Fall 2010:

UNDERGRADUATE

AMS 100 Indian Image on Film
Bardin :: W 4:10pm- 6:50pm
REG#354369
Discusses the fabricated image of Native Americans in American film history, the media process that perpetuates such images, and the resulting stereotypes; also covers the relationship to social movements and alternatives for overcoming stereotypes.

DMS 108 FILM HISTORY
Bardin :: TR 3:00pm-4:50pm :: CFA 112
REG#212394
This course will continue with the history of cinema from roughly WWII to the present day. Taking a multi-cultural look at this medium, this course will show a myriad of films from all over the world made by visionary directors who have changed the aesthetic, conceptual and ideological landscape of filmmaking throughout it's history. We will be examining cinema paradigm shifts inspired by such movements as /Italian Neo-Realisism/, /New German Cinema/ , /The French New Wave/ and /Third World Cinema/ The course will provide students with basic tools and skills to analyze, both technically and conceptually, how filmic images are constructed, how they create meaning, how they influence our lives and how they have become embedded in our historical, ideological and cultural landscape.

DMS 109 FILM INTERPRETATION
Johnson :: TR 9:00am-10:50am :: CFA 235
REG#174974
Film Aesthetics have had an enormous impact on the development of media, from television to the internet to video games, as well as on our personal experiences of our everyday lives: “I feel like I’m in a movie!” This course provides an introduction to the main concepts and themes that constitute the rapidly expanding field of Film Studies. In this course, we will learn to recognize the techniques and conventions that structure our experience of cinema – narrative, mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, sound, genre – in order to understand how these various components combine to yield an overall sense of film form. We will survey global film history, critically viewing examples of silent film, classical Hollywood, world cinema, experimental, documentary, and independent narrative film. We will also examine isolated clips from a variety of films as they relate to the weekly discussion topics.

203 Anthropology and Film
Banks :: MWF 10:00am - 10:50am :: 355 Filmore
REG#047970
This course will use the recent outpouring of documentaries about culture and cultural topics to help us study cultural patterns and processes. The media world of television reflects the growing interest in America for detailed, and often controversial, knowledge about modern cultures. These documentaries concern a host of topics including food production techniques, electoral politics, environmental challenges and even the cultures of science and the computer. Each is placed in broader cultural, national and regional contexts. We will compare the documentaries to some excellent entertainment films that have approached similar issues. Texts will help us understand how films are made. LEC

DMS 213 IMMIGRATION & FILM
Douglas :: MW 1:00pm-2:50pm :: CFA 112
REG#301877
This course focuses on fundamental aspects of immigration in the United States and abroad by examining representative examples of films and documentaries. This semester we will focus on three main aspects of immigration and film (1) political immigration, (2) economic immigration and (3) forced migration and displacement. In addition, we will investigate four major sub-topics related to that issue i.e.; (1) representation of race and ethnicity in film, (2) cultural identity and its reciprocal relationship with cinema, (3) the common narrative of movement, be it geographic or social/economic and (4) tensions between assimilation and cultural diversity. Several themes will be examined repeatedly throughout the semester the various ways first, second and third generations experience immigration; social cultural integration and/or assimilation and cultural diversity. Attendance is mandatory. Non-majors welcome. Fulfills the American Pluralism requirement.

AAS 254 BLACKS IN FILM
Pappas, J G :: W 3:00 pm – 5:40 pm :: Knox 14
REG#208328
This course will explore thematic issues centering on ever evolving changes in social, political and cultural discourses. Students will be asked to focus on an aspect of African/African American life. Films will be selected that speak to a narrative claim that frames Black interests in cinematic terms where control of the imagery is paramount. Of importance is the way and manner in which Black filmmakers articulate and frame their references. The student will be able to centralize their thoughts around particular themes such as: Jazz in Cinema, Black Humor, The Black Family, Diaspora Films, the Blacksploitation period, independent black film 1900-to present perspectives on Black Cinema.

DMS 259 Intro to Media Analysis
Roussel :: MW 11:00am - 12:50pm :: CFA 112
REG#330929
This course is designed to provide students with an historical and theoretical context for current and - hopefully - future developments in media. The course begins with an extended (more than one lecture) discussion of the nature of media focused on the work of Marshall McLuhan. With this as a context, we will read key texts in 20th century media theory including essays by Habermas, Adorno, Debord, Hall, Baudrillard, Barthes, etc. Finally, we'll read current (21st century!!) work addressing issues in social networking, immersive media and the impact of databases on narrative. Some of this material is - ahh - dense but my approach to it is straightforward: I believe in reading a smaller number of essays carefully as opposed to reading more material quickly. Where I think it is appropriate I provide reading guides but I would be lying if I didn't say that you will probably spend some time in front of a book with a frown on your face. Many short assignments. The Department of Media Study is based on the idea that making media can be as analytical and critical an act as writing about media so, where appropriate, I'll entertain either response to the assignment.

DMS 259 Intro to Media Analysis
E. Conrad :: TR 11:00am - 12:50pm :: CFA 112
REG#162107
This course provides an historical and theoretical context for thinking-writing-making media. We will look at media in a broad context, starting with discussions about human perception and representation and ending with contemporary concerns around networks, ownership and surveillance. Along the way, we will read classic texts from 20th century media theory, including essays by McLuhan, Habermas, Adorno, Benjamin, Baudrillard, Debord, etc. This will be complemented with contemporary texts by the likes of Virilio, Hayles, Rheingold and Turkle. This course aims to strengthen the connection between text and experience, and to that end we will also spend a considerable amount of time experiencing media by seeing, hearing and otherwise interacting with works from film, video, sound, music, photography, painting, games, performance, digital art, etc. In the Department of Media Study, we believe that making media can be as analytical and critical as writing about media, and where appropriate, students may respond to assignments in the form of their choice

ENG 379 Film Genres
Barbara Bono :: MW 3:30 – 5:40pm
REG#416819
Film Genres: Shakespeare: The Movie If William Shakespeare were alive today and had the chance - he's almost certainly be working in the movies. The wealth and playfulness of his language, the vividness fo his imagery, the strength and subtlety of his action, the mordancy of his politics, the tact of his collaborations and movement anong contending patronage and power groups, and the shrewdness of his business sense all argue that he would have found aplace there as a character actor, a cinematographer, a scriptwriter or most likely a director- producer, the Martin Scorcese of his day. (continued in the course descriptions from the Department of English http://english.buffalo.edu/contrib/undergraduate/courses/documents/Spring2010Revised.PDF)

ENG 379 Film Genres
Joan Copjec :: T 3:30 – 6:50
REG#489792
Film Genres: Film Nior and the Post War City The flight from the urban centers, which began after WWII in the U.S. was preceded by a new category of film set exclusively in claustrophobic but eerily empty urban spaces. These films - which came to be known as "noir" or "black" films - coincided not only with the collapse of the urban dream, but also with the collapse of the institution that manufactured and sold that dream to a delighted public: the Hollywood studio system. (continued in the course descriptions from the Department of English http://english.buffalo.edu/contrib/undergraduate/courses/documents/Spring2010Revised.PDF)

DMS 411 Film Theory
Henderson, B R :: MW 9:00am - 10:50am :: CFA 235
REG#000942
This course is an exploration of the principal theories of film through a critical reading of texts and a close examination of films. The texts to be perused comprise several groups. Classical film theory includes Munsterburg, Kuleshov, Pudovkin, Eisenstein, Balasz, Arnheim, Bazin, and Godard. The critique of classical film theory includes Burch, Perkins, and Henderson. The course will also explore semiotics, psychoanalysis, and poststructuralism, in Barthes, Eco, Metz , Pasolini, Baudry, Heath, and in feminist film theory, including Gledhill, Mulvey, Silverman, Modleski, Doane, and Studlar. A section on avant-garde theory will include Vertov, Epstein, Deren, Brakhage, Sitney, and Michelson. These topic areas will be set in interaction throughout: e.g., Soviet editing and antirealism are continued in the avant-garde; rhetorical figures such as metaphor, metonymy, ellipsis, condensation, and displacement, can be traced in very different theoretical contexts and in close readings of individual films. This course is an exploration of the principal theories of film through a critical reading of texts and a close examination of films. The texts to be perused comprise several groups. Classical film theory includes Munsterburg, Kuleshov, Pudovkin, Eisenstein, Balasz, Arnheim, Bazin, and Godard. The critique of classical film theory includes Burch, Perkins, and Henderson. The course will also explore semiotics, psychoanalysis, and poststructuralism, in Barthes, Eco, Metz, Pasolini, Baudry, Heath, and in feminist film theory, including Gledhill, Mulvey, Silverman, Modleski, Doane, and Studlar. A section on avant-garde theory will include Vertov, Epstein, Deren, Brakhage, Sitney, and Michelson. These topic areas will be set in interaction throughout: e.g., Soviet editing and antirealism are continued in the avant-garde; rhetorical figures such as metaphor, metonymy, ellipsis, condensation, and displacement, can be traced in very different theoretical contexts and in close readings of individual films.

ENG 438 Film Directors
Bruce Jackson :: T 7:00pm – 9:40pm
REG#125191
See: http://english.buffalo.edu/contrib/undergraduate/courses/documents/Spring2010Revised.PDF for the description of this course.

AMS 448 Latino American Cinema
R. Soto-Crespo :: T 4:00pm – 6:50pm :: 250 Park Hall
REG#362574

DMS 455 Gender and Film
Goldman :: R 6:00pm - 9:40pm :: CFA 112
Reg #261049
In this course we will explore the history, theory and practice of women, gender and film. We will pay special attention to the way stories by and about women are told. The class will begin with an historical and theoretical overview of women and film, exploring the work of early women directors as well as foundational concepts in women's film theory. Built into the middle of the course will be the six week Buffalo International Women's Film Festival which students will attend for free at the Market Arcade Cinema. The latter part of the course will feature contemporary women directors as we consider how earlier films, directors, theory and sociohistorical developments have or have not influenced issues in present day work. Additionally we will consider the rise of queer film and the ways that has impacted representations and understandings of gender.