SMITH COLLEGE FALL 2008 Film & Video Course Listings (Updated 4/4/08)

FLS 200 INTRODUCTION TO FILM STUDIES

MW 01:10-02:30; M 07:00-11:00, location TBA 4 credits

Alexandra Keller

This course offers an overview of cinema as an artistic, industrial, ideological and social force. Students will become familiar with the aesthetic elements of cinema (visual style, editing, cinematography, sound, performance, narration and formal structure, etc.), the terminology of film production, and the relations among industrial, ideological, artistic, and social issues. Films (both classic and contemporary) will be discussed from aesthetic, historical and social perspectives, enabling students to approach films as informed and critical viewers. Enrollment limited to 60. Priority given to Smith College Film Studies Minors and Five College Film Studies Majors. {A} Five College Film Studies Major Category: 1

FLS 280 INTRODUCTION TO VIDEO PRODUCTION

M 01:10-04:00; W 07:00-09:00, location TBA 4 credits

Lucretia Knapp

This course involves both an introduction to the history and contemporary practice of experimental video and video art, as well as the acquisition of the technical, analytical and conceptual skills to complete individual video projects. Students will be engaged in screenings and discussion and class exercises and will produce three to four (short) individual video projects. Projects are designed to develop basic technical proficiency in the video medium as well as practical skills for the completion of the video projects. This is a beginning course that will cover the basics of shooting, lighting, audio, and digital editing. Prerequisite: 200 (which may be taken concurrently). Priority given to Smith College Film Studies Minors and Five College Film Studies Majors. Permission of the instructor required. Enrollment limited to 13. {A}

Five College Film Studies Major Category: 8

FLS 282 ADVANCEDVIDEO SEMINAR: Duration, Space & Memory-Advanced Production

W 01:10-03:30; T 07:00-09:00, location TBA 4 credits

Jenny Perlin, Five College Visiting Artist in Film Studies

According to Henri Bergson, duration, not time, best describes how we experience the world. Duration is a continuous flow stretching and contracting. Time, on the other hand, is an artificial construction, measured and formal. Duration will be the focus of this advanced production seminar. Screenings/viewings will include works by Akerman, Atget, Douglas, Export, Huyghe, Jarman, Jonas, Kentridge, Kiarostami, Lockhart, Lumiere Brothers, Marker, Nauman, Porter, Sander, Snow, Warhol, Weerasethakul, Vertov, and more. Readings will come from: Benjamin, Bergson, Borges, Chion, Davis, Deleuze, Doane, Proust, Smithson, Stein, and more. This course is an advanced production seminar and requires a commitment to the work both in and outside of class time. Students may work towards final projects in film, video, installation, new media, and other forms. In addition to the final project, readings, screenings, presentations, papers, and collaborative assignments are required. Students must have prior experience in film/video production and digital video editing. Registration by application to the Film Studies Office. {A}

Five College Film Studies Major Category: 8

Smith Film Studies Crosslisted Courses

ENG 333 SEMINAR: Major British or American Author: STOPPARD & BENNETT

Th 07:30-09:30, location TBA 4 credits

Jefferson Hunter

Comparative study of the plays, films, and television dramas of Tom Stoppard and Alan Bennett, in their roles as intellectual entertainers, experimenters in different media, and transmitters of English tradition. The works to be read or viewed include re-writings of Shakespeare (Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead) and Oscar Wilde (Travesties); films and dramas about espionage (Enigma, A Question of Attribution, An Englishman Abroad); a series of television monologues (Talking Heads); reassessments of history, both private (The Invention of Love) and public (The Madness of George III); plays and films about school life (Forty Years On and The History Boys); drama about actors (The Real Thing); drama about a slightly deranged street person (The Lady in the Van). Enrollment limited to 12. {L,A}

Five College Film Studies Major Category: 4,6 and 7?

FYS 127 ADAPTATION

Time, location TBA

Jefferson Hunter

Description TBA

Five College Film Studies Major Category: 6

GER 230 TOPICS IN GERMAN CINEMA: Weimar Film

MW02:40-04:00, T07:30-09:30

Joel Westerdale

Description TBA

Five College Film Studies Major Category: 5

SPN 245 TELEDICTADURA: SPANISH TV AS VISUAL NARRATIVE

MWF11:00-12:10

Reyes Lázaro

"Cuéntame cómo pasó" is a pedagogical TV series which narrates the life of an average Spanish family from the last years of Franco's dictatorship to the transition to democracy (1968-1982). Through the Alcántara family and complementary materials (historical, sociological, cultural, literary) we will analyze both the private and public history of this defining moment of contemporary Spain. Prerequisite: SPN 220 or above, or permission of the instructor.

Five College Film Studies Major Category: 5

Taught in Spanish?

THE 261 WRITING FOR THE THEATRE

Th01:00-02:50

Leonard Berkman

Same as ENG 291. The means and methods of the playwright and the writer for television and the cinema. Analysis of the structure and dialogue of a few selected plays. Exercises in writing for various media. Plays by students will be considered for staging. L and P with writing sample required.

Five College Film Studies Major Category: 8

THE 262 WRITING FOR THE THEATRE

Th01:00-02:50

Leonard Berkman

Intermediate and advanced script projects. Prerequisite: 261. L and P.

Five College Film Studies Major Category: 8