Media Studies Program (MEDA)
Director: Professor John F. Schott
Emeritus Professor: Vern D. Bailey
Professors: Susan Jaret McKinstry, Sigrun D. Leonhard, John F. Schott, Dana J. Strand, Anne Ulmer
Visiting Assistant Professor: Carol Donelan
Adjunct Instructor: Paul Hager
Visiting Instructor: Thomas Pope
The Media Studies Program serves as a center for those interested in the formal study of film, video, television and electronic media. Course work is of three related kinds: 1) study of past and present connections between film, video, television and other arts--photography, music, theater, dance and painting, 2) study of both narrative and non-fiction film and video and their relation to other disciplines--history, sociology, psychology, American Studies, etc., and 3) production classes to provide the essential "hands-on" experience for understanding and creating film and video works.
Media Studies Courses
MEDA 110. Introduction to Media Studies An introduction to the basic terms, representational strategies and reception contexts of film, television, and emerging media. We will study a variety of forms or modes, including classical Hollywood cinema, avant-garde film, documentary, music videos, advertising, and tabloid television. We will also explore recent theoretical issues in Media Studies, including the representation of gender, spectatorship, the changing constructions of realism, and postmodernism. Class discussion will focus on applying critical concepts to screenings and clips. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—C. Donelan
MEDA 111. Introduction to Video Production This course introduces students to non-linear (digital) editing techniques on the Media 100 editing system. Students will master the full arsenal of creative resources for manipulating image, audio and graphics that can be applied to any multimedia production. 3 credits cr., ND, Fall,Spring—P. Hager
MEDA 112. Screenwriting In this introduction to writing for the screen, students will first orally present either a full-length motion picture idea or a 20-30 minute short film idea, which is critiqued by the class. Students then write the first 30 script pages of the full-length film idea or their entire shorter idea. (Short projects may then be filmed in Advanced Video Production: Narrative, offered in the spring.) All projects will be critiqued by the class and judged on professional standards, with analysis which is exacting, rigorous and encouraging. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—T. Pope
MEDA 113. Advanced Editing Techniques A five-week course introducing video production students to advanced uses of the Media 100, Macintosh Final Cut Pro, and selected graphics and digital effects software. 3 credits cr., AL, Winter—P. Hager
MEDA 114. Film History and Criticism From the two-minute Edison primitives to the epic-length wide-screen movies of the 70's, we survey the evolution of the modern film form in the U.S. and abroad, paying particular attention to eras dominated by German Expressionism, Russian Formalism, French New Wave and the omnipresence of Hollywood. Historical examples and current strategies of film criticism provide a second, coordinate part of the course. 6 credits cr., HU, Winter—C. Donelan
MEDA 115. Music and the Media Cross-listed with AMST 116,MUSC 115. A survey of the role of music and sound in the media of film, radio and television. Primary topics for discussion include the history and conventions of musical composition for radio, television narrative, MTV, television and radio commercials, narrative film and the Hollywood film musical. Additional topics for consideration include musical style, musical semiotics, and music as a postmodern commodity. No prerequisites. Music reading may be helpful, but not necessary to take the course. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
MEDA 116. The Hollywood Film Musical Cross-listed with AMST 114,MUSC 116. . A survey of the film musical. This course will trace the history of the film musical from its inception with the coming of sound through the big-budget MGM productions of the 50s to its decline after the break-up of the studio system. Emphasis will be placed on identifying structural features that distinguish the various types of film musicals. Other topics include the status of women in these films, the role of music, whether the genre is socially progressive or regressive, and the so-called "self-reflective" musical--films such as Singin' in the Rain, whose subject is the musical. One screening per week. No prerequisites. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
MEDA 140. Photography I Cross-listed with ARTS 140. This class covers basic 35mm camera operation, film processing and printing techniques as well as explores some principles affecting photographic imagery. We will also view the work of historical and contemporary photographers to consider fundamental questions in the aesthetics of the medium. Manual 35mm camera required. No prerequisite. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall,Winter,Spring—S. Johnson
MEDA 142. Color Photography Cross-listed with ARTS 142. This course covers basic 35mm camera operation, color theory and printing on a Colex color processor. We will view the work of past and present color photographers and consider some principles affecting photographic imagery and color photography. Manual 35mm camera required. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—S. Johnson
MEDA 156. Studies in German Cinema: Current Issues in Contemporary Film Cross-listed with GERM 216. This course will be an introduction to Austrian and German film from the 1970s to the present. We will watch one or two films a week, and focus class discussions on such issues as the Third Reich and its impact on contemporary Germany (Fassbinder, Syberberg, Sanders-Brahms), the American dream in German culture (Wenders, Herzog), minorities in Germany (Fassbinder, Ottinger), literature into film (Schlöndorff), the role of women (Fassbinder, Sanders-Brahms, Ottinger, Dörrie) and other topics. We will discuss different genres, the notion of auteur cinema, and film in its double role of reflection and co-creator of ideology. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
MEDA 158. American Fiction, American Films Cross-listed with AMST 158. The old-fashioned stereoscope (the teaching device that presented two pictures of the same scene from slightly-different angles) gave that scene depth and "reality." This course will be structured around its own double vision of major American issues. We will read novels then view their screen adaptations in search of more vivid, meaningful insights into the ideology and cultural aesthetics this duality may provide. Works we will study may include An American Tragedy, The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of Wrath, The Ox Bow Incident, Lolita, Little Big Man, Slaughterhouse 5. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
MEDA 204. Media and American Politics: Special Election Edition Cross-listed with AMST 204,POSC 204. Our analysis of media influences on politics will draw from three fields of study: political psychology, political behavior and participation, and public opinion. This year we will focus on media and politics by following the role of media in election 2000. 6 credits cr., SS, Fall—B. Allen
MEDA 220. Advanced Video Production: Nonfiction In this class students produce a nonfiction work on video of approximately twenty minutes, many of which make their way to public exhibition on NTV, Northfield's community cable channel. In addition to mastering documentary production techniques, students learn digital post-production. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—J. Schott
MEDA 221. Advanced Video Production: Narrative In this studio production class students complete a narrative of roughly twenty minutes in length. Along with learning basic single-camera production procedures and techniques for directing actors, students learn digital post-production. Although students will be given time and direction during the first weeks of the class to complete or adapt a screenplay it is ideal if they come to this class with a screenplay from Media Studies 112, with a specific idea for a narrative script. Prerequisite: Media Studies 111. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—J. Schott
MEDA 222. History of Photography Cross-listed with ARTH 222. This course covers nineteenth and twentieth century photography from its origins to the present. It will consider formal innovations in the medium, the role of photography in society, and the place of photography in the fine arts. Prerequisite: any one term of Art History. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
MEDA 223. Films of Frank Capra Cross-listed with AMST 216. A Sicilian immigrant, Capra became Hollywood's voice for the American Dream. His Oscar-winning films (It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Meet John Doe, and It's a Wonderful Life) proclaim Capra's concept of libertarian America. Capra scorned political propaganda, yet today his comedies still seduce viewers into believing we can all be "ordinary" heroes. In this course we will work toward understanding the ideology embedded in his major films. 3 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
MEDA 225. Hitchcock: The Classic Films Cross-listed with AMST 229. The name, even the mere profile of Alfred Hitchcock, suggest films of suspense beyond our expectations. Even more surprising, is the range and influence of his narrative formulations. He may be the screen's greatest rhetorician, the director most capable of tailoring the film image to the viewer's response. We will test this idea through a selective retrospective of eight of his more thematically-profound films. 3 credits cr., AL, Spring—V. Bailey
MEDA 226. The Films of Ingmar Bergman: High Seriousness Bergman's intense and unrelenting studies of human relationships have earned him a dominant place among exponents of "serious cinema." His films examine the dilemma of a modern Everyman who is lonely, vulnerable and starved of faith and love. We will examine the form and content of representative Bergman films, including: The Seventh Seal, The Silence, Persona, Cries and Whispers. 3 credits cr., AL, Spring—V. Bailey
MEDA 229. Outsiders Cinema: Fiction Film This course considers fiction films produced in conscious (if not militant) opposition to Hollywood, films driven by esthetic, moral or expressive commitments rather than the bottom line. In addition to doing close readings of fifteen or so films, we will consider the cultural, esthetic, economic and biographical circumstances that inform each work. The course will emphasize films that have been considered landmarks in post-war independent fiction--with an emphasis on projects of the last ten years--from Cassevete's Husbands (1970) to Tarentino's Pulp Fiction (1995). 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
MEDA 230. Jean-Luc Godard and the Radical Aspiration Jean-Luc Godard's films of the 60s and 70s established for cinema a radical political and esthetic agenda unlike any before. Godard believed that cinema could challenge and change society--but only after it had challenged and changed itself as a visual language. This course examines eight of Godard's key films, along with associated manifestos and critical essays. We then study the work of later filmmakers (the "children of Godard") who advanced his agenda ("ethics are the esthetics of the future") in which art becomes politics and politics art. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
MEDA 231. Japanese Cinema This course examines the extraordinary achievement of Japanese cinema from the 1930s to the present, from the classic films of Ozu, Mizoguchi, and Kurosawa to the pop cinema of "Beat" Takeshi Kitano and the phenomenon of "anime." We will study films such as Tokyo Story, Ugetsu, Throne of Blood, Tampopo and Hana-Bi, among others, in their aesthetic, cultural and auteurist contexts. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Spring—C. Donelan
MEDA 232. Cinema at the Edge: The Idea of the Avant-Garde This class traces the development of avant-garde film, video and multi-media from Salvadore Dali's surrealist cinema in the '20's to contemporary virtual reality on the internet. Along with examining key paradigms of experimentalism (art cinema, video art, hypermedia, etc.), we will consider theoretically how the avant-garde defines itself at differing moments in history. The class will feature an extended "field trip" into Beat culture of the 1950's, where we will look at beat cinema in the context of poetry, music and the visual arts. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—J. Schott
MEDA 234. Film Noir: The Dark Side of the American Dream After Americans grasped the enormity of the Depression and World War II, the glossy fantasies of 30's cinema seemed hollow indeed. During the 40s, the movies, our true national pasttime, took a nosedive into pessimism, creating films that would have loved to put a cigarette out on the pink cheek of Shirley Temple. The result? A collection of exceptional films chocked full of tough guys and bad women lurking in the shadows of nasty urban landscapes. This course applies the tools of formal criticism, intellectual history and feminist theory to films like The Killers, Sunset Boulevard and Lost Weekend. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
MEDA 235. Film and the Melodramatic Imagination You think your life is complicated? Take a look at the spectacles of emotional excess in the films of major filmmakers such as Griffith, Ophuls, Sirk, Minnelli, Ray, Fassbinder, and Almodovar. Seduction, betrayal, abandonment, extortion, murder, suicide, revenge, jealousy, incurable illness, obsession, compulsion-it's all there. You've got nothing to complain about. And if you think these spectacles are pablum for passive, naïve spectators, you are sorely mistaken. Join us to find out why. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—C. Donelan
MEDA 238. Border Crossings: Postmodern Perspectives on French and German Cinema Cross-listed with GERM 220,FREN 238,FRST 220. In this course, we will explore the responses of French and German filmmakers to the challenges facing Europe as it redefined itself throughout the twentieth century. Taking Foucault's and Derrida's theories about the center and the margin as a starting point, we will examine such issues as national identity, marginalization, shifting gender roles and technological change. Filmmakers to be discussed will be Jean-Luc Godard, Jean Renoir, Agnes Varda, Fritz Lang, Rainer W. Fassbinder and Helma Sanders-Brahms. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—D. Strand, S. Leonhard
MEDA 239. Digital Photography Cross-listed with ARTS 244. This course will focus on the creative use of the computer as a tool for producing photographic imagery. Students will learn about digital cameras, scanners and Adobe Photoshop to explore some of the technical, aesthetic and critical issues of digital photography. Prerequisite: Studio Art 140, 110 or permission of the instructor. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
MEDA 240. Photography II Cross-listed with ARTS 240. An intermediate course that will concentrate on refining black and white film processing and printing skills as well as experimenting with special techniques. We will view a variety of genres in photography and consider theoretical issues that may apply to individual projects. Prerequisite: Studio Art 140 or permission of the instructor. Manual camera required. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—S. Johnson
MEDA 241. The French Cinema Cross-listed with FREN 233. In this overview of the major trends in French cinema, we will consider the intersections of the political, social, cultural, and artistic dimensions of films by Renoir, Truffaut, Godard, Varda, Chabrol, and others. Discussions will focus on such questions as the following: In what ways has French cinema mobilized (or undermined) national myths? How have films established and mediated French historical memory? How have French films dealt with the nation's (colonial) others? Course materials will incorporate critical theory and cultural readings. Taught in English with all films subtitled. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
MEDA 242. Cinemas of Loneliness: Kubrick and Scorsese With the collapse of the Hollywood studios, filmmakers were set free artistically. But this artistic freedom came with a price. As Robert Kolker notes, new Hollywood is old Hollywood without financial security and a sense of community. The freedom of new Hollywood is, in effect, the freedom to be alone. This course examines how two major auteurs, Kubrick and Scorsese, have fared in the loneliness of new Hollywood. We will draw our conclusions by weighing the aesthetic evidence of their key films--from Paths of Glory to Eyes Wide Shut and from Mean Streets to Raging Bull--against outlying factors such as economics, technology, and history. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—C. Donelan
MEDA 244. Representing Reality This course considers a variety of issues in the history of documentary in cinema, television and photography. While the class focuses primarily on historical and critical concerns, students will also do some exercises in both still photography and video that invite them to engage theoretical issues "in the field." 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—J. Schott
MEDA 247. African Cinema: In Search of Identity and Self Definition Cross-listed with AFAM 247,FREN 248. This course will introduce students (who are not expected to have an extensive knowledge of African history and culture) to films that engage the socio-political issues central to an emerging African cultural identity. The course will focus on work by African filmmakers such as Souleymane Cissé (whose The Brightness won the Prix du Jury at Cannes in 1987), but it will also touch on the cinemas of the diaspora--particularly in the Caribbean. In contrast, we will also consider colonial and post-colonial "definitions" of Africa from Hollywood in the '30s (where "the natives" are the ones with the spears) to France in the '70s (Jean-Jacques Arnaud's Oscar-winning Black and White in Color). 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Not offered in 2000-2001.
MEDA 250. Web Multimedia Production This seminar style course will have two areas of focus. The first half will examine how artists are using electronic media (from CD-Roms to the Internet) as a new medium of expression. The second half will bring to bear models of cultural criticism to examine ways in which definitions of community and idetity are being altered on the Internet. The course will consist primarily of student-initiated research and group discussion. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—J. Schott
MEDA 255. Russian Cinema: History and Theory Cross-listed with RUSS 255. This course offers an historical overview of Russian cinema from its inception before the revolution of 1917, through the Soviet epoch, and into the era of independent Russia. Focus on the history of the medium in its distinctly Russian context is complemented with an overview of Russian film theory as applied in analysis. No prior knowledge of Russian language or culture is required. All films will be subtitled. Format: 2 screenings per week, readings, discussion, short papers. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—D. Nemec Ignashev
MEDA 260. Cyberculture: Studies in Digital Culture and the Internet The explosive growth of the internet is creating the most far-reacing communications revolution of modern life. Media Studies takes up where computer Science leaves off: by considering the cultural rather than the technological implications of the Internet. We will consider a range of theoretical perspectives from Marshall McLuhan to "cyborg theory," and topics like changing notions of community, identity and artistic expression. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—J. Schott
MEDA 270. The Construction of Racial and Ethnic Identity in U.S. Film Cross-listed with AMST 270. In this course, we will examine just how movies have contributed to our understanding of racial and ethnic identity in the United States. We will pay particular attention to African American, Chicano/a, Irish American, Native American, and Asian-American identities as they have been constructed in and through documentary and fiction films. We will view several films for/from each group. We will contextualize the identities popularized in the movies by becoming familiar with significant historical events in each of these populations and by examining dominant theories of racial formation in the twentieth century. And finally, we will explore how racial and ethnic identities are being deconstructed and reconstructed by contemporary filmmakers. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Spring—M. Torres
MEDA 312. American Political Culture and Values: Special Election Edition* Cross-listed with AMST 312,POSC 312. This course examines the different ways that political scientists approach American political culture. The course focuses on topics that include styles of political leadership, the role of heroism, the concept of the "democratic citizen," and the meaning of patriotism, freedom, and equality. The 2000 election will be the prime example through which we will study American political culture. 6 credits cr., SS, Fall—J. Sullivan
MEDA 362. Narrative Theory Cross-listed with ENGL 362. "Does the world really present itself to perception in the form of well-made stories?" asks Hayden White (historiographer). To try to answer that question, we will read contemporary narrative theory and analyze various literary texts and films. This course fulfills the advanced seminar requirement. Prerequisite: English 200. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—S. Jaret McKinstry
MEDA 363. Open the Box: Studies in Television Television is probably the most important socializing agent in American culture apart from the family. Yet we seem more comfortable looking down our nose at the medium, rather than scratching our heads about it. This course draws on the rapidly expanding literature of cultural theory that addresses television as both ideology and social form. We will examine the cultural exchanges found in genres such as news, soap opera and advertising, and the external contexts of the medium such as ratings and the regulatory context. Prerequisite: Media Studies 110. 6 credits cr., HU, Not offered in 2000-2001.
MEDA 395. Media Theory and Analysis This course, for graduating concentrators or by permission, will grapple with some of the philosophical and theoretical problems and controversies that currently enliven media studies. Class time will be spent chiefly in the discussion and debate of a body of common readings and screenings. Each student will, in addition, research, report on, and write a theoretical paper about an individual topic or text of his or her own choosing. Senior Media Studies Concentrators or permission of the instructor. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—C. Donelan