98-99 University Bulletin Entry for:


Film Studies Program

(file last updated: [8/10/1998 - 15:23:25])


Objectives

Film Studies is an interdisciplinaryliberal arts program offering insight into motion picture media.Broadly understood to encompass inquiry into the aesthetics, history,and cultural meanings of the moving image, the Film Studies Programhas two primary goals: to offer an informed background in motionpicture history and to develop a critical appreciation of thecultural meanings of film. It is not a pre-professional programemphasizing technical skills but a humanities-based course ofstudy stressing inquiry into film style and content, film history,and the relationships between film and culture.

The curriculum is designedto provide a broad overview of the history of the moving image,to develop expertise in cinematic style and cultural meaning,to lend theoretical sophistication to an understanding of themoving image, and to ensure some appreciation of the practicaland technical side of motion picture production. A field especiallycongenial to interdisciplinary inquiry, film studies is a practicalcomplement to a range of established concentrations for whichan expertise in visual style and motion picture history is becomingever more important--American studies, English and American literature,fine arts, history, politics, sociology, and theater arts.


How to Become a ProgramMember

The program is open to allBrandeis undergraduates. To enroll in the program, consult witha member of the film studies committee and fill out declarationforms from the Office of Academic Affairs. Students who completethe requirements of the program receive film studies certificatesand notations on their transcripts.


Committee

Thomas Doherty, Chair

(American Studies)

Pamela Allara

(Fine Arts)

Eric Chasalow

(Music)

Sylvia Fishman

(Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)

Eberhard Frey

(Germanic and Slavic Languages)

Erica Harth

(Romance and Comparative Literature)

James Mandrell

(Romance and Comparative Literature)

Robert Szulkin

(Germanic and Slavic Languages)


Requirements for the Program

Students must complete sixcourses:

A.Core course: FILM 100a (Introduction to the Moving Image).

B.An approved film studies seminar or research project usually takenin the senior year. The senior seminar or research project, whichrequires permission of the instructor, is designed to functionas a capstone experience to the Film Studies Program, an occasionto demonstrate a sophisticated mastery of the history, style,and cultural impact of the moving image.

C.Four additional courses from the approved film studies curriculum,which must include one course in a non-American cinema and onecourse in some creative aspect of film production.


Courses of Instruction


(1-99) Primarily for UndergraduateStudents

FILM 92a Internship in FilmStudies

Signature of the instructorrequired.

Usually offered every year.

Staff

FILM 92b Internship in FilmStudies

Signature of the instructorrequired.

Usually offered every year.

Staff

FILM 97a Readings in FilmStudies

Signature of the instructorrequired.

Usually offered every year.

Staff

FILM 97b Readings in FilmStudies

Signature of the instructorrequired.

Usually offered every year.

Staff


(100-199) For Both Undergraduateand Graduate Students

FILM 100a Introduction tothe Moving Image

[ cl13 cl35ca hum ]

An interdisciplinary coursesurveying the history of moving image media from 1895 to the present,from the earliest silent cinema to the age of the 500-channelcable television. Open to all undergraduates as an elective, itis the introductory course for the Film Studies Program. Usuallyoffered every year.

Ms. Allara


Electives

The following courses are approvedfor the program. Not all are given in any one year, so the CourseSchedule for each semester should be consulted.

AMST 111a

Images of the American Westin Film and Culture

AMST 112b

American Film and Culture ofthe 1950s

AMST 113a

American Film and Culture ofthe 1940s

AMST 113b

American Film and Culture ofthe 1930s

AMST 114a

American Film and Culture ofthe 1920s

AMST 130b

Television in America

AMST 131b

News on Screen

ANTH 26a

Communication and Media

COML 135b

Sexualities and Cinema

FA 71a

Modern Art and Modern Culture

NEJS 190b

Images of Jews on Film

NEJS 191b

Revisioning Jewish Life inFilm and Fiction

NEJS 194b

Film and the Holocaust

THA 126b

American Musical Theater andFilm


Courses in Non-AmericanCinema

FECS 157a

Topics in French Film

GECS 165a

German Film in Cultural Context

GECS 166b

Dreams and Nightmares: TheThird Reich on Film

HBRW 104a

Israeli Films

RECS 143b

History of Russian and SovietFilm

RECS 149b

Twentieth-Century Russian Literature,Art, Film, and Theater

SECS 183a

Spanish Fictions and Filmsof Modern Life


Courses in Creative Aspectsof Film Production

AMST 196d

Film Workshop: Recording America

MUS 107a

Introduction to Electro-AcousticMusic

THA 50b

Sound for Theater, Film, andTelevision

THA 52b

Fundamentals of Lighting


Senior Seminars

AMST 120b

Film Theory and Criticism

COML 195a

Feminism and Film

FA 102a

American Avant-Garde Film andVideo