Course Catalog

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Course Catalog

MODERN FILMS & THEIR MEANINGS (FM1010)

How do contemporary films make meaning? How does cinematic language convey emotion and raise ideas? how do we, as contemporary spectators, relate to and make sense of the screen? This course, while centered on contemporary films, is an introduction to cinematic language, its techniques, and the social and cultural factors that have made it one of the most influential art forms of our time. Looking at international films from just the last 20 years, we will explore and discover the ways these films creatively explore ideas and look at the technological, economic and political forces that fuel their production. Together with readings and screenings, individual and group assignments will help students deepen their understanding of lectures, readings and films and develop new critical skills and aesthetic understanding.

PRINCIPLES OF VIDEO PRODUCTION (FM1019)

This course is designed to give you strong technical and conceptual skills in video production. Video and the moving image are everywhere in our world and a solid understanding of how they work will help you use them to pursue questions about the world around you. This course will prepare you for future video work in film, journalism, media and communications, studio art, and can be useful across many other disciplines on campus. You will learn to use the camera to raise questions and will work on several projects, each challenging you to explore new skills. Class time will be divided into lecture, screenings, in-class labs and critique. Outside class readings, shooting, editing and screenings will deepen your understanding.

FIRSTBRIDGE IN FILM STUDIES (FM1099)

Firstbridge courses are offered to degree seeking freshmen and registration is done via webform in pre-arrival checklist.

TOPICS IN FILM (FM1910)

TOPICS VARY BY SEMESTER

TOPICS IN FILM (FM1910)

TOPICS VARY BY SEMESTER

SCREENWRITING FOR TELEVISION (FM2018)

Over the past twenty years, Granada, HBO, and the BBC have been creating series such as The Singing Detective, Cracker, MI5, The Sopranos, and The Wire that are much darker and more persuasive and perverse than anything else on television or on the big screen. Students will examine these 'visual texts,' and will also outline one or two series of their own, working on individual scenes that will be dramatized in class.

THE ART OF SCREENWRITING (FM2028)

In Art of Screenwriting students consider the elements necessary for successful screenwriting practices, with close attention to the theory of screenwriting as influenced by other arts. In particular, a close emphasis of the course is on the art of narrative and the central role played by adaptation of novels in screenwriting practice. Character development, structure, dialogue and conflict are analyzed through exemplary scripting such as in the works of Jane Campion, Roman Polanski and others. The course culminates in a hands-on guided approach to scriptwriting by students.

DOCUMENTARIES IN ACTION: THE ART OF THE REAL (FM2032)

Course divided into theoretical and practical sections. The practical half of the course includes daily exercises in "hands-on" documentary research, scripting, sketching and shooting in the streets of Paris, with small video cameras, producing work that will then be critiqued in class. The theoretical component surveys the history of documentary film and different approaches to making documentaries.

PHOTOGRAPHIE ET LE CINEMA (FM2045)

This course will explore the bridges between photographic imagery and cinematographic imagery. This course will focus on contemporary artists (Cindy Sherman, Nana Goldin,Jeff Wall, Gregory Crewdson, etc.) whose hybrid works reconstruct the real and dissolve identity. We will also focus on how the cinematographic eye converges with and complements the photographic eye (Larry Clark, William Klein, Raymond Depardon etc). Conducted in French, this course combines critical analysis of photos and films but it also integrates some practice(production of films and photographs).

INTRO TO HISTORY OF NARRATIVE FILM I (FM2075)

Cinema always raises questions about its times -- the silent era from 1895-1930 is no exception. This course looks at silent cinema through a global lens, tracing a range of influences in the development of film language from early film experiments, the rise of narrative, the work of early film pioneers, German and Soviet film explorations of mise-en-scene and montage, consolidation of the film industry and challenges from avant-garde cinema. The films we screen from Europe and the US,along with key works from Latin American, African and Asian cinema, reflect at a time of social and political upheaval and dazzling cinematic invention.