Academics

Undergraduate Courses: Spring 2020

Click HERE see courses categorized by what requirement they fall under.
UNDERGRADUATE COURSES 
FILM STUDIES 
FILM-ST 297F- Film Festival Curation, 2 credits Meeting TBA
Daniel Pope, Instructor Consent
FILM-ST  297SF Special Topics- Possible Futures: Science Fiction in Global Cinemas
Kevin Anderson
Lecture: F 10:10-1:10
Integrated Learning Center S240
There are multiple growing concerns regarding issues of climate, class, race, gender identity, and the nature of democracy in our contemporary world.  Science fiction has proven to be a thought-provoking genre to help raise awareness to many of these social and environmental issues.  This course takes a global perspective on such pressing issues by examining science fiction films from around the world.  As such, the course uses science fiction films as primary texts, accompanied by weekly readings.  Students will engage in a critical analysis of the assigned films and readings in order to better appreciate what we can begin to anticipate regarding our future.

Undergraduate Film Studies Certificate Category: III, V

 
FILM-ST 381 Self- Reflective Avant- Garde Film 4 credits
Don Levine
Lecture: M 4:00pm-7:30 pm 
Explores modern origin of film experimentation in avant-garde modes such as Expressionism, Surrealism and Contemporary results of this heritage. Trying to determine if film is the most resolutely modern of them media, we’ll look at cinema as the result of two obsessive concerns 1.) The poetic, dreamlike and fantastic 2.) The factual, realistic and socially critical or anarchistic. Thus, we’ll attempt to discover how modern culture deals with avant-garde imperatives to always “make it new.” Films and filmmakers such as Breathless (Godard), My Own Private Idaho (Van Sant), The American Soldier (Fassbinder), others. 
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: II, V 
FILM-ST 391SF- International Sci-Fi Cinema Christopher NC Couch
Lecture: TU 7:00pm – 10:00 pm ILC S240 
This course provides an introduction to science fiction cinema from the end of the nineteenth century to today. Beginning with the experiments of the Melies Brothers and the importance of German Expressionist films like Fritz Lang's Metropolis, the course considers technological prognostication from Destination Moon to 2001: A Space Odyssey, adventure and science fiction in films like Forbidden Planet and Star Wars, and the dystopian imagination from Invasion of the Body Snatchers to District 9. The course will also highlight the roles of women writers and directors from Thea von Harbou to Kathryn Bigelow, and technological cinematic advances from matte painting and process shots to CGI. 
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V 
FILM-ST 397A- ST Alien Encounters
3 credits Daniel Pope
Lecture: M 2:00p – 5:00pm ILC S404 
Could extraterrestrial life exist in the cosmos? Scientists say yes, possibly on billions of planets in our galaxy alone. In this class, we will examine the international cinema of alien encounters and explore how these films envision the alien other. How do these films both reflect and shape our own experience of "the alien" or the unknown "other"? Since the beginning of cinema, the figure of the alien has visited the big screen with its promise of otherworldly wonders and its threat of unthinkable perils. This course will explore how alien encounters reflect the haunting of historical realities (such as European voyages of discovery, conquest, and colonization) as well as contemporary issues, such as international conflict (war or global migration), questions of identity (race, gender, sexuality), and the power and perils of emerging technologies (nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence, space travel). Imagining encounters with intelligent beings beyond our own cultural and ideological sphere provides powerful new perspectives on what we think we know about the world, about ourselves, and about others.
If you have trouble enrolling please contact the professor at daniel@umass.edu
 UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V 
FILM-ST 397F- Portuguese Speaking World in Film
Patricia Ferreira
Lecture: T/TH 4:00 pm-5:15 pm Herter 201
This course is designed as an introduction to Brazilian, Portuguese and Lusophone African cinema and cultures.The selected cinematographic works will afford students an opportunity to engage with film theory and criticism, and to examine a variety of topics such as the formation of national identity, gender and family dynamics, social inequalities, rural vs. urban societies, migration, civic agency, race relations, and major political and historical events that have impacted the contemporary societies of the Portuguese-speaking world (mainly Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and São Tomé e Príncipe). Our goal is to evaluate how film can contest hegemonic accounts and to investigate how artistic productions play a role in interpreting one's society and forming one's identity. Class will be conducted in English.The films will be shown in the original language with subtitles. UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V 
FILM-ST 397V- Latin American Cinema 3 credits Barbara Zecchi
Lecture: W 4:00 pm- 6:30 pm Herter 118 
The course is designed to introduce students to the cinematic work of some of the most important Latin American directors. The course will center on a variety of topics that are vital to the understanding of the most significant political, historical, social and cultural events that have shaped Latin America. 
Cross-listed with Spanish
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V 
FILM-ST 470- FILM THEORY
Barry Spence 4 credits Lecture: W 4:00 pm- 7:00 pm ILC S404 
This course provides an in-depth overview of key theoretical approaches to the study of cinema by examining historically significant ways of analyzing film form and its social and cultural functions and effects. The course seeks to equip students with a command of the diverse history of theoretical frameworks for understanding the medium and experience of cinema, from early concerns over films relation to other arts to the way the movie as a cultural form has been reconceptualized within the contemporary explosion of new media. The pressing relevance of film theory becomes clear once we stop to consider taking just one small example the many implications of a society-wide movement away from the collective experience of movies in a public theater to private viewing with earbuds on the tiny screen of a cell phone or tablet. We will explore a wide range of questions (concerning the nature of the cinematic medium and its apparatus, aspects of the spectator’s experience of film, and the aesthetic and ideological dimensions of film genre, to name just a few) as a way of putting ourselves in dialogue with various film theoreticians. And we will ground our examination by looking at cinematic practice in relation to theory. This will be done through regular film screenings throughout the semester. UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: II, IV, V 
FILM-ST vLF- ST- Latin American Film Festival
1 credit Barbara Zecchi
Meetings: TBA 
FILM-ST 597V- ST-Videographic Essay,
3 credits Daniel Pope
Lecture: TU 4:00 pm- 6:30 pm ILC S404 
What is possible when the mode of film scholarship departs from the printed word and inhabits the form of the media it examines? As the media environment evolves, engagements with film are branching out, with promising adaptation to niches in the digital landscape - social media, podcasting, websites and blogs, etc.- and out of this field, the videographic essay emerges as a powerful medium for the film scholar. This is a course in planning, scripting, and editing videographic essays in film scholarship. Making a videographic essay is much like making a film, often with similarities to documentary and the essay film. As such, we will engage not only film analysis and film scholarship but also video editing, visual composition, sound design, and other aspects of moving image media. In this class, we examine a wide array of videographic essays and explore the unique analytical and expressive opportunities the medium offers. With this foundation, we develop the critical, creative, and technical skills necessary for making effective video essays addressing films and film theory, directors, genres, national cinemas, and cultural and sociological issues. UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: II, IV, V 
 
ART 
ART 230 – Image Capturing
Susan Jahoda Cap: 12, 3 Credits
Lecture: T/TH 8:30-11:15 am Studio Arts Building Rm 16 
Introduction to photographic tools and methods. The balance between self-inquiry and the importance of process and materials as vehicles of meaning. Theory explored through class critiques and slide presentations. Photography examined and discussed both from a personal point of view and in its wider cultural context. 
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: V 
 
COMMUNICATION
COMM 140 – Introduction to Film Studies
Marty Norden Cap. 125, 3 Credits
Lecture: T/TH 2:30PM-3:45PM; Screening: Tue 4:00PM-6:00PM ILC S240 Open to Juniors, Sophomores & Freshmen Only 
This course offers an introduction to the study of film as a distinct medium. It introduces the ways in which film style, form, and genre contribute to the meaning and the experience of movies. Topics include film as industrial commodity, narrative and non-narrative form, aspects of style (e.g. composition, cinematography, editing, and sound), and the role of film as a cultural practice. Examples are drawn from new and classic films, from Hollywood and from around the world. This course is intended to serve as a basis for film studies courses you might take in the future. 
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: I, V 
 
COMM 291j – Villains in Film: Issues of Representation, 3 Credits Briggs
Lecture 
This course will interrogate representations of villains in cinema. We will screen a wide variety of films, including Basic Instinct, Disney's Aladdin, and Jennifer's Body. We will use intersectional feminist theory, film theory, and queer theory to examine how race, gender, sexuality, and disability are used to construct images of danger, badness, and villainy. Course content will explore and critique harmful tropes of bisexuality as dangerous and trans identity depicted as inherently deceptive, as well as examining how villains were historically queer- coded in Hollywood film. We will view and analyze films that construct whiteness as goodness and use representations of people of color as a stand-in for villainous character traits. We will look at the stigmatizing of mental illness and representations of people who look "different" as ways that ableism emerges in cinematic representation. Films that resist stereotypes and tropes will be viewed to offer a counterpoint to theses representations and to explore ways in which film can be used to present and change narratives around representations. 
Course Notes: This class meets in person on Monday and convenes online on Wednesday. The online session doesn't have a meeting time; film viewing, and online activities should be done by Wed. at 11:59 p.m. EST. For further questions, contact instructor.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V 
 
COMM 331 Program Process in TV
David Maxcy
3 Credits
We 10:10AM - 11:00AM
During the first six weeks basic concepts and techniques are introduced in lecture. Students then break up into lab groups where, under the supervision of their lab instructor, they produce a short program which puts the concept of the week to work. During the rest of the course students work on two major projects: first, a short, narrative piece shot in single-camera, post-production style, and, second, a multiple camera piece shot live in the studio.  COMM 331 is offered every fall and spring semester.
Journalism Majors and Film Certificate Students by permission of the instructor, djmaxcy@comm.umass.edu
 
COMM 345- Contemporary World Cinema, 3 credits Anne Ciecko
Lecture: M/W 4 pm- 6 pm 
This course offers an overview of recent filmmaking from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and elsewhere. While narrative fiction feature films are central, documentary, short-form work, and other digital/audiovisual media will also be included. Developing tools of film analysis and criticism, we will explore representational strategies and issues of context: current events, cultural, political, social, historical, and economic circumstances that impact the production, exhibition, marketing, distribution, and reception of films. The class meeting time includes lectures, discussions, class activities, and regular screenings of feature films and clips; at least one screening outside class may also be required. All undergraduates are welcome. No prior background in film studies is required, only an openness to diverse cultures and representations. 
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V 
 
COMM 433 
David Maxcy
3 Credits
Tu 10:00AM - 2:00PM
Integ. Lrng Cntr TV Studio S312
Intensive workshop course in advanced concepts and techniques of studio-based television production, with a focus on the direction of live programs.    Under the supervision of the instructor, students will produce individual projects in a variety of genres which will be aired on local cable television outlets. Prerequisite: COMM 331 or consent of the instructor.
 
COMM 445 – Screenwriting
Martin Norden Cap: 203 Credits Lecture: T/TH 10:00 AM – 11:15AM 
An examination of the art, craft, and business of screenwriting from theoretical and practical perspectives. Topics include screenplay format and structure, story, plot and character development, dialog and scene description, visual storytelling, pace and rhythm, analysis of professional and student scripts and films. 
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: IV, V 
 
COMM 494BI- Countercultural Films
Geisler
Lecture: W 12:20- 2:20pm + discussion W 2:30-3:30pm 
Seminar, Discussion. An exploration of the counter-cultural movements of the 1960s and 70s and later, hosted by someone who was there and lived to tell the tale. Through the medium of documentary and fiction films, we will delve into the musical, sexual, artistic, political and spiritual upheavals that rocked America and Europe back then and that continue to reverberate today. 
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, IV, V 
 
COMM 593D- Advanced Screenwriting Geisler
Lecture: T/TH 2:30 pm- 3:45pm 
Building on the introductory course (COMM 445: Seminar-Screenwriting), 593d is an intensive workshop where students receive continuing, in-depth feedback on their work in progress, as they strive for professional competence in feature-length theatrical screenwriting or writing for episodic television. Included is an analysis of two professional screenplays and the films or shows produced from them, as students delve into the writer's art and craft. Students will complete either the first 60 pages of a feature film screenplay or a complete episode for a dramatic television show, or two episodes for a sitcom. 
Prerequisites: COMM 445 or another college-level screenwriting course
Course Eligibility*: Open to Senior and Junior Communication majors only.
Course Notes: COMM 445 or another college-level screenwriting course. Open to senior & junior Communication majors. Other majors and graduate students may request permission of the instructor geisler@comm.umass.edu
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: IV, V 
 
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 
COMP-LIT 236 - Digital Cultures
Maryam Zehtabi Sabeti Moqaddam
4 Credits
MoWeFr 11:15AM - 12:05PM
Herter Hall room 113
An introduction to digital culture, including study of actual works of art in their new digital forms and the implications of "hypertext" for creative writing, theory, and criticism. Potential for academic research on the Internet, the World Wide Web, and electronic libraries. (Gen.Ed. I)
 
COMP-LIT 350: INTERNATIONAL FILM: Weird Horror & Dystopian Cinema Barry Spence GenEd: AT Cap: 75 4 credits ILC S240
TH 4:00-7:00; FR 1:20-2:10 
This general education course will screen films from across the globe studying examples of a range of lesser-known subgenres of the Horror film, such as Giallo (Italian genre mixing slasher horror with detective mysteries), Fantastique (French genre mixing gothic horror with fantasy erotica), and Jiangshi (Hong Kong genre mixing slasher horror with Kung Fu). And we will consider in equal measure the so-called dystopian film. We will look at the interrelationship connecting these two modes, which can be seen at work in films like Battle Royale. This course will include a primary focus on gender issues, will examine the representation of women, and will screen (transgressive) examples of these modes by women filmmakers. The intention of this course is to expose students to a cultural diversity of these vital contemporary film genres beyond the conventional Hollywood fare. Weekly film screenings and discussion. 
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V 
 
COMPLIT 381- Self- Reflective Avant- Garde Film 4 credits Don Levine
Lecture: M 4:00pm-7:30 pm 
Explores modern origin of film experimentation in avant-garde modes such as Expressionism, Surrealism and Contemporary results of this heritage. Trying to determine if film is the most resolutely modern of them media, we’ll look at cinema as the result of two obsessive concerns 1.) The poetic, dreamlike and fantastic 2.) The factual, realistic and socially critical or anarchistic. Thus, we’ll attempt to discover how modern culture deals with avant-garde imperatives to always “make it new.” Films and filmmakers such as Breathless (Godard), My Own Private Idaho (Van Sant), The American Soldier (Fassbinder), others. UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: II, V 
 
COMPLIT 391SF- International Sci-Fi Cinema Christopher NC Couch
Lecture: TU 7:00pm – 10:00 pm ILC S240 
This course provides an introduction to science fiction cinema from the end of the nineteenth century to today. Beginning with the experiments of the Melies Brothers and the importance of German Expressionist films like Fritz Lang's Metropolis, the course considers technological prognostication from Destination Moon to 2001: A Space Odyssey, adventure and science fiction in films like Forbidden Planet and Star Wars, and the dystopian imagination from Invasion of the Body Snatchers to District 9. The course will also highlight the roles of women writers and directors from Thea von Harbou to Kathryn Bigelow, and technological cinematic advances from matte painting and process shots to CGI. 
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V 
 
FRENCH 
FRENCH 353- African Film, 4 credits (GenEd: At, DG) Patrick Mensah
Meetings: TBA 
Histories and development of African Francophone and Caribbean film, from its inception to the present day. The sociocultural, economic, and political forces and imperatives defining its forms and directions. Questions this work raises in film aesthetics and theory as a whole. Screenings and analysis of films by Sembene, Achkar, Kabore, Mweze, Cisse, Drabo, Bekolo, Teno, Peck, Palcy, Lara, Haas, and others. 
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V 
 
ITALIAN 
ITAL 350- Italian Film, 3 credits Meetings: TBA 
This course is a historical overview of how the most modern form of visual and narrative art responded to Italian culture, i.e. one of the richest traditions in painting, mosaic, and theater. From silent movies to current productions, the history of Italian film parallels and documents also the history of a modern nation, from pre-industrial to post-industrial economy. The course is conducted in English. 
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V 
 
ITAL 497DF ST- The Divas: Feminine Icons in Italian Cinema, 3 credits Lecture: TU/TH 4:00 pm – 5:15 pm Location: TBA 
The course explores the social role and meaning of some of the most important actresses of post- WWII Italian cinema (Anna Magnani, Sofia Loren, and Monica Vitti, among others) as both metamorphic representatives and problematic probes of a rapidly modernizing society, and proposes a model of the female figure as "the active face of the crisis" (Giorgio 
Tinazzi). Conducted in English.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V 
 
JAPANESE 
JAPANESE 197L – Manga & Anime, 3 credits Bruce Baird
Lecture: T/TH 10:00 am- 11:15 am 
Japan has become a phenomenally successful exporter of pop culture. This course will give students tools to understand Manga and Anime; it will investigate the role Manga and Anime play in Japan; and, it will examine ways that Manga and Anime flow from one place to another. The course is conducted entirely in English. 
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V 
 
JOURNALISM 
JOURNAL 333- Introduction to Visual Storytelling, 4 credits Instructor TBA
Meeting TBA 
This course introduces students to the concepts and practices of visual storytelling, including visual ethics, aesthetics, representation and the currents of the modern visual journalism ecosystem. This is a hands-on class, in which students will learn the basics of visual storytelling by using a DSLR camera and capturing and editing video. 
This course meets the general education AT requirement and meets the multimedia/visual requirement in the journalism major
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: II, V 
 
JOURNAL 339- Video Content Creation, 4 credits Instructor TBA
Meeting: TBA 
This course offers an introduction to visual storytelling, writing for video, videography and editing. Students will create videos that will help build their portfolio for whatever their journalistic goals might be. Students will learn to shoot professional quality video, how to write for the ear, and how to edit with professional software. Students will also produce multimedia stories to expand on their video pieces. 
Prerequisite: JOURNAL 300. This course meets the multimedia/visual requirement for the journalism major for Fall 2018 UMass entrants and later; this class also meets the advanced writing and reporting requirements for those who entered prior to Fall 2018
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: V 
 
JOURNAL 390S- Short Form Documentary, 4 credits) Instructor TBA
Meeting TBA 
This course is where documentary filmmaking and traditional journalism meets. Students will learn how to shoot, write and edit video, while providing viewers with more depth, deeper questions and alternative perspectives. By the end of the course, students will produce a short, sharp, strong micro-documentary. 
This course meets the multimedia/visual requirement for entrants to UMass after Fall 2018, and fulfills the advanced writing and reporting requirement of the journalism major for entrants prior to Fall 2018. This course may also be used to satisfy a Sports Journalism Concentration requirement. 
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V 
JUDAIC
JUDAIC  354 Adaptation: the Jewish Experience from Text to Film
Olga Gershenson 
4 Credits
Wed: 4:00pm-6:45pm
Herter Hall Rm 444
This course approaches adaptation in two different senses: media to media and culture to culture. In both cases, we will ask questions about the nature of transformation. What is gained and what is lost in the transition?  As a case study, we will focus on cinematic adaptations of Jewish literature and the ways these films reflect and shape modern Jewish experience, including issues of identity, gender, religion, persecution, immigration, and culture. The texts and films are in original English or translated from Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian, and other languages. Gen Eds AT and DG.
SPANISH 
SPAN 597LF- ST- Latin American Film Festival, 1 credit Barbara Zecchi
Meetings: TBA 
 
ONLINE COURSES 
FILM ST 497ST– SCREENWRITING – TV – WRITING THE ORIGINAL PILOT
3 credits Tom Benedek (ONLINE) 
Develop your TV/small screen idea into a detailed outline of the pilot episode. Learn to create a family of characters with long-term and short term story arcs for season and series bibles. Write the first ten to fifteen pages of your script. Using written lectures, script readings, streamed/recorded video lectures, writing assignments and online class discussion, learn foundation principles of TV series development. Instructor Tom Benedek will provide individual feedback on all writing project assignments. This course provides the foundational principles of television writing. Workshop your idea or story concept into a structured original TV pilot script. Using sets of questions/writing prompts, class members will brainstorm characters, plot, images, back stories to build their TV show idea. 
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: IV,V 
 
FILM-ST 497MD
(3 credits) - Short Documentary Filmmaking 3 credits David Casals-Roma (ONLINE) 
In the same way that fiction films are the mirror of our imagination, documentaries are the mirror of our surrounding reality. But making a documentary requires a creative point of view by the director and the knowledge of some filmmaking techniques. In this course, you will learn how to develop your ideas for documentary, how to write a script, how to plan de production, how to shoot interviews and how to structure your movie in the editing room. Moreover, you will write, shoot and edit a 5-minute documentary during the course. It is important that you can have access to a camera, a computer and an editing software to edit your documentary. 
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: IV,V 
 
FILM-ST 470 FILM THEORY
4 credits Barry Spence (ONLINE) 
This course provides an in-depth overview of key theoretical approaches to the study of cinema by examining historically significant ways of analyzing film form and its social and cultural functions and effects. The course seeks to equip students with a command of the diverse history of theoretical frameworks for understanding the medium and experience of cinema, from early concerns over film’s relation to other arts to the way the movie as a cultural form has been reconceptualized within the contemporary explosion of new media. The pressing relevance of film theory becomes clear once we stop to consider—taking just one small example—the many implications of a society-wide movement away from the collective experience of movies in a public theater to private viewing with earbuds on the tiny screen of a cell phone or tablet. We will explore a wide range of questions (concerning the nature of the cinematic medium and its apparatus, aspects of the spectator’s experience of film, and the aesthetic and ideological dimensions of film genre, to name just a few) as a way of putting ourselves in dialogue with various film theoreticians. And we will ground our examination by looking at cinematic practice in relation to theory. This will be done through regular film screenings throughout the semester. 
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: II, IV, V 
 
POLY-SCI
POLYSCI 201 - American Politics Through Film
Michael Hannahan
4 Credits
Lec: TuTh 10:00AM - 11:15AM
Goessmann Laboratory room 20
 
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