CAMS 100: Visual Culture of the America in the Fifties

An emerging academic rubric for studying the "visual regime" of a period or place. The goal of Visual Culture is to erase disciplinary and generic boundaries: one might study fashion, high art, movies, living rooms, photography, and beehive hairdos – whatever – as a visual system of cultural signification. We will read critical perspectives on this new methodology: we will dive into the archives in search of chrome tail-lights, kitchen appliances, Abstract Expressionism, Zen, drive-in movies, jalopies, "Duck and Cover" films and pony tails and Beatnik culture. Expect to spend time in the bowels of the Library, and exhibit your findings in a graphically convincing format. 6; S/CR/NC; Arts and Literature; offered Fall 2007 -- J. Schott

CAMS 110: Introduction to Cinema and Media Studies

An introduction to film, television, and the internet from multiple perspectives: formal, cultural, and theoretical. How do films tell their stories? How do they reflect the political and cultural issues of their time, including gender and race? What are the formal and cultural meanings of television and the internet? How are we constructed differently as subjects in relation to various media? These questions will be addressed by studying a variety of popular and experimental films and media texts. Discussion will focus on applying critical concepts to screenings and clips. 6; Arts and Literature; offered Fall 2007, Spring 2008 -- C. Donelan, M. Griffin

CAMS 111: Digital Foundations

Introduces students to the full range of media production tools and forms, including still photography, audio, graphic design, and video. Students will produce a photo essay with audio track; complete a stand-alone audio narrative with music, EFX and telephone interviews; create a weblog and gain a better understanding of graphic design; and produce a short video project. Completed projects will be mounted on each student's weblog. Although participants are welcome to use their PCs and associated software, in CAMS you will learn Apple hardware and software. Students will work with Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, Soundtrack Pro, SoundSlides and WordPress. 6; Arts and Literature; offered Fall 2007, Winter 2008, Spring 2008 -- M. Gilbert, P. Hager, J. Schott

CAMS 210: Film History I

A survey of international film history, 1895-1945, encompassing early cinema, the late silent period, and the development of sound cinema. We will pay special attention to developments in film form and style, major changes in film production, distribution and exhibition, and significant trends. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 214. 6; Arts and Literature; offered Winter 2008 -- C. Donelan

CAMS 211: Film History II

A survey of international film history, 1945-present, encompassing post-war new wave and contemporary global cinemas. We will pay special attention to developments in film form and style, major changes in film production, distribution and exhibition, and significant trends. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 214. 6; Arts and Literature; offered Spring 2008 -- D. Nemec Ignashev

CAMS 213: Italian Neorealism and Global Cinema

Neorealism is generally associated with a set of films produced by the Italian film industry during the post-World War II years, but filmmakers all over the world have been preoccupied with neorealims’s primary concern--representing social reality. In this course, we examine the traditional neorealist films of Rossellini, De Sica and Visconti in relation to relevant theories, the modernist films of Fellini, Pasolini and Antonioni that question or problematize neorealism, and the impact of neorealism on global cinema. 6; Arts and Literature; offered Winter 2008 -- C. Donelan

CAMS 215: American Film History

In this course, we investigate Hollywood cinema as a unique economic, industrial, aesthetic, and cultural institution. Topics addressed include the experience of movie-going, the nature of Hollywood storytelling, and the roles played by the studio system, the star system, and film genre in the creation of a body of work that functions both as entertainment and as an influential mediator of American experience, identity, and culture. 6; Arts and Literature; not offered 2007-2008

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. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 238. 6; Arts and Literature; not offered 2007-2008

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 fantasies of 30s cinema seemed hollow indeed. During the 40s, the movies, our true national pastime, took 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. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 234. 6; Arts and Literature; not offered 2007-2008

CAMS 226: Film and the Melodramatic Imagination

Since the 1970s and the advent of feminist film theory and criticism, Hollywood film melodrama has been most closely associated with "pathetic" melodrama­films emphasizing pathos and overwrought emotion, including the woman's film of the 1940s and the family melodrama of the 1950s. More recently, critical attention is being directed at the neglected genre of "sensational" melodrama­films emphasizing moral polarity and sensational action and effects, including the sensational serials of the silent era and the contemporary action film. In this course, we will investigate the films and theories central to our understanding of the "pathetic" and "sensational" melodrama, paying particular attention to the role of gender and affect in the experience of film. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 235. 6; Arts and Literature; not offered 2007-2008

CAMS 227: Representing Reality: Nonfiction Film and Video

Theorists suggest that as we increasingly become a "screen culture," visual forms of nonfiction-photography, film/TV, video and multimedia are dominant sources of cultural and political definitions. This class reviews the evolution of documentary film and video (with some attention to photography) from Nanook of the North (the first documentary) to Fox TV news. In the modern period we look at emerging forms and issues including Rodney King and the status of visual evidence, mocumentary and docudrama, 50s "mental hygiene" films, and the emerging genre of online documentary. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 244. 6; Arts and Literature; not offered 2007-2008

CAMS 228: 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 20s 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 1950s, where we will look at beat cinema in the context of poetry, music and the visual arts. 6; Arts and Literature; not offered 2007-2008

CAMS 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 cinema from both U.S. and world cinema. 6; Arts and Literature; not offered 2007-2008

CAMS 231: Major Film Directors

A major director or comparison of directors, the directors role in industrialized and collaborative contexts; relations between biography and criticism; the function of individual styles. 6; Arts and Literature; not offered 2007-2008

CAMS 236: European Women Filmmakers

This course examines European cinema history by way of major women directors through their most influential film(s). Directors include: Notari, Dulac, Preobrazhenskaya, Riefenstahl, Box, Audry, Varda, Holland, Wertmuller, Balasko, Chytilova, Duras, Ackerman, Gorris, Muratova, Potter, Treut, Ottinger, Torres. Readings will parallel film chronology, introducing basic critical concepts and tracing approaches to gender in continental film criticism. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 240. 6; Arts and Literature; not offered 2007-2008

CAMS 241: History of Television and American Mass Media

Television has created the largest mass audiences in human history. The dominant mass medium of the second half of the century, television also dramatically influenced the nature and function of other media: books, newspapers, magazines, the cinema, and new digital forms of representation. In this course, we consider the medium and industry of American television in the larger historical context of modern mass communications. Why did American television develop differently from other national systems? What impact has the particular mix of American TV genres and programming had on the late twentieth century media landscape? Students will produce individual final projects. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 216. 6; Does not fulfill a distribution requirement; offered Winter 2008 -- M. Griffin

CAMS 242: Sound and Music in Televison and New Media

This course is an investigation of the theories and practice of music and sound in the electronic media of radio, television, music video, the internet, and video art. The course will trace the development of technology in the electronic media from the microphone to the iPod, and then assess how sound and music is used to structure texts in various media. Additional topics include the theory and practice of sound and music in narrative TV, TV commercials music videos, video art, video game music and cellular phone ring tones. Music reading is helpful but not required for this course. R. Rodman; Arts and Literature; offered Fall 2007 -- 6

CAMS 245: Documentary Video: History/Theory/Practice

What is a documentary? This course explores the history and theory of documentary practices in film and video: whether and under what conditions documentary might claim to convey knowledge of the world, the implications of cinematic technique and style for documentary representation, and the place of documentary film and video in social and political discourse. The course integrates critical readings and screenings in documentary history and theory with the making of student documentary videos within and against the documentary tradition. 6; Does not fulfill a distribution requirement; not offered 2007-2008

CAMS 246: Environmental Issues and Media Representation

How are public perceptions concerning environmental conditions, policy, actors and interests shaped by embedded cultural representations of nature and its use? By the language and images used to represent environmental issues in the media? Who sets the agenda for environmental issues and debates and how is that agenda presented for public consumption? What role do movies, news, television entertainment and advertising play in establishing or maintaining particular images, enduring cultural myths, perspectives and discourses regarding the environment? Students will pursue research and/or creative media projects related to environmental discourse. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 218. 6; Does not fulfill a distribution requirement; not offered 2007-2008

CAMS 247: Deconstructing Journalism: News Forms, Values and Practices

What is happening to journalism? As bloggers, citizen journalists, and infotainment programs crowd out twentieth century forms of reporting where will citizens go for it? This course critically examines the traditional norms, values and practices of Western journalism and explores the ramifications of new technologies, new forms, and shifting standards for presenting information. Students will compare the practices of various news media and outlets to gain a deeper understanding of the significance of institutional conventions, organizational routines, commercial imperatives, and new technologies. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 223. 6; Does not fulfill a distribution requirement; offered Fall 2007 -- M. Griffin

CAMS 249: Global Media and Transnational Culture

Is a Pokémon piñata still a piñata? This course examines key issues and debates concerning communication diffusion and media globalization, with special attention to the influences of popular culture, information flows, and newly networked audiences for transnational film, television, news, advertising, music, tourism, and institutions of cultural heritage. We will consider shifting and competing theoretical frameworks for investigating issues in media globalization, especially the ramifications of a paradigm shift from the study of international communication (relationships between nations) to the analysis of systems of transnational media. Students will pursue research on individual case studies. 6; Does not fulfill a distribution requirement; offered Winter 2008 -- M. Griffin

CAMS 250: Visual Culture and Media Analysis

Often taken for granted, visual images in contemporary media can function in complex ways to shape textual formats and support mythic frames. What concepts and tools of analysis help us to better understand the specific influence of pictures in news reporting and presentation? The role of visual images in political communication? Codes of visual imagery in advertising? Visual representation as a tacit logic of culture and marker of social difference? Class members will move from an introduction to the study of visual forms in mass media to individual projects on specific issues of image and text. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 113. 6; Arts and Literature; offered Fall 2007 -- M. Griffin

CAMS 260: Digital Culture

Digital technologies are transforming the ways we visualize the world. The first half of this course offers a critical overview of the cultural impact and creative possibilities of these new tools by reviewing exemplary projects and associated theory. The second half of the course focuses specifically on digital seeing as surveillance. We will examine projects that implement and critique visual surveillance, and discuss key debates about living in a surveillance society. Students will have the option of doing a creative project based on their emerging critical understanding. 6; Arts and Literature; not offered 2007-2008

CAMS 261: Digital Art

The computer and the network have changed the way we think about almost everything, from how we get the news to how we make things. This course combines theory with practice in examining key concepts and how they relate to different fields of practice from art history to computing to art making to filmmaking to sociology. Topics covered include computational aesthetics, fan films, open source, memes, activism and physical interfaces. Students will be introduced to a particular concept in theory and art and then work on elaborating a personal vision of that concept in any medium from oil paints to HTML. 6; Arts and Literature; not offered 2007-2008

CAMS 270: Nonfiction Video Production

In this core-requirement CAMS studio course, students develop a command of turning a nonfiction subject into a convincing, well-told media project. In addition to learning the essential techniques of nonfiction production, we will focus on documentary structure and story-forms. Increasingly, students are gathering, shaping and producing knowledge in media formats. Whether you are interested in producing a social documentary or documenting and presenting research topics, this class will give you the tools you will need. The class culminates in the production of a ten to fifteen minute project. Prerequisite: Cinema and Media Studies 111 or permission of the instructor. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 220. 6; Arts and Literature; offered Spring 2008 -- M. Gilbert

CAMS 271: Fiction Video Production

An introduction to the basic techniques and creative issues of fiction video making. Students will complete several skill-building exercises, write or adapt a short script, learn how to run a low-budget set, and produce a short fiction video. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 221. 6; Arts and Literature; not offered 2007-2008

CAMS 272: Advanced Editing Techniques

New digital media are changing the way we produce and distribute art and information. We'll combine critical perspectives with hands-on production with particular focus on multi-media for the web and DVD authoring. Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 262. 3; Arts and Literature; not offered 2007-2008

CAMS 274: Special Projects Workshop

Students are invited to join guest professional documentarian Melody Gilbert in producing a long-form broadcast-quality nonfiction project. Roughly ten mid- to advanced-level students will work to conceive, research, shoot and edit the film. This is an exceptional opportunity for committed student video producers. Permission of the instructor is required for enrollment. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 210. 6; Arts and Literature; offered Fall 2007, Winter 2008 -- M. Gilbert

CAMS 275: Audio Workshop: Radio Drama

Students will produce multi-vocal radio dramas using the new professional recording booth in the CAMS Media Lab and learn audio story construction, aural aesthetics, vocal production, sound effects, music-under, and audio mixing. Completed projects will be posted to a class website and broadcast on our campus radio station, KRLX. This is not a course in writing; we will work from published scripts or original material brought to the class by participants. Teaming up with writers and performers not in the class is encouraged. In addition to dramatic works, we will produce voiced narratives and poetry, and perhaps "given interest" experimental audio works. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 219. 3; Arts and Literature; offered Winter 2008 -- J. Schott

CAMS 277: Studio Production: The Carleton Show

In this class we will explore the full resources of studio production by producing and distributing to the campus a weekly video show. Students will shoot and edit field segments and the studio program will be published as a web-based video subscription. The class will construct a permanent set with green-screen graphics background, and explore the logic of studio production including live, three-camera switching. Additionally, we will review the historical evolution of studio broadcasting as a key contemporary media form. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 230. 6; Arts and Literature; offered Fall 2007 -- M. Gilbert

CAMS 278: Studio Production: The Carleton Show

In this class we will explore the full resources of studio production by producing and distributing to the campus a weekly video show. Students will shoot and edit field segments and the studio program will be published as a web-based video subscription. The class will construct a permanent set with green-screen graphics background, and explore the logic of studio production including live, three-camera switching. Additionally, we will review the historical evolution of studio broadcasting as a key contemporary media form. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 230. 3; Arts and Literature; offered Winter 2008, Spring 2008 -- M. Gilbert

CAMS 279: Screenwriting

In this introduction to writing for the screen, students will work on both full-length motion picture scripts and short 10-20 minute projects suitable for production in the Fiction Production class. All projects will be critiqued by the class and judged on professional standards, with analysis that is exacting, rigorous and encouraging. Guest screenwriter Thomas Pope is the author of The Lords of Discipline, Bad Boys and F/X. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 112. 6; Arts and Literature; offered Spring 2008 -- T. Pope

CAMS 280: We Media: The Personal Media Revolution

Explore the "personal media revolution" in theory and practice. After reading critical commentary on how "we media" technologies and practices are transforming the media landscape, we jump in ourselves making weblogs, audioblogs, videoblogs, podcasting, RSS syndication, and more. 6; Arts and Literature; not offered 2007-2008

CAMS 280: We Media: Theories and Practices of Writing Lives, Documenting Community, and Framing Change

Storytelling is a tool for preserving memory, writing history, learning, entertaining, organizing, and healing. It is in the telling of stories that communities build identities, construct meaning, and make connections with others and the world. In this course we will examine modes and power dimensions of digital storytelling, investigate the role of digitized media used for community organizing and development, and discuss the gendered and racialized digital divide. Students will gain tools to tell their own stories using digital media (video, still images, sound and artwork) and learn Mac-based editing. Students will produce photographic and video work that will be shared on the course blog. 6; Arts and Literature; offered Spring 2008 -- R.Raimist

CAMS 281: Photography As New Media: This Ain't Your Father's Kodak

The first half of this digital photography studio class explores photo journalism, editorial photography and photography as communication. The second half examines the changing nature of photography as it enters the era of the network and social media, where we will learn about and create selected projects with GPS photo-mapping, camphones, VR images, "life caching," and the like. There is no darkroom processing in this class. We use Photoshop extensively, and many projects will be viewed on the computer screen. Bring your digital camera and camphone if you have one. 6; Arts and Literature; offered Fall 2007 -- J. Schott

CAMS 282: Graphic Design: Typography, Image and Visualization

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 web design, graphic-intensive print-style publications, posters, still and motion-based typography, and PowerPoint presentations. 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. 3; Arts and Literature; offered Winter 2008 -- J. Schott

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. 6; Arts and Literature; offered Spring 2008 -- 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. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 345 6; Arts and Literature; not offered 2007-2008

CAMS 330: Film Theory and Analysis

An advanced overview of film theory and criticism, emphasizing the realist and formalist traditions in classical film theory; the ontology of the photography, cinematic, and digital image; issues of authorship and genre; and trends in contemporary film theory, including screen theory, narrative theory, modernity studies, cultural studies, and post-theory. Class time will be spent chiefly in the discussion and debate of a body of common readings and screenings. Prerequisite: Cinema and Media Studies 210 or 211. Formerly Cinema and Media Studies 395. 6; Arts and Literature; offered Fall 2007 -- C. Donelan

CAMS 340: Media Theory: Objects and Methods

Media form an important and pervasive part of our everyday lives, affecting how we think, act, and communicate with one another, and offering vital resources for understanding world and self. This class surveys approaches used by scholars of print, radio, television, film, and new digital technologies to understand our modern media environment, including narrative theory, ideological analysis, technology studies, production studies, public sphere theory, cultural geography, political economy, globalization theory, convergence theory, and audience studies. Assignments include short written analyses of readings and a self-designed practicum project. Prerequisite: CAMS 241 or permission of instructor. Fulfills core requirement for the CAMS major. 6; Arts and Literature; offered Spring 2008 -- S. VanCour

CAMS 340: Critical Social Theory and the Media

Building from key foundational social theories pertinent to the study of communication media, this course explores the emergence of media-specific critical theories and studies. We will compare and discuss the relative value of particular social theories for media analysis from nineteenth and early twentieth century theorists such as Marx, Durkheim, Tönnies, Weber, Tarde, Dubois, Dewey and Cooley to recent and contemporary theorists such as Barthes, McLuhan, Gerbner, Williams, Hall, Bourdieu, and Castells. We will focus on utilizing theories as tools for media analysis and students will apply selected theoretical concepts in their own critical essays. No prerequisites. 6; Does not fulfill a distribution requirement; offered Spring 2008 -- M. Griffin

CAMS 398: Comps Research Seminar

A structured environment for majors developng comps research and production projects. S/CR/NC; Does not fulfill a distribution requirement; not offered 2007-2008

CAMS 400: Integrative Exercise

6; Does not fulfill a distribution requirement; not offered 2007-2008