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Location: |
NF 147 |
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Meeting Time: |
MW 11-11:50 AM |
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Screening Location: |
SB 168 |
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Screening Time: |
T 6-8:45 PM |
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Office: |
NF 230 H |
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Office Hours: |
MW 1:30 - 2:30 PM, and happily by appointment |
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Office Phone: |
(260) 481-6545 |
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Email: |
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Website: |
Prerequisites and Intended Audience: This course is intended for upper division and graduate students majoring in either Communication or History. Prerequisites include COM 250, 251, or consent of the instructor.
Course Description: This course traces the historical development of the documentary and experimental traditions of film and video, noting their departure from the tradition of Classical Hollywood as well as the aesthetic, political, and social implications of these differences.
Objectives:
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Be able to identify and
summarize seminal titles that best represent the documentary and experimental traditions
in the United States and abroad, and be able to explain why these titles are
important and different from Hollywood film.
·
Become conversant with
basic issues featured prominently in debates over documentary and experimental
aesthetic and practice.
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Improve your ability to
critically analyze various aesthetic practices other than Classical Hollywood
filmmaking, basing this analysis on informed opinions about the history of
documentary and experimental films.
Course Policies: See course policies for more information. These policies are subject to change and not all of them may apply to this class.
Assignments: More detailed instructions will follow throughout the semester.
Paper #1 (100 points; due Wed 3 Mar)
For this 1250 - 2000 word (approximately 5-8 pages) argument-driven paper, you will develop a thesis regarding how a single film or video fits within the documentary and/or experimental tradition using readings found outside of the class to substantiate your claims. The film may be one screened in class, but your paper must go significantly beyond any readings or discussions that took place as part of the class. Be certain to choose a text with which you feel reasonably comfortable in knowledgeably analyzing its techniques and textual strategies in a detailed, specific, and logical fashion. For more information on general expectations regarding an argument-driven paper, see the course policies.
For this 2000-2500 word (approximately 8-10 pages) argument-driven paper, you will develop a thesis regarding how a documentary and/or experimental tradition addresses substantive social, cultural, artistic, and ethical issues of concern to filmmaking practice and reception. You should use readings and/or screenings found outside of the class to substantiate your claims. The films and readings may have been covered in class, but your paper must go significantly beyond any discussion and/or lecture that took place as part of the class. Be certain to choose a tradition with which you feel reasonably comfortable in knowledgeably analyzing its techniques and textual strategies in a detailed, specific, and logical fashion. For more information on general expectations regarding an argument-driven paper, see the course policies.
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Possible Points |
Percent |
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Paper #1 |
100 |
10% |
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Paper #2 |
200 |
20% |
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Group-Led Discussion |
100 |
10% |
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Midterm Exam |
200 |
20% |
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Final Exam |
200 |
20% |
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Participation |
200 |
20% |
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TOTAL |
1000 |
100% |
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A |
B |
C |
D |
F |
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900-1000 |
800-899 |
700-799 |
600-699 |
0-599 |
This schedule is subject to change. Should there be a
significant change in the schedule, you will receive advance notification and
an opportunity to negotiate an agreed-upon compromise.
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Topic/Screening |
Due |
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Mon, 12 Jan |
Course Introduction and Overview |
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Tue, 13 Jan |
The Gleaners and I (2000) and The Gleaners and I Two Years Later (2002) |
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Wed, 14 Jan |
Course Introduction and Overview |
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Mon, 19 Jan |
Pre- and Early Cinema |
Read: Barnouw, ch 1 |
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Tue, 20 Jan |
Edison, Lumieres, Melies, etc. Short Films |
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Wed, 21 Jan |
Pre- and Early Cinema |
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Mon, 26 Jan |
Aesthetic Film History |
Read: Allen & Gomery |
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Tue, 27 Jan |
Canceled (due to weather) |
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Wed, 28 Jan |
Gender in Early Film |
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Mon, 2 Feb |
Caligari as Experimental Film |
Read: Barnouw, ch 2 |
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Tue, 3 Feb |
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) and Nanook of the North (1922) |
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Wed, 4 Feb |
Documentary Grammar and the Subject |
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Mon, 9 Feb |
European Avant-Gardes: Formalism and Surrealism |
Read: Bordwell & Thompson |
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Tues, 10 Feb |
Ballet Mecanique (1924), Regen (1929), Man with a Movie Camera (1929), Un Chien Andalou (1929), and Las Hurdes (1933) |
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Wed, 11 Feb |
European Avant-Gardes: Formalism and Surrealism |
Last Day to Submit Drafts for Feedback by 25 Feb. |
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Mon, 16 Feb |
European Avant-Gardes: Pure Cinema and The City Symphony |
Read: Nichols |
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Tue, 17 Feb |
Opus I (1921), Spiritual Constructions (1927), Composition in Blue (1935), Allegretto (1936), Motion Painting No. 1 (1947), Berlin: Symphony of a City (1927) |
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Wed, 18 Feb |
European Avant-Gardes: Pure Cinema and The City Symphony |
Last Day to Submit Contribution to Midterm Exam |
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Mon, 23 Feb |
North American Avant-Gardes and Their Influences |
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Tue, 24 Feb |
Fall of the House of Usher (1928), Rose Hobart (1936), Blood of a Poet (1930), Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), At Land (1944), A Study in Choreography for the Camera (1945), Ritual in Transfigured Time (1946), |
Read: Treasures |
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Wed, 25 Feb |
North American Avant-Gardes |
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Mon, 1 Mar |
Newsreels, Propaganda, and Military Film |
Read: Barnouw |
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Tue, 2 Mar |
Inside Nazi Germany
(1938), Why We Fight (1943), San
Pietro (1945), The Wonderful,
Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (1993) |
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Wed, 3 Mar |
Midterm Exam |
First Paper Due |
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Mon, 8 Mar |
Spring Recess |
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Tue, 9 Mar |
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Wed, 10 Mar |
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Mon, 15 Mar |
Canceled (due to illness) |
Read: Hebard |
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Tue, 16 Mar |
Canceled (due to illness) |
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Wed, 17 Mar |
Authenticity and Atrocity |
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Mon, 22 Mar |
Psycho-Dramas and Trance Films |
Read: Sitney |
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Tue, 23 Mar |
Night and Fog (1955), Shoah (1985), Fireworks (1947), Eaux d’Artifice (1953), Kustom Kar Kommandos (1965) |
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Wed, 24 Mar |
Psycho-Dramas and Trance Films |
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Mon, 29 Mar |
Neo-Realism and Docudramas |
Read: Pacifici |
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Tue, 30 Mar |
Open City (1945), The Connection (1962) |
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Wed, 31 Mar |
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Mon, 5 Apr |
In-Class Workshop |
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Tue, 6 Apr |
No Screening |
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Wed, 7 Apr |
The American New Wave |
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Mon, 12 Apr |
Cinema Verite |
Read: Winston Last Day to Submit Drafts
for Feedback by 14 Apr |
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Tue, 13 Apr |
High School (1969), Gimme Shelter (1970) |
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Wed, 14 Apr |
In-Class Screening: No Lies(1975) |
Read: Sobchak |
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Wed, 14 Apr |
In-Class Screening: No Lies (1975) |
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Mon, 19 Apr |
Beat, Modernist, and Structuralist Traditions |
Read: Metz Last Day to Submit Drafts for Feedback by 26 Apr |
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Tue, 20 Apr |
A Movie (1958), Cat’s Cradle (1959), Pull My Daisy (1959), Hold Me While I’m Naked (1966), Blonde Cobra (1963) Wavelength (1967) |
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Wed, 21 Apr |
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Last Day to Schedule Midterm Retake and Submit Contribution to Final Exam |
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Mon, 26 Apr |
Documentary in Transition |
Read: Conomos |
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Tue, 27 Apr |
The Thin Blue Line (1988) |
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Wed, 28 Apr |
Course Evaluations and Wrap-Up |
Final Paper and Resubmits
Due |
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Wed, 5 May |
Final Exam 6:15 PM - 8:15 PM |
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