Film Courses 2009-10

Study and analysis of representative films with special emphasis on the importance of directorial concept and the screenplay. Relationships between film and theater will be examined.

TA 370U MOCUMENTARY (CRN tbn) Time: tbn Instructor: Mark Berrettini

 Our historical-conventional understanding of documentary forms is that such modes present us with true, factual, and nonfictional narrative content. What happens then if the cinematic and the televisual formats that we associate with documentaries are used to present us with fake, phony, and fictional material? This course explores questions and concepts related to the Mockumentary (a.k.a. fake documentary, mock-doc) through readings, discussion, and screenings of films and television programs such as the films of Christopher Guest including This is Spinal Tap, Forgotten Silver, Reno 911!, True Stories, The Watermelon Woman, F is for Fake, and The Office.

TA 370U TBN Instructor: Jonah Ross

TA 382 FILM HISTORY II: Cinema and Modernism: (1946-1970's) (CRN tbn) Time: T 18:00-21:35 Instructor: Mark Berrettini
In this course, the second of a three-part survey of the history of narrative film, we will look at the major artistic, economic and technological trends of motion picture production during the post-war era; how directors such as Hitchcock and Welles were able find a unique expression within the parameters of the classical style and the commercial pressures of the studios. We will also explore how world cinema movements, such as neo-realism and the new wave, presented aesthetic and political challenges to the Hollywood model. Discussions, readings and short assignments will exercise students' abilities to think, speak and write critically about films and their historical context.

TA 384U AMERICAN CINEMA & CULTURE I (4) (CRN tbn) T, R 12:00-13:50 Instructor: William Tate
American Cinema/American Culture constitutes an examination of the American film industry as an art form, as an industry, and as a system of representation and communication within the context of American popular culture.

TA 335 CLASSIC MOVIES (CRN tbn) W 18:00-21:35 Instructor: William Tate
Advanced study and analysis of representative films with special emphasis on the importance of directorial concept and the screenplay. Relationships between film and theater will be examined.

TA 408/508 DOCUMENTARY FIELD PRODUCTION I (4) (CRN tbn) W 18:00-21:35 Instructor: Steve Amen
Through a combination of lecture, film screenings and hands-on demonstrations, this course will familiarize students with the basics of producing, shooting and editing for documentary production. A major function of this class will be an emphasis on improving your storytelling skills and creative decision-making. This course will familiarize you with how to conceptualize and develop a television documentary. More specifically, the course will be divided into three major components: The Idea, Planning Your Production and Writing and Presenting Your Proposal. Prerequisite: Upper division standing or consent of instructor.

TA 4/574 DRAMATIC WRITING I (4) (CRN tbn) T, R 14:00-15:50 Instructor: Karin Magaldi
A sequence in scriptwriting involving analysis of dramatic structure, practical application of scriptwriting techniques. Must be taken sequentially. Prerequisite: 8 credits of TA and/or English.

TA 370U ROBERT ALTMAN: The Man, The Director, and His Films (CRN tbn) T 18:00-21:35 Instructor: Edwin Collier
Robert Altman, American independent, is regarded as one of the most important filmmakers of the last half-century. Altman came to define what it meant to work in and outside the system, as an individual and an artist. He simultaneously subverted classical film genres and American myths, history and politics, whilst providing a creative environment unique in the industry. The course will sample a non-chronological selection from Altman's almost 100 film and television projects, which include Brewster McCloud, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, M*A*S*H, Nashville, Popeye, Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, Three Women, Vincent & Theo, Tanner, and Gosford Park, to name a few.

TA 370U THE ROAD MOVIE (CRN tbn) M 18:00-21:35 Instructor: Jonah Ross
From Woody Guthrie's populist folk ballads to Jack Kerouac's rambling Beat journeys, the road has occupied a central place in the twentieth century American cultural imagination. In the late 1960s, Easy Rider combined the Western, B-Biker Movie, and Beat sensibilities to form the quintessential Road Movie. This course will examine The Road Movie genre from Easy Rider through Wim Wenders's meditative Road Movies of the 1970s through revisionist films of the 1980s and 1990s such as Powwow Highway, Thelma & Louise, and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which foreground issues of race, gender, and sexuality. Stylistic, formal, and thematic hallmarks of the genre will be covered, including the quest narrative, countercultural ideology, and "mobility" in terms of both camera and character.

TA 383 FILM HISTORY III: Contemporary World Cinema(1970'S - PRESENT) (CRN TBN) T 18:00-21:35 Instructor: Mark Berrettini
In this course, the third of a three-part survey of the history of narrative film, we will look at contemporary world film production from the struggles of an independent and avant-garde cinema to the CGI effects of todays blockbuster. We will also examine how world cinema production has adapted to new digital technologies and the demands of a global market. Discussions, readings and short assignments will exercise students' abilities to think, speak and write critically about films and their historical context.

TA 385U AMERICAN CINEMA & CULTURE II (CRN tbn) T, R 12:00-13:50 Instructor: William Tate
  American Cinema/American Culture constitutes an examination of the American film industry as an art form, as an industry, and as a system of representation and communication within the context of American popular culture.

TA 408/508 DOCUMENTARY FIELD PRODUCTION II (4) W 18:00-21:35 Instructor: Steve Amen
Continued from Winter 2009, Documentary Field Production I. Prerequisite: TA 399 Documentary Field Produciton I, upper division standing or consent of instructor.

TA 4/586 TOPICS IN FILM & THE MOVING IMAGE: SHAKESPEARE ON FILM (4) 
Shakespeare's name, plays, poetry, and image are a hot cultural commodity with name recognition to die for.  How has this sixteenth century playwright survived for so long?  Are his works truly universal and timeless?  This course will focus upon Shakespeare as culture icon and how and why popular film culture has appropriated his image and spun his stories into box-office gold.