Film and Media (FILM)
FILM R1A The Craft of Writing - Film Focus 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of lecture/discussion per week, plus individual conferences. 7.5 hours of lecture/discussion per week, plus individual conferences.
Rhetorical approach to reading and writing argumentative discourse with a film focus. Close reading of selected texts; written themes developed from class discussion and analysis of rhetorical strategies. Satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement.
Satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement
Formerly known as Rhetoric R5A.
FILM R1B The Craft of Writing - Film Focus 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of lecture/discussion per week, plus individual conferences. 7.5 hours of lecture/discussion per week, plus individual conferences.
Intensive argumentative writing stimulated through selected readings, films, and class discussion. Satisfies the second half of the Reading and Composition requirement.
Satisfies the second half of the Reading and Composition requirement
Formerly known as Rhetoric R5B.
FILM 25A The History of Film 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Lecture and 3 to 4 hours of Laboratory per week for 15 weeks. 6 hours of Lecture and 3 hours of Discussion per week for 8 weeks. 7.5 hours of Lecture and 3 hours of Discussion per week for 6 weeks.
From the beginnings through the conversion to sound. In addition to the development of the silent film, the course will conclude with an examination of the technology of sound conversion and examples of early sound experiments.
FILM 25B The History of Film 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Lecture and 3 to 4 hours of Laboratory per week for 15 weeks. 6 hours of Lecture and 3 hours of Discussion per week for 8 weeks. 7.5 hours of Lecture and 3 hours of Discussion per week for 6 weeks.
Prerequisites: 25A or equivalent.
The sound era through 1971.
FILM 26 Moving Image Media 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 2 hours of Lecture and 2 to 4 hours of Laboratory per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: 25A.
The objective of this class is to provide a basic technical foundation for digital video film production while emphasizing the techniques and languages of creative moving image media from traditional story genres to more contemporary experimental forms. Training will move from pre-production-scripting and storyboarding, through production, including image capture, lighting and sound recording, to post-production with non-linear digital editing programs such as Final Cut Pro and editing strategies and aesthetics. The course will consist of lectures/screenings, discussion/critique, visiting artists, and production workshops in which students produce a series of exercises and a final project.
FILM 50 Introduction to Film for Nonmajors 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Lecture and 1.5 hours of Discussion per week for 15 weeks.
An introduction to film art and film technique for students who are interested in exploring the history and aesthetics of cinema but do not intend to major in film. The course traces the development of world cinema from the first films of the 1890s to the 1970s, drawing on examples from American, European, Asian, and Third World cinema.
FILM N70 Introduction to Film Genre 3 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 7.5 hours of lecture/film screenings per week for 6 weeks. 10.5 hours of lecture/film screenings per week for 4 weeks.
The study of films as categorized either by industry-identified genres (westerns, horror films, musicals, film noir, etc.) or broader interpretive modes (melodrama, realism, fantasy, etc.).
FILM 75 Postmodernism and Film 3 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 4 hours of lecture and 2 hours of film screening per week.
This course examines postmodernism as it manifests itself in film. We will begin with a general overview of the postmodern, and then look at how postmodernism reformulates certain theoretical issues: e.g., ideology, history, subjectivity and gender. Primary films will be juxtaposed not just with theoretical texts, but also with texts from architecture, photography, literature and classical Hollywood cinema. Requirements: take home mid-term, final exam.
Instructors: Tuma, Forter
FILM 76 Reading Violence: The Gangster Film 3 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 4 hours of lecture and 2 hours of film screening per week for 8 weeks.
This course will survey American gangster films and encourage students to attend to film technique through analysis of this genre's sequences of violence. Reading will indlude film criticism and theory, and a broad range of arguments addressing the forms and function of violence in culture. The class will explore the proposition that violence is at least as constructive as it is destructive of bodies, identities, and cultural values.
Instructor: Lougheed
FILM 77X The Vampire Film 3 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 5.5 hours lecture and 3 hours screening per week for 6 weeks.
In this course, we will closely analyze classic examples of a sub-genre of horror, the vampire film. Our reading of classic vampire films and other texts will emphasize two central areas of inquiry: the vampire and narratology and the vampire and realism. We will concern ourselves with such questions as these: How do narrative devices and generic conventions affect the reception of these texts? How are horror films constructed and received as realistic? How are filmic portraylas of the uncanny reflective of social "reality"? With additional work, this course will satisfy the Genre requirement for the Film major.
FILM 78X Outsiders in American Films of the Fifties 3 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 5.5 hours of lecture and 2.5 hours of screening per week for 6 weeks.
This course will address the ways American films of the 1950s represent those on the margins of mainstream fifties' culture: juvenile deliquents, minorities, people with conscience, women, loners, homosexuals, unmarried people, and interracial couples. We will consider such topics as the pathologizing of dissent, the limits of racial freedom, women as consumers, the effects of institutional training, and the nature of the family.
FILM 84 Sophomore Seminar 1 or 2 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: The grading option will be decided by the instructor when the class is offered.
Hours and format: 1 hour of seminar per week per unit for 15 weeks. 1 and 1 half hours of seminar per week per unit for 10 weeks. 2 hours of seminar per week per unit for 8 weeks. 3 hours of seminar per week per unit for 5 weeks.
Prerequisites: At discretion of instructor.
Sophomore seminars are small interactive courses offered by faculty members in departments all across the campus. Sophomore seminars offer opportunity for close, regular intellectual contact between faculty members and students in the crucial second year. The topics vary from department to department and semester to semester. Enrollment limited to 15 sophomores.
Course may be repeated for credit as topic varies. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
FILM 98 Directed Group Study 1 - 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Offered for pass/not pass grade only.
Hours and format: 1 to 4 hour of Directed group study per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: Restricted to freshmen and sophomores; consent of instructor.
Supervised research by lower division students.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
FILM 100 History of Film Theory 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of lecture and 3 to 4 hours of film laboratory per week.
Prerequisites: 25A or equivalent.
The study, from an historical perspective, of major theorists of film.
FILM 105 Senior Seminar 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Seminar and 2 hours of Laboratory per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: Senior standing; completion of all lower division requirements and two out of three of the upper division requirements; GPA of 3.4 or better in the major.
Intensive study of topics in film and moving-image media.
FILM 108 Special Topics in Film Genre 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Lecture and 2 to 3 hours of Laboratory per week for 15 weeks. 7.5 hours of Lecture and 2 to 4 hours of Laboratory per week for 6 weeks.
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor.
The study of films as categorized either by industry-identified genres (westerns, horror films, musicals, film noir, etc.) or broader interpretive modes (melodrama, realism, fantasy, etc.).
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Formerly known as C108.
FILM N108 Film Genres 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 8 hours of Lecture and 4 hours of Laboratory per week for 6 weeks.
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor.
The study of film by kind. Focus on a particular genre such as the documentary, the western, the animated film, , the musical.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
FILM C115/AMERSTD C115 The American Detective in Fiction, Film, and Television 4 Units
Department: Film; American Studies; Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 7.5 hours of Lecture per week for 8 weeks.
This course considers how the American detective is represented in fiction, fil, and popular culture. We will examine how representations of the American detective are affected by diverse historican and socio-cultural factors, including the ideology of American individualism, paradigms of investigation and ordered knowledge, and competing discourses of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. After a brief consideration of early American detectives and detectives in the classic American hardboiled tradition, we will focus on many detectives from traditionally understudied groups, including female detectives, African American detectives, Chicana detectives, Asian American detectives, Native American detectives, and gay and lesbian detectives. This course may be used as an elective in the American Studies major.
Instructor: Dresner
FILM 116X Men and Women in Film 3 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 5.5 hours of lecture and 3 hours of screening per week for 6 weeks.
This course will trace the development of representations of men and women in the medium of film. We will examine the techniques and narrative patterns that cinema uses in the cultural construction of masculinity and feminity. We will look at films which present dominant versions of sexuality and gender, and we will also consider films which question and/or undermine those traditional representations. For our methodology, we will combine semiotic and sociological approaches with a basic understanding of psychoanalytic theories. This course may be used as an elective in the Film major.
Instructor: del Rio
FILM 117 The Screwball Comedy 3 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: Forty-8 hours of lecture/discussion for 6 or 8 weeks.
This course explores the screwball comedy through close attention to 15 films. We will explore the politics of those films' romantic conflicts and resolutions. We will try to interpret the cultural fantasies that the films speak to and help to shape. We will talk about the genres relation to the Depression and to the other genre's of that era. And we will address the films' utopian longings, which find expression in the eradication of real differences--especially gender and class--in and through the power of love. This course will satisfy the genre requirement for the film major.
Instructor: Forter
FILM 118 Representing America in Classical Hollywood Cinema 3 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: Forty-8 hours of lecture/discussion for 6 or 8 weeks.
This course examines a range of classic Hollywood films to consider what they envision as classically "American." Studying early, classical, and late examples of several different genres, we will consider how they have variously imagined what it means to be American. We will also consider how such fantasies come apart in films like and Through the course we will analyze how ethnicity, race, class, and gender continually haunt these generic fantasies of America. This course may be used as an elective in the film major.
Instructor: Courtney
FILM 128 Documentary 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of lecture and 1 to 3 hours of screening per week.
Prerequisites: 25A.
A survey of the history, theory, and practice of the documentary film (including video). How have the forms and ethics of the documentary changed since the beginning of cinema? A range of practices and strategies will be covered: cinema verite, direct cinema, narrational documentary, autobiography, investigative documentary, and recent fictional styles that combine the essayistic with the observational. The course moves between classic works of the genre as well as highly experimental works that critique traditional approaches. Throughout, the emphasis will be on the formal analysis of the films focusing on their narrative structures and the ways in which they make meaning.
Students will receive no credit for 128 after taking 28A.
FILM 129 History of Avant-Garde Film 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 7.5 hours of lecture and 2.5 hours of laboratory/discusion per week for 6 weeks.
Prerequisites: 25A.
This course is a survey of the rich history and aesthetics of the international film Avant-Garde from the 1920s to the present. The course explores the development of a range of experimental film forms and practices, situating them in relation to the larger artistic, social, and intellectual contexts in which they arise. We look at the ways artists have not only created new film languages in order to epress their unique ideas and vision, but also how they inverted alternative modes of production, distribution, and exhibition for their work. We examine the major formal modes of Avant-Garde cinema, moving between historical and current developments. These include abstract, surrealist/Dada, psychodrama, the lyric film-poem, autobiographical, materialist and structural forms, political and activst, new narrative, recycled cinema, the film essay, feminist and queer cinemas, as well as expanded forms such as installation and web based cinema.
FILM 140 Special Topics in Film 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 9 hours of lecture, 2 hours of discussion, and 2 hours of screening per week for 6 weeks.
Prerequisites: Declared film major or consent of instructor.
Selected topics in the study of film.
Course may be repeated for credit as topic varies. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
FILM 151 Auteur Theory 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Lecture and 2 to 3 hours of Laboratory per week for 15 weeks. 7.5 hours of Lecture and 2 to 4 hours of Laboratory per week for 6 weeks.
Prerequisites: 25A or consent of instructor.
The study of films from the perspective of directorial style, theme, or filmmaking career.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
FILM 152 The Films of Alfred Hitchcock 3 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 4 hours of lecture and 2 hours of film screening per week.
An investigation in Hitchcock's life and the unique visual language he created to exteriorize complex and disturbing emotional states. The following questions shall be explored: How universal is Hitchcocks appeal? Do his films express the desires and vent the anxieties of only men in the audience or does the appeal of the films cross gender boundaries? The course fulfills the requirement for declared Film majors.
Instructor: Fabe
FILM 153 The Films of Woody Allen 3 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 6 hours of lecture/screenings and 1 hour of discussion per week for 8 weeks.
An exploration of Woody Allen's self-reflexive comedy through a study of the film styles, conventions, and traditions he mimics and parodies. We will also look at psychoanalytic theories of comedy to shed light on the relation of humor, guilt, and morality in Woody Allen's work as well as consider Allen's comedy from a feminist perspective. Course satisfies the auteur requirement for the film major.
Instructor: Fabe
FILM 154 The Science Fiction Film 3 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 4 hours of lecture and 2 hours of screening per week for 8 weeks.
This course on the science fiction film is designed to introduce us to a set of concepts and themes that seem to characterize the genre, namely, the notion of the alien, the function of temporal and spatial displacement, and a massive reliance on technological deployment. We will examine these conventions in the light of their ideological involvement with present conflicts and anxieties that define the cultural context in which the films emerge. We will also approach the science fiction film as a "cyborg" category, one which draws from other filmic genres (horror film noir, love story, essay film, Western) in the attempt to imagine and represent the future. This course will satisfy the genre requirement for the Film major.
FILM 155X The Action Film 3 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 5.5 hours of lecture and 3 hours of screening per week for 6 weeks.
In this course we will study the development of the action film in its cultural context, including such issues as the representation of masculinity, the dramatization of extreme political stances, the influence of recent special effects technology on the genre, and genre theory in general. Films include DIRTY HARRY, ENTER THE DRAGON, RESERVOIR DOGS, THE TERMINATOR I & II, THELMA & LOUISE. The course will satisfy the genre requirement for the film major.
Instructor: Jones
FILM 160 National Cinema 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 8 hours of lecture and viewing per week for 8 weeks.
Prerequisites: Declared film major or consent of instructor.
This course will focus on the cinema of a particular nation or region.
Course may be repeated for credit as topic varies. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
FILM N160 National Cinema 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 8 hours of lecture and viewing per week for 8 weeks.
Prerequisites: Declared film major or consent of instructor.
This course will focus on the cinema of a particular nation or region.
Course may be repeated for credit as topic varies. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
FILM 180A Screenwriting 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Lecture and 1 hour of Discussion per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor.
The course explores the art and craft of writing a feature-length, narrative screenplay. Participants present three story ideas to the class, develop one concept into a detailed treatment, and write the first act of the script in professional screenplay form. The focus is on rewriting, with regular presentations of outlines and scripts to fellow writers. The emphasis is on story structure, character development, and screenplay form.
Formerly known as 180.
FILM 180B Screenwriting 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Lecture and 1 hour of Discussion per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor; 180A recommended.
The course explores the art and craft of writing a feature-length narrative screenplay. Participants begin with a detailed outline of a narrative script and a portion of the script in proper form and develop it into a completed screenplay. The focus is on rewriting, with regular presentations of scenes to fellow writers. Participants also write short scripts and explore alternative story structure. The emphasis is on characterization, scene structure, visual story telling, dialogue, and creating a unified script. The class culminates with reading of completed scripts.
FILM C181/ART C178 Game Design Methods 4 Units
Department: Film; Film and Media; Practice of Art
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 2 hours of Lecture and 2 to 4 hours of Laboratory per week for 15 weeks. 6 hours of Lecture and 3 hours of Laboratory per week for 8 weeks. 8 hours of Lecture and 3 hours of Laboratory per week for 6 weeks.
Prerequisites: 25A.
This course offers an introduction to game design and game studies. Game studies has five core elements: the study of games as culture generators, the study of play and interactivity, the study of games as symbolic systems, the study of games as artifacts, and the design of games. One process which is crucial to all these elements is to play. We will study the core elements of game studies through play, play tests, and the study of people playing. There will also be a close examination of classical game studies as well as practice-oriented texts. The final exam for this course is to design, test, and evaluate a playable game.
FILM 185 The Language of Cinema 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 9 hours of Studio per week for 15 weeks. 20-2.5 hours of Studio per week for 6 weeks.
Prerequisites: Declared film major. Completion of all lower division requirements with grade of B+ or better; consent of instructor.
The essentials of film and video production--camera, sound, lighting, and editing. Drawing on previous study of narrative, documentary, avant-garde film and video, students gain a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between the visual and aural elements of moving-image through hands-on experimentation.
FILM C185/ART C171 Digital Video: The Architecture of Time 4 Units
Department: Film; Film and Media; Practice of Art
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 9 hours of Studio per week for 15 weeks.
This hands-on studio course is designed to present students with a foundation-level introduction to the skills, theories, and concepts used in digital video production. As digital technologies continue to expand our notion of time and space, value and meaning, artists are using these tools to envision the impossible. Nonlinear and nondestructive editing methods used in digital video are defining new "architectures of time" for cinematic creation and experience, and offer new and innovative possibilities for authoring new forms of the moving image. Through direct experimentation, this course will expose students to a broad range of industry-standard equipment, film and video history, theory, terminology, field, and post-production skills. Students will be required to technically master the digital media tools introduced in the course, and personalize the new possibilities digital video brings to time-based art forms.
FILM 186 Special Topics in Moving-Image Production 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 13.5 hours of scheduled studio and 9 hours of studio to be arranged per week for 6 weeks.
Prerequisites: 185 with a grade of A- or better and consent of instructor.
This course investigates special topics in, and special technologies of, moving-image production: e.g., experimental film, documentary film, digital special effects, etc. This is a hands-on studio course designed for students who have mastered the basics of moving-image production and are ready to pursue more specialized film or video production.
FILM C187/ART C174 Advanced Digital Video 4 Units
Department: Film; Film and Media; Practice of Art
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 9 hours of Studio per week for 15 weeks.
This advanced studio course is designed for students who have mastered basic skills and concepts involved in digital video production and are interested in further investigating critical, theoretical, and creative research topics in digital video production.
FILM H195 Film Honors Thesis 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: Independent study with film faculty.
Prerequisites: Senior standing with a 3.3 GPA on all University work and a 3.5 GPA in courses in the major.
Students in the honors program are to take H195 for a letter grade to complete a senior honors thesis. Although the production of a film may be part of the preparation of the thesis and the film submitted as a documentation or example, it is expected that the thesis will be a substantial piece of writing of film criticism or film history.
FILM 197A Field Study at the Pacific Film Archive 2 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Offered for pass/not pass grade only.
Hours and format: 3 hours of field work and 1 hour of group meetings per week.
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor; film majors only.
Students will learn about film bibliography and research materials. Interns will get a thorough orientation to the Pacific Film Archive library through introductory lectures and training sessions. Then, for three hours per week, they will help organize materials for inclusion in the clippings files. Interns will gain experience in library organization and film bibliography, as well as a broad knowledge of the kinds of film reviews and criticism found in a variety of sources.
FILM 197B Field Studies for Majors 3 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Offered for pass/not pass grade only.
Hours and format: Individual conferences with Faculty Sponsor and at least 9 hours per week at field study.
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor; film majors only.
The supervised field program may include experience in a broad range of pre- and post-production film and video production related activities. The student will develop the field experience and its relationship to academic training with a member of the faculty on the Film Advisory Committee. Faculty sponsor and student will establish individual meeting times and academic requirements for acceptable completion of the course. Commitment to at least nine hours of field work per week.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
FILM 197C Film Curating Internship 2 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Offered for pass/not pass grade only.
Hours and format: 2 hours of Fieldwork and 1 hour of Discussion per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: Declared film study or art practice major, junior standing (60-unit minimum), and consent of instructor.
Experience "behind-the-scenes" at the Pacific Film Archive! Interns will learn about film curating through creating a program of works by UC Berkeley students to present at PFA the following spring semester. Students will solicit films and videos, preview them, and make a final selection as a group. Students will write short analyses of local film exhibition programs and will do projects related to PFA's ongoing exhibition program.
FILM 197D Field Study at Film Quarterly 2 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Offered for pass/not pass grade only.
Hours and format: 2 hours of Fieldwork and 1 hour of Discussion per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: Declared film major with junior or senior standing. Consent of instructor.
Interning at Interns will gain experience in the editorial process. This internship will help the student refine critical skills, develop editorial skills, and experience working on a film journal.
FILM 198 Directed Group Study 1 - 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Offered for pass/not pass grade only.
Hours and format: 1 to 4 hour of Directed group study per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: 25A or equivalent and consent of instructor.
Group studies of selected topics which vary from year to year. Field shall not coincide with that of any regular course and shall be specific enough to allow students to write an essay based on the study.
Course may be repeated for credit as topic varies. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
FILM 199 Supervised Independent Study for Advanced Undergraduates 1 - 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Offered for pass/not pass grade only.
Hours and format: Hours to be arranged.
Prerequisites: 25A or equivalent and consent of instructor.
Reading and conference with the instructor in a field that shall not coincide with that of any regular course and shall be specific enough to enable the student to write an essay based upon his/her study.
Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
FILM 200 Graduate Film Theory Seminar 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Seminar and 1 hour of Discussion per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: Graduate standing or consent of instructor.
This seminar will examine both traditional and recent critical approaches to a systematic and historical study of film. Although we will emphasize contemporary structuralist-semiotic, psychoanalytical, and socio-critical methods, we will also study the classical debates in film theory about representation, filmic vs. literary signification, sexual difference, and the social function of images in modernism and postmodernism. Illustrations will be taken from film history from 1910 to 1980.
FILM 201 Graduate Film Historiography 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Seminar per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: Graduate standing or consent of instructor.
The theoretical and methodological issues raised by the recent practice of film history are the focus of this seminar. Intended primarily for first-year film studies graduate students and other students interested in starting work on film history, the seminar provides both a theoretical overview of film historiography and an introduction to the practice of historically oriented film research. The first part of the course uses both overtly historiographic readings and film history examples to raise historical questions of technology, institution-formation, exhibition, cultural history, and spectatorship.
FILM 203 Film Studies Proseminar 2 - 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Seminar per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: Graduate standing.
A seminar introducing Film Studies graduate students to the field, the profession, and the faculty practicing film studies. Envisioned as a way for new students to learn what is expected of them and for more advanced students to pass through the all-important last years of their training in an atmosphere of helpful camaraderie. Introduces students to the intellectual and physical resources of the Berkeley campus as well as the Bay Area. By the end of the semester students should gain an understanding of the expectations of their performance in graduate school, have identified the major goals on the way towards getting a Ph.D., and, depending on where they are in their studies, have begun to achieve those goals.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
FILM 204 Compact Seminar 2 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 4 hours of seminar (meeting 2 times per week).
A compact seminar features a distinguished, short-term visitor with expertise in Film and Media. During the stay, the visitor meets intensively with graduate students, who then continue to work on research topics for the remainder of the semester. The seminar meets eight times one hundred and twenty minutes, not including screening time, and a substantial (twenty-five page) research paper is required at the end of the semester.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
FILM 220 Film Curating 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Seminar and 1 to 4 hour of Laboratory per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: Graduate standing or consent of instructor.
An introduction to the theory, history, and practice of film curating taught by Pacific Film Archive curators. What do curators do? How do they decide what to show? What is the role of film archives and film exhibition in the field of film and moving image study? Using the Pacific Film Archive and its programmers as a laboratory, students will go behind-the-scenes of the Archive's curatorial, print traffic, publicity, and editorial departments and learn how to program by doing. The course will culminate in a proposal for a comprehensive film series.
FILM 221 Film Curating Part 2 2 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Seminar per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: 220.
Students will develop and present a film series for presentation at the Pacific Film Archive. Possibly refining a series proposed in 220. PFA curators will have final approval of the series topic and the film/video selection. Students will locate and book all films, write program notes, do outreach, and introduce programs. Guest speakers will include local press, writers, and artists. Local film and videomakers will trace the history of a work from production through exhibition.
FILM 230 Graduate Production Seminar 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 2 hours of Lecture and 3 to 5 hours of Laboratory per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: Graduate standing and consent of instructor.
Intensive study of the basic elements of film and digital video production and post-production. Graduate students will develop a working knowledge of film and video making through hands-on production experience that will enable them to film and edit their own productions. They will also acquire training to teach basic video and film production classes. The uses of specific technologies and formats will be discussed in relation to aesthetic and theoretical questions. Training includes pre-production-scripting and storyboarding, production elements including image capture, and post-production strategies and aesthetics for non-linear digital editing programs. The course will also introduce problems of how to format video/films for exhibition and approaches to distribution, exhibition, and funding. Classes will consist of technical lectures and hands-on workshops, creative exercises, seminar-style discussion and critique, film screenings, assigned readings, and visiting artists and speakers.
FILM 240 Graduate Topics in Film 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of lecture/discussion per week.
Prerequisites: Graduate standing or consent of instructor.
Selected topics in the study of film.
FILM 298 Special Study 1 - 4 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: Individual conferences. Individual conferences.
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor. Graduate standing.
Designed to allow students to do research in areas not covered by other courses. Requires regular discussions with the instructor and a final written report.
Course may be repeated for credit as topic varies. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
FILM 299 Directed Research 1 - 12 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Hours and format: 1 to 12 hour of Independent study per week for 15 weeks. 1.5 to 20-2.5 hours of Independent study per week for 8 weeks.
Open to graduate students who have passed their Ph.D. qualifying examinations.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
FILM 602 Individual Study for Doctoral Students 1 - 6 Units
Department: Film and Media
Course level: Graduate examination preparation
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Hours and format: 1 to 6 hour of Independent study per week for 15 weeks. 1.5 to 11 hours of Independent study per week for 8 weeks.
Individual study in consultation with faculty director as preparation for degree examinations.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
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