Below are descriptions for courses in the undergraduate concentration in Cinema and Media Studies (CMS). For further work in Cinema and Media Studies, students are also encouraged to investigate other courses taught by the Resource Faculty. Film screenings add three to four hours per week to class time for the majority of courses. Please note: This page is updated only periodically; for the most accurate, up-to-date information, consult the Registrar's online timeschedules.

10100. Introduction to Film I (=ARTH 20000, COVA 25300, ENGL 10800, ISHU 20000):

This course introduces basic concepts of film analysis, which are discussed through examples from different national cinemas, genres, and directorial oeuvres. Along with questions of film technique and style, we consider the notion of the cinema as an institution that comprises an industrial system of production, social and aesthetic norms and codes, and particular modes of reception. Films discussed include works by Hitchcock, Porter, Griffith, Eisenstein, Lang, Renoir, Sternberg, and Welles. J. Yumibe. Autumn.

10100. Introduction to Film I (=ARTH 20000, COVA 25300, ENGL 10800, ISHU 20000):

This course introduces basic concepts of film analysis, which are discussed through examples from different national cinemas, genres, and directorial oeuvres. Along with questions of film technique and style, we consider the notion of the cinema as an institution that comprises an industrial system of production, social and aesthetic norms and codes, and particular modes of reception. Films discussed include works by Hitchcock, Porter, Griffith, Eisenstein, Lang, Renoir, Sternberg, and Welles. L. Carruthers. Spring.

12301. The Sexual Subject in Weimar Cinema (=HUMA 23501):

The period between the World Wars in Germany, known as the Weimar Republic, arguably stands as the highpoint of German cinema: the years from 1918 to 1933 witnessed an incredible degree of technical and artistic achievement in filmmaking. Film critics and historians have written about the era obsessively, partly because of that degree of mastery. Beginning with the earliest works on Weimar cinema, however, film historians such as Siegfried Kracauer (From Caligari to Hitler, 1947) and Lotte Eisner (The Haunted Screen, 1969) have dealt with the ways in which film drew upon and influenced other art forms, reflected national psychology, and influenced society. More recent studies have emphasized and interrogated the problematic representations of sexuality and gender in films of the period. With their many sexualized monsters, doubles, femmes fatales, and cross-dressers and their thematization of vision and desire, these films suggest the highly contested nature of sexuality at the time. In this course we will view several of the key cinematic texts of the period (and some lesser known ones as well) and think critically about their depictions of gender, sexuality, power, and desire. We will also read contemporary documents as well as early and recent theoretical and historical works on the period that ask what sorts of sexual subjects Weimar cinema proposes. D. Illet. Spring.

14101. Hindi Film of the 1940s and 1950s: Melodrama and Melancholy (=SALC 20501):

This course examines Hindi film at a very particular juncture in Indian film history, through the works of three of the most illustrious directors of the so-called classical era, Mehboob Khan, Raj Kapoor, and Guru Dutt the latter two were also extremely popular actors. It is an attempt to look at Hindi film as film, and not as a socio-political text pregnant with ideological meaning. It is a course designed to understand the particular aesthetic logic and affect of popular Hindi cinema. It does this first by tracing the genealogy of film s arrival in the subcontinent, looking at the various changing aesthetic, political and social strands that converged to allow this and contributed to the particular mode of Hindi film, such as poetry and drama, colonialism and communalism. Each director s cinematic technique, structure and style will be studied in depth, with a particular attention to the relation of these films to what is understood as the melodramatic genre. Requirements: A weekly response paper (one page maximum) on the week s reading. A midterm paper--a close study of one scene of any screened film. A final paper--a discussion of at least three films seen in the course, using one of the analytic methods studied. B. Tiwari. Spring.

15103. Film Noir:

Film noir refers, most generally, to a range of films produced during the 1940s and 1950s in Hollywood that share distinct formal and ideological features. At the same time, it also signals a rich area of inquiry for academic film studies that has motivated new questions, debates and critical approaches. In our course, we will think about noir as a group of films that seem to have within them the sorts of paradoxes that criticism gravitates toward. There is, as critics have continually noted, something indefinable about noir something that resists absolute categorization. So on the one hand, film noir can be taken as an idea that has meant different things for different critics, and on the other, as a collection of texts that continues to solicit our attention. The course will focus primarily upon noir titles made during the classical era, but with attention to the cycle s literary and cinematic antecedents. We will also discuss instances of neo-noir produced more recently. L. Carruthers. Winter.

17901. Color Cinema (=DOVA 17000):

This course surveys the aesthetic and technological history of color cinema. We will explore cinema s relation to other color media such as lanternslides, mass advertising, city lighting, painting, literature, and stage design. We will also trace the technological varieties of color cinema: from applied color on film (tinting, stenciling, hand painting, etc.) to natural color processes (Technicolor, Eastmancolor, etc.). Aesthetically, we will explore issues of color stylistics and affect: how color has been interpreted as having both positive and destructive influence over spectators. This will lead us through discussions of color developed in the 19th and 20th centuries that theorize color in relation to philosophy, mass culture, and sexuality (Goethe, Huysmans, Benjamin, Batchelor, etc.). Films to be surveyed will range from early cinema (Annabelle Dances, The Red Spectre), narrative cinema of twenties (The Black Pirate, Lonesome), Technicolor of the thirties (Becky Sharp), Melodrama (Sirk), Musicals (Minelli), European art cinemas and new waves (Ophuls, Godard, Antonioni), and experimental (Harry Smith, Oskar Fischinger, Len Lye). J. Yumibe. Winter.

20201. Black Queer Media(makers) (=CMST 40201, ENGL 28602/48602, GNDR 20201/40201):

This course surveys current films, videos and television programs by and about black gays and lesbians, focusing primarily on the recent emergence of black queer feature filmmakers (Cheryl Dunye, Rodney Evans, Angela Robinson, Patrick Ian Polk) and proliferation of black queer characters on television ( The L Word , The Wire , Metrosexuality and Six Feet Under ). Framing our discussion with the race, gender, and cultural movements of the late 20th century, as well as the technological innovations that led to democratization in media production, this course will survey media produced by and about black gays and lesbians in the United States and abroad; explore alternative independent systems developed to counter media industry hegemony; and evaluate diverse approaches to contemporary media and cultural criticism. Y. Welbon. Autumn.

20902. Cinema and the Queer Avant-Garde, 1920 to 1950 (=CMST 40902):

Through the films and written work of Kenneth Macpherson and the Pool Group, Jean Cocteau, Parker Tyler (and Charles Henri Ford), Joseph Cornell and others, we will construct a study of queer avant garde practice and content between WWI and WWII. We will also survey literary, artistic, religious, psychoanalytic, and other texts, which influenced these artists experimental practice and understandings of queer subjectivity. R. Gregg. Spring.

24102. Bollywood India: Film and History (=CMST 34102, HIST 26701/36701, SALC 20502):

The first Indian talkie "Alam Ara" was made in 1931 in Bombay. By 1947 the Bombay film industry was among the largest industries of the country. It now produces twice as many films as Hollywood, approximately one thousand films per year. Hindi films are critical for understanding the new Indian city, Indian discourses about gender and sexuality, Indian politics and the diaspora. Through Bollywood, this course is a study of South Asian imaginations of modernity and globalization.R. Majumdar. Winter.

24602. Post-Socialist Filmmaking in China Since 1990 (=CMST 34602, EALC 24602/34602):

This class deals with postsocialist filmmaking in China after 1990, a 15-year period marked by profound ideological, socioeconomic, and cultural changes. Different modes of filmmaking have competed with each other and have generated a wide spectrum of representations and practices, and a new generation has emerged to claim critical attention at home and abroad. After a brief survey of competing modes and agencies, we will move from the fifth generation to the sixth generation and beyond (e.g., the new urban generation ). Directors to be studied in depth include Chen Kaige, Zhang Yuan, Guan Hu, Jiang Wen, Feng Xiaogang, Lou Ye, Dai Sijie, Li Yang, Jia Zhangke, and Zhang Yimou. Students are required to view all primary films, complete all required readings, make presentations in class, write five short papers and one term paper, and take a midterm and a final exam. All films carry English subtitles; all readings are in English. No knowledge of Chinese is required. Y. Zhang. Winter.

25102. Narratives of Suspense in European and Russian Literature and Cinema (=CMST 35102, CMLT 22100, HUMA 26901/36901, ISHU 26901/36901, SLAV 26900/36900):

This course explores the source of suspense, its structural role in narratives, and its implications for narrative theory and philosophical aesthetics. Examples are taken from various genres by authors including Samuel Taylor Coleridge, E. A. Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Fedor Dostoevsky, J. M. Coetzee, and Samuel Beckett. Consideration is also given to suspense in cinematic narratives (from Hitchcock to Tarkovsky). Theoretical readings (from Coleridge to Losev, Genette, Ricoeur, and Derrida) link suspense to detachment, distance, distraction, suspension of belief, and engagement. R. Bird. Winter.

25201. Cinema and the First Avant-Garde, 1890-1933 (=CMST 45201, ARTH 25205, COVA 25201):

PQ: CMST 10100 and CMST 28500, or consent of instructor. Throughout its history cinema has had a strong relation to avant-garde movements, usually in terms of direct influences (films made by members of these movements) or by more ambivalent relations of imitation or influence (going both ways: films which show the influence of various movements and avant-garde work that show the influence of film). This course will explore the manner in which a number of movements (as well as the concept of the avant-garde more generally) have related to the cinema, both in practice and theory. The following movements will be considered: Symbolism; Futurism (Italian and Russian); Dada; Constructivism; Surrealism; De Stijl. The Cineclub movement and magazines dedicated to the film and the avant-garde will also be studied. Readings will include manifestos and documents from the various movements, as well as historical studies; Texts by Poggioli and Burger will also be read. Films by Bauer, Lang, Wiene, Bragaglia, Eisenstein, Richter, Ruttmann, Vertov, Ivens, Dulac, Epstein and others will be shown.T. Gunning. Winter.

26701. Jan Svankmajer and Contemporary Surrealism (=CMST 36701, CZEC 27900/37900, ISHU 27901/37901):

The animator of Prague, Jan Svankmajer, is one of the greatest living advocates of Surrealism as a modus vivendi. The course studies intensively his life work, from films shorts such as Dimensions of Dialogue to feature films like the recent Conspirators of Pleasure and Little Otik, to his tactile poems and collages. We also read interviews with Svankmajer and his colleagues, essays on contemporary Surrealism, and critical works on the theory of the neo-avant-garde and the cultural situation of avant-garde art in East/Central Europe. The course is conducted in the style of a seminar with a strong focus on discussion and the requirement of one final paper or project. M. Sternstein. Spring.

27401. Cinema as Vernacular Modernism: An International Perspective (=COVA 25301, ENGL 28701):

This course focuses on an important direction in 20th century mainstream cinema that can be considered as a "vernacular" form of modernism, interacting with but also independent from modernist movements in the traditional media. We will explore this idea beginning with a sample of Hollywood films (slapstick comedies, The Crowd, Lonesome, Gold Diggers of 1933, film noir) and responses to American cinema by artists and intellectuals, mostly European. We will then look at examples from British, Soviet, Italian, Chinese, and Japanese cinema, asking how these films can be understood as both aesthetic expressions of and responses to the social and cultural experience of modernity and modernization including the world-wide circulation of Hollywood films -- in different local and global constellations. M. Hansen. Winter.

27501. Cult of Personality: Hitler, Stalin, Mao (=CMST 37501, EEUR 24500/34500):

While interested in the historical and political girders for the regimes of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, the focus of this course is the psycho-erotic blueprint of their cults of personality. With the view of evaluating how visual discourse and the culture industry manufacture charisma and how violence might inhere in the production and maintenance of charisma, we read from a variety of genres on the topic (i.e., critical theory, fiction, memoir), including works by Georges Bataille, Milan Kundera, Norman Manea, Martin Amis, and Anchee Min M. Sternstein. Autumn.

27600. Beginning Photography (=CMST 37600, COVA 24000):

PQ: COVA 10100, 10200, or consent of instructor. A camera and light meter are required. Photography affords a relatively simple and accessible means for making pictures. Through demonstration, students are introduced to technical procedures and basic skills, and begin to establish criteria for artistic expression. Possibilities and limitations inherent in the medium are topics of classroom discussion. Class sessions and field trips to local exhibitions investigate the contemporary photograph in relation to its historical and social context. Course work culminates in a portfolio of works exemplary of the student's understanding of the medium. Field trips required. Staff, Autumn. L. Letinsky, Winter.

27602. Photography Workshop I (=CMST 37602, COVA 24401/34401):

PQ: COVA 10100 or 10200; or consent of instructor.Camera and light meter required. Using photographic materials, black & white or color, students focus on a set of issues and ideas that expand upon their experience and knowledge, and that have particular relevance to them. All course work is directed toward the production of a cohesive body of photographic work. An investigation of contemporary and historic art issues informs the students' exploration as does extensive darkroom work, gallery visits,critical readings, group and individual critiques, and presentations. Course can be taken several times as color and/or black and white, with series of projects developing and changing. Lab fee $60. L. Letinsky. Winter, Spring.

27701. Advanced Black and White Photography (=CMST 37701, COVA 27802):

PQ: COVA 10100 or 10200, and 24000 or 24100, or consent of instructor. Camera and light meter required. Throughout the quarter, students concentrate on a set of issues and ideas that expand upon their experience and knowledge, and that have particular relevance to them. All course work is directed towards the production of a cohesive body of black-and-white photographs. An investigation of contemporary and historic photographic issues informs the students' photographic practice and includes visits to local exhibitions, critical readings, darkroom techniques, and class and individual critiques. Visits to local exhibitions and darkroom work required. Lab fee $60. L. Letinsky. Spring.

27702. Photography Workshop II (=CMST 37702, COVA 24402/34402):

PQ: COVA 10100 or 10200; or consent of instructor.Camera and light meter required. Using photographic materials, black & white or color, students focus on a set of issues and ideas that expand upon their experience and knowledge, and that have particular relevance to them. All course work is directed toward the production of a cohesive body of photographic work. An investigation of contemporary and historic art issues informs the students' exploration as does extensive darkroom work, gallery visits,critical readings, group and individual critiques, and presentations. Course can be taken several times as color and/or black and white, with series of projects developing and changing. Lab fee $60. L. Letinsky. Winter, Spring.

27800. Theories of Media (=CMST 37800, ARTH 25900/35900, COVA 25400, ENGL 12800/32800, ISHU 21800, MAPH 32800):

PQ: Any 10000-level ARTH or COVA course, or consent of instructor. This course explores the concept of media and mediation in very broad terms, looking not only at modern technical media and mass media but also at the very idea of a medium as a means of communication, a set of institutional practices and a habitat in which images proliferate and take on a life of their own. Readings include classic texts (e.g., Plato s Allegory of the Cave and Cratylus, Aristotle s Poetics); and modern texts (e.g., Marshall McLuhan s Understanding Media, Regis Debray s Mediology, Friedrich Kittler s Gramaphone, Film, Typewriter).W. J. T. Mitchell. Winter.

27900. Color Photography (=CMST 37900, COVA 24300):

Course work is directed towards the investigation of color photographic materials, specifically with color negative film to make chromagenic prints. Students focus on a set of issues and ideas that expand upon their experience and knowledge. An investigation of contemporary and historic photographic issues informs the students exploration, as does extensive darkroom work, gallery visits, and class and individual critiques. Visits to local exhibitions and darkroom work required. Lab fee $60. L. Letinsky. Spring.

28000. Documentary Video (=CMST 38000, COVA 23901/33901):

This course focuses on the making of independent documentary video. Examples of direct cinema, cinéma vérité, the essay, ethnographic film, the diary and self-reflexive cinema, historical and biographical film, agitprop/activist forms, and guerilla television are screened and discussed. Topics include the ethics and politics of representation and the shifting lines between fact and fiction. Labs explore pre-production, camera, sound, and editing. Students develop an idea for a documentary video; form crews; and produce, edit, and screen a five-minute documentary. A two-hour lab is required in addition to class time. Lab fee $50. J. Hoffman. Winter.

28001. Documentary Video: Production Techniques (=COVA 23902):

PQ: COVA 23901 or consent of instructor This course focuses on the shaping and crafting of a nonfiction video. Sutdents are expected to write a treatment detailing their project. Production techniques concentrate on the handheld camera versus tripod, interviewing and microphone placement, and lighting for the interview. Post-production covers editing techniques and distribution strategies. Students then screen final projects in a public space. J. Hoffman. Spring.

28100. Issues in Film Music (=CMST 38100, MUSI 22901/30901):

This course explores the role of film music in the history of cinema. What role does music play as part of the narrative (source music) and as non-diegetic music (underscoring)? How does music of different styles and provenance contribute to the semiotic universe of film? And how did film music assume a central voice in twentieth-century culture? We study music composed for films (original scores) as well as pre-existent music (such as popular and classical music). The twenty films covered in the course may include classical Hollywood cinema, documentaries, foreign (including non-Western) films, experimental films, musicals, and cartoons. B. Hoeckner. Autumn.

28200. Non-fiction Film: Representations and Performance. (=CMST 38200, COVA 25100/35101, HRMT 25101):

We will attempt to define Non-Fiction cinema by looking at the history of its major modes. These include the Documentary, Essay, Ethnographic, and Agit-prop film, as well as Personal/autobiographical and Experimental works that are less easily classifiable. We will explore some of the theoretical discourses that surround this most philosophical of film genres, such as the ethics and politics of representation, and the shifting lines between fact and fiction, truth and reality. The relationship between the Documentary and the State will be examined in light of the genre s tendancy to inform and instruct. We will consider the tensions of filmmaking and the performative aspects in front of the lens, as well as the performance of the camera itself. Finally, we will look at the ways in which distribution and television effect the production and content of non-fiction film. J. Hoffman. Autumn.

28500. History of International Cinema, Part I, Silent Era (=CMST 48500, ARTH 28500/38500, CMLT 22400/32400, COVA 26500, ENGL 29300/48700, MAPH 33600):

PQ: CMST 10100 must be take before or concurrently with this course. This is the first part of a two-quarter course. The two parts may be taken individually, but taking them in sequence is helpful. The aim of this course is to introduce students to what was singular about the art and craft of silent film. Its general outline is chronological. We will discuss main national schools and international trends of filmmaking. Y. Tsivian. Autumn.

28600. History of International Cinema, Part II, Sound Era (=CMST 48600, ARTH 28600/38600, CMLT 22500/32500, COVA 26600, ENGL 29600/48900, MAPH 33700):

PQ: CMST 10100. This is the second part of the international survey history of film covering the sound era up to 1960. It is strongly recommended that students take the first section first. This course focuses on industrial practices and aesthetics during Hollywood s studio era (1927 to 1960) and alternatives to the Hollywood film, including French poetic realism, Italian neorealism, and Japanese cinema. We will also consider the important political, economic, social and cultural forces, which influenced Hollywood and other cinemas during this period, particularly the rise of fascism in the 1930s, WWII, Hollywood s postwar economic struggles, and various national new wave cinemas. Screenings will include films by Berkeley, Renoir, Huston, Welles, De Sica, Ozu, Hitchcock and Godard. Y. Tsivian. Winter.

28800. Digital Imaging (=COVA 22500):

PQ COVA 10100 or 10200, or consent of instructor. Using the Macintosh platform this course serves as an introduction to the use of digital technology as a means of making visual art. Instruction will cover Photo Shop's graphics program as well as digital imaging hardware (scanners, storage, and printing). In addition we will be addressing problems of color, design, collage, and drawing. Topics of discussion may include questions regarding the mediated image and its relationship to art as well as examining what constitutes the "real" in contemporary culture. Lab fee $60. A. Ruttan. Autumn.

28900. Video I: Beginning Video (=CMST 38900, COVA 23800):

PQ: COVA 10100 or 10200, or CMST 10100. An introduction to video making, with digital cameras and non-linear (digital) editing. Students will produce a group of short works, which will be contextualized by viewing and discussion of historical and contemporary video works. Video versus film, editing strategies and appropriation are some of the subjects that will be part of an ongoing conversation. Lab fee $60. Autumn.

28903. Video Workshop (=CMST 38903, COVA 23801):

PQ: COVA 23800 or consent of instructor.A production course geared towards experimental works and video within a studio art context. Screenings will include recent works by Harrison & Wood, Fischli & Weiss, Martin Kersels, Jane & Louise Wilson, Halflifers, Douglas Gordon and others. Discussions and readings will address non-narrative strategies, rapidly changing technology and viable approaches to producing video art in a world full of video images. Lab fee $60. Winter, Spring.

28904. Video: Camera, Lights, Sound (=CMST 38904, COVA 23903/33903):

PQ: COVA 23800/23901 or consent of instructor. Previous video or film experience helpful but not required. This intensive laboratory explores differences between video formats, video and film, and experiement with basic lighting design. The class is organized around a series of production situations and students work in crews to understand modes of production. Each crew learns to operate and maintain the Panasonic AG-DVX100 24p camera: Bolex 16mm camera, and Sachtler tripod; and Arri lights, gels, diffusion, and grip equipment. There will be additional workshops, field trips, and screenings. An additional lab outside of class time lab is required. Lab fee $50. J. Hoffman. Autumn.

29700. Reading & Research Course:

PQ: Consent of faculty adviser and Director of Undergraduate Studies. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. This course may be used to satisfy distribution requirements for Cinema and Media Studies majors. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

29800. Senior Colloquium:

PQ: CMST 10100. Required of all Cinema and Media Studies majors. This seminar is designed to provide senior concentrators with a sense of the variety of methods and approaches in the field (such as formal analysis, cultural history, industrial history, reception studies, psychoanalysis). Students will present material relating to their B.A. project, which will be discussed in relation to the issues of the course. T. Gunning. Autumn.

29900. B.A. Research Paper:

PQ: Consent of instructor. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Form. This course may not be counted toward distribution requirements for the major, but may be counted as a free-elective credit. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.