CINEMA STUDIES
(AS) {CINE}
SM 061. (FNAR061, FNAR661) Film/Video
I. (C) Staff.
This class offers film and video production as a means of
personal expression. Students will be assisted in translating
ideas into movies. Super-8 and/or digital video equipment
will be provided; students must provide film stock, processing
and/or video tapes.
SM 062. (FNAR062, FNAR662) Film/Video
II. (C) Staff.
Film/Video II is a hands-on course in super 8mm and/or digital
video movie making in which each student plans and creates
three short productions. Techniques learned in FNAR 061 will
be refined while exploring the role of sound and aesthetics
in the flimmaking/video process. Auditors not permitted
SM 063. (FNAR063, FNAR663) Documentary
Video. (C) Heriza.
Prerequisite(s): CINE 061.
A digital video course stressing concept development and the
exploration of contemporary aesthetics of the digital realm,
specifically in relation to the documentary form. Building
on camera, sound and editing skills acquired in Film/Video
I and II, students will produce a portfolio of short videos
and one longer project over the course of the semester. Set
assignments continue to investigate the formal qualities
of image-making, the grammar of the moving image and advanced
sound production issues within the documentary context.
SM 065. (FNAR065, FNAR665) Cinema
Production. (C) Mosley.
This course focuses on the practices and theory of producing
narrative based cinema. Members of the course will
become the film crew and produce a short digital film. Workshops
on producing, directing, lighting, camera, sound and editing
will build skills necessary for the hands-on production shoots.
Visiting lecturers will critically discuss the individual
roles of production in the context of the history of films.
105. (RELS105) Religion and Film.
(M) Distribution
Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Staff.
Introduction to different ways in which religion is represented
in film. Emphasis upon religious themes, but some attention
to cinematic devices and strategies. Although most
films studied will deal with only one of the major historical
religious traditions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity
and Islam), the selection will always include at least two
of those traditions.
SM 115. (ENGL292) Study of An Author.
(C) Staff.
This topic course explores aspects of a Cinema author intensively. Specific
course topics vary from year to year. See the Cinema
Studies website at <http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/> for
a description of the current offerings.
SM 116. (ENGL116) Screenwriting Workshop.
(C) Staff.
This course will look at the screenplay as both a literary
text and a blue print for production. Several classic
screenplay texts will be critically analyzed (REBEL WITHOUT
A CAUSE, DOCTOR STRANGELOVE, PSYCHO, etc.) Students will
then embark on writing their own scripts. We will intensively
focus on: character enhancement, creating "believable"
cinematic dialogue, plot development and story structure, conflict,
pacing, dramatic foreshadowing, the element of surprise, text
and subtext and visual story-telling. Class attendance
is mandatory. Students will submit their works-in-progress
to the workshop for discussion.
160. (ENGL061) British Cinema.
(M) Beckman.
Penn-in-London.
Fran_ois Truffaut once famously suggested that there was a
certain incompatibility between the terms cinema and Britain
; Satyajit Ray declared, I do not think the British are temperamentally
equipped to make the best use of the movie camera ; and throughout
the history of film criticism, British cinema has been condemned
for its theatrical style, lack of emotion, imitation of Hollywood
and/or European cinema, and failure to achieve a national
character. Yet in spite of this history of dismissal,
British cinema has a long and complex history that we will
begin to explore through film screenings, critical reading,
and visits to archives and museums.
Topics covered will include: Early Cinema of Attractions ;
British cinema s relation to other countries; war propaganda
and the British documentary film; cinematic adaptations of
British literature; British film theory; British experimental
film/moving images in the art gallery; British cinema and identity.
Requirements: attendance at screenings/discussions/trips; final
paper; film journal.
SM 201. (ENGL291, GRMN259) Topics
in Film History. (M) Distribution
Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Katz, Corrigan, Decherney, Beckman.
This topic course explores aspects of Film History intensively. Specific
course topics vary from year to year. See the Cinema
Studies website at <http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/> for
a description of the current offerings.
SM 202. (ARTH290, COML292, ENGL292)
Topics in Film Practice. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Katz, Corrigan, Decherney, Beckman.
This topic course explores aspects of Film Practice intensively. Specific
course topics vary from year to year. See the Cinema
Studies website at <http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/> for
a description of the current offerings.
203. (COMM140) Introduction to
Film, Form, and Context. (C) May be counted as a General Requirement Course in Arts & Letters.
Class of 2009 & prior only. Messaris.
This course will trace the development of the classical Hollywood
cinema, as well as significant alternatives to this dominant
mode of representation, by relating analyses of the formal
elements of film texts to discussions of film industries
and audiences as well as the larger social, historical context. A
variety of analytical methods and perspectives will be applied
to films drawn from different times and countries in order
to consider the cinema as a cultural construction.
204. (COMM262) Visual Communication.
(C) Messaris.
Examination of the structure and effects of visual media (film,
television, advertising, and other kinds of pictures).
208. (ARTH292, GSOC228, GSOC234)
Topics in Gender and Cinema. (C) Beckman.
This topic course explores aspects of Gender in Film intensively. Specific
course topics vary from year to year. See the Cinema
Studies website at <http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/> for
a description of the current offerings.
SM 210. Topics in Narrative Cinema.
(M) Met.
This topic course explores aspects of Film Narrative intensively. Specific
course topics vary from year to year. See the Cinema
Studies website at <http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/> for
a description of the current offerings.
SM 211. (ENGL295) Topics in Film Theory.
(M) Distribution
Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Decherney.
This topic course explores aspects of Film Theory intensively. Specific
course topics vary from year to year. See the Cinema
Studies website at <http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/> for
a description of the current offerings.
L/R 220. (EALC125) Chinese Cinema.
(B) May
be counted as a General Requirement Course in Arts & Letters.
Class of 2009 &
prior only. Staff.
This topic course explores aspects of Chinese Cinema.
Specific course topics vary from year to year. See the
Cinema Studies website at <http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/> for
a description of the current offerings.
SM 225. (ASAM275, ENGL256, GSOC275,
THAR273, THAR275) Topics in Theater and Cinema. (M) Distribution Course in Arts &
Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff.
This topic course explores aspects of Film and Theater intensively. Specific
course topics vary from year to year. See the Cinema
Studies website at <http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/> for
a description of the current offerings.
SM 232. (COLL223, COML226, LALS240,
PRTG240, SPAN223) Luso-Brazilian Film. (M) Arts & Letters Sector. All Classes. Gouveia.
This course will survey films from different Portuguese-speaking
countries. Still unknown to many viewers, Luso &
Brazilian films include a variety of genres and styles. We
will explore films from the cultural perspective of Portugal,
Cape Verde, Mozambique, and Brazil. The first segment
of this course will expose students to theoretical approaches
to the study of film. The second segment of the course will
focus on Portugal and Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa. We
will also discuss emblematic Portuguese filmmakers such as
Manuel de Oliveira and African writers whose work has been
translated to the screen such as Mia Couto and Germano de Almeida. The
third segment will focus on Brazilian films produced since
the mid 1990s.
In the early 1990s,
there was a virtual collapse of Embrafilme (the state agency
that funds most Brazilian films). Brazilian cinematic
production only resumed around 1995. Throughout the
last 8 years numerous quality films have been released, many
of them directed by a new generation of filmmakers. Films
like Cidade de Deus, Carandiru, Onibus 174 present a critical
view of political, social and economic issues in post-dictatorial
Brazil. Most of the films also provide commentaries
on (and are themselves part of) the effects of economic and
cultural globalization. Inequality, corruption, poverty,
violence, crime, drugs, and prejudice are themes that permeate
all of these films. The course will be conducted in
English.
SM 270. (ENGL270, LALS270) Latino-American
Cinema. (M) Staff.
This topic course explores aspects of Latin-American Cinema
intensively. Specific course topics vary from year to year. See
the Cinema Studies website at <http: offerings.
SM 272. (ASAM150, ASAM202, ENGL272)
Asian-American Literature and Film. (M) Staff.
This topic course explores aspects of Asian-American Literature
and Cinema intensively. Specific course topics vary
from year to year. See the Cinema Studies website at
<http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/> for a description of the current
offerings.
SM 295. (ENGL266) Topics in Cultural
Studies. (M) Distribution
Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Decherney.
This topic course explores aspects of Film Cultural Studies
intensively. Specific course topics vary from year to year. See
the Cinema Studies website at <http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/> for
a description of the current offerings.
SM 300. Cinema and Other Arts. (C) Distribution Course in Arts &
Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Beckman.
This topic course explores aspects of Film in others arts
intensively. Specific course topics vary from year to year. See
the Cinema Studies website at <http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/> for
a description of the current offerings.
329. (COML282, NELC159) Modern
Hebrew Literature and Film. (C) Arts & Letters Sector. All Classes. Gold.
Topic varies semester to semeester. Past topics have
included: Film and Literature: Childhood in Times of Peace
and War; War and Love: Heroism and Anti-Heroism in Israeli
Writings; Jewish Film and Literature: Childhood Memory; Fantasy,
Dreams & Madness in Hebrew Literature: Escape or Solution;
Voices (of Others) of Israel; Jewish Film & Literature:
History
& Memory. Fall 2005: Holocaust in Literature and Film: The momentous Holocaust
narrative, "The Diary of Anne Frank," appeared in 1947, one year
prior to the establishment of the Jewish State. The Israeli psyche and
therefore Israeli art, however, "waited" until the 1961 public indictment
of a Nazi war-criminal to hesitantly begin to face the Jewish catastrophe. The
Zionist wish to forge a "New Jew" was in part responsible for this
suppression. Aharon Appelfeld's understated short stories were the first
to enter the modernist literary scene in the 1960s, followed in 1970 by the
cryptic verse of Dan Pagis, a fellow child survivor. Only in 1988 did
the Second Generation of survivors reveal themselves. Indeed, two Israeli-born
pop singers--haunted children of survivors--broke the continuous practice of
concealing the past and its emotional aftermath in the watershed documentary "Because
of That War."
SM 330. (COML282, ENGL279, GRMN261,
JWST262) Jewish Film and Literature. (M) Staff.
Topic varies semester to semeester. Past topics have
included: Film and Literature: Childhood in Times of Peace
and War; War and Love: Heroism and Anti-Heroism in Israeli
Writings; Jewish Film and Literature: Childhood Memory; Fantasy,
Dreams & Madness in Hebrew Literature: Escape or Solution;
Voices (of Others) of Israel. Fall 2004: Jewish Film &
Literature: History and Memory.
SM 340. (COML300, HIST322, ITAL300,
ITAL380) Topics in Italian Cinema and Culture. (M) Distribution Course in Hist &
Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff.
Modern Italy has added to the traditional belle arti of painting,
sculpture and architecture new fields like fashion, industrial
design and film. "Made in Italy" has come
to stand all over the world for quality workmanship and fine
design. Yet this same country has been involved in
the last hundred years in two terrible world wars, a brutal
fascist dictatorship, violence both political and criminal
and a flood of emigration. In this course we will review
that history, its triumphs and disasters, by combining film
and written tests. Both media are equally important
and ought to enrich each other. The weekly film is
part of that work and you will be expected to do the assigned
reading as well. This course will be open to seniors
and juniors, and sophomores (with special permission).
L/R 352. (COML241, GRMN256, RELS236)
Devil's Pact Literature and Film. (C) Arts & Letters Sector. All Classes. Richter.
For centuries the pact with the devil has signified humankind's
desire to surpass the limits of human knowledge and power.
From the reformation chap book to the rock lyrics of Randy
Newman's Faust, from Marlowe and Goethe to key Hollywood films,
the legend of the devil's pact continues to be useful for exploring
our fascination with forbidden powers.
SM 370. (AFRC400) Blacks in American
Film and Television. (C) Bogle.
An examination and analysis of the changing images and achievements
of African Americans in motion pictures and television. The
first half of the course focuses on African-American film
images from the early years of D.W. Griffith's "renegade
bucks" in The Birth of a Nation (1915); to the comic
servants played by Steppin Fetchit, Hattie McDaniel, and
others during the Depression era; to the post-World War II
New Negro heroes and heroines of Pinky (1949) and The Defiant
Ones (1958); to the rise of the new movement of African American
directors such as Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing), Julie Dash
(Daughters of the Dust), Charles Burnett, (To Sleep With
Anger) and John Singleton (Boyz N the Hood). The second
half explores television images from the early sitcoms "Amos
'n Andy" and "Beulah"
to the "Cosby Show," "Fresh Prince of Bel Air," and
"Martin." Foremost this course will examine Black stereotypes in
American films and television--and the manner in which those stereotypes have
reflected national attitudes and outlooks during various historical periods.
This course will
also explore the unique "personal statements" and
the sometimes controversial "star personas" of
such screen artists as Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge,
Paul Robeson, Richard Pryor, Oscar Micheaux, Spike Lee, Bill
Cosby, Eddie Murphy, and Whoopi Goldberg. The in-class
screenings and discussions will include such films as Show
Boat (1936), the independently produced "race movies" of
the 1930s and 1940s, Cabin in the Sky (1943), The Defiant
Ones (1958), Imitation of Life (the 1959 remake), Super Fly
(1972), and She's Gotta Have It (1986) and such television
series as "I Spy," "Julia," "Good
Times," "The Jeffersons,"
"Roots," "A Different World," "I'll Fly Away,"
"LA Law," and "Hangin' With Mr. Cooper."
SM 392. (ARTH489, ENGL392) Topics
in Cinema Studies. (M) Corrigan.
This topic course explores aspects of Cinema Studies intensively. Specific
course topics vary from year to year. See the Cinema
Studies website at <http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/> for
a description of the current offerings.
SM 550. (COML552, GRMN550) Topics
in German Cinema. (K) Staff.
This graduate topic course explores aspects of German Cinema
intensively. Specific course topics vary from year to year. See
the Cinema Studies website at <http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/> for
a description of the current offerings.
SM 619. (COMM619) The Politics and
Practices of Representation. Sender.
This course engages with the following question from both
theoretical and practical perspectives: Who says what about
whom, under what circumstances, in which medium, with what
effects? We will spend the first two thirds of the
semester investigating different approaches to this question,
looking at insider accounts, processes of othering, realism
and other narrative conventions, the ethics of consent, "objective" and
"biased" shooting techniques, the politics of editing, the role of
the intended audience in the production of a work, and so on. We will
simultaneously cover the technical aspects of production that will enable you
to produce digital video projects: shooting (Canon GL1s), lighting, sound,
editing (Final Cut Pro on Mac), graphics, music, and so on. During the
final third of the semester all students will produce short (5-10 minute) documentary
and/or experimental digital videos.
SM 680. (COML595, FREN680) Topics
in French Cinema. (M) Met.
This graduate topic course explores aspects of French Cinema
intensively. Specific course topics vary from year to year. See
the Cinema Studies website at <http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/> for
a description of the current offerings.
SM 694. (SPAN694) Mexican Cinema.
(M) Staff.
This seminar will address the specificity and uniqueness of
Spanish America's cultural production, that is, those elements
that make the Spanish American case differ from the paradigmatic
postcolonial situation, and which make recent developments
in postcolonial studies not fully applicable to it. We
will explore these issues in the context of the literary
production of the twentieth century in Spanish America from
roughly the twenties to the present, that is, the epoch encompassing
the larger metropolitan cultural phenomena of Modernism and
Postmodernism.
SM 793. (ASAM510, COML653, ENGL591,
ENGL797, SAST610) Topics In Film Studies. (M) Staff.
Topic
varies.