
Requirements include several papers and a final exam. Cost:3
WL:1 (von Moltke)
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Times, Location, and Availability
420. Documentary Film.
(3). (Excl). Laboratory fee ($35) required.
The documentary form runs throughout the history of filmmaking
from the first actualities to our present networked video. The
documentary's prominence has been intermittent, but it has enjoyed
periods of considerable popularity in some places and at some
times, like WWII, the U.S. in the 1960s, etc. It has
developed its own genres, formative traditions, theoretical reflections
and aesthetic criteria, as well as supporting institutions of
production, distribution, and exhibition. This course treats nonfiction
cinema in a rough chronological order and touches upon the major
moments and movements. Special emphasis, however, is placed on the development of documentary form, the claims it makes in representing the world, its role in societies, and its relation to ideology.
In this sense, the course is not a historical survey designed
to teach things about documentaries – although it will expose
you to a wide range of impulses and styles, from propaganda to
ethnographic films to the evening news. We will instead develop
rigorous ways to think about the documentary form. Evaluation
is based on written assignments and a final exam. (Nornes)
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Times, Location, and Availability
441. National Cinemas.
Film-Video 360. (3). (Excl). Laboratory fee ($50)
required. May be repeated for a total of six 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 – Japanese Cinema. For Fall Term, 1998, this section is offered jointly with Japanese 475.001. (Nornes)
Section 002 – The Films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. For Fall Term, 1998, this section is offered jointly with German 330.001.
Section 003 – Latin/o Film Across the Americas: Currents
and Crosscurrents. This course examines the concept of "national
cinema" through an analysis of the relationship between Latin
American and United States Latino cinema in both its Hollywood
and independent modes. The class will re-examine the notion of
film as a register of borders – cultural, economic, geographic, ethnic, and aesthetic – as well as look at distinctive features
of cinemas of the Americas that strive for a national identity.
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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)
Section 002 – American Film Comedy. "Dying is
easy, comedy is hard," runs an old theatrical adage. This
course aims to explore what is so hard about producing films that
seem so easy, films that are among the most popular and, arguably, the most significant films produced by the American film industry.
American film comedy is foremost an art form of performance, drawing
on the distinctive skills of great clown-actors as well as theatrical
conventions that range from the ancient Greeks to the popular theater of the turn-of-the-century. This course will look at the
performance traditions of American film comedy by exploring the
most common types of screen comedy: slapstick, romantic comedy, sex farce, satire, and parody. Films by Charles Chaplin, Buster
Keaton, Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder, Preston Sturges, Jerry Lewis, Blake Edwards, Mel Brooks, and others will be shown. Work for the course will require some reading in comic theory, as well
as analytical essays and in-class exams. Cost:2
WL:1 (Paul)
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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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489. Senior Screenwriting
Tutorial. F/V 410 and permission of the instructor.
Open to Dramatic Writing concentrators only. (3). (Excl). Laboratory
fee ($35) required.
This course is restricted to students in the Dramatic Writing
concentration. Coursework consists of independent study in writing
and refining a screenplay under the supervision of a faculty member.
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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 four 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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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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