CINEMA STUDIES (AS) {CINE}
SM 061. (FNAR061, VLST061) 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) 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.
L/R 103. (ARTH107, ENGL095) Introduction to Film Theory. (C) Beckman. This course offers students an introduction to the major texts in film theory
across the 20th and 21st centuries. The course gives students an opportunity to read these central texts closely, to
understand the range of historical contexts in which film theories are developed, to explore the relationship between film
theory and the major film movements, to grapple with the points of contention that have emerged among theorists, and
finally to consider: what is the status of film theory today? This course is required for all Cinema Studies majors, but
is open to all students, and no prior knowledge of film theory is assumed. Requirements: Close reading of all assigned
texts; attendance and participation in section discussions; 1 midterm exam; 1 take-home final exam.
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 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) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only.
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.
165. (RUSS165, SLAV165) Russian and East European Film. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Todorov. The purpose of this course is to present
the Russian and East European contribution to world
cinema in terms of film theory, experimentation with
the cinematic language, and social and political
reflex. We discuss major themes and issues such as:
the invention of montage, the means of visual propaganda
and the cinematic component to the communist cultural
revolutions, party ideology and practices of social
engineering, cinematic response to the emergence
of the totalitarian state in Russia and its subsequent
installation in Eastern Europe after World War II;
repression, resistance and conformity under such
a system; legal and illegal desires; the nature of
the authoritarian personality, the mind and the body
of homo sovieticus; sexual and political transgression;
treason and disgrace; public degradation and individual
redemption; the profane and the sublime ends of human
suffering and humiliation; the unmasking of the official "truth" as
a general lie.
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.
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, 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.
241. (COMM241) Feature-Length Motion Picture Production Laboratory I. (C) Messaris. Prerequisite(s): COMM140/CINE203 and/or COMM262/CINE204. This course gives students the opportunity
to participate in the _ production of a feature-length
fiction film. Students engage in all _ aspects of
production, including: screenplay writing, production
_ design, cinematography, production sound, acting,
and directing. The _ course is intended as a follow-up
to COMM 140, Film Forms and _ Contexts, and COMM
262, Visual Communication. Students who have not
_ taken either of those courses should consult with
the instructor _ before enrolling. COMM 241 is followed
by COMM 242. Students may _ enroll in either or both.
SM 272. (ASAM150, ASAM202, ENGL272) Asian-American Literature and Film. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. 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. (AFRC303, ARTH301) 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.
SM 340. (COML382, HIST322, ITAL380) Topics in Italian Cinema and Culture. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. 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. (COMM291, ENGL291, ENGL292, ENGL392) Topics in Cinema Studies. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. 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. (ARTH550, 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, SAST610) Topics In Film Studies. (M) Staff. Topic varies |
