Film Studies

FILM W3001x or y Introduction to the Study and Theory of Film 3 pts. Lecture and discussion. Priority given to declared film majors. Fee: $75. Basic principles of film study--film aesthetics (mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, sound); film history (interaction of historical, economic, ideological, and technological determinants); film theory (realism, cinema specificity, relationship of film to other arts); and film criticism (feminist, Marxist, structuralist, semiotic, psychoanalytic, auteurist, and generic approaches). Discussion Section Required.

FILM W3005x or y Laboratory in Writing for Film 3 pts. Prerequisites: FILM R4005. For film majors only. Exercises in the writing of film scripts.

FILM W3050x The Documentary Tradition 3 pts. Film screening, lecture, and discussion. Fee: $75. Documentary film from the late 1890s to the mid-1980s. Attention focuses on the documentary as a means of either supporting or attacking the status quo, on the relationship between the creators and consumers, on claims to truth and objectivity, and on how new technology influences the oldest form of filmmaking. Discussion Section Required.

FILM W3051y Laboratory In Nonfiction Filmmaking 3 pts. Prerequisites: FILM W3050. Fee: $75. Exercises in the use of video for documentary shorts. Only for film majors who have taken "The Documentary Tradition."

FILM W3054x or y Laboratory in Fiction Filmmaking 3 pts. Prerequisites: FILM W4098. Fee: $75. Exercises in the use of video for fiction shorts. For film majors only.

FILM W3100y American Film History, 1930-60: Introduction to Genre and Auteur Study 3 pts. Fee: $75. Priority given to film majors. A survey of masterpieces of the American sound film with a focus on genres including the gangster film, Western, screwball comedy, and musical. Personal directorial styles and cultural contexts are explored in the work of Hawks, Ford, Welles, Lubitsch, Kazan, Wilder, and Kubrick. Discussion Section Required.

FILM W3200x Silent Screen 3 pts. Prerequisites: Film W3001. Fee: $75. This course rethinks the "birth of cinema" from the vantage point of "when old media was new." The standard approaches include from actualities to fiction, from the "cinema of attractions" to narrative, from the cinématographe to cinema, from cottage industry to studio system. Classes are devoted to silent film music, early genres, film piracy and copyright, word and moving image, and restoration-the film archivist's dilemma in the digital era. Discussion Section Required.

FILM W3201y International Film History, 1930-1960 3 pts. Prerequisites: FILM W3001. Stylistic and thematic development from the dawn of the sound film
through World War II and beyond in German, French, Italian, Japanese, and
Scandinavian cinema. Key works by Jean Renoir, Fritz Lang, Jean Vigo,
Roberto Rossellini, Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, and Akira Kurosawa. Discussion Section Required.

FILM W3202x International Film History, 1960-90 3 pts. Prerequisites: FILM W3001. Fee: $75. Cinema in the Age of Television: the Nouvelle Vague and beyond, from
Paris to the Pacific Rim, and the first revolutionary stirrings from
Russia, Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America. Stylistic and thematic
developments in the works of Godard, Antonioni, Fassbinder, Almodovar. Discussion Section Required.

FILM W3203x or y American Film History 1960-1990 3 pts. Prerequisites: Film W3001 or W3100. Fee: $75. Priority given to film majors and seniors. American Film History from 1960 - 1990 with a focus on the dynamic films of the 70s by filmmakers including Coppola, Scorsese, Cassavetes, Bogdanovich, Polanski and Altman. Discussion Section Required.

FILM W3204y International Film History after 1990 3 pts. Cinema in the Age of Digital Technology. New forms of image-making and
the modes of expression made possible by them. Filmmakers covered include
Michael Haneke, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and Abbas Kiarostami, and topics
addressed include new avenues for distribution and exhibition, animé and
reality television. Discussion Section Required.

FILM W3230y American Film History After 1990 3 pts. This course will examine American cinema in the "digital age." The introduction of digital technology -as a means of production, distribution and exhibition-will be explored in light of changes in narrative style, use of genre, film financing and the place of cinema within American culture and society. Special attention will be paid to the interaction between the mainstream, studio produced or distributed cinema and the emerging independent cinema. Directors whose works will be discussed include Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, and Clint Eastwood. Discussion Section Required.

FILM W3300y Topics in American Cinema: Cult/Exploitation 3 pts. Prerequisites: FILM W3001 or W3100. Fee: $75. From The Rocky Horror Picture Show to The Room, the concept of the cult film has been familiar for the best part of half a century. But what exactly is cult film? Some have defined it as "created" by audience reception; others in terms of "camp" or bad taste aesthetics. This course addresses these issues through a series of case studies (the studio-era exploitation film, B movies, midnight movies, etc.), exploring the permutations and the promise of cinematic low culture against a variety of historical contexts. Discussion Section Required.

FILM W3500y Interdisciplinary Studies: History of TV 3 pts.Not offered in 2013-2014. Prerequisites: Film W3001 or 3100 Fee: $75. A survey of American TV history, with a focus on dramatic narration related to independent cinema. Structured in three acts--from the "Golden Age" of the 1950s to the dramatic complexity found in recent Cable series--it begins with prestigious writers Rod Serling and Paddy Chayefsky; studies groundbreaking mini-series like "Roots" and "Holocaust"; and explores how shows such as "Hill Street Blues" and "Twin Peaks" laid the groundwork for HBO series including "Oz," "The Sopranos," "The Wire," and"Six Feet Under." Producing 13-week dramas over the span of years, these programs have developed a sophisticated narrative form, borrowing from as well as informing cinematic storytelling. Discussion Section Required.

FILM W3840x Senior Seminar in Film Studies 3 pts. A seminar for senior film majors planning to write a research paper in film history/theory/culture. Course content changes yearly. Course fee: $30.

FILM W3842x Senior Seminar in Filmmaking 3 pts. Prerequisites: Film W3001, 4098 An advanced directing workshop for senior film majors who have already completed a Production Lab.

FILM W3850x Senior Seminar in Screenwriting 3 pts. Prerequisites: Prerequisite: FILM W3001, W3005, and R4005. A seminar for senior film majors. This course builds on and is a continuation of what was covered in previous Filmwriting and Script Analysis classes. Student will complete a step outline and minimum of 30 pages of their project including revisions. Through reading/viewing and analyzing selected scripts/films, as well as lectures, exercises and weekly critiques, students will expand their understanding of dramatic writing and narrative-making for film and TV, including adaptations. They will learn appropriate structure for each specific screen-writing form, and endeavor to apply their understanding of drama, character, theme and structure to their chosen narrative project.

FILM W3851y Narrative Strategies in Screenwriting Prerequisites: Film 3005 and 4005. This workshop is primarily a continuation of Senior Seminar of Screenwriting. Students will either continue developing the scripts they began in Senior Seminar of Screenwriting, or create new ones including a step outline and a minimum of 30 pages. Emphasis will be placed on character work, structure, theme and employing dramatic devices. Weekly outlining and script writing, concurrent with script/story presentation and class critiques, will ensure that each student will be guided toward the completion of his or her narrative script project.

FILM W3997x-W3998y Special Projects: Independent Study 1-3 pts. Supervised internship including a written essay.

FILM W3999x or y Senior Project: Independent Study 3 pts.Not offered in 2013-2014. An extended supervised research paper on the history, theory, or criticism of film.

FILM R4005x The Film Medium: Script Analysis 3 pts. Prerequisites: FILM W3001. Lecture and discussion. Fee: $50. The dramatic and cinematic principles of screen storytelling, including dramaturgy, character and plot development, use of camera, staging, casting, sound, editing, and music. Diverse narrative techniques, story patterns, dramatic structures, and artistic and genre forms are discussed, and students do screenwriting exercises. Discussion Section Required.

FILM R4016y Seminar in International Film: French Icons 3 pts. Prerequisites: For film majors, FILM W3001. Fee: $50. Close analysis of representative films of three screen icons - Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, and Gérard Depardieu - whose personas, in varying ways, have substantially shaped public perceptions of a supposed "Frenchness," in France and internationally. Topics include French vs. Hollywood star systems; modes of star acting; the French megastar as an avatar of multiple, shifting, and often contradictory social, cultural, and political values; the star as a site of orthodox and non-orthodox femininity and masculinity; national stereotypes: reinforced, modified, contested; contrasts with the images and career trajectories of selected non-French peers (e.g., Monroe, Sophia Loren, Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, and Streep; Eastwood, Connery, Schwarzenegger, and Travolta); the links between these Gallic icons' exportation value and the impact they have exerted on international perceptions of what (arguably) constitutes or signifies "Frenchness."

FILM R4095x Writing Film Criticism 3 pts. Prerequisites: the instructor's permission. This course will emphasize the role of criticism today. We will screen films, from classics to some currently in theaters. We will read, analyze and evaluate critical responses to them considering some crucial questions: How does criticism hold up over time? How do you approach a new film? How do you approach one that has been written about for decades? Students will write short reviews and longer essays with an eye toward developing a personal voice. This course assumes there is no right or wrong in criticism, just stronger or weaker arguments, and we'll focus on ways to create the best case for your original ideas. (Syllabus posted on CW). Prerequisite: Instructor's permission. Submit short writing sample, 3-5 pp., to cj2374@columbia.edu

FILM W4098x Film Theory 3 pts. Prerequisites: Film W3001 Fee: $50. An introduction to some of the major texts in film theory, with particular attention to film theory's evolving relations to a number of philosophical issues: the nature of the aesthetic; the relation of symbolic forms to the construction of human subjectivities; narrative and the structure of experience; modernity, technology, popular culture, and the rise of mass political formations; meaning, intention, and authorship. Discussion Section Required.

FILM W4099y Topics in film theory 3 pts. Course content changes yearly. Specialized study of a topic in film theory such as the work of single theorist (André Bazin, Gilles Deleuze, etc.), region and/or time period (Japanese film theory, Russian film theory of the 1920s, etc.), particular methodology or approach (psychoanalytic film theory, cognitivist film theory, etc.), or subject matter (theories of new media, theories of the horror film, etc.). Open to advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Some background in film studies, critical theory, or cultural studies is recommended.

FILM R4138y (Section 1) Auteur Study: Krzysztof Kieslowski 3 pts.Not offered in 2013-2014. Prerequisites: For film majors, Film W3001 or 3100 Course content changes yearly. Krzysztof Kieslowski created some of the most philosophically and stylistically rich films of the 1980s and 90s. We explore such works as "The Decalogue" and "Three Colors: Blue, White, Red" in the context of post-war Polish cinema, and do close analysis of his films in conjunction with their screenplays. Fee: $50.

FILM W4145y Topics in World Cinema: China 3 pts. Prerequisites: FILM W3001. Priority given to declared film majors and seniors. Fee: $50. Exploration of filmmaking in mainland China, from the 1930s until today, focusing especially on the interaction of the cinema with other media, as well as with the shifting tides of history and politics. Discussion Section Required.

FILM W4220y History of the Producer and the American Studio System 3 pts.Not offered in 2013-2014. Prerequisites: FILM W3001. Fee: $50. A survey of the history of producing in the U.S. from pre-Hollywood filmmaking to the poststudio era of independent producers, agency packaging, and industry conglomerates. Hollywood producers such as Thomas Ince, Jesse Lasky, Irving Thalberg, David O. Selznick, and Dore Schary are considered. Emphasis is also placed on independent productions as an alternative method of filmmaking. Discussion Section Required.

FILM G4310x Experimental Film and Media 3 pts. Prerequisites: Film W3001 for undergrads This course provides an overview of experimental moving images from the European "city symphonies" and abstract films of the 1920s to the flowering of the American postwar avant-garde; from the advent of video art in the 1960s to the online viral videos and digital gallery installations of today. The class thus surveys the artists, institutions, and viewers that have fostered moving image art throughout the history of film, and asks students to consider the historical, social, and institutional forces that have engendered oppositional, political, and aesthetically radical cinemas. A central premise of the course is that technological developments such as video and new media are not historical ruptures, but part of an ongoing tradition of moving-image art making. Other core topics include the consideration of the meaning and use-value of the avant-garde, the issue of "artists' film and video" as opposed to "experimental film," and the thorny relationship between avant-garde and commercial filmmaking.

FILM R4440x Seeing Narrative 3 pts. Prerequisites: Film W3001 and permission of the instructor. Fee: $50. Priority given to MFA Film students, and senior film majors. By application to professor only.