Landscape in narrative cinema has silent enunciating power. The choice of location shots alone constitutes a set of complex considerations. We may wonder, why was Monument Valley featured in so many westerns? Is it only because of the site’s marvelous photogenicity, or its geographic location, or its social and historical significance? The formal and stylistic choices filmmakers made regarding how landscape is represented on screen, whether as a real or a fictional site, also reveal critical engagements with both social reality and the pictorial conventions of landscape art. Does it look barren or lush? sublime or banal? What is the concept of nature, what is a “view,” or picturesque, and how are these critical questions in representations of landscape framed and mediated in cinema? Does the representation of landscape work for or against the storyline unfolding on screen? What does it tell us about social reality, ecological concerns, and political commentary? This course examines landscape in narrative cinema not only as subject or part of the mise-en-scene but also as a way of seeing, a site of expression, and locus of social, historical, and political meaning. Each week we explore a film genre or a film movement, for example, Western, or Japanese New Wave, and study how landscape functions in that genre. Students are expected to watch films, read, and analyze both the readings and films carefully prior to coming to class. As a term project, each student selects a particular site (any site of their choice) for the focus of their study and research of cinematic landscape in the course. These sites can be a place personal to you, or a place you think is interesting or important in cinema. There will be workshops during the course of the semester to help complete the final project.

• Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Liu, Mia Yinxing
• Room: MSE Library ERC
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 5/15
• PosTag(s): HART-MODERN, MSCH-HUM

Introduction to Cinema provides an overview of American and international cinema from 1960 to the present. Through lectures and discussion, weekly screenings, and intensive visual analysis of individual films, we will explore the aesthetic, cultural, political, and economic forces that have shaped the art and industry of film over the past 60 years. Regular quizzes, writing assignments, class participation required. Mandatory film screenings.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM, Th 7:30PM - 10:00PM Screenings
• Instructor: Ward, Meredith C
• Room: Hodson 311
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 18/48
• PosTag(s): n/a

This course introduces students to the world of digital filmmaking. Through screenings, production assignments, and in-class labs, students will develop proficiency in digital cameras, sound recording devices, and software. Students will work individually to produce several video projects. For their final projects, students will pitch an idea and develop a more complex film.

• Days/Times: Th 10:30AM - 1:00PM
• Instructor: Bae, Wonjung
• Room: The Centre 239
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/8
• PosTag(s): FILM-PROD

This course offers an introduction to the major paradigms of film theory, covering how significant thinkers have conceived of the medium from its inception to the present day. Frequent film screenings help to illustrate key concepts. Topics include the classical opposition between formalist and realist film theories as well as critical approaches to narrative, spectatorship, and representation. Students are expected to enter the course ready to engage in discussion. Weekly film screenings. $50 lab fee.

• Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM, W 7:30PM - 10:00PM Screenings
• Instructor: Ward, Meredith C
• Room: Gilman 35
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 3/10
• PosTag(s): FILM-CRITST

This course will examine films (features and shorts) throughout the history of cinema beginning with Alice  Guy-Blaché . We will look at how form reveals content, thematic issues and how films relate to the culture and politics of the filmmaker. Filmmakers include Germaine Dulac, Nelly Kaplan, Marguerite Duras, Chantal Ackerman, Barbara Hammer and Nina Menkes. Readings include critical essays, texts by the filmmakers and fiction. Assignments consist of weekly papers on the films.

• Days/Times: T 7:30PM - 10:00PM Screenings, Th 5:00PM - 7:30PM
• Instructor: Yasinsky, Karen
• Room: Gilman 186
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/15
• PosTag(s): FILM-CRITST

This course offers a journey through the history of computer animation. We’ll start with an archaeology of the digital image, look at experimental animations by early computer artists, and sketch out the work of engineers in developing techniques of wire-frame modeling, texture mapping, shadowing, and facial animation. Beginning with short films and digital sequences in otherwise live-action movies, we’ll cover a wide variety of animation styles in an international context. Screenings will be drawn from a selection of fully computer-animated features, such as those from Studio Ghibli and Pixar; live-action movies with digital special effects in the mode of Tron (Lisberger, USA, 1982) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Cameron, USA, 1992); films that use computer software to aid traditional methods of animating, such as The Illusionist (Chomet, France, 2010) and Boy and the World (Abreu, Brazil, 2014); and animated documentaries, such as Waltz with Bashir (Folman, Israel, 2008) and Tower (Maitland, USA, 2016).

• Days/Times: M 2:00PM - 4:30PM
• Instructor: Stine, Kyle J.
• Room: The Centre 208
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/15
• PosTag(s): FILM-CRITST, MSCH-HUM

This course explores film adaptation by considering how words, images, and sounds offer different affordances and constraints for creative expression. A central goal is to conceive of adaptation outside of typical discussions of fidelity to a source work and instead consider how different artistic media open up unique opportunities for storytelling. To this end, we will draw on a number of different intermedial translations, which may include from novel to film (The Night of the Hunter, from Davis Grubb’s book to James Agee’s screenplay to Charles Laughton’s film), from short story to film (The Turin Horse), from graphic novel to film (Ghost World) or television series (HBO’s Watchmen), from personal essay to documentary film (James Baldwin’s The Devil Finds Work and I Am Not Your Negro), from poetry to film (O Brother, Where Art Thou), from play to film (A Raisin in the Sun and My Own Private Idaho), from radio drama to film (Sorry, Wrong Number), and film-to-film homage (Far From Heaven and All That Heaven Allows). We will also delve into the vagaries of film-to-book novelizations and the curious case of concurrently writing film and book, as in Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clark’s collaboration on the film and novel 2001: A Space Odyssey (both adapted from a short story).

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Stine, Kyle J.
• Room: Krieger 205
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/15
• PosTag(s): FILM-CRITST

A workshop devoted to creating complex characters in challenging moral landscapes. Students will view and discuss a wide range of films; and creative assignments may include profiles, short fiction, monologues, and dramatic scenes for the screen. Short critical and creative written exercises, and a longer, creative final project.

• Days/Times: M 7:30PM - 10:00PM Screenings, T 3:00PM - 5:30PM
• Instructor: Bucknell, Lucy
• Room: Gilman 186
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 5/9
• PosTag(s): FILM-SCRWRT

The bad guy as hero from Little Caesar to Goodfellas. Film screenings Th 7:30-10:00 PM, Sun 7:00-9:30 PM. In addition to the prerequisites, students should complete an 200-level Film and Media Studies Critical Studies course or obtain permission from the instructor ([email protected]) to enroll.

• Days/Times: M 3:00PM - 5:30PM, Th 7:30PM - 10:00PM Screenings
• Instructor: Bucknell, Lucy
• Room: Bloomberg 176
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/15
• PosTag(s): FILM-CRITST

This course explores how French films have interrogated the body. We will ask how they have attempted to come to terms with human physicality, desire, and fragility--and with the ability of cinema itself to move spectators emotionally and even physically. Themes explored will include sexuality, gender identity and disability. AS.061.140 or AS.061.141 or permission of instructor. $50 lab fee.

• Days/Times: F 1:30PM - 4:00PM, W 7:30PM - 10:00PM Screenings
• Instructor: Roos, Suzanne Lois
• Room: Gilman 377
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 11/15
• PosTag(s): FILM-CRITST, MSCH-HUM

Course is taught in ENGLISH. Did you know that one of the first Latin American actresses to conquer Hollywood was Brazilian? Did you know that cinema has existed in Brazil since 1895, just six months after the first screening in Paris? This course is an introduction to both the academic study of cinema as a communicative art and to Brazilian film. The films selected focus on the late 1950s to the present and highlight import episodes and challenges in the advancement of Brazilian society as well as its cinematic production. Film aesthetics are analyzed through a number of critical perspectives, including class, race, gender as well as ethnicity, nationalism or national identity, colonialism, social changes, and the politics of representation. In this sense, the films, and documentaries that we will be watching and studying encompass the period from the rise of New Cinema (Cinema Novo) up to films exploring the most recent trends, including movies launched up to 2022. Students wishing to do the course work in English for 3 credits should register for section 01. Those wishing to earn 4 credits by doing the course work in Portuguese should register for section 02. No Prereq.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: De Azeredo Cerqueira, Flavia Christina
• Room: Hodson 216
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/20
• PosTag(s): INST-NWHIST, INST-GLOBAL, MLL-ENGL

Course is taught in ENGLISH. Did you know that one of the first Latin American actresses to conquer Hollywood was Brazilian? Did you know that cinema has existed in Brazil since 1895, just six months after the first screening in Paris? This course is an introduction to both the academic study of cinema as a communicative art and to Brazilian film. The films selected focus on the late 1950s to the present and highlight import episodes and challenges in the advancement of Brazilian society as well as its cinematic production. Film aesthetics are analyzed through a number of critical perspectives, including class, race, gender as well as ethnicity, nationalism or national identity, colonialism, social changes, and the politics of representation. In this sense, the films, and documentaries that we will be watching and studying encompass the period from the rise of New Cinema (Cinema Novo) up to films exploring the most recent trends, including movies launched up to 2022. Students wishing to do the course work in English for 3 credits should register for section 01. Those wishing to earn 4 credits by doing the course work in Portuguese should register for section 02. No Prereq.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: De Azeredo Cerqueira, Flavia Christina
• Room: Hodson 216
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/3
• PosTag(s): INST-NWHIST, INST-GLOBAL, MLL-ENGL

This course will emphasize close observation and critical thinking. Through weekly screenings and class discussion, students will practice noticing; seeing and hearing with fresh eyes and ears, and taking nothing on screen for granted. And they’ll learn to reflect on and contextualize what they find, drawing evolved conclusions about how film texts communicate ideas and what those ideas may be. They’ll consider all elements of cinematic form; an array of analytical frameworks including genre, historical era, authorship, and modes of production; and representations of gender, race, and class. Emphasis on discussion over lecture. A short oral presentation and a short written analysis. No prior experience in film studies required; majors and non-majors welcome.

• Days/Times: MTTh 5:30PM - 8:00PM
• Instructor: Bucknell, Lucy
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 8/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

A workshop devoted to the art and science of a funny story well told. Students will analyze comic fiction, film, and classic television, and create their own short, comic works, drawing on personal experience and real-world observation. They'll learn the basics of screenplay format and scene design, and hone close observation and critical thinking skills. This course satisfies the Film and Media Studies screenwriting requirement. 220.105 OR 225.06 recommended but not required. Both majors and non-majors welcome.

• Days/Times: MTTh 5:30PM - 8:00PM
• Instructor: Bucknell, Lucy
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/9
• PosTag(s): n/a

In this course students will learn the fundamentals of film analysis through a survey of American and international films from the silent era to the early 1960s. With an emphasis on discussion over lecture, the class will consider selections from Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe, and the U.S. In addition to lively class participation, requirements include quizzes, shot analysis exercises, and short written responses. No prior experience in film studies required. Non-majors and pre-majors welcome!

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM, Th 7:30PM - 10:00PM Screenings
• Instructor: Ward, Meredith C
• Room: Gilman 219
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 2/25
• PosTag(s): n/a

This course is a study of the visual language used to create a moving picture. Through screenings and discussion of films (narrative, documentary and experimental), videos, and related readings, students will develop a visual critical facility and will demonstrate this facility in several video projects. The course will focus on image construction, including composition, framing, movement inside the frame and use of light as well as meaningful use of sound. Students will learn to be attentive to rhythm and tempo in picture editing and sound. In-class video assignments are included, in which students will work in small groups.

• Days/Times: W 3:00PM - 5:30PM
• Instructor: Roche, Jimmy
• Room: The Centre 216
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/8
• PosTag(s): FILM-PROD

In this course we will explore the history of anime through weekly screenings and short response papers. Directors include early filmmakers Shimokawa, Kouchi, Kitayama and more contemporary influential directors including Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke), Oshii (Ghost in the Shell), Otomo (Akira) and Kon (Paprika). Creative assignments will explore anime's relationship to manga and students will create a short animation as a final project. This class is open to all and no previous animation experience is required.

• Days/Times: M 3:00PM - 5:30PM
• Instructor: Yasinsky, Karen
• Room: Gilman 35
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

This course will encourage students, including non-majors and those in disciplines outside the humanities, to engage with film texts both critically and creatively. Through short written critical responses, short smartphone video exercises, and short creative storytelling exercises, students will explore the language of film from the inside out. In-class screenings of both classic and contemporary films, and an emphasis on discussion over lecture. No prior experience necessary; just bring your love of movies!

• Days/Times: T 5:00PM - 7:50PM
• Instructor: Bucknell, Lucy
• Room: Gilman 50
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/31
• PosTag(s): n/a

This workshop promotes more effective writing, hones interpretive skills, and encourages the development of a distinctive voice through a series of progressively more complex assignments. By sharing draft essays with the class, commenting on one another’s work, and revising, students will learn to edit their own work and to thoughtfully critique others’. Fulfills the Film and Media Studies expository writing requirement.

• Days/Times: Th 12:00PM - 2:30PM
• Instructor: DeLibero, Linda Louise
• Room: The Centre 216
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 4/12
• PosTag(s): FILM-CRITST

This course offers an introduction to internet studies through the many ways digital culture has touched our everyday lives: memes, blogs, gaming, social networking, instant messaging, and more. From its origins in connecting scientific researchers to its present form as a multi-device, multi-platform web connecting us to everything from each other to our smart homes, the internet has proven that nearly our entire social world can be processed as data and linked up. While this has meant greater connection, it has also raised questions about how we learn, communicate, behave, and organize. The internet has long promised new avenues of personal expression, but it has also brought with it the quandaries of echo chambers, information silos, and disinformation campaigns. In response to these complicating effects, the course offers an opportunity for students to develop the critical mapping tools necessary to orient oneself within this vast cultural network and its rapid historical unfolding.

• Days/Times: M 2:00PM - 4:30PM
• Instructor: Stine, Kyle J.
• Room: The Centre 208
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 18/30
• PosTag(s): FILM-CRITST, MSCH-HUM

Before film even emerged as a popular entertainment form, motion pictures were used to study the human body for purposes of scientific inquiry and medical practice. The present-day crossovers between imaging science and cinema—the inclusion of medical imaging in movies and television shows, the deployment of informational videos and animations in telehealth, and the myriad ways that digital imaging itself is spurred on by the needs of scientific investigation and the demand for cultural works—suggest that what we know about the human body is caught up in a complex web of technical representations and cultural meanings. This course explores the construction of the human body within this array of cinematic practice. Our approach will be twofold: First, we will consider scientific and medical images not merely as powerful means of seeing what would otherwise be unseeable but also as technically enabled and culturally influenced ways of knowing, that is, images, as in cinema, that are historical and could be otherwise. Second, we will examine representations of the human body in the history of film, focusing on how bodies are represented, what bodies are privileged, and how bodies are figured using medical imaging.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Stine, Kyle J.
• Room: Krieger 306
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/15
• PosTag(s): FILM-CRITST, MSCH-HUM

Surrealism, a movement to revolutionize human thought and experience, continues to influence art and culture. We'll define Surrealism through primary texts, including those of Andre Breton, Antonin Artaud and others as well as through the films created in the early part of the 20th century. Using an understanding of surrealism found in the readings, as well as in surrealist games and automatic writing, we'll study a diverse group of filmmakers influenced by the practice, including Luis Buñuel, Joseph Cornell, Raul Ruiz and contemporary artists such as David Lynch. Assignments include weekly papers and one final creative project.

• Days/Times: M 7:30PM - 10:00PM Screenings, TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Yasinsky, Karen
• Room: Hodson 303
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 3/12
• PosTag(s): FILM-CRITST

Violence, ritualized and anarchic, celebrated and deplored, in popular film from silent era melodrama and slapstick comedy to contemporary sports, crime, and combat films. Two short critical papers and an oral presentation. Interested non-majors and pre-majors may contact the instructor about permission to enroll: [email protected].

• Days/Times: M 3:00PM - 5:20PM, Th 7:30PM - 10:00PM Screenings
• Instructor: Bucknell, Lucy
• Room: Krieger 180
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 7/15
• PosTag(s): FILM-CRITST

For the past fifty years, scholars and cinephiles have been drawn to psychoanalysis as a tool for understanding the unconscious effects films have on their viewers. However, over the past twenty years, since the dawn of television’s Second Golden Age, there has been significantly less psychoanalytic engagement with television as a medium. Marxist theorists and critics, on the other hand, have long been interested in television. But until relatively recently, this was usually to bemoan it as an ideological product of the “culture industry.” This course draws on central texts of media studies, as well as key texts in psychoanalytic and Marxist theory, to ask some of the following questions: What is formally unique about the television episode? Are series works of art or commodities, or both? What is Prestige TV, and is it over? What role have streaming services played in the evolution of the medium? What is binge watching, and why do we both love and hate to do it? We will watch episodes of many of the most lauded serial dramas of the past few decades, such as The Sopranos, Twin Peaks, Mad Men, The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Succession, as well as critically acclaimed comedies like The Simpsons, Seinfeld, The Office (UK), and Peep Show. We will read theorists such as Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Laura Mulvey, Jason Mittell, Mark Fisher, and Todd McGowan.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Meyer, Marshall
• Room: Shaffer 202
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

What do films and philosophy have in common? Do films express, with their own means, philosophical problems that are relevant to our experience of ourselves and the world we live in? This term we will study such issues with a particular focus on questions of justice, truth, revenge, forgiveness, hope, hate, and fear.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Marrati, Paola
• Room: Gilman 208
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 8/25
• PosTag(s): n/a