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Introduces basic media literacy by exploring the technical and aesthetic principles behind the production, analysis and interpretation of films. Explores comprehension and thinking about movies critically as technological, cultural and artistic products. Study of films in different social and historical contexts and discussion of the importance of movies as cultural products.

Understanding representation of space in cinematic arts, as well as the underlying science. What are the political, societal, scientific and commercial motives in attempting to show our species venturing beyond Earth? These adventures highlight our hopes and fears for the future, while simultaneously clarifying contemporary anxieties. From the director G. Melies to the screenwriter B. Marling.

Analyzes the form and structure of narrative, experimental non-narrative, and documentary films. Familiarizes students with the general characteristics of the classic three-act structure, principles of adaptation, form and content of experimental films, structural approaches, and the basic formal, narrative, and rhetorical strategies of documentary filmmaking.

Explores, through close reading and original student work, the form and structure of the screenplay. Students will learn to analyze structural and character elements of classic screenplays, and breaking down such elements as character, motivation, and arc. Students may learn some very basics of screenwriting form, develop a treatment, explore formal and technical issues, etc.

Instructs students in developing a technical and aesthetic understanding of complex camera, lighting, sound, and editing moving image production.�� Students will explore interpretive cinematography, sound design and mixing, preproduction workflows, and move deeper into the mechanics of editing through individual projects and in-class workshops.

This course examines the relationship between American films of the 1960s and their cultural and historical context. Major fears, dreams, issues and events that shaped the decade will be explored, as will directors and stars who rose to prominence during the period. From the promise of the New Frontier, to the anxiety surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the escalation of conflict in Vietnam; from the rise of civil rights to the birth of feminism and gay liberation; from the shattering of the dream of radical social change to the political disillusionment that would culminate in the next decade in Watergate, the ten years between 1960 and 1970 left an enduring imprint on American film. Special attention will be given to examining the nature of that imprint, that is, to exploring how films express ideology--how they manifest, consciously and unconsciously, the values, beliefs, and ideas specific to their moment in history. Emphasis will be placed on learning how to succinctly synthesize historical readings and write incisive critical essays that combine historical information and textual analysis.

David Lynch and the Cinema of Enchantment & Disturbance Since the mid-1970s, visionary filmmaker and artist David Lynch has fused the psychological poetry of European surrealism with his own particular flavor of distinctly American subject. The result is an astonishing array of films, from the early cult-classic Eraserhead, to the controversial Blue Velvet and brutal Fire Walk with Me, to his landmark masterpiece Mulholland Drive. His mind-boggling and boundary-obliterating serial Twin Peaks (1990-2017) remains the most significant television series in the history of the medium. While luxuriating in the sweetness of everyday surfaces, his films explore the painful, unnerving, and often terrifying realities of what it means to be human—all while twisting stories into mysterious Möbius strips and delighting cinematic senses of all sorts. In this course Lynch is set in relation to films, music, sound art, and paintings by a host of fellow-travelers, themselves exploring the beautiful but often upsetting dreams and nightmares we sometimes wish we could escape—but often hope will never end. Recommended for: the Strong of Spirit and Wild at Heart. Not recommended for: everyone else.

This class is conceived to expand our notion of the power and possibilities of nonfiction film, a mix of making, looking, listening, and discussion in more or less equal parts. We will begin with the notion that documentary need not be dull or dutiful; from there, we’ll branch out to explore a range of exciting nonfiction approaches, delving into their history and examining contemporary intellectual and stylistic currents. Your first projects will put image, sound, and language to the test within an expanded field of nonfiction strategies; the new insights gathered from these investigations of you and your classmates will be applied to production of your final short documentary project.

Surveys the most exemplary and significant films in the Horror film genre from the 1920s to the present. With a historical emphasis, the course explores the ways in which the Horror genre has evolved in response to shifting social anxieties and cultural developments, and its reflections on society in various national or international contexts. Expect disturbing content and images.

Intensive introduction to film history from 1895 to 1959. Topics covered include the beginnings of motion picture photography, the growth of narrative complexity from Lumiere to Griffith, American silent comedy, Soviet theories of montage, German expressionist films, and the transition to sound.

This course is designed as an introduction to the major positions and concepts in film theory. As one of the key phenomena of the twentieth century (and part of the mutating media landscape of the twenty-first century), film has attracted a large number of philosophically-minded observers who have sought to understand its power and potential. We tend to take cinema in its present form for granted, and thus it can be an exciting process of defamiliarization to ask ourselves deceptively childlike questions such as, “What is cinema?” or “Why do people go to the movies?” The tradition of film theory allows us to think in new ways about many aspects of the medium—its raw materials, its technical means, its stylistic choices, its social implications, and its meaning for audiences.

In this practical and technical lecture course, students will gain an understanding of a variety of models for creative use of camera, lighting, and sound equipment. A broad survey of production topics, including mise-en-scene, single-camera cinematography, multi-camera cinematography, cinematic lighting design, and sync-sound capture will be introduced/outlined in support of CINE 3400.

Video Game Worlds & Cinematic Expansion: This course explores how cinema has transformed through the process of ‘convergence’ – the ways film intersects and exchanges with mediums like television, video games, and streaming in the digital age. We will explore topics like cinema’s digital turn, including how ‘live-action’ blockbusters increasingly take on principles of animation in their use of computer-generated effects; the way certain video games aspire to be cinematic, just as film and TV increasingly take video games as subject matter; the way streaming video has broadened ‘film’ beyond the cinema, and allowed individual streamers to transform video games into live entertainment; and the way the Japanese anime industry has heavily integrated TV, film, and video games into ‘media mixes’ that flow freely – and even tell stories across – multiple mediums. Readings will engage with theorists like Marshall McLuhan, Henry Jenkins, Barbara Klinger, Marc Steinberg, and Caetlin Benson-Allott, while screenings will include a dynamic, sometimes interactive mix of film, TV, and video game material.

Introduction to small gauge analog moving image formats and technologies with a focus on process and experimentation through hands-on exploration and demonstrations. This process-oriented class will utilize DIY methods and Alternative Process Photography approaches to work creatively with silver based holographic mediums. Students will create moving image works with Super 8mm and 16mm film while exploring the implications and possibilities of working with these mediums within our current digital paradigm.

Through projects, discussions, and screenings, this class explores the practices and aesthetics of computer-based moving-image art editing.

Seminar for the serious round table discussion and critique of film as an art form, emphasizing development of appropriate verbal and written language skills for description of film.

This class is restricted for students in the BFA track.