Courses / Undergraduate

Spring 2016

  • Special Topics in Film: Western Noir

    108 - 001 | Rhetoric 131T | CCN: 31651

    Instructor: Eileen Jones

    Date and Time: MW 930-11A, 142 DWINELLE

    In this course we will examine the hybridization of two American genres, the Western and film noir. We’ll examine how the combined traits of the two genres complicate the social conflicts they depict and defamiliarize their defining... More
  • Special Topics in Film: Weird Science: A History of Science Fiction Film

    108 - 002 | CCN: 31657

    Instructor: Emily West

    Date and Time: MW 930-11A, 188 DWINELLE

    This course provides a history of science fiction film from Mélies and Metropolis to The Martian. Moving chronologically from the silent cinema to today, we will examine how science fiction films have functioned as a site for... More
  • Special Topics in Film: American Films of the 1950s

    108 - 003 | CCN: 31663

    Instructor: Russell Merritt

    Date and Time: MW 11-1230P, 188 DWINELLE

    The 1950s is arguably the most underestimated decade of the twentieth century. The films of its major directors – Elia Kazan, Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick, John Cassavetes, and, inevitably, Alfred Hitchcock point to the rich variety... More
  • Documentary Film

    128 | CCN: 31669

    Instructor: Jeffrey Skoller

    Date and Time: TUTH 1230-2P, 142 DWINELLE

    This course surveys the history, theory and practice of the documentary, aka “non-fiction,” film and video. We will explore the term and examine the ways its forms and ethics have changed since the beginning of cinema. We... More
  • Special Topics in Film: Sound

    140 - 001 | CCN: 31687

    Instructor: Mark Berger

    Date and Time: TUTH 2-330P, 142 DWINELLE

    This course will explore the nature, evolution, use, and abuse of sound in cinema. From the first silent films, which weren’t presented in silence at all, to current “ride” films, the relation between sound and image... More
  • Special Topics in Film: California in the Cinematic Imagination

    140 - 002 | CCN: 31693

    Instructor: Emily West

    Date and Time: TUTH 930-11A, 188 DWINELLE

    This course will examine how California has figured in the cinematic imagination as an industrial center and as a landscape of fantasy, site for the formulation and revision of national mythologies regarding the American West. We will... More
  • Special Topics in Film: Jane Austen Adaptations

    140 - 003 | Rhetoric 130 | CCN: 31699

    Instructor: Eileen Jones

    Date and Time: F 10-1P, 142 DWINELLE

    Because of the vividness of her characters and storylines, which can be readily abstracted from her novels and molded to fit the romantic comedy genre, Jane Austen’s six completed novels have been repeatedly adapted for British, American... More
  • Special Topics in Film: Race and Media

    140 - 004 | CCN: 31704

    Instructor: Kristen Whissel

    Date and Time: TH 2-5P, 226 DWINELLE

    This course focuses on the construction, representation, and contestation of race and racial identities in film and visual culture, from the late nineteenth century to the present. We will situate films within the historical conditions of their... More
  • Auteur Theory: The Studio as Auteur – Disney and Pixar

    151 | Rhetoric 132T | CCN: 31705

    Instructor: Eileen Jones

    Date and Time: MW 1230-2P, 142 DWINELLE

    As Paul Wells notes in Animation: Genre and Authorship,     Walt Disney is viewed as the key pioneering figure in the creation of the art, commerce, and industry of animation…. Even his fiercest advocates, however, have struggled to name... More
  • National Cinema: Dziga Vertov in Context

    160 - 001 | CCN: 31717

    Instructor: Anne Nesbet

    Date and Time: MW 1230-2P, 188 DWINELLE

    In this class we will study the life and work of Dziga Vertov (born David Abelevich Kaufman, a name later russified as Denis Arkadievich Kaufman), one of the most innovative filmmakers of the early twentieth century. ... More
  • National Cinema: Weimar Cinema and the Modern Experience

    160 - 002 | CCN: 31723

    Instructor: Anton Kaes

    Date and Time: TH 11-2P, 188 DWINELLE

    The course uses film to explore the relationship between modern culture and politics in the Weimar era, the turbulent period between the end of World War I in 1918 and Hitler’s assumption of power in 1933. This... More
  • National Cinema: Sex, Gender, and Desire in French Cinema

    160 - 003 | CCN: 31729

    Instructor: Damon Young

    Date and Time: TUTH 330-5P, 188 DWINELLE

    This course approaches French cinema through the lens of three of its perennial themes: sex, gender, and desire. We will start by considering some of the ways iconic French stars have produced and reflected shifting gender ideals... More
  • Beginning Screenwriting

    180 | CCN: 31735

    Instructor: J. Mira Kopell

    Date and Time: TU 9-12P, 226 DWINELLE

    This writing workshop explores the art and craft of writing a feature length, narrative screenplay. Each student pitches three story ideas, chooses one concept to develop into an outline and then completes the first act of the... More
  • Documentary and Nonfiction Film/Videomaking

    184 | CCN: 31738

    Instructor: Jeffrey Skoller

    Date and Time: W 1-4P, 135 DWINELLE

    This workshop class focuses on practices and techniques of digital Documentary filmmaking. Working in pairs, the class will make a series of short image and sound exercises and then develop a final Documentary project.The class examines important... More
  • Advanced Digital Video Production

    187 | CCN: 31741

    Instructor: J. Mira Kopell

    Date and Time: TUTH 1-4P, 135 DWINELLE

     This hands-on course explores the process of making a narrative short using digital video production. Over the semester, students will write, rewrite, pre-visualize, shoot, direct and edit one project, approximately 12-15 minutes in length. The class emphasizes the... More
  • The History of Film – Sound Era

    25B | CCN: 31633

    Instructor: Mary Ann Doane

    Date and Time: TUTH 11-1230P, 142 DWINELLE

    In this introductory survey course we will examine the history of cinema from the mid-1930s through the international development of film as a transformative technology, art form, and commercial medium up to the present time. Readings will... More
  • The Craft of Writing: “Feeling Media”

    R1A - 001 | CCN: 31603

    Instructor: Renée Pastel and Eliot Bessette

    Date and Time: MWF 1-2P, 109 DWINELLE

    Why do we watch film and television? Ingmar Bergman said, “No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.” Despite the... More
  • The Craft of Writing: “You know you’re dealing with the Yakuza, right?” – The Histories and Shockwaves of the Gangster across World Cinema

    R1A - 004 | CCN: 31620

    Instructor: Justin Vaccaro and Fareed Ben-Youssef

    Date and Time: TUTH 5-630P, 2070 VALLEY LSB (effective 01, 26, 16)

    The cinematic gangster is "what we want to be and what we are afraid we might become." So argues critic Robert Warshow in his 1954 essay on “The Gangster as Tragic Hero,” and so starts our investigation... More
  • The Craft of Writing: Love Scene: Romantic Love in Hollywood and Chinese Cinema

    R1B - 001 | CCN: 31621

    Instructor: Dolores McElroy and Chi Li

    Date and Time: TUTH 930-11A, 109 DWINELLE

    The focus of this course is to advance students’ analytical writing skills, and to give them the tools to incorporate original research into their writing. As a springboard for the completion of these goals, we will be... More
  • The Craft of Writing: Screwball Comedy

    R1B - 002 | CCN: 31627

    Instructor: Christopher Goetz and Katherine Guerra

    Date and Time: TUTH 930-11A, 106 DWINELLE

    ... More
  • The Craft of Writing: “Didn’t we do this yesterday?”: The loop in moving image culture

    R1B - 004 | CCN: 31628

    Instructor: Alina Predescu and Kaitlin Forcier

    Date and Time: TUTH 5-630P, 107 GPB (effective 02, 04, 16)

    This course fulfills the second part of the Reading and Composition requirement, with an emphasis on research. Students will generate research topics, locate and evaluate sources, and write analytical, argumentative papers in which they will integrate and... More
  • The Craft of Writing: Coming to Life – Animation and History

    R1B - 005 | CCN: 31629

    Instructor: Patrick Ellis and Jennifer Alpert

    Date and Time: MW 4-530P, 185 BARROWS (effective 02, 03, 16)

    This class focuses on the history of animation, broadly conceived. Our elastic approach to the form will consider not only hand-drawn, cel, and forms of digital animation, but sequential art, animated objects, and special effects. In weekly... More
  • The Craft of Writing

    R1B - 007 | CCN: 31630

    Instructor: Robert Alford and Jennifer Pranolo

    Date and Time: TUTH 5-630P, 254 SUTARDJA DAI

    ... More