FAMS 101: Introduction to Film & Media Studies
This is a foundational course that introduces students to basic concepts, theories and methods that are central to film and media studies. We will study the histories and genres of cinema and formal techniques such as lighting, editing and sound to develop a critical understanding of film as a dominant mode of representation. We will also study other forms of electronic media to gain a better understanding of the perspectives and practices of emerging technologies and forms of distribution. CSS HUM course. FAMS F (foundational) course. No prerequisites. Katherine Groo—TR 2:45-4:00PM (class) & M 7:00-10:00PM (lab)
FAMS 120: Filmmakers—Martin Scorsese
This course is an examination of the films of Martin Scorsese, one of the most prolific, successful, and distinctive filmmakers in American Cinema. As we explore both the breadth and depth of Scorsese’ body of work, we will use his films as windows through which to understand 1) cinema as a complex art form, and 2) cultural complexities around issues such as family, ethnicity, class, masculinity, deviance, salvation, and violence. CSS HUM course. FAMS H (history) course. No prerequisite. Andy Smith—TR 1:10-4:00PM
FAMS 201: Making Media 1
This hands-on course introduces students to the creative and technical aspects of media production, and models foundational practices in productive collaboration and ethical media making. The course provides a basic understanding of framing, composition, and storytelling through the use of sound and images. Students work with lighting, audio recording, digital video cameras, and non-linear editing through a series of hands-on assignments, readings, screenings, discussion of assigned exercises, and workshops with digital equipment. Prerequisite: FAMS 101 or permission of instructor. FAMS P (practice) course. Prerequisite: FAMS 201 or permission of instructor. Nandini Sikand—MW 1:10-4:00PM
FAMS 202: Making Media 2
This hands-on production course is the second course in the media production sequence begun in FAMS 201 and builds on the fundamentals of lighting, sound, camerawork, and editing. Students will further develop their digital filmmaking techniques through increasingly complex projects. They will work on individual and collaborative media assignments that will culminate in a public screening at the end of the semester. Prerequisite: FAMS 201 or permission of instructor. FAMS P (practice) course. Adam MacHose—TR 1:10-4:00PM
FAMS 220: Critical Film Theory—The Poetics and Politics of Film
What makes film a distinct art form? Often described as the “seventh art”, cinema is unique and interdisciplinary in nature. The study of film theory gives us deeper insight into film as a language and social practice, allowing one to explore cinema’s relationship to historical, aesthetic, social, political and technological influences. We will study some of the debates in classical film theory, auteurism, psychoanalysis, feminist film theory, queer theory, postmodernism and post colonialism as they apply to issues of perception, the spectator, representation, adaptation and realism. CCS W/GM1 course. FAMS T (theory) course. Prerequisite: FAMS 101 or by instructor’s permission. Nandini Sikand—MW 11:00-12:15 (class) & W 11:00-12:50 (lab)
(FAMS)DOC 250: Legal and Ethical Challenges in Documentary Practice (ONLINE COURSE)
This course examines questions of how stories are represented, how documentary films represent truth, the nature of filmmakers’ ethical obligations toward their subjects, and how these questions inform documentary production. Students will study a variety of approaches used in the act of truth-telling, examine legal and privacy issues, and explore the ethical and moral practices that surround documentary. LVAIC course, DOC minor, FAMS elective course. Prerequisite: DOC 150 or permission of instructor. Julia Maserjian (Lehigh)—online
FAMS 260: Film, Media, and Popular Culture in Africa
From its colonial origins to the postcolonial present, cinema has played a key role in African cultural production, connecting the continent to global media circuits. The class analyzes film as a sociocultural medium, drawing on ethnographic perspectives. Indeed, by linking the study of film with interdisciplinary approaches to popular culture, the class foregrounds the diverse roles that media play in sociocultural life. In readings and discussions we will examine how diverse African social worlds have actively shaped and been altered by the creation, circulation, and reception of moving images, focusing on documentary, video films, hip-hop, film festivals, and other domains of popular cultural expression. CSS HUM course. FAMS H (history) course. Prerequisite: A&S 102, FAMS 101, or permission of instructor. William Bissell—T 7:00-10:00PM
FAMS 270.01: World Cinemas—Russian Cinema
From the early years of the Soviet avant-garde to the post-Stalinist era of covert critique, Russian film offers an intriguing perspective on Soviet life and the art of film. English subtitles. CSS HUM/GM1/GM2 course. FAMS H (history) course. Prerequisite: FAMS101 or permission of instructor. Lindsay Ceballos MWF 3:10-4:00PM
FAMS/ASIA 270.02: World Cinemas—Contemporary Chinese Cinema
Ever since film was introduced into China at the end of the nineteenth century, it has become a major medium of mass communication, and has played an important role in China’s quest for modernity. Despite warfare, censorship, competition from Hollywood, and other obstacles witnessed by over one hundred years of development, the Chinese film industry is currently one of the most vibrant in the world. Focus on major developments and genres since 1980, with representative films from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, both as a unique form of artistic expression and a powerful social and political discourse. English subtitles. CSS HUM/GM1/GM2 course. FAMS H (history) course. Prerequisite: FAMS101 or permission of instructor. Li Yang—TR 9:30-10:45AM (class) & R 7:30-10:00PM (lab)
FAMS/THTR 279: Media Criticism & Review
Most of us decide whether to attend a theater performance or a film based on its reviews. In this course we will analyze and learn to write various forms of effective reviews of film and theater. We will also learn to distinguish between simple summaries and more sophisticated reviews that analyze style, technique, and quality. We will conduct research to contextualize film and theater, historically artistically, and generically. FAMS E (elective) course. Prerequisite: FAMS 101 or permission of instructor. Suzanne Westfall—MWF 10:00-10:50AM
FAMS 285: Educating the Ear—Sound Theory in Film, Video, and New Media Art
This course traces sound theory across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. From the sound obsessions and anxieties of silent cinema to the disruptive sound experiments of the Fluxus collective to the expansive field of contemporary sound art and its remixture of the historical archive, this course considers the aesthetic, political, and epistemological possibilities of sound. Prerequisite: FAMS 101 or permission of instructor. FAMS T (theory) course. Katherine Groo—TR 11:00-12:15 (class) & W 1:10-4:00PM (lab)
FAMS 301: Making Media 3—Fictional Shorts—Write-Shoot-Cut-Screen
This course extends the hands-on media making of the early production courses and is recommended for students hoping to 1) do a production-based capstone project in their senior year, and/or 2) sharpen their media work into a coherent, presentable portfolio. Students will complete short narrative films, moving from the stages of writing, shooting, editing, scoring, and screening their original short fiction films. CSS HUM course. FAMS P (practice) course. Prerequisite: FAMS 202 or permission of instructor. Counts as a FAMS P (practice) course. Andy Smith—TR 9:30-12:15
FAMS 320: The Spectre of Race
Governed by the metaphor of “spectre,” this seminar looks at the tangle between race, images and technology. Beginning with early image-making and the birth of cinema, we will examine how ways of seeing, the rise of mass media in modern consumer society, and the relationship between visual culture and power are deeply intertwined to influence and create discourse on racialized difference. Examining race theories ranging from eugenics to discourses of diversity and post-raciality in the United States and beyond, we will study a range of media such as, but not limited to the shadow play of daguerreotypes, the high contrast of early ethnographic films, the gaze of Hollywood cinema and the counter gaze of progressive cinema and media to explore historical constructions of race and ethnicity, how they have influenced racialized difference on screen and how we see ourselves and others. Students complete critical video essays and collaborate to create a peer-reviewed, online videographic journal. CSS HUM/GM1/V course. FAMS T (theory) course. Prerequisite: FAMS 220, 255, or 275, or by permission of instructor. Nandini Sikand—MW 9:00-10:50 (class) & F 1:00-3:00 ( lab)
FAMS/PHIL 345: Philosophy of Film
This course is an examination of philosophical questions on the nature, interpretation, and evaluation of film. Topics may include: the distinctive nature of the moving image compared to other forms of representation; the issue of whether film is an art form; film authorship; the essence of film narrative; the role of the imagination in understanding and appreciating film; identification and emotional engagement with characters; film and morality; film and knowledge. CCS HUM & W course. FAMS T (theory) course. Prerequisite: FAMS 101 & one course in philosophy or permission of instructor. Alessandro Giovannelli—MW 12:45-2:00 PM