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Cinema Studies Courses
cine 101 Introduction to Cinema Studies +
Description:
This course is an introduction to the basic concepts of cinema studies, through the analysis of various national cinemas, genres, and directors. Through weekly readings, screenings, and discussions, students will learn the basic vocabulary of cinema studies and explore a range of modes of filmmaking, including narrative, documentary, and experimental cinema. More Info
Offered in:cine 121G Space, Place, and Cinema +
Description:
This first-year seminar explores the many different ways in which space and place are represented in cinema, while also teaching students how to closely observe and critically analyze films. Drawing from cinema history and criticism, it examines how films instill spaces with meaning and transform them into distinctive places. Through screenings of a broad array of films, we will tour a variety of cinemas from throughout the world and investigate such topics as the role of settings in film narratives, and contemporary experiences of displacement and marginalization. More Info
Offered in:cine 201 History of International Cinema: Origins to 1945 +
Description:
This course is the first in a two-part cinema histories sequence that provides students with a broad overview of the historical developments of film. Students explore the technological, industrial, and cultural shifts that have impacted cinematic production from the nineteenth century to the break up of the studio system. This class examines film history in global terms as students study US cinema alongside other major film movements from Europe, Asia, Latin American, and Africa. More Info
Offered in:cine 202 History of International Cinema: 1945-the present +
Description:
This course is the second in a two-part cinema histories sequence that provides students with a broad overview of the historical developments of film. Students explore the technological, industrial, and cultural shifts that have impacted cinematic production from the brake up of the studio system to the present day. This class examines film history in global terms as students study US cinema alongside other major film movements from Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa. More Info
Offered in:cine 205L Latin American Film +
Description:
This course examines Latin American feature and documentary film to analyze social, cultural and political themes and issues. Topics include: the development of national cinemas and their genres; film as art and industry; film and political engagement; representations of women and gender; and selected social and cultural subjects. More Info
Offered in:cine 215L America on Film +
Description:
This course focuses on the flowering of American cinema through decades of social, political, and cultural change. It examines both classic representations of ''The American Experience'' and films which challenge such classic representations. The relations between film and other arts, and between film, history, and ideology, are an ongoing concern. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 225 Film Adaptations +
Description:
This course explores adaptation across moving image media, literary, theatrical, and other kinds of texts. While principally focused on feature-length movie adaptations, it also considers the way intellectual property has been flexibly repurposed across a variety of media and over the full course of moving image history. Through a set of specific case studies, the course considers aesthetic, formal, cultural, technological, and economic aspects of adaptations. It starts with a comparative approach (one text versus another) before expanding to more complex relationships among original texts and their various intertexts. After exposure to a range of classic and contemporary examples, theories of and approaches to adaptation studies, students will research an adapted text of their own choice for an individual final project. More Info
Offered in:cine 235L Postwar European Cinema +
Description:
This course will investigate the most significant developments of film history int he major European countries after World War II. National cinemas of France, Italy, Germany, Scandinavia, and Eastern Europe will be studied in detail through weekly screenings of classic films by some of Europe's most accomplished filmmakers. Films will be analyzed both in a broad socio-historical framework and in respect to authors' specific styles. More Info
Offered in:cine 245 Contemporary Cinema +
Description:
This course focuses on special topics in contemporary cinema, which will change from semester to semester. Through recent films from manifold different regions, nations and cultures, and using a variety of theoretical and analytical approaches, the themes explored in this course in its various iterations will include (but are not limited to) the rich contemporary history of global filmmaking, both in the traditional Hollywood models and outside the more familiar declinations of the mainstream; the study of the evolution of film form within complex technological, industrial, and cultural representational systems; the changing aesthetic and economic interface between national, regional, and global cinemas and experiences; and the dialectical relationship between new and old, innovation and tradition, self and other. More Info
Offered in:cine 258L 21st Century World Cinema +
Description:
This course introduces students to the concept of world cinema and explores films made outside of the English speaking and western-European film traditions. Although the course spends some time tracing the historical development of world cinema, it focuses primarily on contemporary films and how world cinema operates in today's global film markets. Students will engage in a comparative analysis of the technological, aesthetic, economic, and geopolitical function of the major film industries beyond Hollywood and of smaller national cinema traditions. Students will explore how the commercial practices of industries like Bollywood, Nollywood, and Japanese anime shape the kinds of films they make and the ways they think about entertainment and ''good cinema.'' Students will also examine how smaller, art cinema traditions in countries like Iran, Denmark, and Romania express ideas about national culture and heritage and how they represent diverse places, peoples, and histories to the rest of the world. Finally, students will study the ideas of transnational cinema and global film cultures, exploring the effects of migration and immigration, the emergence of transnational film cultures and audiences, and the internationalism of global Hollywood.ENGL 258L and CINE 258L are the same course. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 260L Improvisation and the Art of Comedy +
Description:
Improvisation and the Art of Comedy is a theatre arts and cinema studies course that allows students to explore, study and perform popular forms of Improvisation and Comedy in theatre and film. The class provides the physical performance training and academic study necessary to pursue the craft of creating comedy in theatre and film performances and improvisational comedy. Students will find this class helps them in basic life skills and professional skills spanning a wide variety of fields. More Info
Offered in:cine 265L Acting for the Camera +
Description:
An exploration and evaluation of techniques of television production, with particular emphasis on common industry practices. More Info
Offered in:cine 275L Introduction to Screen and Television Writing +
Description:
An introduction to the art and the technical aspects of writing scripts for film and television. Involves analyses of screenplays, study of screen writers past and present, the relationship between director and writer, aesthetics of film writing. Project: the completion of a full-length screenplay from first treatment (synopsis) through first and second drafts and final script. More Info
Offered in:cine 276L Italian Cinema +
Description:
An in-depth look into the thematic and technical development of the Italian cinema from the period of Neorealism to the present day, seen through the lens of the cultural and political transformations in Italian society since the end of World War II. Weekly screenings by Rossellini, Visconti, De Sica, Fellini, Antonioni, and Pasolini. Taught in English. More Info
Offered in:cine 285L French Cinema +
Description:
This course will acquaint students with films and filmmakers that have made an impact on French cinema and society from the early 20th century to today. It provides a broad survey of cinematic practices in France and explores the major social issues political debates, and historical memories that have preoccupied French society. The course focuses on how French film interrogates social and national identity in France, but also in Africa and Europe more broadly. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 289 Special Topics in Cinema Studies +
Description:
Various introductory special topics in cinema studies and related fields are offered experimentally, once or twice, under this heading. Topics are announced each semester during pre-registration. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 292L Cinema, Sex, and Censorship +
Description:
This course introduces students to the history of sex in American cinema by tracing the history of the representation of sex and sexuality from early cinema and the vaudeville tradition to contemporary engagements with queerness, non-normative desires, and artificial intelligence. Students will examine key moments in film history related to sex and censorship, including the scandals of pre-code Hollywood, the rise of the Hays Codes, the development of underground and the exploitation cinemas, and the emergence of the Motion Picture Rating System, as well a range of issues related to sexuality and desire, including same-sex desire, repression, sexual violence, the AIDS crisis, and sex and technology. Students will watch both mainstream, commercial films and smaller, independent art films, as well as B-movies and low budget films, to examine how sex and sexuality have been represented and censored across the broad spectrum of American cinema. More Info
Offered in:cine 293L Photography I +
Description:
An introduction to basic issues in photography. The mechanics of the camera, the techniques of the darkroom, and matters of creative and personal import are addressed through illustrated lectures, class critiques, and assigned lab hours. Some attention is given to the history of photography. More Info
Offered in:cine 295L Introduction to Video +
Description:
This studio course is an introduction to working creatively with moving images within a personal, historical, and critical framework. Through technical workshops using iMovie and Final Cut Pro on the Macintosh, students explore the potential of digital non-linear editing and examine the characteristics and strategies of various genres and forms to inform and enrich their own production.ART 295L and CINE 295L are the same course. More Info
Offered in:cine 300L Scenic Design for Theatre and Entertainment +
Description:
This course will introduce students to the art and craft of scenic design for the theatre and the greater entertainment industry. As scenic designers we have not only a visual impact on the stage; we also shape the movement of the stage. As scenic designers we tell the story of the play through visual elements: structure, paint, set dressing, furniture, texture, form. Effective designers must be able to communicate their ideas to the other members of the artistic team and other artisans. This can only be done through visual means such as: scale models, drafting renderings, and research. Students will gain the basic skills in this course to be able to build on what they have learned and continue to experiment with scenic design. This course requires students not only to produce these visual elements by hand but also to critically read and research a play and choose a concept that can be used to guide their design. Projects will be presented in class so students also learn presentation skills. More Info
Offered in:cine 304 Understanding Television +
Description:
This class focuses on television's evolution as a cultural practice from a historical and theoretical perspective. Taking a humanistic approach, it examines the nature, institutions, technologies, aesthetics, and socio-political functions of commercial and public-service broadcast television. Further, it scrutinizes contemporary technological and cultural changes, such as the rise of digital and transnational television phenomena, questioning how television formats, programs and institutions are influencing and influenced by major shifts in global mediascapes. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 306L Introduction to French Cinema (in French) +
Description:
An introduction to the major works, filmmakers, and movements of French cinema. We will develop a basic knowledge of French film through the analysis of different genres. Through cinema we will also study social, historical and political issues. The course will be taught in French. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 311L How to Write Like a Film Critic +
Description:
This course explores both the history and the practice of film criticism, from popular genres like the movie review and ''top ten'' list, to more in-depth, analytical pieces and video essays. Students will explore how digital culture and the rise of online commentary, prosumer technologies, and aggregator sites have transformed the style, status, and function of film criticism. The bulk of the course, however, will be dedicated to writing, workshopping and revising film criticism as students produce their own portfolio of work across a range of genres. In combining history and practice, this course focuses on film criticism as part of a larger conversation about art, media, and journalism and helps students develop their own skills as film critics writing for a range of different audiences. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 315L Asian American Cinema +
Description:
This course examines the independently-produced films and videos by Asian American filmmakers and artists. Asian American independent cinema first emerged as early as the 1910s, but developed most significantly in the civil rights era and closely connected to both the Asian American political movement and the development of the Third World Independent filmmaking. This class begins with an exploration of the early history of Asian and Asian American son the American screen and then shifts to consider the role of Asian Americans behind the camera. We explore the post- 1960s production of Asian American film and video, ranging from documentary and narrative features to experimental, avant-garde, and short video. This is a hands-on, interactive course designed with the support of the Mellon Foundation. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 316L Cult Cinema +
Description:
This course explores the history of cult film in America and its relationship to the mainstream industry and other fringe cinemas. The course focuses particularly on the way that cult cinema challenges our ideas of quality, taste, and acceptability. At the same time, it explores questions related to cult audiences, exhibition spaces (drive-ins, art house theaters, midnight movies) fandom and cinephilia, and cult film nostalgia. More Info
Offered in:cine 317L American Independent Cinema +
Description:
This course examines the history of independent filmmaking in America, from its origins in the independent production companies of the studio era through to contemporary independent movements, including New American Cinema, Black Independent Cinema, New Queer Cinema, the Sundance Kids, and Mumblecore. this course also explores issues related to production and distribution, including the role of film festivals, the development of digital technology, and fan cultures. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 318L Women and Experimental Cinema +
Description:
Focused on experimental moving images, this course addresses the ways in which some female film artists, lacking support for or interest in commercial and mainstream modes of production, distribution and exhibition, have turned instead to alternative networks. Whether in fully experimental mode, through the larger art world, or through alternative narrative filmmaking, such filmmakers engage a unique perspective - often in dialogue with feminist movements from the suffragists to 1970s feminist film theorists to more recent movements like #TimesUp. More Info
Offered in:cine 320 Film Directors +
Description:
This course addresses topics related to particular directors. Its specific focus changes from semester to semester, depending on the director or directors being studied. Regardless of the exact focus, the class will spend significant time exploring the concept of authorship as it related to film production, and students will critically engage with the history and politics of auteur theory. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 325L Film Festivals +
Description:
Film festivals play a key role in today's global independent motion picture industry. They shape contemporary film culture and greatly impact communities outside of the film industry. In this course, students will be introduced to the history, structures and practices of today's film festival world and their political, economic and aesthetic impact from a local and global, theoretical and practical perspective.This is a hands-on, interactive course designed with the support of the Mellon Foundation. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 330L Ghostly Doubles and Evil Twins +
Description:
For more than two centuries, the figure of the doppelganger has played a major role in global folklore, fiction, popular culture and film. A doppelganger is a ghostly double of a living person and typically appears as his or her twin, shadow or mirror image, representing evil or misfortune. This course examines the doppelganger as a figure of supernatural horror that simultaneously facilities inquiries into questions of personal identity and the nature of the cinematic medium. Taught in English. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 337L Disney's European Fairy Tales +
Description:
It is difficult to think of any American who has had greater influence on narrative and visual culture around the world than Walt Disney. Yet the quality of Disney's creations has given rise to much debate, famously leading one critic to ask: ''It's Disney, but is it art?'' This course traces the first 65 years of the Walt Disney Animation Studios in an attempt to answer that question. A major focus will be the company's heavy reliance in these years on 'high art' from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. From illuminated manuscripts to palatial architecture, European art ''especially French, Italian, and German'' is pervasive in Walt Disney Studios storytelling. Beyond questions of adaptation, class discussion will also center issues of social commentary, analyzing how gender, sexuality, race, class, and ability were presented onscreen, and how they were treated in Studio culture. Through formalist, narrative, and sociohistorical analysis, students will achieve a better understanding of how European art shaped Disney, and how that art has engaged (or failed to engage) with societal change.Assignments are built around Disney's feature films, to be supplemented by the premodern texts and visual arts that inspired them, as well as relevant critical studies. Course taught in English; readings available in English and in original languages, where relevant. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 341L Gender and Film: Multidisciplinary Perspectives +
Description:
This course is designed to encourage multidisciplinary analysis of gender, cultural representations, and film in the 20th and early 21st century. Among the topics that students will explore are: ethnographic film and gendered practices in ethnographic filmmaking; how ideologies of gender, ''race,'' and class are constructed, disseminated, and normalized through film (documentary as well as ''popular'' film); Indigenous women and filmmaking in North America; femininities, masculinities, and power in the ''horror film'' genre; human rights film and filmmaking as activism. Students will view films made in diverse locations and reflecting multiple historical, political, and cultural perspectives and will explore the intellectual, political and social significance of film in their own lives. More Info
Offered in:cine 350 Film Genres +
Description:
This course addresses topics related to particular film genres. Its specific focus changes from semester to semester, depending on the genre or genres being studies. Regardless of the exact focus, the class will spend significant time exploring the fundamentals of genre theory as students think historically and culturally about the shape and function of film genre. More Info
Offered in:cine 352L Middle Eastern and North African Cinema +
Description:
This course focuses on how Middle Eastern and North African films have reflected, perpetuated, and criticized national ideologies, as well as how themes of individual and collective identity, memory, and trauma have been represented by filmmakers. By exploring how films have told stories about socio-cultural conflicts, we will open further questions about the place of cinema in nation building and in the formation of historical narratives. The course's specific theme varies from semester to semester, depending on the national contexts being studied. Taught in English. CINE 352L and MLLC 352Land ARABIC 352L are the same course. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 355 American Cinema +
Description:
This course offers various ways of surveying American movies from the perspective of the dominant Hollywood model and from its margins. It is designed to allow a variety of topics in American cinema to be taught or the cinema studies minor. Specific course descriptions change based on each iteration o the course. Drawing on the elect range of American voices, this course might focus on a historical moment, a specific group of Americans as filmmakers or audiences, and/or aesthetic questions related to American cinema. It may consider the changing aesthetics of Hollywood films by looking at films made across the complex and shifting production circumstances before, during and after the decline of the studio system; it may look as well to filmmakers working outside of the mainstream to explore how the processes by which American identities are reflected upon and challenged through movies varies according to the perspectives and methods of engagement of those who make movies. Taking into account artistic, cultural, and commercial aspects of American cinema, the course examines any number of its roles as a system of representation and communication. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 361L Indigenous Film and Critical Visual Studies +
Description:
This course explores the ways in which filmmakers have engaged with the notion of ingenuousness primarily through feature film and documentary forms over the last 40 years. The course will look at films directed, produced and written by indigenous and non-indigenous film-makers. We will examine films from a number of different geographical areas, concentrating on North America (the United States and Canada), Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, and Southern Africa. We will also be looking at a select number of films from other areas in relationship to specific issues, these include Tuvalu, Kazakhstan and Guatemala. As part of the course structure, we will also be engaging with a number of specific issues. These include colonialism, identity, the importance of land, environmental destruction, gender, coming of age, new media platforms, the impact of commercial media, and commodification and appropriation of indigenous peoples. A select number of film-makers will also be joining the course as guest lecturers. More Info
Offered in:cine 370L Studies in Experimental Film and Video Art +
Description:
This course surveys the history of experimental forms of cinema. For as long as cinema has been in existence, filmmakers and artists of many different backgrounds have used the medium to test the limits of its expressive tools. Thus, beginning with early cinema and continuing to the present day, experimental film and video have thrived, developing their own set of concerns and aesthetic interests. These oppositional, radical, creative, and revolutionary films challenge not only the dominant commercial form of the cinema-- they also open up new horizons of expression for political, social, and aesthetic issues. By looking at the development of different forms of experiments over the course of cinema history, this course gives students a historical and theoretical background to hone their appreciation and understanding of the meanings produced by film and video art.ART 370L and CINE 370L are the same course. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 372L German Cinema +
Description:
German cinema constitutes one of the most creative, influential and exciting of all filmic traditions. In this course students will analyze masterpieces of the German cinema and develop an understanding of their expressive modes and formal structures. Topics may include Nazi cinema, cinema and technology, minority filmmaking, German filmmakers in American exile, German New Wave, women filmmakers, and contemporary German cinema. Taught in English. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 375L Indian Cinema +
Description:
This course will provide an introduction to Indian cinema and to Indian culture and society through the study of films. The Indian film industry is the largest producer of feature films in the world. In this class we will examine the films as entertainment as well as cultural narratives and commentaries on society, exploring themes such as social change, the family and gender. The course will combine content analysis of film texts with study of the public culture of film reception. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 377L Topics in Chinese Cinema +
Description:
This seminar analyzes Chinese film (from the PRC, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and elsewhere) in depth and detail, considering both its aesthetic qualities and its relation to culture, history, and politics. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 380L Afro-Luso-Brazilian Cinema +
Description:
This course examines some of the film cultures of Brazil, Portugal, and Lusophone Africa (more specifically, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cabo Verde, and Angola), including their representations of popular culture, poverty and famine, underdevelopment, favelas and musseques, classism, racism, sexuality, gender and childhood. At the same time, the course analyzes movie language, film aesthetics, social debates about cinema and social role of the filmmaker by comparing and contrasting national cinema industries of Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, and Portugal. All films will be spoken in Portuguese and West African Portuguese Creoles but subtitled in English. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 385L Topics in Japanese Cinema +
Description:
This course offers in-depth study of Japanese cinema related to a particular theme. The focus changes from semester to semester depending on the theme treated in that specific semester. In all cases, the class will examine the chosen theme as depicted Japanese cinema from the prewar period to the present through a wide range of cinematic styles, including silent, black-and-white, anime, period, and contemporary films, and urge students to engage in questions pertaining to the production, consumption, and reception of film in Japanese society and beyond. This course will be taught in English. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 393L Photography Workshop +
Description:
This workshop is designed to expand knowledge of photography learned in Photography I through individually initiated projects. While technical improvement is essential, emphasis is always given to the ideas and intentions behind the projects. Topics vary each semester. More Info
Offered in:cine 395L Video Workshop +
Description:
This course helps foster the development of a personal vision within a historical and critical framework of emerging digital technology. Workshops may be devoted to specific genres and/or specific technical or conceptual concerns. Topics and digital projects to be explored and discussed include notions of ''Documentary'', ''Animation'', ''Experimental Film and Video'', ''Video Performance and Projection'', ''Sight and Sound'' and ''Time and Motion'', as well as non-conventional production methodologies. More Info
Offered in:cine 412L Gender, Human Rights, and Global Cinema +
Description:
This course examines cinematic narratives of social injustices, across the world, with a special focus on gender and feminism. We study the stylistic, generic, and artistic choices made by filmmakers across geographic regions to understand how, rather than a neutral medium, cinema is often ideologically constructed to reinforce imperialistic and gendered power relations. Further, we study how cinema can be a powerful mode of dissent and advocacy. We engage with the central question, How do we determine a feminist impulse, narration and motivation in cinematic production about human rights struggles, and what difference does that make? Students will examine cinema from critical interdisciplinary and intersectional perspectives on human rights, aesthetics and gender. This is a hands-on, interactive course designed with the support of the Mellon Foundation. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 420 Political Cinema Across Cultures +
Description:
The focus of this course will be a comprehensive history of the interrelationship between politics and film in wide geographical and cultural contexts and in distinct time periods, starting from World War II. Film will be studied that was created in Europe, North America, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. In particular the course will frame and analyze various political issues, themes, and ideologies, zeroing in on all the different ways in which these have been used or represented on screen. We will investigate, compare and contrast films and other relevant texts through a number of different lenses (political, cultural, ethical) and using diverse means (written assignment, class discussions, online forum) in order to develop informed opinions on their meaning, cultural significance, and ideological implications. Since its early days, film has been instrumental in advancing political agendas, supporting specific policies, championing ideologies (both overtly and surreptitiously), and influencing national and global audiences. Issues of historical significance and global concern such as the effects of propaganda and totalitarianism, the right to self-determination of peoples, and dominant ideological discourses, among others, will be studied in detail through weekly screenings of relevant classic films. Films will be analyzed both in a broad socio-cultural and historical framework and in respect to authors' specific style. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 470 Independent Study +
Description:
This course is an independent investigation in cinema studies under the supervision of qualified faculty. A written prospectus of the project is required of applicants and approval for the course to count toward the program must be granted before the student may register. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
cine 480 Internship in Cinema Studies +
Description:
A tutorial course for students with approved internships related to cinema studies. Students meet every other week with a faculty internship coordinator to discuss the work they are doing in the internship. Course requirements typically include an internship journal, end-of-term portfolio, and a summary essay, and may include an oral presentation to a class or student group. More Info
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