Fall 2008

FILM AND MEDIA STUDIES (L53)
FRESHMAN SEMINAR: RACE
AND ETHNICITY ON
AMERICAN TELEVISION L53 110 FILM
This course will present a historical overview of the forms that racial and ethnic representations have taken in American television. The course will chart changes in public perception of racial and ethnic difference in the context of sweeping cultural and social transformations. The course examines how notions of American identity have been produced by this consensus medium and ponders the implications for these identities of the contemporary practice of “narrowcasting.” 3 units.
AS:> CD, SD, TH
SB:> BA
FA:> SSP
01 TuTh 8:30a-10:00a XXXV

SPECIAL PROJECTS L53 200 FILM
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

INTRO TO FILM STUDIES L53 220 FILM
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.
AS:> LA
SB:> HUM
01 MW 2:00p-3:00p XXXV
Rebstock 215 Sewell
Subsections:
A W 3:00p-4:00p
Sewell

MOVING IMAGES AND SOUND L53 230 FILM
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

VISUAL MUSIC L53 315 FILM
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: L53-230 or permission from the instructor. 3 units. Same as L98 AMCS 3156.
AS:> LA
SB:> HUM
01 Th 4:00p-7:00p XXXV
Marton

FRENCH FILM CULTURE L53 325 FILM
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.
AS:> TH
SB:> IS
01 TuTh 2:30p-4:00p XXXV

HISTORY OF WORLD CINEMA L53 340 FILM
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.
AS:> CD, TH
SB:> HUM, IS
FA:> AH
01 TuTh 1:00p-2:30p XXXV
Rebstock 215 Paul

INTRO TO SCREENWRITING L53 352 FILM
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

TABOO: BOUNDARY AND
TRANSGRESSION IN
AMERICAN CINEMA L53 390 FILM
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.
01 TuTh 10:00a-11:30a XXXI
Paul

AMERICAN
TELEVISION GENRES L53 451 FILM
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

MAJOR FILM DIRECTORS:
REVERSE ANGLES: THE
FILMS OF ANTONIONI,
GODARD, AND WENDERS L53 458 FILM
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 L98 AMCS 4581, L01 Art-Arch 328, L14 E Lit 4502, L79 EuSt 458, L97 IAS 459.
AS:> TH
SB:> HUM
01 TuTh 11:30a-1:00p XXXI
Koepnick

SPECIAL PROJECTS L53 495 FILM
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

STUDY FOR HONORS L53 499 FILM
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

INDEPENDENT STUDY L53 500 FILM
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