Courses - Cloned
Fall 2021 Offerings Course Info on SIS Archives
Course Descriptions
The list below includes descriptions of all undergraduate and graduate courses offered by the Department of Film and Media Studies, though some courses may be taught more often than others. Descriptions for special topics seminars are updated each semester.
Visit the undergraduate page for course requirements for specific programs. For up-to-date information on course offerings, schedules, room locations, and registration, please visit the Student Information System (SIS).
Undergraduate Courses
FMS 0020 Art of the Moving Image. (Cross-listed as ILVS 51) Exploration of cinema's basic aesthetic characteristics: its stylistic features, such as editing, cinematography, and sound, as well as its major narrative and non-narrative forms. Screenings include a variety of films from the US and abroad that exemplify cinema's myriad forms and styles: mainstream and avant-garde, fiction and non-fiction, narrative and non-narrative, black-and-white and color, silent and sound. Discussion of the extent to which cinema's aesthetic features are shared by television and interactive media such as video games, as well as what is artistically distinctive about these newer moving image media.
FMS 0021 Global History of Cinema. (Cross-listed as ILVS 52) History of cinema beginning with the emergence of the technologies for making and exhibiting films around 1894 and the major genres of early cinema (1895-1904); the development of "classical" narrative film in the US in the 1900s and 1910s; the creation of alternatives to classical cinematic storytelling in the 1920s in France, Germany, the Soviet Union and elsewhere; the rise of documentary and experimental film; and the coming of synchronized sound in the late 1920s. European responses to the increasing political turmoil in the lead-up to WWII in the 1930s; Japanese popular traditions of filmmaking, the impact of WWII on film history; the emergence of Italian Neo-Realism and "modernist" art cinema in the late 1940s and 1950s; the New Waves of the late 1950s; and political modernist, post-colonial, feminist and other radical forms of filmmaking that arose in response to the political crises of the 1960s. Survey of world cinema since the 1970s, focusing on the changes that have occurred in mainstream Hollywood filmmaking and the work of filmmakers in Hong Kong and other non-western countries.
FMS 0024 Television History. (Cross-listed with TPS 24) Examination of the introduction and development of U.S. television during the network era (40s-90s). Development of television (in the U.S. and within a global context) from its conception through its industrial, technical, aesthetic, and textual development to understand how American broadcast television emerged as a dominant cultural force around the world. Explore how specific analytical concepts in television studies develop. Learn and practice how media theory takes on historical research. Fulfills the FMS media history requirement.
FMS 0030 Film and Media Production I. Tools and techniques necessary to create stories for film, television, and the web. Focus on how to effectively use the camera, set lights, record sound, and edit. Emphasis on learning both film style and scene building in preparation for making a short film in FMS 31. Recommended for first- and second-year students.
FMS 0031 Making the Short Film. Collaborative work to develop skills in producing, casting, directing, cinematography, and finishing by making their own short features. Prerequisite: FMS 30 or permission of the instructor.
FMS 0032 Screenwriting I. (Cross-listed as TPS 79) Immersive workshop in the craft of writing short, engaging scripts. Introduction to screenwriting and dramatic construction, taking the short film from concept to screenplay. Screenings and analysis of narrative shorts from around the world supplement weekly script development and roundtable discussion of student work.
FMS 0033 Screenwriting II. (Cross-listed as TPS 178) Study of screenwriting with an emphasis on story, structure, and character development. Analysis of films and produced screenplays. Weekly workshops emphasizing peer analysis and critique. Completion of the first act of a feature-length screenplay and an outline of Acts II and III.
FMS 0034 Producing for Film. (Cross-listed as TPS 151) Exploration of the art of creative film production through participation on the production team for a new professional film project. Through film analysis, theoretical readings, project development, production experience, and engagement with working filmmakers, students will expand their capacities to think as artists and critics. Learn and practice fundamental elements of successful producing, including script breakdown, budgeting, fundraising, executing contracts, copyright and other legal documents, casting, scheduling, location scouting, shooting, editing, marketing, and distribution. Gain skills to facilitate their own future projects, while developing increased understanding of film as a collaborative medium. Prerequisite: Film and Media Production 1 or Instructor consent.
FMS 0035 New Forms of Screen Narrative. (Cross listed as ENG 12) A workshop course on the screenplay. Students will be encouraged to understand, but then break free of Hollywood norms and standards for the narrative film. Towards this end, we will focus on alternate story structures that have developed in the other narrative arts, particularly the novel and short story, and in non-Hollywood films (independent and foreign). Students will produce a short treatment of a story, and thirty pages of screenplay. Recommendations: ENG 1, 2 REQUIRED or Fulfillment of College Writing Requirement.
FMS 0036 Costume Design. (Cross listed as TPS 71) Development of the skills of script analysis, rendering, and process for the design of costumes.
FMS 0037 Documentary Film: History and Practice. Documentary filmmaking class that emphasizes hands-on nonfiction fieldwork. Examines documentary history and theory to provide an understanding of how documentarians communicate a distinct point of view. Individual and group assignments designed to teach technical skills and examine different aspects of the documentary fieldwork process. Final documentary media project.
FMS 0038 Dance & the Hollywood Musical. (Cross-listed with DNC 85) The role of dance in the film musical genre over the past century. Explores how bodies, movement vocabulary, and choreography can reinforce, oppose, and/or comment on contemporary society and our “collective” cultural identity. How do parallel developments in cinema and art impact the way we view dance? How are race, gender, and nationality portrayed? How do we define and view this genre today? Viewings, readings, movement experiences, discussions, and independent projects. Focus on developing literacy and critical research skills in dance. No previous dance or film background required. Recommendation: Art History and/or critical studies course in the arts.
FMS 0039 Dance on Camera. (Cross-listed as DNC 77) Inter-disciplinary course designed for any dancer, artist or student interested in film & video production with dance or movement as a medium. Participants will take dance and movement concepts outside of studio walls and into the community through site-specific collaborative video projects. Through storyboarding, shooting, editing, and choreographing/directing, students will learn basic video production techniques and advanced camera work in this hands-on course. Development of movement ideas as well as non-linear editing skills will be explored. Work culminates in end of semester public screening and online video sharing. Open to all. No dance or film/video experience necessary.
FMS 0041 Creative Writing: Journalism. (Cross-listed as ENG 7) A course open to all interested students who want practice and instruction in journalism in a workshop situation. Open to all who have completed the College Writing Requirement. Each section is limited to fifteen students. Pre-requisites: Completion of the College Writing Requirement
FMS 0042 Intermediate Journalism. (Cross-listed as ENG 11 and CVS 41) Intensive practice and critical guidance in journalistic writing. Emphasis on weekly papers and on class discussion of student work, but with some reading and study of classical rhetoric. Opportunities to write papers on subjects in fields of personal and academic interest. Pre-requisites: ENG 1 and 2 or completion of the College Writing Requirement
FMS 0043 Public Relations and Marketing: A History of Theory and Tactics. Exploration of history of PR and marketing theory in the USA and how it evolved with and influenced media environment and public discourse. Traces evolution of mass persuasion using the writings of major thinkers in the field from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Examines how these developed in parallel with social changes and uses case studies. Analyzes advertising, design, and public relations campaigns. Team project to create their own marketing communications plan for a product, person, place, or concept.
FMS 0044 Social Marketing: Theory and Practice. Explores the field of social marketing, which uses marketing concepts and tools to promote political and social causes such as eliminating poverty and creating equality. Examines the theories and history of this field using authors from psychology, media studies, and social and commercial marketing. Analyzes case studies of how marketing has succeeded in persuading consumers to invest in political and social causes the same way they do in commodities, changing behavior to improve health, the environment, voting, and social justice among others. Team projects applying these theories by partnering with local non-profit organizations, analyzing each organization’s communications and marketing goals, and providing them with a marketing communications plan that includes both new strategies and tactics such as logos, web pages, print materials, or event and outreach concepts.
FMS 0050 Disney/Ghibli: Comparing Two Animation Studios. (Cross-listed as ILVS 78 & JPN 83) Critical comparison of two of the most influential animation studios in the contemporary world, each a cultural phenomenon. Focus on the contrast between Japanese and American worldviews. History, aesthetics, and narrative style of both studios and their differing approaches to gender, national ideology, ethics, and environmental concerns. In English.
FMS 0051 Cultures of Computing. (Cross-listed as STS 0136 and ANTH 136) Examines computers and computation as sociocultural phenomena. Questions universalizing narratives of technological progress by exploring the variety of human experience with computing. Topics include social media, postcolonial computing, the gender of artificial intelligence, the social analysis of mathematics, and the sociocultural implications of big data and contemporary algorithmic systems.
FMS 0052 Children and Mass Media. (Cross-listed as CSHD 167 and CVS 147) Why educators, broadcasters, advertisers, and politicians consider children a special audience of the mass media. Examination of children's media content (television, video, computers, film, and print) and the effects of media on children and adolescents. Regulations that govern children's media use, including V-chip, ratings systems, and Internet access. Student projects on media literacy and other topics.
FMS 0053 Media and Society. (Cross-listed with Soc 0040) Social and economic organization of the mass media of communication. Effects on content. Themes of mass culture. Social composition of the audience. Effects of the media on the audience. Topics such as television, films, the press, books, magazines, and advertising.
FMS 0054 Introduction to Media Culture and Theory. (Cross-listed with TPS 22 and ILVS 54) Qualitative media studies, its history, intellectual development, and theoretical milestones. Introduction to study of popular media culture. Covers major areas of study, theoretical principles, methodologies, and debates that have shaped popular media studies. Theoretical approaches to issues and case studies (including representation, labor and authorship, contemporary media convergence, fandom and participatory culture, media globalization, reality television, game studies, industry research and more). Students acquire knowledge of the major theories that define the field and contemporary application of these theories in critical engagements with media texts and practices.
FMS 0055 Media Literacy. (Cross-listed as TCS 22 and CSHD 113) Exploration of the theorists working in the field of New Media Literacy and examination of how the systems and institutions of mass media shape images; analysis and critique of the literature on media effects. Focus on utilizing media production as an application of course concepts. Assessment of core debates surrounding the value of bringing new media technologies and participatory culture practices into formal systems of education and discussion of why American public education has been so reluctant to embrace them.
FMS 0056 Anthropology of Journalism. (Cross-listed as ANTH 133) Anthropological approaches to the study of journalism across cultural and political systems and at various scales. How is participation in discussions of public import regulated? How is truth publicly established within a community or society? What are the roles of different forms of media in journalism? What is the relationship between the state and modes of knowledge production? What role do various emotions and styles have in advancing discussions of issues of public concern? Theoretical approaches to the public and ethnographies of community news, foreign correspondence, and photojournalism. How certain liberal democratic norms for journalism have propagated and how geopolitical hierarchies are replicated within the field of journalism.
FMS 0057 Media of the Middle East. (Cross-listed as ILVS 144 and ANTH 144) Examines the contemporary Middle East through a variety of media and introduces anthropological methods for studying media and media practices. Looks at media and the Arab Revolts. Themes include: (1) media such as television, music, graffiti, cartoons, or social media that may consolidate or contest state power, (2) cultural forms such as Arab hip-hop and refugee poetry that are the product of global processes and migration, (3) religious media, and (4) anthropologists as media makers. Recommendations: One course in either Anthropology or the Middle East, or consent.
FMS 0058 Creating Children’s Media. (Cross-listed with CSHD 169) Exploration of book-to-film transitions, creation of scripts for children’s television programs, development of storyboards for ad campaigns, and proposals for apps and other digital content for children. Application of child development, media literacy and civic engagement theories, and strategies in children’s media content. How to tell compelling stories for children across media platforms.
FMS 0059 Visual Anthropology. (Cross-listed with ANTH 135) Development of visual anthropology from early travel documentary forms to more recent multivocal works on video. Relationship between written and visual documents. Viewing classic ethnographic films as well as contemporary films that challenge the classic genre of ethnographic films. Special attention to ethical issues in visual anthropology.
FMS 0060 Scene Design. (Cross-listed with TPS 70) Development of the skills of script analysis, rendering and model making, and process for the design of scenery.
FMS 0061 History Style & Decor. (Cross-listed as TPS 31) A survey course in decor, style, and architecture from early Egyptian to Modern American. Its intention is to give designers for film, television, and theatre a basic working knowledge of period and style in regards to interior design and architecture.
FMS 0062 Imagining the Holocaust on Stage and Screen. (Cross-listed as TPS 25) Plays and films dealing with the Holocaust, From Nazi-era propaganda to contemporary reflections on genocide. Special emphasis on the ethics of Holocaust represented and the responsibilities of artists (and audiences) who engage the Holocaust story. Texts include such plays as Camp Comedy, Ghetto, Kindertransport, Good, Bent, Who Will Carry the World?, and Annulla, as well as critical and theoretical readings. Triumph of the Will, Night and Fog, The Architecture of Doom, Partisans of Vilna, The Boat is Full, My Mother's Courage, Schindler's List, Life is Beautiful and Shoah are among the feature films and documentaries considered. Graduate Students should register for TPS 125.
FMS 0063 Love and War in French Film. (Cross-listed with FR 75) Focus on the themes of love and war in French films from the 1930's to the present. Film theory and basic cinematic techniques, as well as the historical, social, and cultural contexts of films of the poetic realism, nouvelle vague, and more contemporary movements, by directors Renoir, Clément, Carné, Resnais, Malle, Truffauat, Godard, Rohmer, Keislowski, and others. Films include: La grande illusion, Les jeux interdits, Les enfants du paradis, Hiroshima mon amour, Jules et Jim, Les parapluies de Cherbourg, Pierrot le fou, Lacombe Lucien, Les roseaux sauvages, Trois couleurs: Bleu; De rouille d'os, and Amour. In English.
FMS 0064 the Music of John Williams and Star Wars. (Cross-listed with MUS 55) Critical evaluation of the music of John Williams. Emphasis upon Williams's eclectic style and the wider cultural and social currents. The composer’s engagement with history and politics, notably through collaborations with directors like Spielberg and Stone and connections to local musical institutions. Scores for the Star Wars franchise, focusing on topics of thematic construction, myth, gender, and racial representation. No prior background in music required.
FMS 0065 Film Theory. Survey of the major film theories and theoretical paradigms, including formalism, realism, historical-materialism, Frankfurt school, structuralism, semiotics, psychoanalysis, feminist film theory, cognitivism, and philosophy of film.
FMS 0066 Philosophy and Film. (Cross-listed with PHIL 54) Introduction to the study of film as a philosophical medium. Centers on film's capacity to bring out the ethical dimensions of the problem of distinguishing reality from illusion. A classic or contemporary film paired with a philosophical text each week.
FMS 0067 Composition for Film. (Cross-listed as MUS 17) Introduction to composing music for a variety of visual media, including film, video games, and advertising. Access to the music lab where students produce their work hands on. Recommendations: Working knowledge of notation and sequencing software (such as Finale or Sibelius and DigitalPerformer or Pro Tools) helpful. Music 5 or equivalent, or permission of instructor.
FMS 0068 From Beijing to Bollywood: Cinema of China and India. (Cross-listed as ENG 48 and FMS 68 and ILVS 85) Comparative perspective on China and India via their cinematic traditions, related historical contexts, modern cultural production, and social transformations using selected films and critical essays. Nationalism, revolution, globalization as film expression.
FMS 0069 Latin American Cinema. (Cross-listed with FAH 84) The development of cinema in district Latin American contexts with emphasis on Mexico, Brazil, Cuba, and Lationos in the U.S. Emphasis on how film from aids articulations of cultural and political identity. Course consists of weekly film screening outside of class and in-class discussion and film screening. Students taking the course at the 100-level are required to write an additional research paper incorporating both contextual and comparative analysis of two films selected in consultation with the instructor. (May be taken at 100-level.)
FMS 0070 Histories of Film, Part One, 1895-1955. (Cross-listed as VISC 10) The two Histories of Film courses are sequential, single semester courses that may be taken separately, but are created as a year-long foundational inquiry into the art of cinema, from its inception in the late nineteenth century through to the present. By investigating the aesthetic, formal and stylistic devices of film as well as its narrative codes and structures we will consider the evolution of cinema's rich and complex language through broad historical, theoretical and critical frameworks. Our inquiry will lead us through the historic, interwar Avant-Garde, German Expressionism, Soviet filmmaking of the 1920s, the classical studio Hollywood film, Italian Neorealism, the North American postwar Avant-Garde, New Wave Cinemas of the 1960s, contemporary Global Cinema and more. The presentation of films will be paired with noteworthy essays that engage in a variety of methodologies and analyses while positioning them within critical, interpretive and historic contexts, including theories of modernity, postmodernity, feminism, queer theory, post-colonialism, trauma studies and more.
FMS 0071 Histories of Film II: 1955-Present. (Cross-listed as VISC 11) The two Histories of Film courses are sequential, one-semester courses that may be taken separately, but are created as a year-long inquiry into the history of the art of cinema. Constructed as a foundations course, we will examine the historical development of cinema from its inception in the late nineteenth century through the present. Presented through a broad historical, aesthetic, and critical framework, this course will introduce the student to the study of cinematic representation by focusing on the first half-century of its development in the fall and the second half-century of its development in the spring. By investigating the aesthetic, formal, and stylistic devices of film as well as its narrative codes and structures we will consider the evolution of its rich and complex language. Our study will focus on such noteworthy film movements as the early international avant-garde, German Expressionism, Soviet filmmaking of the 1920s, the classical studio Hollywood film (including genre and authorship studies), postwar cinemas in Japan and Italy, international New Wave cinemas of the 1960s, post-classical American cinema, World cinema, contemporary independent film practices, and more.
FMS 0072 Cinematic Cities. (Cross-listed as VISC 0105) Invented at the end of the 19th century, as a uniquely modern medium at a time of enormous urban growth, cinema has had an illustrious relationship to the city. From early silent celebrations of modernity in Man with a Movie Camera, to later postmodern dystopian machinations in The Matrix, film uniquely scripts both the celebration and decay of cities. Guided by thematic topics, investigate the representation of the city as the site of promise, emancipation, and creativity but also as the site of dystopian futures, where the excesses of capitalist expansion and global climate change become starkly evident. Open to all levels.
FMS 0073 History and Aesthetics in Hitchcock. (Cross-listed as VISC 100) This course will provide the student with an overview of the cinematic work of Alfred Hitchcock. Using critical, psychoanalytic and feminist film theory we will investigate the various historic, aesthetic, thematic and formal concerns threaded throughout his film work. In our study we will examine his skillful narrative coding of the suspense thriller using point-of-view/spectator identification techniques, his powerful but often disturbing representation of women, the patterns of looking and voyeurism inscribed in his work and much more.
FMS 0074 Neo-Noir and Its Contexts. (Cross-listed as VMS 101) This course will introduce the student to a group of historic American films produced between 1941 and 1958 that are often identified as "film noir." We compare this historic group of films with later incarnations of film noir, examining how this original historic body of work profoundly influenced a wide range of neo-noir practices. We will contextualize these films through broad historical, aesthetic and critical frameworks and analyze a range of common underlying themes and preoccupations including: the creation of a dark and brooding pessimism; the representation of the noir woman as a "femme fatale;" modernity, postmodernity, urbanism, postwar paranoia and anxiety, the existential impulse of noir, issues of race, gender and more. The work of such directors as Billy Wilder, Jules Dassin, Roman Polanski, Ridley Scott, David Lynch, Bill Duke, Rian Johnson, Christopher Nolan, Chan-wook Park, the Coen Brothers and more will be considered.
FMS 0075 the World of Japanese Animation: Culture, Cult, and Commerce. (Cross-listed as JPN81) The themes, directors, and imagery of Japanese animation (anime). Analysis of animation as a medium. Study of major themes--elegiac, carnival-esque, and apocalyptic. From prewar military propaganda to the contemporary work of Satoshi Kon, Hayao Miyazaki, Mamoru Oshii and Katsuhiro Otomo. the anime industry and the spread of anime worldwide. A consideration of otaku culture. Taught in English.
FMS 0076 Arab and Middle Eastern Cinemas. (Cross-listed as ILVS 87 and ARB 57) An overview of the social role of cinema in the Arab world and the broader Middle East focusing on a historical perspective on the development and expansion of cinema in these parts of the world, as well as several thematic windows through which the relationship of cinema to these societies is examined. In English.
FMS 0077 Italian Film. (Cross-listed as ITAL75) An excursion through the works of actresses who have made the history of Italian cinema from World War II to the 1980's. The construction of divas and anti-divas will be explored in films by directors such as Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Federico Fellini. Lectures, readings, and class discussions will enable students to spot different directorial and acting styles. Examination of Italian studios and producers as well as of Italian screenwriters and their work methods. Oral presentations, two short papers (3-4 pages), and one final paper (8-10 pages). Films shown with English subtitles. Informed, engaged class participation a must.
FMS 0078 Japanese Film. (Cross-list as JPN 80)Survey of important Japanese films, including internationally renowned works by the "masters," Mizoguchi, Ozu, and Kurosawa; the '60s avant-garde cinema of Oshima and Shinoda; and some innovative works by contemporary filmmakers such as Itami and Morita. Understanding Japanese cinema in relation to Western cultural hegemony. Taught in English. Napier.Please see departmental website for specific details: http://ase.tufts.edu/grall/japanese/.
FMS 0079 German Film. (Cross-listed as GER 85) A survey of German cinema, from its striking and influential achievements in the Weimar Republic, through its role under Hitler and its decline in the postwar period, to the remarkable phenomenon of New German Cinema in the sixties and seventies and the developments of the contemporary period. (May be taken at the 100-level).
FMS 0080 Russian Film: Arts, Politics and Society. (Cross-listed as RUS 80) Survey of film classics by Eisenstein, Pudovkin, Vertov, Tarkovsky, and others, tracing the parallels between the history of film and the history of the new Soviet state and society. Lenin and film as propaganda; the experimental twenties; cinema verité (kinopravda); Socialist Realism; the Great Patriotic War; the "thaw"; 1960s to present: conservatives vs. liberals; unbanned films, and the new cinema of glasnost, perestroika, and post-Soviet Russia. Films with English subtitles.
FMS 0081 Hitchcock: Cinema, Gender, Ideology. (Cross-listed with ENG 80, WGSS 50 and ILVS 57) Studies in the major films of Hitchcock with specific attention to the relations among popular culture, narrative cinema, and the social constructions of gender, sexuality, and cultural authority. Emphasis on various theories of cinema and spectatorial relations (feminist, psychoanalytic, queer) and close examination of the representational practices that "naturalize" heterosexual romance in relation to the narrative of "suspense." Recommendations: ENG 1, 2 REQUIRED or Fulfillment of College Writing Requirement.
FMS 0082 Music on Film; Film on Music. (Cross-listed as MUS 0056) Representations of music and musicianship in contemporary cinema. Examination of a number of films, focusing in particular on the soundtrack: which musical works it quotes, and how these works interact with the film's narrative. Each film thus provides the point of departure for the exploration of a broad range of issues related to music and its sociocultural significance, an exploration tangibly linked to the concrete experience of music as a representational practice.
FMS 0083 Latino Theatre and Film. (Cross-listed as TPS 16 and LST 51) An introduction to Latino theatre, film, and performance as a potent creative and political force in the United States. Representative works by Latino playwrights, performance artists, and filmmakers will be discussed in light of issues such as labor and immigration, gender and sexuality, generation gaps in Latino culture, hybridized identities, interculturalism, and the United States' relationship with Latin American nations. May be taken at the 100 level with consent.
FMS 0084 Jewish Experience on Film. (Cross-listed as JS 142, REL 142, WL 142 and ILVS 142.) Selected classic and contemporary films dealing with aspects of Jewish experience in America, Europe, and Israel, combined with reading on the cultural, historical, and philosophical problems illuminated by each film. One weekly session will be devoted to screenings, the other to discussion of the films and readings. In English.
FMS 0085 Film and Nation: Russia and Central Asia. (Cross-listed as RUS 85, CIV 85 and ILVS86) After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia and several former Central Asian republics, now the independent countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan embarked on a nation-building project through cinema; topics considered: how ethnic and national identities were subsumed into a "Soviet" identity and then split apart in the post-Soviet period; constructions of new national identities, national spaces, heroes and myths in films ranging from the Russian mega-hits Brother and Company 9 to the international festival favorites, The Adopted Son (Kyrgyzstan) and The Hunter (Kazakhstan); influence of Hollywood and multi-national productions in historical action films such as Nomad and Mongol; changes in film styles and genres, as well as in the structure and economics of the film industry. No prerequisites. All films with English subtitles.
FMS 0086 Classics of World Cinema. (Cross-listed as WL 101 and ILVS100.) Worldwide survey of major films from the silent era to the present. Trends in filmmaking styles and genres; the impact of modern history on cinematic art; cultural, theoretical, and philosophical issues related to the study of film. Filmmakers covered may include Eisenstein, Chaplin, Renoir, Welles, DeSica, Ray, Ozu, Bergman, Fassbinder, Sembene, and Zhang Yimou.
FMS 0087 Postmodernism & Film. (Cross-listed as ENG 81 and ILVS 89) Introduction to postmodernism through the study of late twentieth century and early twenty-first century film in relation to important texts of literary and cultural criticism. The movement from modern to postmodern, originality to mechanical reproduction, identity to difference. Readings from Baudrillard, Benjamin, Butler, Derrida, Foucault, Haraway, Lacan, and ¿i¿ek , along with films by Cameron, Gilliam, Polanski, Scott, the Wachowski brothers, and Welles.
FMS 0088 Intro to Chinese Cinema. (Cross-listed as CHNS80) Evolution of Chinese film from its inception to the present and how cinematic changes reflect social, cultural, and political changes. Major film directors and cinematic styles and techniques they employed and different subject matters that have preoccupied them. Relationships between Chinese film and politics, social-cultural changes, Hollywood, and the unresolved issues of modernity.
FMS 0089 African American Theatre and Film. (Cross-listed as AFR 48 and TPS 18) A broad historical survey of plays and films by African Americans. Comparison of cinematic and theatrical representations. Relation of African American aesthetics to broader American, European, and Pan-African forms. Historical evaluation and comparison of images created by African Americans and those established in the mainstream milieu. (May be taken at 100 level for graduate credit with consent.)
FMS 0090 Major Japanese Film Directors. (Cross-listed as JPN 112) In-depth study of one or two important Japanese film directors, such as Kurosawa, Ozu, or Miyazaki and Takahata. Taught in English. Recommendations: JPN 80.
FMS 0091 New Chinese Cinema. (Cross-listed with CHNS 81 and ILVS 81) A comparative exploration of films made in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the PRC in recent decades. Examination of how political, economic, and ideological contexts affect filmmaking in these different "Chinese" regions; how these differences help demonstrate diversities, specificities, contradictions, as well as interactions within and between these Chinese communities.
FMS 0092 Film Noir and the American Tradition. (Cross-listed as ENG 88) Introductory course in film noir as a distinctively American genre. Attention to its literary, historical, and social contexts; its implication in the popularization of psychoanalysis; its particular interest for psychoanalytic criticism; its importance as a site of cultural anxieties centering on sexuality, gender, and race. Readings may include novels (by authors such as Hawthorne, James, and Baldwin), theoretical essays, and works in cinema studies. Films may include works by Wilder, Preminger, Hawks, Welles, Vidor, Tourneur, Dmytryk, Mann, Lang, Kubrick, Aldrich, and Scorsese. Recommendations: ENG 1, 2 REQUIRED or Fulfillment of College Writing Requirement.
FMS 0093 Practicum in Film and Media Production. Significant work on the design, performance, technical, or management aspects of film and media production, with the supervision and instruction of a faculty member. Specific projects, assignments, and other work will be geared to the requirements of a particular film and/or media production or workshop. Prerequisite: Department consent.
FMS 0094 Special Topics. No description available at this time.
FMS 0098 Filmmaking Teaching Assistants Workshop. Offers context and guidance for undergraduate TAs assisting in the teaching of film and media production courses. TAs are supervised by faculty mentors who provide "on the job" training in the classroom and/or lab. Faculty mentors share approaches to teaching and rationales informing them. Mentors also meet one-on-one with TAs and assess their performance throughout the semester.
FMS 0099 FMS Media Internship. Internships in media teach you about the industry and give you valuable hands-on experience. This course provides faculty support and academic credit for media-related internships in all areas, including broadcasting, film, journalism, public relations, marketing, advertising, publishing, web and multimedia, social media, and other fields. 4-SHU course includes 3 short papers, short weekly reflections, regular meetings with the instructor, and 150 work hours onsite at the internship. 2-SHU course includes 2 short papers, short weekly reflections, regular meetings with the instructor, and 75 work hours onsite at the internship. Available to rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors. FMS major or minor not required. Pass/Fail. Prerequisites: Consent.
FMS 0134 Screenwriting III. (Cross-listed w/ TPS 178) Advanced screenwriting course with focus on completing Acts II and III of a feature-length screenplay in a workshop setting. The following screenwriting steps will be examined and discussed: character development, story, plot, structure, dialogue, visuals, setups and payoffs, and genre. Films and published screenplays will also be analyzed. Recommendations: Screenwriting II or permission from professor.
FMS 0136 Film Directing. (Cross-listed as TPS 150) Advanced exploration of the art of the film director from both a critical and artistic perspective. Through focused study of films and writings by diverse narrative film directors, students will develop deeper understanding of how directors use film techniques to shape a story. Through practice-based exercises and workshops with industry professionals, students will hone directing techniques, including how to work with actors and ways to use the camera, movement, design, lighting, editing, and other film elements for effective storytelling. Prerequisite: Introduction to Filmmaking or Introduction to Film Studies
FMS 0137 Advanced Documentary Production. Intensive workshop environment. Students produce in-depth documentary projects. Resources provided to do long-form documentary research, fieldwork, and editing. Collaboration and creativity strongly encouraged through fieldwork assignments, class discussions, instructor feedback, and peer critique. Evaluation of both student- and professional-produced documentaries with a focus on storytelling and on understanding visual language. Documentary film or media project created by each student screened or exhibited at close of semester. Prerequisites: FMS 0030 or FMS 0037 or permission of instructor.
FMS 0138 Advanced Filmmaking. Production of an original piece of work – including but not limited to a short narrative film, a short documentary, an experimental piece, or a screenplay in preparation for the capstone project. Filmmaking 2 permission of the instructor.
FMS 0139 Independent Filmmaking. Employs a real-world, production-unit model to shoot a festival-level short feature. Teams with discrete departments will work concurrently, enabling each student to be a department head: producer, director, cinematographer, gaffer, sound engineer, or art designer. Will use the FMS program’s professional-level equipment, highlighted by the industry-standard Arri Alexa digital cinema camera. Intended for advanced students. Prerequisites: FMS 20 and FMS 31, or permission of the instructor.
FMS 0161 Seminar in Mass Media Studies. (Cross-listed as SOC 185) Exploration of contemporary perspectives and critical issues in mass media studies. Specific topics covered will vary each semester but may include media organization; audience reception; news reporting; gender and race in media; history of mass media; and studies on film, television, music, print, radio, and new technologies. Emphasis on group discussion and student participation. Recommendations: Junior standing, SOC 40, and permission of instructor.
FMS 0162 Media, the State, and the Senses. (Cross-listed as ANTH 0164) States mobilize mass media to strengthen nationalism, spur development, and protect regimes. Yet, people interpret media in complex ways; they delight in media's excesses; they contextualize media within their everyday lives. We examine how people actively sense and make sense of media. People also engage in processes of media production that yield other ways of place-making, objectifying ethics, and practicing politics. We will attend to the possibilities and limitations of diverse media technologies (television, film, radio, cassette tapes, newspapers, and the Internet) due to material forms and institutional structures. Ethnographic examples from a variety of locations will be included.
FMS 0163 Seminar: New Media, New Politics. (Cross-listed with PS 0104 and TCS 104) Research seminar on three media sectors: cable television, talk radio, and social media. Analysis of the economic foundations of each sector, advertising, audience demographics, and strategy. Student teams conduct an original empirical study of the media.
FMS 0164 Seminar In Children and Mass Media. Cross-listed with CD 267) Children have long been considered a "special" audience by broadcasters, advertisers, politicians, educators and researchers. This course will introduce you to the logic behind this designation, through a careful and critical examination of the theory and research on children's mass media use, and the influence of media on children. We will explore the relationship between media use and developmental issues, discuss patterns of children's media consumption, and look at both the content and context of children's media, including television, films/videos, advertising, games and websites. We will examine the empirical evidence that has attempted to assess the media's effects on children in a variety of areas, including gender and ethnic stereotyping, explicitly sexual and violent content in both entertainment and news, and also the educational or "pro-social" effects of media. We'll talk about the wall-to-wall advertising to which children are exposed, and look at the claims that advertising and media use have led to an increase in childhood obesity. And we will discuss the technologically saturated world of iPods, iPads, e-books, cell phones and computers that enable communication and social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, to see what kinds of effects these technologies might be having on children at different developmental points. We will also critically assess the various regulations that have governed both advertising and programming for children in this country, talk about contemporary regulatory issues and how changes in media ownership rules might affect children's media content. We'll also discuss how technology such as TiVo, the television ratings system, voluntary Internet ratings system and access to the Internet affect children, pay some attention to the hot issue of cyberbullying, and will discuss the roles that parent- and citizen-activist groups play as watchdogs of children's media and the ways in which they can - and do - apply political pressure that results in change. For each topic we cover, we'll be looking both at the theoretical issues that undergird them, and also at the empirical ones that have attempted to assess, test or analyze them. The centerpiece of the class, however, will be your own work. You will have an opportunity to develop a proposal for a significant piece of research in an area of children and media that most interests you. It's my hope that this is research that you will subsequently carry out and ultimately publish, either as part of your MA or PhD program, or as a piece of applied research.
FMS 0165 Branding: Theory and Practice. Exploration of brands and media. Focus on how 21st-century culture has changed under the influence of pervasive advertising, public relations, images, and narratives that have replaced old belief systems with new, often elusive, definitions of truth, meaning, and reality. Case studies of major brands and non-profits. Authors to be studied may include Jean Baudrillard, Roland Barthes, John Berger, Marshall McLuhan, Douglas van Praet, and Susan Sontag.
FMS 0169 Latin America Cinema. (Cross-listed with FAH 184) The development of cinema in district Latin American contexts with emphasis on Mexico, Brazil, Cuba, and Latinos in the U.S. Emphasis on how film from aids articulations of cultural and political identity. Course consists of weekly film screening outside of class and in-class discussion and film screening. Students taking the course at the 100-level are required to write an additional research paper incorporating both contextual and comparative analysis of two films selected in consultation with the instructor. (Also offered as lower-level.)
FMS 0175 Visualizing Colonialism. (Cross-listed as CST 10, ILVS 101 and ARB 155) An overview of the intersection between visual culture and the conditions of colonialism and post-coloniality. Readings and viewings on representations of the non-Western world in colonial-era painting and photography, leading to an examination of the history of colonial cinema, and to later postcolonial visualizations of the colonial period. The development of cinemas of anti-colonial resistance, and persisting effects of colonialism and empire in contemporary global visual cultures, including contemporary arts and new media. Materials drawn from a variety of regional contexts, with special emphasis on the Arab world. Secondary readings drawn from anti-colonial theorists and postcolonial studies. In English.
FMS 0176 the Horror Film. History of horror film from its inception in the 1920s to the present day. Focuses on the American horror film, with some attention to other national and cultural traditions, especially Japanese horror., Considers what serial television can do with the genre that film cannot Among the theoretical questions are: what is horror? Why do we enjoy watching films that make us feel ostensibly undesirable emotions such as fear and disgust?
FMS 0177 Religion and Film. (Cross-listed as REL100) Analysis of religion and religious issues through their portrayal in contemporary film. Focus on approaches to film taken by scholars of religion, including mythological, theological and cultural studies, with consideration of film theory. Genres include drama, comedy, animation and science fiction.
FMS 0178 War and Cultural Memory in Literature and Cinema of the Middle East. (Cross-listed as ARB 157 and ILVS 157) Formation of cultural memory and/or memorialization of socially traumatic experiences such as war, viewed through literature and cinema. May include focus on the Algerian war of independence, the Lebanese civil war, the Iran-Iraq war, the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, among others. Primary texts from these conflicts along with secondary texts on theories of social trauma and cultural memory. In English.
FMS 0179 Film and the Avant-Garde. The role of film within avant-garde art, primarily in Europe and North America. Artists who made avant-garde films from the 1920s such as Fernand Leger and Marcel Duchamp, as well as filmmakers belonging to cross-media movements such as Dada and Surrealism. Post-war artists in the United States updating pre-war avant-garde film genres while pioneering new ones, like the lyrical film and the collage film. Considers Structural film of the 1960s and the pluralism of avant-garde film since the 1970s. The proliferation of moving image installations in art galleries and museums. Attention to the historical conditions that gave rise to these developments, the theories behind them, and the use of avant-garde film by feminists and others for socio-political critique.
FMS 0180 Psychoanalysis and Cinema. (Cross-listed as ILVS 180 and FMS 180) Advanced seminar in the relation between psychoanalytic theory and the theory and practice of cinema. Focus on major psychoanalytic writings (primarily by Freud, Lacan, and Žižek) and important work in psychoanalytic film theory in relation to cinematic texts. Requirements: English major, FMS major, or permission of instructor.
FMS 0181 New Latin American Film. (Cross-listed as SPN 151 and LAS 151) Representative films of Latin American schools of cinema: the Brazilian Cinema Novo, Argentine Tercer Cinema, the Cuban Cinema de la Revolución, Andean indigenista film, and contemporary production. Directors may include Glauber Rocha, Fernando Birri, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Jorge Sanjinés, Carlos Diegues, Walter Salles, and Armando Robles Godoy, as well as new filmmakers. Consideration of the social, political, and cultural contexts of their works. Conducted in Spanish. Recommendations: Two 30-level Spanish courses or consent of the instructor.
FMS 0182 Dark Places: Sound in Noir, Horror, and SciFi. (Cross-listed with MUS 0194) Inquiry into the contribution of sound design and music to the dystopian imaginaries of Noir, Horror, and Sci-Fi films. How do soundtracks manipulate the sense of space and place, they aurality and hapticity? Close viewing of films and readings in film theory, musicology, and media studies. Pre-requisites: Junior or senior standing or graduate standing or permission of instructor.
FMS 0183 Mexican Cinema & Identity. (Cross-listed with SPN 184 & LAS 184) Exploration of the great films of 20th-century Mexico to study the pivotal moments in the creation of Mexican identity. Films included may range from Santa, the first sound film of Mexican cinema by Antonio Moreno, to the acclaimed Amores Perros, by Alejandro González Iñárritu, among others. Analysis of films and their audiences, and discussion of the symbolic invention of the modern Mexican State from the post-revolution to modern days. Special emphasis on the films of the "Mexican Miracle" and its posterior critique in directors such as Luis Estrada. Conducted in Spanish. Recommendations: Two 30-level Spanish courses or consent of the instructor.
FMS 0186 How Films Think. (Cross-listed as ENG 186 and ILVS 186) Advanced seminar exploring the languages of cinematic representation. Attention to visual logic and the relation between techniques of cinematic rhetoric (montage, the long take, shot/reverse shot) and the effect of cinematic ¿thought.¿ Close study of films by directors such as Welles, Scorsese, Coppola, Tarantino, and Lynch; additional attention to recent work in film studies and cinema theory. Recommendations: ENG 1, 2 REQUIRED or Fulfillment of College Writing Requirement. Recommended that the student already have taken either ENG 20, 21, 22, or 23.
FMS 0194 Special Topics. Course description not available at this time.
FMS 0195 Directed Study. Independent study conducted under close supervision of an FMS faculty member. For FMS seniors who have a strong interest in an area of study in which there are no courses being offered, or who want to do advanced work beyond regularly offered courses. Requires regular meetings with faculty member and in-depth research. Result is typically a long research paper or creative work. Departmental permission required.
FMS 0198 Senior Honors Thesis 1. First course in the two course FMS Senior Honors Thesis, followed by FMS 0199 Senior Honors Thesis 2 in the spring of the senior year. Students undertaking a production-based Senior Honors Thesis such as a screenplay, film, or TV show should enroll in the production section, which meets regularly in the fall semester to help students plan their production-based Senior Thesis. Students undertaking a scholarly thesis or some other non-production-based Senior Honors Thesis should enroll in the non-production section, and meet individually with their Senior Honors Thesis committee members.
FMS 0199 Senior Honors Thesis 2. Second course in the two course FMS Senior Honors Thesis, preceded by FMS 0198 Senior Honors Thesis 1 in the fall of the senior year.