Film Course Schedule 2008-09

An introductory course in film appreciation with special emphasis on cinema as a dramatic art. Elements to be considered will include cinematography, performance, edited image, and sound. Selected films will be shown.

An introduction to acting before the camera for film and video. Prerequisites: TA 102 or 248 or equivalent or consent of instructor.

One of the most influential American filmmakers of the past forty years, Martin Scorsese combines explosive cinematic technique with a recurring set of thematic concerns, including obsession and redemption. This course will examine a selection of representative films directed by Martin Scorsese, including Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, and Raging Bull, as well as formative influences such as Italian Neo-Realism and John Cassavetes.

To explore the creative and corporate practices as well as the cultural legacy of the American film industry, this course will focus on Warner Bros. as a case study. By examining the executives, stars, directors, screenwriters, and narrative strategies in key productions, we will trace the studio’s evolution into the multimedia force it is today. Our focus will range from The Maltese Falcon to Million Dollar Baby as well as animated shorts, television series, music and new media.

This course offers a rigorous overview of The Western, at one time one of the most popular cinematic and televisual genres in North America. The genre’s major elements: the vanishing frontier; law, order, and justice; nationalist expansion; individualism; natural environments; and racial and gender conflict, will guide a discussion of classical and of revisionist westerns, including examples from early silent American cinema to contemporary American and international cinema and television.

WINTER 2008

TA 135 CLASSIC MOVIES (4) (CRN tbn)
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.
Instructor: William Tate Time: W 18:00-21:35

TA 384U AMERICAN CINEMA & CULTURE I (4) (CRN tbn)
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.
Instructor: William Tate T, R 12:00-13:50

TA 370U FILM HISTORY II: Cinema and Modernism: (1946-1970's) (CRN tbn)
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.
Instructor: Mark Berrettini R 18:00-21:35

TA 370U BACK IN THE SADDLE: The Western Since 1960 (CRN tbn)
While the Western has not maintained the popularity it once had during Hollywood's studio era, production of the genre has never ceased in the United States. In this course, we will consider Westerns produced since 1960 as we discuss revisions of the genre as well as "returns" to the genre?\'s classical roots; the internationalization of the genre; nationalist expansion; and racial and gender conflict in films including examples of the "spaghetti" Western, The Wild Bunch, MacCabe and Mrs. Miller, Blazing Saddles, and Unforgiven.
Instructor: Mark Berrettini T, R 14:00-15:50

TA 370U THE ROAD MOVIE (CRN tbn)
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.
Instructor: Jonah Ross M 18:00-21:35

TA 399 CLASSIC MOVIES (CRN tbn)
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.
Instructor: William Tate Time: W 18:00-21:35

TA 475/575 DRAMATIC WRITING II (4) (CRN tbn)
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.
Instructor: Karin Magaldi Time: T, R 14:00-15:50

SPRING 2009

TA 370U AMERICAN CINEMA & CULTURE II (CRN tbn)
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.
Instructor: William Tate T, R 12:00-13:50

TA 370U THE NEW MUSICAL (CRN TBN)
Instructor: Sue Brower

TA 370U FILM HISTORY III: Contemporary World Cinema(1970'S - PRESENT) (CRN TBN)
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.
Instructor: Mark Berrettini T 18:00-21:35

TA 370U EUROPEAN DIRECTORS (CRN TBN)
This course examines the innovative and influential European cinema of the 1950s through the 1970s by focusing on the work of three exemplary directors, on a rotating basis. Directos may include: Jean-Luc Godard, Federico Fellini, Francois Truffaut, Ingmar Bergman, Wim Wenders, Alain Resnais, and Luis Bunuel.
Instructor: Jonah Ross W 18:00-21:35

TA 370U ROBERT ALTMAN, THE MAN, THE DIRECTOR, AND HIS FILMS (CRN TBN)
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.
Instructor: Edwin Collier T 18:00-21:35

For questions on film courses & degree programs, contact theaterarts@pdx.edu.