The Film Studies minor requires the completion of 18 credits (9 in core courses and 9 in electives).
|FLM 250 Film History Part 1||3|
|FLM 251 Film History Part 2||3|
|FLM 301 Theory and Criticism of Film||3|
Electives (one of these should be under the category of Film and Society)
FLM 250 Film History Part 1 (D, F). Traces the emergence of cinema as the most popular cultural medium of the twentieth century, from its origins in the 1890s to World War II. Examines the major films and movements in the development of film as a cross-cultural medium. Explores how different cultures imagine themselves within diverse social, historical, and ideological contexts with an emphasis on aesthetics. Required for Film Studies minors.
FLM 251 Film History Part 2 (D, F). Traces the evolution of cinema from World War II to the present, exploring how postwar European film movements like Italian neorealism and the French nouvelle vague impacted U.S. and global film culture and distribution practices. Examines the major films and movements in the development of film as a cross-cultural medium, and studies the decline of the Hollywood studio system. Explores how different cultures imagine themselves within diverse social, historical, and ideological contexts with an emphasis on aesthetics. Required for Film Studies minors.
FLM 301 Theory and Criticism of Film (A, D, F). Introduces and develops a specialized set of theoretical and critical tools used to analyze the ideological meanings of cinematic texts. Required for Film Studies minors.
In addition to the courses described here, other film courses (including transfer courses) may also count toward the minor. Please contact the program director for approval.
FLM 200 Art of the Film (A,F). An introduction to film as an art form combining visual, dramatic, and aural arts. Covers basic film vocabulary, elements of film art, trends in film aesthetics, and analysis of style of important selected filmmakers; includes screening of short and feature films.
CMC 200 Intro to Digital Video and Audio (B). Introduces students to the fundamental terminology, concepts and techniques of digital videography and digital audio. Introduces students to various technical aspects of video and audio production. Examines the basic techniques of production, including camera operation, tripods, lenses, framing and composition, lighting and editing. Presents the basics of the audio production process; including sound recording, basic mixing concepts and digital audio recording.
FLM 261 Queer Film and TV. Investigates issues surrounding LGBTQI representation and textual production in film and television. Counts as “Film and Society” elective.
FLM 302 Documentary Film. Provides an introduction to documentary and experimental films. Explores the role of such films as creative scientific works, as statements by individuals living within particular cultural frameworks, as instruments of persuasion and propaganda, and as devices that expand our perspectives on the world around us.
FLM 303 Ecocinema (I). Provides an introduction to the ways in which cinema helps us envision the state of affairs between the human and the non-human worlds. Investigates documentary, mainstream Hollywood productions, and avant-garde works. Counts as “Film and Society” elective.
FLM 310 Film Auteurs. Provides an in-depth study of major films of selected film directors using various critical perspectives. Specific focus shown by subtitle. May be repeated for credit with significant change in focus.
CMC 348 Video Production (B,Y). Covers the principles and practices of television production, with projects designed for television broadcast. Requires students to produce and direct both in-studio and field projects.
FLM 350 National Cinemas. Using a variety of critical perspectives, provides an in-depth study of major films of selected foreign cultures. Specific focus shown by subtitle. May be repeated for credit with significant change in focus. Counts as “Film and Society” elective.
HST 354 American Film. How do films depict American history? This course examines American history as presented in Hollywood films and compare them with the historical documents, documentary films and photographs, novels, and historians' writings the films are based on (or which the films abuse!). The course will be discussion/seminar with many multimedia presentations. Counts as “Film and Society” elective.
FLM 360 Film Genres. Explores one genre of filmmaking or multiple related genres, examining aesthetic conventions as well as cultural contexts. Examples include: the western, film noir, action and adventure films, films of the 1950s, science fiction, or musicals. Specific topics shown by subtitle. May be repeated for credit with significant change in topic.
CMC 372 Film as Social Commentary (A,D). Explores the film as persuasive communication, explicit and hidden messages of films, the inherent messages of specific film genres, and rhetorical analysis as a means to discover film messages. Counts as “Film and Society” elective.
ANT 380 Native American Images in Film and Media (A,I,W,Y). From early drawings, photographs and films of visual anthropologists to the shaping of the Western genre in commercial films and TV, images of Native Americans are a real part of the American cultural process. An overview of stereotypical images will emerge as we trace how Native American are (re) presented and etched into cultural memory and examine the sacrificial “killing off” of Indian maidens in the western genre of film. As such, analysis and deconstruction of (re)presentations of racial and gendered stereotypes in mainstream media is a specific goal of this course. Indigenous viewpoints about these images will be a central theme for this learning experiences. Counts as “Film and Society” elective.
FLM 401 American Independent Cinema. An historical survey of the upsurge in popularity and profitability of American independent film over the course of the 1980s and 1990s. Analyzes developments in the industrial infrastructure of studio-based and independent cinema, focusing on the increased market for offbeat, alternative, queer, and "smart" cinema in the U.S.
MUS 401 The Films and Film Music of India (A). Uses film to examine the culture and music of India. Introduces Indian films, popular music genres, and use of melodrama and emotion in narrative development and as an expression of the Indian psyche. Adopts critical approaches for looking at the representation of India through cinema, music, and constructions of mainstream and marginalized identities (gender, caste, religion), narrative formulas, song picturizations, theatrical characterizations, and spectacle. Counts as “Film and Society” elective.
CMC 446 Advanced Electronic Production (B,Y). Provides extensive experience in gathering, writing, anchoring, editing and producing weekly newscasts for campus cable channel. Covers electronic journalism practices with an emphasis on convergence newsgathering; working in audio, broadcast and Web formats.
CMC 451 Documentary Production (A). Using the video project designed and developed in CMC450, students produce, shoot, capture and organize source material, create basic effects and titles, develop sequences, organize and edit raw materials into a completed non-fiction film. Screens various films for the expressed purpose of analyzing the editing techniques used by the filmmakers. A public screening component is required for successful completion of the class.
FLM / WMS 457 Women and Film. Focuses on films by women. Considers the following questions: Have women filmmakers depicted the world differently from “dominant” cinema? What possibilities exist for forms of “feminine” film discourse that are truly different from dominant film discourse? What has been the history of women filmmakers? Counts as “Film and Society” elective.
CMC 463 Media and Society (A). Covers significant phases, issues and controversies in the historical development of mass communication in the United States. Emphasizes contemporary media relationships with, and impact on, intellectual, socio-political, economic and technological aspects of, culture and society. Considers daily and other periodical press, radio, television and film. Counts as “Film and Society” elective.
FLM 490 Topics in Film Studies. Addresses current topics, issues, controversies, etc. in film studies. Specific topics vary each semester. Descriptions of specific topics offered may be obtained from the director of film studies. May be taken more than once for credit if the topics differ.
FLM 491 Seminar in Film. To be defined by the instructor in accordance with the specific subject matter covered that semester. Content varies with the appropriate subtitles provided. Example: “The Coen Brothers.” May be taken more than once for credit if the topics differ.
FLM 303: Ecocinema
FLM / HST 322: Cold War Culture
FLM 350: National Cinemas
FLM 404: History on Film
FLM / WMS 457: Women and Film
ANT 380: Native American Image on Film
CMC 372: Film as Social Commentary
CMC 463: Media and Society
MUS 401: The Films and Film Music of India
WMS 261: Queer Film and TV
By advisement only, depending upon specific course subject matter:
FLM 490: Topics in Film Studies
FLM 491: Seminar in Film