For questions about courses, call 325-9638.

Spring 2010 FVS Courses:

FVS 1013 Introduction to Film and Video Studies. An examination of history, role, impact, nature and delivery systems of film and video media in the United States and the international community.

FVS 2023 Film and Video History and Criticism 1945 to the Present. Survey of Hollywood, independent and world film and video making since World War II and critical approaches to these media. Prerequisite: FVS 1013.

FVS 2033 Writing About Film: Analysis, Criticism, and the Industry. This course teaches specialized skills for writing about film. Topics covered include the vocabulary of film writing, basic cinema research skills, and techniques to write for academic and general audiences. Students will read exemplary, well-written articles by prominent film critics and scholars while exploring multiple topics: star studies, Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) as an auteur, film parodies, and more. Students will hone their writing skills while working on a variety of assignments, ranging from a journalistic movie review to an academic research paper. Prerequisite: FVS 1013 and ENGL 1213 or EXPO 1213.

FVS 2123 Acting for the Camera. This course covers the requirements, techniques and discipline of working on camera for film and/or television as a professional actor. Prerequisite: FVS 2033.

FVS 3213 Media Theories and Methodologies (Film Theory). This course will familiarize students with classical film theory that evolved during the early days of cinema up through contemporary film and media theory, as a foundation of understanding and analyzing the way media shape and reflect culture. Prerequisite: FVS 1013 and FVS 2013 or FVS 2023.

FVS 3223 Science Fiction Cinema. Students will think and write critically about key themes from two science-fiction novels (War of the Worlds and Brave New World) and from a range of science-fiction films and television series (including Invasion of the Body Snatchers, A Clockwork Orange, Blade Runner, and Star Trek: The Next Generation) in order to examine how science fiction comments on the cultural present. Prerequisite: FVS 1013.

FVS 3233 Filmmakers Up Close: Scorsese, Sayles, and the Coen Brothers. We will study selected works from a diverse group of filmmakers—Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, The Departed), John Sayles (Matewan, Lone Star) and the Coen Brothers (The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men)—in relation to a range of topics, including American filmmaking since the 1960s, independent vs. mainstream American filmmaking, auteur theory and shared themes within the directors' works, including the problem of violence, masculinity in crisis, alienation and isolation, and genre revisionism. Prerequisite: FVS 1013.

FVS 3113 Single Camera Production. Film and video production with narrative structure. Student will learn to handle equipment and edit in-camera. Prerequisite: FVS 2033.

FVS 3810 TV History. Coverage of television development from its origins in the 19th centuryto realization in the 1920s, with a primary focus on American media.
Emphasis of analysis will be on television programs and their representations of social issues, but also explore technological andeconomic factors.  Course will provide screenings of selected TV shows.

FVS 3810 Language of Film. The focus of this course will be an in-depth exploration of the film and video language fundamentals: Logical and  structural rules that govern the composition of  shots, scenes and sequences; shot types, cinematic grammar and punctuation, cinematic figures of speech, and cinematic time and space. In addition, this course will cover issues such as: color and cinematic light, music, sound and silence in cinema; acoustic effects; words and actor; art direction; costume, make-up and mask.

FVS 3853 Screenwriting. This course is meant as an introduction to feature screenwriting.  The course is aimed at the conception, planning, and writing of exercises, scenes, short scripts leading up to a treatment for a feature film and the first thirty pages of that script after a consideration of film and video practices in the United States, but with a close study of works that represent international productions and independent movies as well as commercial Hollywood practices.   

FVS 4013 Senior Seminar in Film and Video Studies. Topic: Hitchcock. This course will be a scholarly exploration of the films of Alfred Hitchcock, with a special emphasis on his recurrent themes:  guilt and innocence, what it means to be inside or outside the law, sexual repression and deviance, masculine and feminine personality traits, etc.  The course will be divided into three parts:  an in-depth study of Hitchcock's films, a creative project (short film, screenplay, or interactive essay), and a final research paper. Prerequisite: FVS 1013 and senior standing.

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