Fall 2008

FILM 112
FRESHMAN SEMINAR: RACE AND ETHNICITY IN AMERICAN CINEMA
From the early documentary roots of cinema through the Civil Rights movement and to the recent democratization of the means of media production, questions of race and ethnicity have proved crucial both to the content of American films and also to the perspective from which they are made. This class will look at the representation of historical moments from the Civil War to Hurricane Katrina, the production of cinematic stereotypes as well as their appropriation for subversive purposes, and the gradual evolution of multi-culturalism as a central factor in the stories told and the telling of stories on the American screen. Students will use film texts to develop a critical understanding of one of the most important issues in American history. REQUIRED SCREENING TIME: Tuesdays at 4:00pm. Credit 3 units.
TuTh 8:30-10:00 am
Vaughan

FILM 200
SPECIAL PROJECTS
This course is intended for freshman and sophomores who wish to register for internships. Students must receive Program approval prior to beginning the internship. Please consult the Program guidelines governing internships. Credit variable, max 3 units.
01 XXXI
(None) Paul
02 XXXI
(None) Marton
03 XXXI
(None) Chapman
04 XXXI
(None) Sewell

FILM 220
INTRO TO FILM STUDIES
How do film images create meaning? What are the tools the film artist uses to create images? This course will introduce students to basic techniques of film production and formal methodologies for analyzing film art. Students will learn the essential components of film language -- staging, camera placement, camera movement, editing, lighting, special effects, film stock, lenses -- to heighten perceptual skills in viewing films and increase critical understanding of the ways films function as visual discourse. The course is foundational for the major in film and media studies. REQUIRED SCREENING TIME: Monday at 7:00pm.
3 units. Same as L98 AMCS 246.
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01 MW 2:00p-3:00p XXXV
Rebstock 215 Sewell
Subsections:
A W 3:00p-4:00p
Sewell

FILM 230
MOVING IMAGES AND SOUND
SPECIAL NOTE: Admission by Wait-list only. Preference will be given to Film and Media Studies majors and minors. This introductory video production course explores how images and sounds function as cinematic building blocks and purveyors of content. Through creative assignments involving at times personal inquiry, at other times the understanding of elementary semiotics, the components of film and video are examined. Students learn the basics of key sound and editing software to produce, outside of class time, an original two-minute narrative piece. This course is a prerequisite to all other Film and Media Studies video courses. Prereq: Film Studies 220 or consent of instructor. 3 units. 3 units.
AS:> LA
01 W 4:00p-7:00p XXXII
Marton

FILM 315
VISUAL MUSIC
The cinema took more than 30 years to emerge with fully synchronized sounds. Since then, sound and picture have continued to be more and more integrated and interdependent. Current music video artists like Michel Gondry and Chris Cunningham constitute only one expression of that desire to merge image and sound. Earlier, many explorers such as Oskar Fischinger, Peter Kubelka and Norman McLaren conceived films where images and sounds surprise the viewer. In the process of producing similarly challenging 4-5 minute video pieces, we will examine how synesthesia in the arts has functioned to energize the two media. A variety of software will be explored in that context. Prereq: -230 or permission from the instructor. 3 units. Same as L98 AMCS 3156.
AS:> LA
SB:> HUM
01 Th 4:00p-7:00p XXXV
Marton

FILM 325
FRENCH FILM CULTURE
Called “the seventh art,” film has a long tradition of serious popular appreciation and academic study in France. This course will offer an overview of French cinema, including the origins of film (Lumière brothers, Méliès), the inventive silent period (which created such avant-garde classics as Un chien andalou), the poetic realism of the 30s, the difficulties of the war years, the post-war emphasis on historical/nationalist themes in the “tradition of quality” films, the French New Wave’s attempt to create a more “cinematic” style, the effects of the political turmoil of May ‘68 on film culture, the “art house” reception of French films in the US, and the broader appeal of recent hyper-visual (“cinéma du look”) films, such as La Femme Nikita and Amélie. While the primary focus of the course will be on French cinema, we will also discuss the reciprocal influences between American and French film culture, both in terms of formal influences on filmmaking and theoretical approaches to film studies. French film terms will be introduced but no prior knowledge of the language is expected. REQUIRED SCREENING TIME: Wednesday at 4:00pm. 3 units. Same as L79 EuSt 3250, L34 French 3251, L97 IAS 3250.
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01 TuTh 2:30p-4:00p XXXV

FILM 340
HISTORY OF WORLD CINEMA
The course surveys the history of cinema as it developed in nations other than the United States. Beginning with the initially dominant film producing nations of Western Europe, which soon found themselves threatened by the economic power of the Hollywood film industry, this course will consider the development of various national cinemas in Europe, Asia, and Third World countries. The course will seek to develop an understanding of each individual film both as an expression of a national culture as well as a possible response to international movements in other art forms. Throughout, the course will consider how various national cinemas sought ways of dealing with the pervasiveness of Hollywood films, developing their own distinctive styles, which could in turn influence American cinema itself. REQUIRED SCREENING TIME: Tuesday at 7:00pm. 3 units. Same as L16 Comp Lit 3405, L97 IAS 3400.
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SB:> HUM, IS
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01 TuTh 1:00p-2:30p XXXV
Rebstock 215 Paul

FILM 352
INTRO TO SCREENWRITING
SPECIAL NOTE: Admission by wait-list only. Preference will be given to declared Film & Media Studies AND English majors and minors. Writers will explore the various elements, structure and styles used in crafting a motion picture screenplay. They will experience this process as they conceive, develop and execute the first act of a feature-length script. Writers will create a screenplay story, present an outline for class discussion and analysis, then craft Act One. Writers will be encouraged to consult with the instructor at various stages: concept, outline, character and scene development and dialogue execution. While the students fashion their screenwriting independently, the class will also explore the general elements of THEME, GENRE, and VOICE. A more specific examination of mechanics, the nuts and bolts of story construction. plotting. pacing, etc. will follow to support the ongoing writing process. In-class exercises will aid the writer in sharpening skills and discovering new approaches to form and content. Writers’ work will be shared and discussed regularly in class. Screening of film scenes and sequences will provide students with concrete examples of how dramatic screenwriting evolves once it leaves the writer’s hands. 3 units. Same as L13 E Comp 352.
AS:> LA
SB:> HUM
01 TuTh 10:00a-11:30a XXXI
Chapman
02 TuTh 1:00p-2:30p XVIII
Chapman

FILM 390
TABOO: BOUNDARY AND TRANSGRESSION IN AMERICAN CINEMA
Almost from the first public exhibition of motion pictures in the United States, concerns were expressed about the content of film. Denied the First Amendment protection of free speech by a 1915 Supreme Court decision, movies were repeatedly subject to various attempts at regulating content by government at federal, state and even municipal levels. Trying to stave off government control, Hollywood would eventually institute forms of self-regulation, first in the formation of the Production Code Administration and subsequently in the Ratings system. Control of content in American movies may be seen as paternalistic, a top-down attempt to impose moral norms and standards of behavior on a diverse audience. But it also reflects changing standards of acceptable public discourse, most particularly with regard to violence, sexuality, and race. That topics once barred from dramatic representation by the Production Code - miscegenation, non-normative sexuality and “lower forms of sexuality,” abortion, drug addiction - could eventually find a place in American movies speaks to changes in the culture at large. In trying to understand these cultural changes, this course will explore films that challenged taboos, films from the early teens that brought on the first attempts to control film content to films released under the Ratings system, which has exerted subtler forms of control over content. REQUIRED SCREENING TIME: Tuesday at 4:00pm 3 units. Same as L77 WGSS 3901, L98 AMCS 3901.
01 TuTh 10:00a-11:30a XXXI
Paul

FILM 451
AMERICAN TELEVISION GENRES
Questions of genre are central to any exploration of television’s texts, whether they are being analyzed as craft, commerce, or cultural phenomenon. Genre has been used by critics and historians to ascribe “social functions” to groups of programs and to diagnose cultural preoccupations, while genre has been used industrially to manage expectations among audiences, advertisers, programmers, producers, and creative professionals. Investigating genres ranging from the soap opera to the western, workplace situation comedies to sports, and game shows to cop shows, this course will explore the role of genre in the production, distribution, and reception of American television. Students will gain a critical understanding of genre theory and key arguments about the form and function of television texts and will develop a set of tools for analysis of televisual narrative and style, the social uses and meanings of genre, the institutional practices and presumptions of the American television industry, and the persistence of textual forms and audience formations in the face of structural changes such as deregulation, media convergence, and globalization. REQUIRED SCREENING TIME: Monday at 4:00pm. 3 units. Same as L98 AMCS 4510.
AS:> TH
01 MW 10:00a-11:30a XXXV
Sewell

FILM 458
MAJOR FILM DIRECTORS
What does the film director do? In the earliest movies, film directors modeled themselves on their theatrical counterparts: they chiefly focused on how to stage an action in a confined space for a stationary camera that represented an ideal member of the audience. As the camera began to be used to direct audience attention, first through cutting, then through actual movement, the film director evolved from a stager of events to a narrator. By analyzing the work of one or more major film directors, this course will explore the art of film direction. We will learn how film directors may use the camera to narrate a scene, to provide their own distinctive view of the actions playing out on the movie screen. SEE SECTION DESCRIPTIONS FOR COURSE OFFERINGS. May be repeated for credit with permission of the instructor.

Section 1
REVERSE ANGLES: THE FILMS OF ANTONIONI, GODARD, AND WENDERS
The films of Italian director Antonioni (THE ADVENTURE, THE ECLIPSE, BLOW UP, THE PASSENGER), of Swiss filmmaker Godard (BREATHLESS, ALPHAVILLE, PIERROT LE FOU, WEEKEND) and of German-born Wenders (ALICE IN THE CITIES, THE AMERICAN FRIEND, PARIS, TEXAS, WINGS OF DESIRE) have had a major influence on international art and avant-garde filmmaking since the 1960s. While their work clearly differs in style, narrative preference, and political orientation, they all share a highly self-reflexive interest in probing the relationship of cinematic images, sounds, and stories. Moreover, in spite of their different cultural backgrounds and institutional working bases, all three had a profound influence on each other, resulting in collaborations such as BEYOND THE CLOUDS (1996) and BERLIN CINEMA (1997). This seminar explores and compares the work of Antonioni, Godard, and Wenders. It will closely examine their most important films, situate their work in historical and film historical contexts, and theorize their concern with the aesthetics of cinematic representations, the politics of storytelling, and the vicissitudes of human existence. REQUIRED SCREENING TIME: Wednesday at 7 pm. 3 units. Same as L01 Art-Arch 328, L 21 Ger 328, L79 EuSt 458, L97 IAS 459.
AS:> TH
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01 TuTh 11:30a-1:00p
Koepnick

Section 2
MASTERS OF SUSPENSE:
FRITZ LANG, ALFRED HITCHCOCK, CLAUDE CHABROL
From the time early filmmakers learned to cut back and forth between converging lines of action, suspense has been a central element in popular movies, expressed visually through the distinctive properties of film style as well as dramatically through the conventions of film´s melodramatic inheritance. There is suspense in practically every Hollywood genre; yet, some films are so permeated with this dramatic quality, they are known simply as “suspense films,” a particulalry voyeuristic genre of film in which representations of gender and sexuality, as well as the morality of characters and the emotional and visceral engagement of the spectator, are heightened. This course will focus critically on such questions of representation and voyeurism in the works of three directors who specialized in suspense: from Fritz Lang´s philosophical uncertainty through Alfred Hitchcock´s heightened drama to Claude Chabrol´s morally ambiguous stylism. The course will consist of one film a week plus critical readings on the three directors. Frequent written analyses of the films with a close attention to visual style will be required. REQUIRED SCREENING TIME: Monday at 4 pm. 3 units. Same as L01 Art-Arch 328, L 21 Ger 328, L79 EuSt 458, L97 IAS 459.
AS:> TH
SB:> HUM
02 MW 11:30a-1:00p
Vaughan

FILM 495
SPECIAL PROJECTS
This course is intended for juniors and seniors who wish to register for internships. Students must receive Program approval prior to beginning the internship. Please consult the Program guidelines governing internships. Credit variable, max 3 units.
01 XXXI
(None) Paul
02 XXXI
(None) Marton
03 XXXI
(None) Chapman
04 XXXI
(None) Sewell

FILM 499
STUDY FOR HONORS
This course is intended for majors pursuing honors in Film and Media Studies. In order to enroll for this course, students must apply in advance for honors and be approved by a faculty committee. Please consult the Program for application deadlines and other requirements. 3 units.
01 XXXI
(None) Paul
02 XXXI
(None) Chapman
03 XXXI
(None) Sewell

FILM 500
INDEPENDENT STUDY
This course is intended for students who wish to pursue areas of study not available within the standard curriculum. In order to enroll for this course, students must have a faculty adviser and submit a contract outlining the work for the course to the Film and Media Studies office. Please consult the Program guidelines governing independent study work. Credit variable, max 3 units.
01 XXX
(None) Paul
02 XXX
(None) Marton
03 XXX
(None) Chapman
04 XXX
(None) Sewell