CM204 Sight Sound Motion (3.0 credits)
Russell Cook, MWF 11:00 - 11:50 p.m.
Drawn from the Western tradition in the arts and philosophy, applied media aesthetics is used to examine how contemporary electronic media (including radio, sound recordings, television, motion pictures, video games and computer applications) communicate sense and meaning. Learning activities include spoken and written analysis and interpretation of sample works.
CM224 Video Production (3.0 credits)
Section 01 Jay Dunmore, T 1:40 - 4:10 p.m.
Section 02 Staff, TH 1:40 - 4:10 p.m.
Students learn digital movie making, camera handling, lighting, editing, motion tilting, basic animation and studio techniques for broadcast television, DVD, Internet streaming and podcasts. Counts toward film studies minor. (fall/spring/summer)
CM347 The Documentary Tradition (3.0 credits)
Russell Cook, W 3:00 - 5:30 p.m.
A close study of the documentary tradition—including ethnography, propaganda, cinema verite and postmodernism—that testifies to the tremendous vitality of the form, assesses its current state and projects the future. Screenings celebrate human dignity and diversity in its many variations of race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, culture, religion and sexual orientation. Students view, discuss and write about majors works and apply insights to their own documentary projects. Satisfies diversity requirement. (fall only)
EN 180.01 Reel Life Cycles: Identity and the Family in Film and Literature
Mark Osteen, TTH 9:25 and T 12:15 p.m.
How does identity form and change? How do family dynamics shape who we are? This course explores these questions through great works of film and literature. Moving chronologically from stories and films about childhood and proceeding through adolescence, maturity and old age, we’ll learn basic film vocabulary, encounter real and fictional people from many regions and cultures, and use them to enrich our critical skills and reflect on our own lives and families. Writing assignments will range from brief narratives and interviews to research papers and screenplays.
HS 325.01, Europe since 1945 through Film
Prof. John Breihan, TTH 1:40-2:55.
Students will examine dramatic developments in European life since the end of the Second World War - postwar dislocation and migration, the iron curtain and cold war, the loss of overseas colonies, the "economic miracle" and consumer society, and the integration of countries into the European Union. The principal source material will be contemporary feature films made since 1945 by famous directors like Fassbinder, Truffaut, Bunuel, Godard, Polanski, and Almodovar. How did these film-makers respond to the great events of their time? What can we learn about these events from their movies? Students will watch one film per week, then write a paper analyzing three more. Particularly recommended for those intending to study abroad in Europe.
HS 372, The Vietnam War though Film and Literature
R. Keith Schoppa, T 3:05 - 5:35 p.m.
This course uses film—feature and documentary—and a wide range of historical and autobiographical accounts of the war to study the reasons for the war, the experiences of men who fought (both Americans and Vietnamese), the impact of the war on Vietnam and its people, the role of the U.S. home front (the anti-war movement) and the reception that returning veterans received.
TH 381.01, Faith in Film: The Apostle's Creed in the American Cinema
Fr. Joseph Rossi, TTH 1:40-2:55.
Prerequisite: TH 201
Frank Capra, one of the truly great directors of cinema's first century, left us with this testimony from the artist's viewpoint to the consequences of film's power: "Only the morally courageous are worthy of speaking to their fellow men for two hours in the dark. And only the artistically incorrupt will earn and keep the people's trust." The twofold purpose of this course is to analyze the meaning of the fundamental truths of the Christian faith and to explore the American cinema's capacity to convey those truths. [Put the next sentence in italics] Counts toward Catholic Studies, Film Studies, and American Studies minors.
WR 344.02 Fundamentals of Film Studies
Brian Murray, T 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Fundamentals of Film Studies aims to provide students with a thoughtful introduction to the movies, from their origins to the present day. It will also enable participants to explore key moments in the history of (primarily) European and American film, and to acquire an understandng of a wide variety of film concepts and terms. Fundamentals of Film Studies will also introduce students to some of the basic film genres that have been at the core of the film industry from its origins to the present day.
