Spring 2012 Courses

VIS 262
Introduction to Video and Film Production
Sadie Benning, Keith Sanborn
A film/video course introducing the techniques of shooting and editing digital video. Works of film/video art will be analyzed in class to explore the development of, and innovations in, cinematic language. Production will be oriented toward film/video as a visual art, including narrative, documentary, and experimental genres. Several short video projects will be produced during the semester.

VIS 342 / COM 361
The Cinema from World War II until the Present
P. Adams Sitney
The history of sound and color film produced since World War II. Emphasis on Italian neorealism, French New Wave, American avant-garde, and the accomplishments of such major film makers as Bergman, Hitchcock, Bresson, and Antonioni. Modernism in film will be a central consideration. One three-hour class, weekly film screenings.

VIS 344 / HLS 364
Special Topics in Film History: Classical Myths, Sites, and Rites in Cinema
P. Adams Sitney
This seminar explores the ways in which the cinema has responded to classical Hellenic literature and culture, the Greek landscape, and ancient philosophy. There will be extensive readings of Greek works in translation. Because of the difficulty of obtaining some (but not all) of the films for this course, some screenings will be projected DVD or Videotape. Participants in the seminar will be invited to apply for a limited number of Hellenic Studies grants to attend the Temenos screening in Greece, June 29-July 1, 2012.

FRE 391 / VIS 347
Topics in French Cinema: The Shoah in French Film
Thomas Trezise
A study of the representation of the Holocaust in French film. Major topics of discussion include the question of French national identity, the communication of traumatic experience, and differences of genre.

ITA 313 / VIS 446
Marxism in Italian Cinema
Gaetana Marrone-Puglia
A study of the influence of Marxist ideology on major Italian directors from the Cold War to the present. Representative films include: Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, Visconti's The Leopard, Pasolini's Teorema, Wertmuller's Seven Beauties, Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers. The approach will be interdisciplinary and will combine the analysis of historical and political themes with a cinematic reading of the films.

VIS 462
Advanced Video and Film Production
Saddie Benning
This course will explore narrative structures, with an emphasis on experimentation, improvisation and DIY aesthetics. Through screenings, class discussions, and student assignments we will focus on video art and film that challenge the conventions of narrative constructs. Topics of interest include: performance, autobiography, abstraction/ image manipulation, and documentary.

Fall 2011 Courses

VIS 261
Introductory Video and Film Production
Keith Sanborn
A film/video course introducing the techniques of shooting and editing digital video. Works of film/video art will be analyzed in class to explore the development of, and innovations in, cinematic language. Production will be oriented toward film/video as a visual art, including narrative, documentary, and experimental genres. Several short video projects will be produced during the semester.

CWR 348 / VIS 348 / THR 348
Screenwriting I: Screenwriting as a Visual Medium
Christina Lazaridi, Patricia Marx
The course will introduce students to basic screenwriting techniques and principles, using cross-cultural film examples of European/Asian and US classics. Course will examine the visual power of story movement in film and the use of visual moments/behavior in creating memorable characters Students will be asked to write one short silent film and two narrative films using cross-cultural examples of European, Middle Eastern and U.S. Cinema.