Carleton College

CAMS 110. Introduction to Cinema and Media Studies This course introduces students to the basic terms, concepts and methods used in cinema studies and helps build critical skills for analyzing films, technologies, industries, styles and genres, narrative strategies and ideologies. Students will develop skills in critical viewing and careful writing via assignments such as a short response essay, a plot segmentation, a shot breakdown, and various narrative and stylistic analysis papers. Classroom discussion focuses on applying critical concepts to a wide range of films. Requirements include two evening film screenings per week. Extra time. 6 cr., AL, WR; LA, WR2, Fall,Winter—J. Beck, C. Donelan

CAMS 111. Digital Foundations This class introduces students to the full range of production tools and forms, building both the technical and conceptual skills needed to continue at more advanced levels. We will explore the aesthetics and mechanics of shooting digital video, the role of sound and how to record and mix it, field and studio production, lighting, and editing with Final Cut Pro. Course work will include individual and group production projects, readings, and writing. This is an essential foundation for anyone interested in moving-image production and learning the specifics of CAMS’ studios, cameras, and lighting equipment. 6 cr., AL; ARP, Fall,Winter,Spring—P. Hager, L. Jimsen

CAMS 186. Film Genres In this course we survey four or more genres, including but not limited to the Western, the musical, the horror film, the comedy, and the science-fiction film. What criteria are used to place a film in a particular genre? What role do audiences and studios play in the creation and definition of film genres? Where do genres come from? How do genres change over time? What roles do genres play in the viewing experience? What are hybrid genres and subgenres? What can genres teach us about society? Assignments aim to develop skills in critical analysis, research and writing. 6 cr., AL, WR; LA, WR2, Spring—C. Donelan

CAMS 188. Rock 'n' Roll in Cinema This course is designed to explore the intersection between rock music and cinema. Taking a historical view of the evolution of the "rock film," this class examines the impact of rock music on the structural and formal aspects of narrative, documentary, and experimental films and videos. The scope of the class will run from the earliest rock films of the mid-1950s through contemporary examples in ten weekly subunits. 6 cr., AL; LA, IDS, Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 210. Film History I This course surveys the first half-century of cinema history, focusing on film structure and style as well as transformations in technology, industry and society. Topics include series photography, the nickelodeon boom, local movie-going, Italian super-spectacles, early African American cinema, women film pioneers, abstraction and surrealism, German Expressionism, Soviet silent cinema, Chaplin and Keaton, the advent of sound and color technologies, the Production Code, the American Studio System, Britain and early Hitchcock, Popular Front cinema in France, and early Japanese cinema. Assignments aim to develop skills in close analysis and working with primary sources in researching and writing film history. 6 cr., AL; LA, IS, Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 211. Film History II This course covers the continued rise and development of cinema from 1940-1970, looking simultaneously at both the American studio system and international cinemas. Emphasis is placed on wartime and post-war genres, the development of wide screen and color technologies, New Wave modernisms, Third Cinema movements, and international trends in narrative, documentary and avant-garde film. Requirements include class attendance and participation, readings, required evening film screenings, and various written assignments and exams. 6 cr., AL, RAD; LA, IS, Fall—C. Donelan

CAMS 212. Contemporary Spanish Cinema This course serves as a historical and critical survey of Spanish cinema from the early 1970s to the present. Topics of study will include the redefinition of Spanish identity in the post-Franco era, the rewriting of national history through cinema, cinematic representations of gender and sexuality, emergent genres, regional cinemas and identities, stars and transnational film projects, and the emergence of new Spanish auteurs from the 1980s to the present. 6 cr., AL, RAD; LA, IS, Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 214. Film History III This course is designed to introduce students to film history, 1970-present, and the multiple permutations of cinema around the globe. The course charts the development of the New American cinema since the mid-1970s while examining the effects of media consolidation and convergence. Moreover, the course seeks to examine how global cinemas have reacted to and dealt with the formal influence and economic domination of Hollywood film making on international audiences. Class lectures, screenings, and discussions will consider how cinema has changed from a primarily national phenomenon to a transnational form of communication in the twenty-first century. 6 cr., AL; LA, Winter—J. Beck

CAMS 216. American Cinema of the 1970s American cinema from 1965-1977 saw the reconfiguration of outdated modes of representation in the wake of the Hollywood studio system and an alignment of new aesthetic forms with radical political and social perspectives. This course examines the film industry’s identity crisis in the departure from industrial standards and the cultural, stylistic, and technological changes that accompanied the era. The course seeks to demonstrate that these changes in cinematic practices reflected an agenda of revitalizing cinema as a site for social commentary and change. 6 cr., ND; LA, Offered in alternate years. Spring—J. Beck

CAMS 217. Border Crossings: Postmodern Perspectives on French and German Cinema 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 cr., AL; LA, IS, Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 218. Contemporary Global Cinemas This course is designed as a critical study of global filmmakers and the issues surrounding cinema and its circulation in the twenty-first century. The class will examine the growth and evolution of cinema as a global event and look at points of contact between different cultural discourses, cinematic styles, genres, and reception. It will look at national, transnational, and diasporic-exilic discourses as well as considering how film articulates both culture and cultural contexts. Artistic, social, political, and industrial issues will be examined each week to provide different models of cinematic creation and consumption. 6 cr., ND; LA, Offered in alternate years. Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 224. Classical American Film Comedy This course serves as a historical and critical survey of American film comedy from the late silent era through the end of the classical Hollywood period. It is designed to study the evolution of sound film comedy from its origins in slapstick and vaudeville-based skit routines through the sophisticated dialogue and screwball comedies of the 1930s and the social commentary comedies of the 1940s and 50s. The term will be spent studying the evolution of forms of film comedy, understanding how the genre has changed, and examining the social/historical factors that account for these changes. 6 cr., AL; LA, IDS, Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 225. Film Noir: The Dark Side of the American Dream After Americans grasped the enormity of the Depression and World War II, the glossy fantisies of 30s cinema seemed hollow indeed.  during the 40s, the movies, our true natonal pastime, tood a nosedive into pessimism. 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 Double Indemnity, Out of the Past, and Kiss Me Deadly. 6 cr., AL; LA, Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 228. Avant-Garde Film & Video from Dada to the Beats This class charts avant-garde film, photography and design from Salvadore Dali's surrealist cinema in the 1920's to the flowering of Beat culture in the 1950's. Key monuments are read against the progression of the art historical styles and "-isms" that informed them. We will take an extended look at Beat Culture in the 1950's as a context for the emergence of the American avant-garde. Expect to view rare original prints at the Walker Art Center and make your own experimental film. 6 cr., AL; LA, Offered in alternate years. Fall—J. Schott

CAMS 231. Cinema Directors: Bergman and Godard This seminar explores the ground-breaking films of Ingmar Bergman and Jean-Luc Godard, the Shakespeare and Joyce of Cinema. These two cinema giants reinvented cinema and cinematic language through their audacious personal styles. Through close analysis of their films, director interviews, and theoretical writings, we investigate how these directors developed specific cinematic forms and language to more fully express their critiques of religion, family, marriage, sexual politics, 60s youth culture, and cinema itself. 6 cr., AL; LA, Offered in alternate years. Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 232. Cinema Directors: Tarkovsky This course addresses the legacy of Russian film director and cult figure Andrei Tarkovsky, his contribution to the revival of Russian cinema and film theory, and his influence on other filmmakers--in Russia and around the world. Readings will focus on Tarkovsky’s own writing about film and art. Close analysis of the films (Ivan’s Childhood, Andrei Rublev, Mirror, Stalker, Nostalghia, Sacrifice) will be supplemented by consideration of Tarkovsky’s sources--from Leonardo DaVinci to his own father, poet Arsenii Tarkovsky. 3 cr., AL; LA, IS, Offered in alternate years. Winter—D. Nemec Ignashev

CAMS 233. The French Cinema 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 a number of different French filmmakers. Discussions will focus on such questions as the following: In what ways has French cinema mobilized (or undermined) national myths? What role has film played in mediating the 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 cr., AL; LA, IS, Offered in alternate years. Winter—D. Strand

CAMS 234. Cinema Directors: Sokurov Mentored by Tarkovsky, influenced by the German Expressionists and Aleksandr Dovzhenko, but essentially self-made as a director, Aleksandr Sokurov delights and perplexes viewers with cinematic canvases of exceptional beauty. Prolific--57 films to date, working in documentary and fiction film, Sokurov has already influenced younger directors around the world. Brief lectures place Sokurov’s work in an international cinematic context; readings illuminate Sokurov’s extra-cinematic sources, and discussions focus on close analysis of a selection of Sokurov's documentaries and of the fiction films of his Faust cycle. 3 cr., AL; LA, IS, Offered in alternate years. Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 237. Cinemas & Contexts: Russian Film The Russian school of filmmaking developed in a socio-political context that indelibly marked its production. Fortunately, the Russian school’s achievements have exceeded the limitations of time, politics, and national boundaries, to this day influencing filmmakers around the world. This course examines major moments in Russian cinema history. Readings and brief lectures situate films in their historical and political contexts; discussion and close analysis explore technological innovation and the theories underlying them. The survey concludes with consideration of the Russian school’s significance particularly for emerging cinemas in Cuba, China, Africa, and post-Soviet Central Asia. 6 cr., AL; LA, IS, Offered in alternate years. Fall—D. Nemec Ignashev

CAMS 239. Cinemas and Contexts: East European Film This course surveys the "other cinemas" of Eastern Europe: Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and former Yugoslavia between WWII and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1988. Directors include Chytilová, Forman, Holland, Jancso, Kieslowski, Kovács, Kusturica, Loznitsa, Makavejev, Menzel, Nemec, Polanski, Svankmajer, Szabó, Tarr, Wajda. Brief lectures and readings place the films in national and politcal context, while discussions focus on the eclectic cinematic strategies--from Hollywood, Western Europe, and Moscow--filmmakers employed to circumvent censorship, producing anthological masterpieces in the least favorable of circumstances. 6 cr., AL; LA, IS, Offered in alternate years. Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 242. Sound and Music in New Media This course covers the theory and production of sound and music in radio, electronic soundscapes, electroacoustic music, and film and video. The course will focus on the aesthetics, theory and practice of sound in these media. Students will create sound artworks in a laboratory component, using Protools and other sound engineering software. Students will produce several audio projects, including a podcast of a radio show, an electronic musique concrete or sound art piece, and a musical accompaniment to a short film or video using pre-existing music. Music reading and/or knowledge of musical recording software helpful but not required. 6 cr., AL; ARP, Offered in alternate years. Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 243. Film Sound Studies Although cinema is an audio-visual medium, there has long been a tendency to privilege the visual component of film over the elements of film sound. In an attempt to redress this imbalance, this course will focus on the technological, cultural, and theoretical histories of film sound throughout the twentieth century. We will examine the transition to sound in United States and European cinema, radio’s role in the development of sound aesthetics, standardized and alternative sound practices, the role and use of music in cinema, and the complex effects of contemporary sound technologies on the medium and experience of film. 6 cr., AL; LA, Offered in alternate years. Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 265. Sound Design This course examines the theories and techniques of sound design for film and video. Students will learn the basics of audio recording, sound editing and multi-track sound design specifically for the moving image. The goal of the course is a greater understanding of the practices and concepts associated with soundtrack development through projects using recording equipment and the digital audio workstation for editing and mixing. 6 cr., AL; ARP, Offered in alternate years. Winter—J. Beck

CAMS 269. Understanding New Media This edition of Understanding New Media will be organized around our extensive engagement with the exhibitions, artists and critics we will encounter in our travels. The class will mix reading, discussion and critique. Because access to the wireless Internet is widespread in Europe, students are encouraged to equip their laptops with wireless cards in order that we can easily conduct research on the Net and post individual critical responses to our class weblog. 6 cr., AL; LA, Offered in alternate years. Spring—J. Schott

CAMS 270. Nonfiction I This course addresses nonfiction media as both art form and historical practice by exploring the expressive, rhetorical, and political possibilities of nonfiction production. A focus on relationships between form and content and between makers, subjects, and viewers will inform our approach. Throughout the course we will pay special attention to the ethical concerns that arise from making media out of others' lives. Whether you want to produce social documentary, experimental nonfiction, or a media-based comps project, this class will give you the tools you will need. The class culminates in the production of a significant nonfiction media project. Prerequisite: Cinema and Media Studies 111 or permission of instructor. 6 cr., AL; ARP, Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 271. Fiction Through a series of exercises students will explore the fundamentals of making fictional media, including framing, staging, camera movement, working with actors, traditional 3-act structure, and alternative approaches. Through course readings, screenings, and writing exercises, we will analyze how mood, tone, and themes are constructed through formal techniques. Group and individual exercises will develop diverse strategies for narrative construction and cinematic storytelling. The course will culminate in individual short fiction projects. Prerequisite: Cinema and Media Studies 111 or permission of instructor. 6 cr., AL; ARP, Offered in alternate years. Winter—L. Jimsen

CAMS 275. Audio Workshop The Audio Workshop introduces students to essential skills in audio storytelling and drama. Students will produce projects in three essential genres: reportorial projects (suitable for news or research reporting), personal narratives (along the lines of This American Life), and new audio drama (fiction recorded in our sound booth with actors). Along with essential technical skills, students will engage critical historical and esthetic issues in audio, along with directorial skills like interviewing and directing voice talent. 6 cr., AL; ARP, Fall—J. Schott

CAMS 277. Television Studio Production In this hands-on studio television production course, held in the new, fully-outfitted Weitz Center studios, students learn professional studio methods and techniques for creating both fiction and nonfiction television programs. Concepts include lighting and set design, blocking actors, directing cameras, composition, switching, sound recording and scripting. Students work in teams to produce four assignments, crewing for each other’s productions in front of and behind the camera, in the control room, and in post-production. 6 cr., AL; ARP, Winter—P. Hager

CAMS 278. Writing for Television TV is a very specific, time-driven medium. Using examples from scripts and DVDs, students will learn how to write for an existing TV show, keeping in mind character consistency, pacing, tone, and compelling storylines. Students will also get a taste of what it's like to be part of a writing staff as the class itself creates an episode from scratch. Topics such as creating the TV pilot, marketing, agents, managers, and more will be discussed. Finally, general storytelling tools such as creating better dialogue, developing fully-rounded characters, making scene work more exciting, etc., will also be addressed. Prerequisite: Cinema and Media Studies 110 or permission of the instructor. 6 cr., AL; ARP, Offered in alternate years. Fall—M. Elyanow

CAMS 279. Screenwriting "Screenwriting is an architectural, not literary activity."--David Mamet. Screenwriting has baffled many literary giants, including William Faulkner. But the deceptively simple art of cinematic storytelling can be learned--not by formula, but through form. Visiting writer-director Eric Tretbar teaches the principles and universal forms of cinematic storytelling with which students can write unique, challenging, meaningful scripts. Exercises with well-known movies teach students to select and arrange narrative material, analyze and design scenes, and map and analyze story structure. With these basic tools, students design, outline, and write their own short film. Prerequisite: Cinema and Media Studies 271 recommended but not required; or permission of the instructor. 6 cr., AL; ARP, Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 281. Digital Photography: Visual Description & Storytelling This production class in digital photography explores using images to describe and narrate the world around us. Students will learn to master their digital camera, develop an eye for composition and photographic style, learn advanced techniques in Photoshop, and then apply these skills in creating a photo essay about topics in the community or on campus, and publish theses online or in print. Additionally, students will create fictional photographic stories based on existing short fiction, their own stories, or other experimental forms. This class offers a solid foundation for those interested in digital imaging, visual documentary, moving image storytelling, and photojournalism. Digital camera required. 6 cr., AL; LA, Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 282. Graphic Design: Type + Image + Message Provides students with essential skills for producing and publishing forceful, effective visual communication. We focus on the combination of typography and image in formats such as graphic-intensive print-style publications, posters, still and motion-based typography. Production tools are primarily digital, including Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Apple iWorks, LiveType and OmniGraffle. Unlike traditional pre-professional graphic design classes that teach a "design vocabulary," this class is predicated on the notion that the best design evolves from one's own specific, real-world design problems. Students read widely in the emerging literature of visual communication and the visualization of information. Prerequisite: Cinema and Media Studies 110 and 111 or permission of the instructor. 6 cr., AL; ARP, Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 283. Site-Specific Media: Out and About Video and photography are coming off the screen, out of the gallery, finding their way into the world through site-specific, installation-style projects. We will take visual projects out of the studio using projection and print techniques that speak and respond to particular locations. Imagine a multi-track movie playing on ten laptops in the Arb; or a film projected on the side of a mobile home with viewers in folding chairs. We will explore VJ software and produce live multi-track visuals to accompany a band performance at the end of the class. This class should be attractive to videographers, musicians, photographers, dancers and others with a speculative, experimental bent. Prerequisite: Cinema and Media Studies 110 and 111 or permission of the instructor. 6 cr., AL; ARP, Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 284. Digital Photography Workshop This edition of the workshop will focus on photographic portraiture. Students will begin reading on the history and theory of portraiture and representation in photography, art, and cinema. With this grounding, they will undertake multiple creative portrait assignments in a wide variety of styles, including street styles, studio set-ups and lighting, editorial/fashion, documentary portraiture, and conceptual projects. This class will take advantage of the new CAMS studios in The Weitz Center for Creativity. Students should have their own digital camera; software is provided. 6 cr., AL; ARP, Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 286. Animation Animation will explore both traditional, handmade animation and computer-based animation software. The course will emphasize skills in observation, perception, and technique using both old and new technologies. Exercises will build skills in creating believable and cinematic locomotion, gesture, and characters in diverse media including drawing by hand on cards, software-based animation, and stop-motion. The final project gives students the opportunity to develop more advanced skills in one, or a combination, of the techniques covered in class to create a self-directed animation project. Prerequisite: Cinema and Media Studies 110, one Cinema and Media Studies 200-level studio production course, or permission of instructor. 6 cr., AL; ARP, Offered in alternate years. Fall—L. Jimsen

CAMS 289. New Media Seminar in Europe: Digital Workshop Creative new media projects will be tailored to each student’s skill set and technical resources, and students will be encouraged to work in teams where appropriate. Descriptive and conceptual or web-based projects in photography will be at the center of the seminar, but students may also work in video and other new media forms. Students are encouraged to take an introductory course in a medium of their choice at Carleton before the seminar. 6 cr., AL; ARP, Offered in alternate years. Spring—J. Schott

CAMS 291. New Media Seminar in Europe: Directed Reading This is a self-directed course in which assigned materials and projects should be completed prior to departure. The course will provide students with a broad understanding of key issues and ideas central to the seminar. Students will create blogs and post creative projects as part of this class. 4 cr., S/CR/NC, ND; NE, Offered in alternate years. Spring—J. Schott

CAMS 310. Moviegoing and Film Exhibition in America How have the sites where movies are screened, the sorts of entertainment programs offered, and the experience of movie going varied over time and in different locations and communities? In this course, we will familiarize ourselves with the various methodologies for doing film history while researching and writing (or producing in media form) the history of movie culture at the local level, making use of primary sources such as newspapers, interviews, and photographs. 6 cr., AL; HI, Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 320. Sound Studies Topics Seminar This course presents the broader field of Sound Studies, its debates and issues. Drawing on a diverse set of interdisciplinary perspectives, the seminar explores the range of academic work on sound to examine the relationship between sound and listening, sound and perception, sound and memory, and sound and modern thought. Topics addressed include but are not limited to sound technologies and industries, acoustic perception, sound and image relations, sound in media, philosophies of listening, sound semiotics, speech and communication, voice and subject formation, sound art, the social history of noise, and hearing cultures. 6 cr., AL; LA, Offered in alternate years. Fall—J. Beck

CAMS 330. Cinema Studies Topics Seminar The purpose of this seminar is to guide students in consolidating their conceptual understanding of theories central to the discipline of cinema studies. This term, students will engage in the close reading of classical and contemporary film theory and participate in stimulating debate about those theories. The course covers the realist and formalist traditions in classical film theory, theories related to the ontology of the photographic, cinematic and digital images, theories of authorship and genre, and trends in contemporary film theory, including psychoanalysis, ideology, cultural studies, phenomenology and cognitive studies. Prerequisite: At least one film history course (Cinema and Media Studies 211, 212 or 214) or permission of instructor. 6 cr., AL; LA, Winter—C. Donelan

CAMS 350. Visual Studies Topics Seminar Images abound: contemporary life increasingly is defined by the pervasiveness of visual images which inform, entertain, document, manipuate, and socialize us. This seminar explores a wide range of critical issues and methods--both historical and contemporary--that will provide students a theoretical and critical command of contemporary visual experience. Our primary focus will be the photographic image as the foundational logic not only of photochemical and digital photography, but of cinema, the web and emerging forms such as virtual reality and computational digital imagery. This seminar offers essential critical tools for students of film history, photography and contemporary media. Prerequisite: Cinema and Media Studies 110 or permission of instructor. 6 cr., ND; LA, Not offered in 2012-2013.

CAMS 370. Advanced Production Workshop Working in a variety of genres and technical formats, students design, test, and execute an in-depth, individual media project during the course of the term. Students are expected to work at advanced technical and conceptual levels to expand specific skills and aesthetics. Weekly class critiques will help students develop formal approaches, audio and visual language, and work flows specific to their projects. As students enter the production and post-production phases, further critiques will help them shape their material for the greatest, most precise expression. Students may enroll in this course multiple times. Prerequisite: Cinema and Media Studies 111 and at least one 200-level production course. 6 cr., AL; ARP, Spring—L. Jimsen

CAMS 400. Integrative Exercise 6 cr., S/NC, ND, Fall,Winter—Staff