Film Studies Program : Schedule : Fall 2006

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Film Studies Course Offerings: Fall 2006

| Spring 2006 Schedule | Fall 2005 Schedule |

To Students: The film courses listed below will earn credits toward either the major or minor in Film Studies. All students are responsible for checking the Queens College course bulletin to determine what prerequisites, if any, they need to enroll in any particular course.Students seeking advisement on enrollments for Film Studies courses offered during the Spring or Summer of 2006 should contact:

Professor Stuart Liebman, Coordinator, Film Studies Program

Office: “G” 202B Phone: 718-997-2962

Office hours: (Fall 2005) M/W 9:30-10:00 AM and W 1-3:00 PM, and by appointment.

R = required course for Film Studies major and minor E = elective course

CMAL: CHINESE 240: “Contemporary Chinese Film” (E) 3 hr, 3 cr
Thursday 1:40-4:30 PM Prof. J. Zhang

NOTE: Prereq.: Sophomore standing.

Focus on major social and cultural developments in modern China through cinematic representations of themes, including ritual, family, gender, state, ideology and revolution. Course will provide students with a foundation in the visual literacy of Chinese film through screenings, readings and analysis. No Chinese required. (Satisfies Humanities I, Tier 2 and Pre-Industrial and/or Non-Western Civilization).

CMAL: Japanese 250: “Modern Japanese Film and Fiction” (E) 3hr, 3 cr
Tuesday 5:30-8:20 PM Prof. Cook

NOTE: Prereq.: Sophomore standing.

The course will focus on the works of directors who brought the Japanese cinema to maturity and established its claim to international recognition as one of the most creative, translatable and exportable products of post-war Japanese culture. Readings for the course will include selected works of modern Japanese fiction as well as critical essays on Post-war cinema. No Japanese required. (Satisfies Humanities I, Tier 2

CMLIT 241: “Comparative Film and Literature” (E) 3 hr, 3 cr
Thursday 3:30- 6:20 PM Prof. Ali Ahmed

Check with department for course description

ELL: Italian 250: “Italian Sociopolitical Cinema” (E) 4 hr, 3 cr
Monday 1:40- 5:20 PM Prof. Peter Carravetta

NOTE: Prereq. English 110; this course is cross-listed with MEDST 281.

In this course we will look at the evolution of Italian society over a period of nearly fifty years through the eyes, or better lens, of some representative directors. The course will dedicate equal time to what is seen in front of the camera, as well as to what techniques were employed to represent and highlight specific aspects of the complex reality which is modern Italy. In brief, we will see a society ravaged by war, its slow reconsolidation and search for values in the fifties, the extremes of wealth and poverty at the beginning of the sixties, the conflicts and contradictions of the politicized late sixties and early seventies, the alienation and indifference of the eighties, the nostalgia and the superficiality of the nineties. About ten films will be shown. The instructor will prepare a packet of critical readings and a list of sites to visit during semester. There will be short papers (2-3 pp) after each of the six units, and an in-class, essay-type final.

Among the films to be screened are: Rossellini’s Rome Open City (1945); Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (1948); Fellini’s La dolce Vita (1960); Pasolini’s Accattone (1961); Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso (1989); and Silvio Soldini’s Bread and Tulips (2000).

History 370: “Film and History” (E) 3 hr, 3 cr
Tuesday, 1:40 - 4:20 PM Prof. Peter Connolly-Smith

This course examines film as medium that has documented, and has itself been part of some of the major social, cultural, and political transformations of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The course will begin with the birth of the medium in 1895 and examine its immediate challenge to the dominant Victorian ideology of both Europe and the United States. Texts for this first part of the course include Benjamin Rader’s cultural history of the United States, American Ways, and Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic Victorian novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Moving on, the course will examine film’s potential to visualize the repressed in the context of the surrealist movement and the birth of modern psychoanalysis (texts will include the writings of Freud, Bunuel, and others), then on to its use as a medium of both propaganda and ideological commentary in the contexts of the Bolshevik movement in Soviet Russia and German social democracy during the Weimar Republic (texts include the writings of Eisenstein, Kuleshov, and Siegfried Kracauer, as well as historical writings on early Soviet Russia and the Weimar Republic). The course concludes with a thematic bloc on post-World War II domestic policy, paying special attention to the gender and political anxieties of the early Cold War, as portrayed in film noir. Readings for this section include the writings of Laura Mulvey, Betty Friedan, and Susan Faludi.

Movies, to be shown either in their entirety or in the form of brief clips, will include, among others: Muybridge motion studies photopgraphy, Lumiere, Edison, Porter, and D.W. Griffith shorts, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Rouben Mamoulian, 1931), Un Chien Andalou (Bunuel/Dali), Maya Deren shorts, clips from Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Spellbound as well as Battleship Potemkin, October, Strike, The Fall of St. Petersburg (for Soviet montage/Bolshevism), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, The Golem, The Student of Prague (for German Expressionsm/Weimar republic), and, for the final section of the course, Double Indemnity, the Killers, and Strangers on a Train.

Aside from article-length readings in both film and history, students will purchase and read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Bordwell and Thompson’s Film Art (7th edition).

MEDST 144: “History of Cinema II (1930-1970)” (E) 4hr, 3 cr
Friday 10:15 AM- 2:05 PM Prof. Amy Herzog

A survey of film history from the 1930s through the 1960s, examining institutional and aesthetic shifts in the film industry, as well as significant movements and genres in world cinema (musicals, melodramas, film noir, Neo-realism, the French New Wave, Direct Cinema). Readings and class discussions will consider the historical, political, aesthetic, and cultural contexts of these cinematic trends, and will present an overview of the development of film criticism and theory during this period

MEDST 200: “Principles of Sound and Image” (R) 4 hr, 3 cr
M/W 10:15-12:05 AM Profs. Buchsbaum/Liebman

An examination of the dominant visual and sound conventions characteristic of most film, television and video production. Lectures illustrated with a wide range of media examples present the basic principles of sound and image combinations, including technological principles, shot language, composition, editing, and storytelling. Students apply these principles in the production of two short video projects. Students are also introduced to the fundamentals of the FINAL CUT PRO editing software program, which they will use to edit their second video project. Readings cover both practical material and theoretical discussions of visual and audio parameters.

MEDST 240: “Styles of Cinema” (R) 4 hr, 3 cr
Tuesday 1:40-5:20 PM Prof. Julian Cornell

The course will introduce students to the systematic “formalist” analysis of film stylistics in both non-narrative and narrative modes. We will focus on the way filmmakers use the film medium’s techniques and strategies to develop constructions of and reflections about aspects of human lives and their societies. The major course text will be David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson’s Film Art: An Introduction, 7th ed. and it will be supplemented by other readings. Films of widely differing types will be screened, including The Maltese Falcon (John Huston); Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio de Sica); The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola); Raging Bull (Martin Scorcese); and Mulholland Drive (David Lynch).

MEDST 244: “Film Production” (E) 4 hr, 3 cr
Thursday 9:15 AM -1:05 PM Prof. Zoe Beloff

This course is an introduction to 16mm film production. It covers basic cinematography: types of lens, exposure, black and white as well as color photography and basic lighting techniques for film. Special effects unique to film are also covered. Students are also introduced to basic narrative storytelling and shot construction. Classic narrative films as well as more experimental works are screened and critiqued. Each student completes two short silent narrative projects during the semester and also works as an assistant cameraperson on two of their classmates’ films.

Films to be screened: The Little Fugitive; A Bronx Morning; Fallen Angels (excerpt); The Matrix (excerpt); The Lonedale Operator; Fall of the House of Usher; Un Chien Andalou; The Wizard of Oz (excerpt); Buffalo 66 (excerpt)

Text Book: Cinematography by J. Kris Malkiewic

MEDST 245: “Screenwriting” (E) 3 hr, 3 cr
Friday 1:40-4:30 PM Prof. Spiegel-Grote

This class will help students develop a screenplay from an original idea to the first act of a finished script. In a simulation of Hollywood's story development process, students will begin with a pitch, move to a treatment of their screen story, then act one of their scripts. Special attention will be paid to the fundamentals of storytelling, including creating memorable characters; three-act structure; and story points, such as the "inciting action" and the "climax." This will be acheived through an in-class writing workshop and exercises; screening mainstream, foreign, and independent films; reading film and TV scripts from accomplished writers such as Ted Tally and Larry David; and studying excerpts from screenwriting bibles, including Robert McKee's Story and William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade.

MEDST 265: “Producing Independent Movies and Media” (E) 3 hr, 3 cr
Thursday 1:40-4:30 PM Prof. Rachel Lyon

For motivated and matriculating students, launching their own independent projects represents the single most likely path to a successful career behind the camera. Producing Independent Movies & Media will allow matriculating and advanced students learn how to create independent movies, programs, series, and other media within the current media business environment. They will learn about researching and writing compelling treatments, budgeting, and the actual presentation and "pitching" of projects in a professional manner. Additionally, students will study legal issues in filmmaking, resumé writing techniques, and the basic practices of fundraising. Students come out of the course with one project, ready for development, funding, and pre-production.

MEDST 281: “Italian Sociopolitical Cinema”

SEE: ELL: Italian 250

MEDST 281: “New York in the Movies”

SEE: Sociology 240

MEDST 311: “Film Culture, New York” (E) 3 hr, 1 cr
Thursday 6:00-9:00 PM DATES TBA Profs. Beloff, Buchsbaum, Hendershot, Herzog, Liebman

Students are introduced to five of the premier venues for film screenings in New York City on five evenings, TBA. Venues include the Museum of Modern Art, Anthology Film Archives, the Walter Reade Theatre, and Film Forum, among others. Students are required to attend all five sessions. One or more articles will be assigned for each film and discussed with the professor who accompanies the students to each screening. A short final paper surveying what students learned about non-commercial programming and exhibition practices will also be require

MEDST 341W: “Film Theory” (R) 3 cr, 3 hr
Wednesday 7:10-9:40 PM Prof. Julian Cornell

A survey of the major classical and contemporary film theoretical writings. Authors to be read include Eisenstein, Pudovkin, Bazin, Munsterberg, Arnheim, Epstein, Metz, Mulvey and Carroll, among others. Topics such as feminist and psychoanalytic film theories, theories of the gaze will be considered.

MEDST 342W: “Genre: Children’s Films” (E) 4hr, 3cr
Tuesday 6:30-10:20 PM Prof. Julian Cornell

This course is concerned with the under-theorized genre of movies for children. Interrogating children’s films reveals that there is something critical at stake: How does a society define and locate its children and what is the purpose of entertainment designed for them? How can we characterize a “children’s film;” what makes them desirable commodities; and what movies are considered “appropriate” viewing for young children? Children’s films differ from other genres in that they are defined as much by their use value for society as a particular set of generic conventions or visual vocabulary. The child spectator is expected to receive something in excess of pleasure from the viewing experience: a moral lesson that depicts their place in the social order. This course will explore the intersection of entertainment, pedagogy and ideology to determine how mainstream Hollywood films construct and maintain childhood and circumscribe children’s fantasy, play and pleasure.

MEDST 344W: “National Cinemas—Latin America, 1959 to the present” (E) 4hr, 3cr
Monday 12:40-4:20 PM Prof. Jonathan Buchsbaum

The course will examine filmmaking in Latin America since the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the beginning of a creative explosion in filmmaking throughout the region. Often, the films reflected political convulsions, especially in the 1960s, as revolutionary movements swept across the region. As the traditional Marxist left lost appeal in the 1980s and 1990s, other political concerns marked the national cinemas, including feminism, identity, and urban subcultures. As in the rest of the world, the economics and politics of state support for filmmaking changed. With screenings, readings, and writing assignments, the course will consider, then, how filmmakers have responded – politically, formally, stylistically – to the transformations in Latin America over the past half century.

PHILOSOPHY 105: “Film/Philosophy/Politics: Film Noir: Living Dangerously” (E) 4 hr, 3 cr
Tuesday 1:40-5:30 PM Prof. John Matturi

Fully emerging as a genre in the 1940s and continuing in influence to this day, film noir (“black film”) generally depict characters coping with life in dark and labyrinthian cities that provide their lives with little social or moral support. Unlike the gangster films out of which they emerged, and akin to the horror films to which they are also related, films noir refuse to place their characters in well-defined ethical worlds and in this refusal force them to cope uncertainly with violent, dangerous, and ambiguous situations that place their physical and moral lives constantly at risk. As the title of one film noir suggests, there are characters who live their entire lives on dangerous ground. In this course, film noir will be examined in the from philosophical perspectives that consider basic human issues of character, moral life, and social trust. Among the films to be screened are The Big Heat, The Big Sleep, The Seventh Victim, In a Lonely Place, Detour, Out of the Past, and Kiss Me Deadly. Some consideration will be given to later films, such as Chinatown, Killing of a Chinese Bookie, and L.A. Confidential that continue in the film noir genre.

SOCIOLOGY 240: “New York in the Movies “ (E) 3 hr, 3 cr
Thursday 6:30-9:20 PM Prof. Robert Kapsis

NOTE: This course is cross-listed with MEDST 281.

This course explores the relationship between two New Yorks: the real place and the mythic city born of the movies. It will analyze how filmic representations of New York compare to the external “real” New York, and focus on two issues: (1) aspects of New York’s reality as presented in popular films compared with aspects that are neglected or ignored and (2) the means by which creators of movies use their films to comment on the real social world or on the direction they believe society is heading. The work of four quintessentially New York filmmakers will be highlighted: Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Spike Lee, and Sidney Lumet. Students will complete 4 writing assignments. The combined output for each student will total a minimum of 25 pages or approximately 5000 words.

Major Texts: Sanders, James. Celluloid Skyline: New York and the Movies (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001).

Blake, Richard A. Street Smart: The New York of Lumet, Allen, Scorsese, and Lee. (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky. 2005).

Films to be Screened:

King Kong (1932); Dead End (1937); Naked City (1948); On the Town (1949); Rear Window (1954); Serpico (1973); Taxi Driver (1975); Saturday Night Fever (1977); The Warriors (1979); Manhattan (1979); Do the Right Thing (1989); The Hudsucker Proxy (1994); and Basquiat (1996).