University Bulletin (2010-2011)

FILM 92a Internship in Film Studies
Usually offered every year.
Staff

FILM 98a Independent Study
Usually offered every year.
Staff

FILM 98b Independent Study
Usually offered every year.
Staff

FILM 99d Senior Thesis
Students who are candidates for degrees with honors in film and visual media studies must register for this full-year course. Usually offered every year.
Staff

FILM 100a Introduction to the Moving Image
[ ca hum ]
An interdisciplinary course surveying the history of moving image media from 1895 to the present, from the earliest silent cinema to the age of the 500-channel cable television. Open to all undergraduates as an elective, it is the introductory course for the major and minor in film and visual media studies. Usually offered every year.
Staff

FILM 110a Film Production I
[ ca ss ]
Preference given to film and visual media studies majors and minors.
An introduction to the basic principles and techniques of fictional narrative motion picture production. Each student will produce three short films. The films will emphasize dramatic development and creative storytelling through image composition, camera movement, editing, and sound. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Weinberg

FILM 110b Motion Picture Editing
[ ss ]
Preference given to film and visual media studies majors and minors.
Students will develop visual literacy through a study of the editor's role in cinematic storytelling. The course provides an overview of the craft's history and theory and offers practical training in editing digital video with Final Cut Pro. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Dellelo

FILM 110bj Motion Picture Editing
[ ss ]
Students will develop visual literacy through a study of the editor's role in cinematic storytelling. The course provides an overview of the craft's history and theory and offers practical training in editing digital video with Final Cut Pro. Offered as part of JBS program.
Mr. Dellelo

FILM 115a Storytelling for Film, TV and New Media
[ ss ]
Prerequisite: FILM 100a. Priority given to film and visual media studies majors and minors. May be repeated once for credit.
Provides hands-on experience in developing narratives for television and cinema. Students explore the process of developing story ideas for the moving image and for digital media. They learn to think creatively within formats that invite the participation of other collaborators, including actors, designers, and directors. Usually offered every year.
Staff

The following courses are approved for the program. Not all are given in any one year. Please consult the Schedule of Classes each semester.

AMST 35a Hollywood and American Culture
[ ss ]
This is an interdisciplinary course in Hollywood cinema and American culture that aims to do justice to both arenas. Students will learn the terms of filmic grammar, the meanings of visual style, and the contexts of Hollywood cinema from The Birth of a Nation (1915) to last weekend's top box office grosser. They will also master the major economic, social, and political realities that make up the American experience of the dominant medium of our time, the moving image, as purveyed by Hollywood. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Doherty

AMST 111a Images of the American West in Film and Culture
[ ss ]
Explores how motion picture images of the West have reflected and shaped American identities, ideologies, and mythologies. Through a variety of films--silent, "classic," and "revisionist"--and supplementary readings, examines the intertwined themes of progress, civilization, region, nation, democracy, race, gender, and violence. Usually offered every fourth year.
Staff

AMST 112b American Film and Culture of the 1950s
[ ss ]
Traces the decline of classical Hollywood cinema and the impact of motion pictures on American culture in the 1950s, especially Hollywood's representations of the Cold War. Students learn methods of cinematic analysis to conduct cultural historical inquiry. Usually offered every fourth year.
Staff

AMST 113a American Film and Culture of the 1940s
[ ss ]
Examines the nature of classical Hollywood cinema and the impact of motion pictures on American culture in the 1940s, especially Hollywood's representations of World War II. Students learn methods of cinematic analysis to conduct cultural historical inquiry. Usually offered every fourth year.
Staff

AMST 113b American Film and Culture of the 1930s
[ ss ]
Traces the rise of Hollywood sound cinema and the impact of motion pictures on American culture in the 1930s, especially Hollywood's representations of the Great Depression. Students learn methods of cinematic analysis to conduct cultural historical inquiry. Usually offered every fourth year.
Staff

AMST 114a American Film and Culture of the 1920s
[ ss ]
Traces the rise and fall of silent Hollywood cinema and the impact of motion pictures on American culture in the 1920s, especially Hollywood's role in the revolution in morals and manners. Students learn methods of cinematic analysis to conduct cultural historical inquiry. All films are screened with a music score or live piano accompaniment. Usually offered every fourth year.
Staff

AMST 116b Race and American Cinema
[ hum ]
From its earliest beginnings, the history of American cinema has been inextricably--and controversially--tied to the racial politics of the United States. This course explores how images of racial and ethnic minorities such as African Americans, Jews, Asians, Native Americans, and Latino/as are reflected on the screen, as well as the ways that minorities in the entertainment industry have responded to often limiting representations. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Dave

AMST 130b Television and American Culture
[ ss ]
An interdisciplinary course with three main lines of discussion and investigation: an aesthetic inquiry into the meaning of television style and genre; a historical consideration of the medium and its role in American life; and a technological study of televisual communication. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Doherty

AMST 131b News on Screen
[ ss ]
An interdisciplinary course exploring how journalistic practice is mediated by the moving image--cinematic, televisual, and digital. The historical survey will span material from the late-nineteenth-century "actualities" of Thomas Edison and the Lumiere Brothers to the viral environment of the World Wide Web, a rich tradition that includes newsreels, expeditionary films, screen magazines, combat reports, government information films, news broadcasts, live telecasts, television documentaries, amateur video, and the myriad blogs, vlogs, and webcasts of the digital age. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Doherty

ANTH 26a Communication and Media
[ ss ]
An exploration of human communication and mass media from a cross-cultural perspective. Examines communication codes based on language and visual signs. The global impact of revolutions in media technology, including theories of cultural imperialism and indigenous uses of media is discussed. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. McIntosh

CLAS 151a Greece, Rome, Myth, and the Movies
[ hum ]
Explore classical mythology through several key texts to demonstrate the strong connections between antiquity and out own society, especially as revealed in an array of modern cinematic experiments. Charts the transformation of these myths for our own cultural needs. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Koloski-Ostrow

ENG 27a Page, Stage, and Screen
[ hum ]
Addresses the relation of form to content, or medium to message, within and among three different genres: novel, drama, and film. Investigates: What modes of human subjectivity and sensory perception does each genre presuppose and promote? Why? What values can and cannot be expressed in any given genre? Why do certain genres achieve cultural dominance while others become residual? Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Morrison

ENG 27b Classic Hollywood Cinema
[ hum ]
A critical examination of the history of mainstream U.S. cinema from the 1930s to the present. Focuses on major developments in film content and form, the rise and fall of the studio and star system, the changing nature of spectatorship, and the social context of film production and reception. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Morrison

ENG 30b New American Cinema of the 1960s and 70s
[ hum ]
Survey of the "new Hollywood" of the late 1960s and early 1970s (e.g., Nicholas, Hopper, Scorcese, Polanski, Altman). Explores underground and international influences on this group's aesthetic. Investigates filmic responses to the dying studio system and the ideals of the counterculture. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Irr

ENG 50b American Independent Film
[ hum ]
Explores non-studio filmmaking in the United States. Defines an indie aesthetic and alternative methods of financing, producing, and distributing films. Special attention given to adaptations of major film genres, such as noir thrillers, domestic comedy, and horror. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Irr

ENG 60a Documentary Prose and Film
[ hum ]
This is an experiential learning course. An introduction to documentary, covering major works of nonfiction prose and film. Focuses on the variety of documentary techniques in both media and controversies surrounding efforts to represent the real. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Irr

ENG 70a Magic Lanterns to Movies: The Origins of Narrative Film
[ hum ]
Explores the birth of moving pictures, from Edison and Lumiere's experiments to "Birth of a Nation" and "The Jazz Singer". Traces film's roots in the photographic experiments, visual spectacles and magical lanterns of late nineteenth-century France, England, and America, and its relationship to the era's literary experiments. Filmmakers include: Georges Melies, Abel Ganz, Sergei Eisentein, D W Griffiths, Charlie Chaplin. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Plotz

ENG 147a Film Noir
[ hum ]
A study of classics of the genre (The Killers, The Maltese Falcon, Touch of Evil) as well as more recent variations (Chinatown, Bladerunner). Readings include source fiction (Hemingway, Hammett) and essays in criticism and theory. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

ENG 177a Hitchcock's Movies
[ hum ]
A study of thirteen films covering the whole trajectory of Hitchcock's career, as well as interviews and critical responses. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Morrison

HISP 193b Topics in Cinema
[ hum wi ]
Open to all students; conducted in English. Course may be repeated for credit.
Topics vary from year to year but might include consideration of a specific director, an outline of the history of a national cinema, a particular moment in film history, or Hollywood cinema in Spanish. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Mandrell or Mr. Rosenberg

NEJS 181a Jews on Screen: "Cohen's Fire Sale" to the Coen Brothers
[ hum ]
Open to all students.
Survey course focusing on moving images of Jews and Jewish life in fiction and factual films. Includes early Russian and American silents, home movies of European Jews, Yiddish feature films, Israeli cinema, independent films, and Hollywood classics. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Rivo

NEJS 181b Film and the Holocaust
[ hum ]
Open to all students.
Examines the medium of film, propaganda, documentary, and narrative fiction relevant to the history of the Holocaust. The use of film to shape, justify, document, interpret, and imagine the Holocaust. Beginning with the films produced by the Third Reich, the course includes films produced immediately after the events, as well as contemporary feature films. The focus will be how the film medium, as a medium, works to (re)present meaning(s). Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Rivo

NEJS 182a Jewish Life in Film and Fiction
[ hum ]
Film and fiction are windows through which we can view transformations in American Jewish life. This course concentrates on cinematic and literary depictions of religious, socioeconomic, and cultural change over the past half-century. It does this through films and fiction, which reflect and help to shape shifting definitions of the American Jew. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Fishman

THA 155a Icons of Masculinity
[ ca ]
Using icons from movies, fiction, theater, and television who represent manhood, this course explores how American men have defined and performed their masculinity. Various archetypes, including the cowboy, the gangster, the rogue cop, the athlete, the buddy, the lover, and Woody Allen are examined. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Holmberg

CHIN 130b China on Film: The Changes of Chinese Culture
[ hum nw ]
Open to all students. Conducted in English and all films viewed have English subtitles.
Focuses on the enormous changes under way in Chinese society, politics, and culture. Helps students to identify and understand these fundamental transformations through a representative, exciting selection of readings and films. Usually offered every second spring.
Staff

COML 135a Before the Law: Justice in Literature and Film
[ hum ]
Examines works of fiction and film as a means of addressing the problem of justice, highlighting by the same token the symbolic fabric of the law and the performative elements of legal institutions. We will focus on cultural expressions from Europe and Latin America that address the problem of the state and its subjects in a context of modernity broadly defined. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Rosenberg

ENG 20a Bollywood: Popular Film, Genre, and Society
[ hum nw wi ]
An introduction to popular Hindi cinema through a survey of the most important Bollywood films from the 1950s until today. Topics include melodrama, song and dance, love and sex, stardom, nationalism, religion, diasporic migration, and globalization. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Anjaria

ENG 22a Filmi Fictions: From Page to Screen in India
[ hum nw ]
An introduction to filmic adaptations of Indian novels from Bollywood, Indian art cinema, and Hollywood. Readings include novels as well as theoretical approaches to adaptation. Films include Slumdog Millionaire, Pather Panchali, Devdas, Guide, Umrao Jaan, and others. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Anjaria

ENG 77a Screening the Tropics
[ hum ]
How territories and modes of life are designated as "tropical," and how this is celebrated or "screened out" in film, photography, national policy, travelogues, and fiction. Films by Cozier, Cuaron, Duigan, Denis, Fung, Henzell, Ousmane, and Sissako. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Smith

GECS 167a German Cinema: Vamps and Angels
[ hum ]
Open to all students. Conducted in English with readings in English translation.
From silent film to Leni Riefenstahl and Nazi cinema, from postwar cinema in the East and West to new German film after unification, this course traces aesthetic strategies, reflections on history, memory, subjectivity, and political, cultural, and film-historical contexts with an emphasis on gender issues. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. von Mering

HBRW 170a Take I: Hebrew through Israeli Cinema
[ fl hum wi ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: Five semesters of Hebrew or permission of the instructor. Four class hours per week.
An advanced culture course that focuses on the various aspects of Israeli society as they are portrayed in Israeli films and television. In addition to viewing films, the students will be asked to read Hebrew background materials, to participate in class discussions, and to write in Hebrew about the films. Usually offered every spring.
Ms. Azoulay

HISP 192b Latin American Global Film
[ hum ]
Prerequisites: HISP 109b, HISP 110a, HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor. May not be repeated by students who took SPAN 193b in fall 2007.
An examination of films from Latin America or about Latin American topics. Considering film production and circulation, the class focuses on how images travel, how local stories and images are projected globally, and how Latin America and its "local" cultures are processed outside of their borders. Close analysis of visual representation complemented by a historically and culturally informed background. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Rosenberg

HIST 131a Hitler's Europe in Film
[ ss ]
Takes a critical look as how Hitler's Europe has been represented and misrepresented since its time by documentary and entertainment films of different countries beginning with Germany itself. Movies, individual reports, discussions, and a littler reading. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Kelikian

HIST 170a Italian Films, Italian Histories
[ ss wi ]
Explores the relationship between Italian history and Italian film from unification to 1975. Topics include socialism, fascism, the deportation of Jews, the Resistance, the Mafia, and the emergence of an American-style star fixation in the 1960s. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Kelikian

JAPN 135a Screening National Images: Japanese Film and Anime in Global Context
[ hum nw ]
All films and readings are in English.
An introduction to some major directors and works of postwar Japanese film and anime with special attention to such issues as genre, medium, adaptation, narrative, and the circulation of national images in the global setting. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Fraleigh

NEJS 178b Masculinity and Femininity in Israeli Film, Literature, and Culture
[ hum ]
Taught in English.
Focuses on Israeli film, literature, and culture, exploring how film and literature represent and establish masculinity and femininity. Examines the ways in which film and literature reflect the politics, religions, conflicts, and ideologies of Israeli society. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Szobel

RECS 149b Russian Modernism in: Culture and Arts
[ hum ]
Open to all students. Conducted in English. Students may choose to do readings either in English translation or in Russian.
An interdisciplinary immersion in the period, emphasizing the connections between historical and artistic trends and employing prominent theories of culture. Focuses on major figures, works, and events in film, literature, the performing and visual arts, and political, philosophical, and religious thought. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Powelstock

RECS 150a Russian and Soviet Cinema
[ hum ]
Open to all students. Conducted in English. Readings in English.
Examines the Russian/Soviet cinematic tradition from the silent era to today, with special attention to cultural context and visual elements. Film masterpieces directed by Bauer, Eisenstein, Vertov, Parajanov, Tarkovsky, Mikhalkov, and others. Weekly screenings. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Powelstock

SAS 150b Indian Film: The Three-Hour Dream
[ hum nw ]
A study of Hindi films made in India since 1947 with a few notable exceptions from regional film, as well as some recent films made in English. Students will read Hindi films as texts/narratives of the nation to probe the occurrence of cultural, religious, historical, political, and social themes. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Singh

WMGS 141a Gender in Iranian Cinema
[ hum nw ]
With a primary focus on gender, this class explores post-Revolutionary Iranian cinema. Topics include politics; family relationships; women's social, economic, and political roles; and Iran's religious structure. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Mandrell and Ms. Shavarini

COSI 65a Introduction to 3-D Animation
[ sn ]
This is an experiential learning course. Covers the fundamental concepts of 3-D animation and teaches both the theory underlying 3-D animation as well as the skills needed to create 3-D movies. Students demonstrate their understanding of the concepts by creating several short animated movies. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Hickey

ENG 49a Scriptwriting for the Short Film
[ hum ]
Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Students will be selected after the submission of a sample of writing, preferably four to seven pages. Please refer to the Schedule of Classes for submission formats and deadlines within registration periods.
Addressed many facets of writing screenplays for short films (under eight pages). Students develop two to three scripts through creative exercises, rewriting, and critiques. Supplementary screenings and reading focuses on the particulars of short fiction and cinematic writing. Special one-time offering, fall 2008.
Ms. Salzer

ENG 49aj Scriptwriting for the Short Film
[ hum ]
Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Students will be selected after the submission of a sample of writing, preferably four to seven pages. Please refer to the Schedule of Classes for submission formats and deadlines within registration periods. Offered as part of JBS program.
Addressed many facets of writing screenplays for short films (under eight pages). Students develop two to three scripts through creative exercises, rewriting, and critiques. Supplementary screenings and reading focuses on the particulars of short fiction and cinematic writing.
Staff

ENG 67a Art of the Screenplay
[ hum ]
Examines the screenplay as a unique literary genre and illustrates how it has evolved, from early silents to the contemporary feature. Delves into the mythology of plot and character, breaks down the structure of scripts, and explores how novels are adapted to the screen. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Weinberg

ENG 79a Directed Writing: Beginning Screenplay
[ hum wi ]
This is an experiential learning course. This course may not be repeated by students who have taken ENG 129b in previous years. Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Students will be selected after the submission of a sample of writing of no more than five pages. Please refer to the Schedule of Classes for submission formats and deadlines within registration periods.
Fundamentals of screenwriting: structure, plot, conflict, character, and dialogue. Students read screenwriting theory, scripts, analyze files, and produce an outline and the first act of an original screenplay. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Weinberg

ENG 129b Understanding the Screenplay: A Workshop
[ hum wi ]
Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Students will be selected after the submission of a sample of writing of no more than five pages. Please refer to the Schedule of Classes for submission formats and deadlines within registration periods.
Covers the fundamentals of screenwriting: structure, plot, conflict, character, and dialogue. Students are required to read scripts and a book on screenwriting, analyze films, and produce an outline and the first act of an original screenplay. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Coroniti or Mr. Weinberg

ENG 139b Intermediate Screenwriting
[ hum wi ]
Prerequisites: ENG 129b or ENG 79a. Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Students will be selected after the submission of a sample of writing of no more than five pages. Please refer to the Schedule of Classes for submission formats and deadlines within registration periods.
In this writing-intensive course, students build on screenwriting basics and delve more deeply into the creative process. Participants read and critique each other's work, study screenplays and view films, and submit original written material on a biweekly basis. At the conclusion of the course each student will have completed the first draft of a screenplay (100-120 pages). Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Weinberg

FILM 110a Film Production I
[ ca ss ]
Preference given to film and visual media studies majors and minors.
An introduction to the basic principles and techniques of fictional narrative motion picture production. Each student will produce three short films. The films will emphasize dramatic development and creative storytelling through image composition, camera movement, editing, and sound. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Weinberg

FILM 110b Motion Picture Editing
[ ss ]
Preference given to film and visual media studies majors and minors.
Students will develop visual literacy through a study of the editor's role in cinematic storytelling. The course provides an overview of the craft's history and theory and offers practical training in editing digital video with Final Cut Pro. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Dellelo

FILM 110bj Motion Picture Editing
[ ss ]
Students will develop visual literacy through a study of the editor's role in cinematic storytelling. The course provides an overview of the craft's history and theory and offers practical training in editing digital video with Final Cut Pro. Offered as part of JBS program.
Mr. Dellelo

FILM 115a Storytelling for Film, TV and New Media
[ ss ]
Prerequisite: FILM 100a. Priority given to film and visual media studies majors and minors. May be repeated once for credit.
Provides hands-on experience in developing narratives for television and cinema. Students explore the process of developing story ideas for the moving image and for digital media. They learn to think creatively within formats that invite the participation of other collaborators, including actors, designers, and directors. Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 107a Introduction to Electro-Acoustic Music
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: Any music course or permission of the instructor.
A course designed to give students basic studio skills and a context for listening to and working in electronic music. Topics include basic acoustics, sound design, digital and analog recording techniques, and assignments on the pioneers and current practitioners of electro-acoustic music. Involves hands-on experience in the use of MIDI-controlled synthesizers, samplers, production equipment, and includes individual studio projects based on individual studio time. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Chasalow

THA 40a Production Design and the Art of the Visual Narrative for Theater, Television, and Film
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. A core production design course for theater, television, and film. Of interest to designers, actors, directors, film makers, and anyone interested in process and development of the visual story line. The class will focus on the creative process of the visual narrative. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Booth

THA 50b Sound Design
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: THA 2a or permission of the instructor. Laboratory fee: $10 per semester.
Explores the process of modern sound design from concept to execution. Hands-on sound lab instruction provides a foundation for creative expression in the aural arts. Projects include creating aural images and soundscapes based on selected readings, static and moving images. This class provides a solid foundation in audio editing and MIDI sequencing. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Wilson

THA 52b Fundamentals of Lighting
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: THA 2a or permission of the instructor. Laboratory fee: $15 per semester.
A hands-on investigation of the hardware and software of lighting design, the functions and use of stage lighting equipment, computer lighting consoles, design software, and production paperwork. Basic electrical theory and safety considerations concerning rigging, focusing, and power distribution will also be discussed. Usually offered every year.
Staff

THA 64a Costumes: From Script to Stage
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: THA 2a or permission of the instructor. Laboratory fee: $10 per semester.
An introduction to the challenges facing the costume designer during the process of a play production. Topics include script and character analysis and how to research a variety of historical periods. Students design for two to three plays over the course of the semester. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Schoonmaker

THA 125a Acting for the Camera
[ ca ]
Prerequisite: THA 2a or permission of the instructor.
A process-based acting class. Emphasis is on developing the actor's ability to work honestly and creatively in front of the camera. All work is videotaped. Students regularly review their performances in order to advance their critical understanding of the work. Usually offered two consecutive years with a third-year hiatus.
Staff

THA 140a Adapting and Revising: A Collaborative Process for Prose Writers, Playwrights, and Screenwriters
[ ca ]
Prerequisite: THA 104a, ENG 129b, or permission of the instructor.
This seminar places prose writers (both fiction and nonfiction) with playwrights and screenwriters. Playwrights and screenwriters will learn the process of adapting prose, while fiction/nonfiction writers will learn about revising their work through the visual world of the stage/screen. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Hyland