Instructor Dr. Amy Rust Office: CPR 376 Phone: (813)

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1 College of Arts and Sciences Department of Humanities and Cultural Studies FIL 3xxx Contemporary Film and New Media Fall Credit Hours Meetings Lecture / Discussion Optional Screening Instructor Dr. Amy Rust Office: CPR 376 Phone: (813) Office Hours: W 2 4 p.m. or by appointment arust@usf.edu Course Description Offering an advanced introduction to global motion picture practice after 1959, this course explores the aesthetics of film and new media across various genres, movements, and national contexts. Selected topics include the art cinemas of France and Italy; cinema verité and direct cinema; Third Cinema in Latin America and Africa; the end of the Hollywood studio system, including the Hollywood Renaissance of the late 1960s and early 1970s and the rise of the New Hollywood blockbuster; avant-garde motion pictures from animation and structural film to new media experiments with computer graphics and video games; New German Cinema; the politics of style from Gillo Pontecorvo to Spike Lee; modern Iranian cinema; Bollywood; New Argentine Cinema; recent new media practices in Hollywood; recent new media practices in the Danish movement known as Dogme 95 ; contemporary Korean cinema; and the future of new media practice, focusing on the collaborative multimedia web site hitrecord.org. Throughout the semester, we will consider how both sound and image affect the spectatorial experience of motion pictures, as well as how such aesthetics speak to the social, economic, and cultural contexts from which they emerge. Learning Objectives Students completing this course will Discover the historical forces that helped shape the development of international cinema. Discern the ways in which cinema s audiovisual expressions reveal and respond to the social, economic, and cultural contexts of their production. Learn about cinema s aesthetic similarities to and differences from other artistic and / or communications media. Develop critical thinking abilities through engagements with both written and visual texts. Express these critical thinking skills in a variety of written assignments, including journals, sequence analyses, essay exams, and argumentative papers. 1

2 Student Learning Outcomes Students completing this course will be able to Understand how industrial / technological and social / cultural changes influenced the historical development of international cinema. Identify and discuss cinema s relationships to issues nationality, race, gender, sexuality, and class at specific historical moments. Describe the fundamental stylistic and technological forms that comprise past and present international film practice. Compare, evaluate, and analyze both written and visual texts. Demonstrate their critical thinking skills in writing by identifying relevant questions, locating and interpreting appropriate sources of knowledge, and using this material to support an analytical argument. Required Texts Course Reader (denoted as CR below), available in PDF format on Blackboard (my.usf.edu). David A. Cook. A History of Narrative Film, Fourth Edition (denoted as COOK below). Required Films See weekly schedule below. Most screenings are less than two hours, but occasionally, feature films have longer running times. Be sure to make arrangements, as necessary. If you are unable to attend class viewings, you may screen titles on reserve at the USF library. A number of films, though by no means all, are available commercially in rental stores or through websites such as Netflix or Amazon. Note about Readings and Screenings Both readings AND screenings are required for this course. You must finish all readings and screenings by the days listed in the syllabus. Expect additional, unscheduled clips. How to Succeed in This Course ATTEND CLASS! This course is lecture and discussion based and will feature many in-class analyses of film texts. Your regular attendance and participation are critical to its and your own success. TAKE NOTES! Whether in lectures or during discussions and screenings, you should always be compiling careful, detailed notes. Doing so will preserve material not located in our textbook and course reader and aid our often inconsistent viewing memories. You will be tested on films and clips shown in class as well as on lecture and discussion material and assigned readings. COMPLETE ASSIGNMENTS THOROUGHLY & ON TIME! Late or incomplete assignments are the quickest way to lower your grade. See me well in advance of assignment deadlines if you are concerned about your ability to meet them. Assignments & Grading UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS Please note that you must complete ALL assignments listed below in order to pass and receive credit for the course. Unless directed otherwise, you should submit all assignments through our course website at Blackboard (my.usf.edu). 2

3 Attendance & Participation: 10% Because we will be carefully analyzing scheduled films in class, attendance and participation in this course is crucial. You will not be able to make up these discussions by reading assigned texts or borrowing notes. I will take attendance at the beginning of each and every class session. You will be evaluated on the quality of your class participation weekly. Evaluation is based on a scale of 0 3, wherein 0 = did not attend; 1 = attended but did not engage in an appropriate level of critical analysis; 2 = engaged in critical analysis at the desired level; 3 = exhibited superlative engagement in critical analysis. At the end of the term, these scores will be added and scaled to create the participation portion of your final grade. Quite simply, you will be permitted THREE unexcused absences for the duration of the course. (An excused absence is EITHER an absence approved by me prior to the class in question OR an absence justified by documentation such as a doctor s note.) Your final grade will be lowered one step for each additional unexcused absence (i.e. a B will become a B- ). Viewing Journal 15% Your Viewing Journal will rank among your most valuable tools in this class. In it, you will record 1 2 pages of observation and analysis for FIVE of the course s fifteen screenings. To accomplish this task, you should ask yourself what aesthetic, narrative, or thematic elements are most striking about that week s film or group of films, singling out specific moments for discussion. How do these moments contribute to your understanding of the film as a whole? To larger questions of genre, national cinema, or social and cultural history? Finally, what are your impressions or interpretations of the film or group of films? How do these contribute to the history of international cinema we are developing? For any given entry, you may refer to course readings and / or previous screenings or offer questions for further discussion. Ultimately, the Viewing Journal will help you chart your success in the course, from your knowledge of aesthetic practices and movements to the development of your own analytical skills. Indeed, you will find that the complexity of your entries grows as the semester continues. Midterm Exam 20% Administered in class. Matching, True / False, Short Answer, Essay. 2 Short Papers 35% total 4 6 pages each. Prompts to follow. Paper #1: 15% Paper #2: 20% Final Exam 20% Administered in class. Matching, True / False, Short Answer, Essay. 3

4 Grading Policies You will receive a +, -, or straight letter grade for all course assignments and your final grade. University policy states that the S / U option must be agreed to during the first three weeks of the semester. Incomplete grades will be granted ONLY when, due to circumstances beyond the student s control, a small portion of the required work remains and the student is otherwise passing the course. The following grading scale will apply to all assignments and final grades: = A = B = C = D = A = B = C = D = A = B = C = D = F Late assignments will be lowered three points for each day late. There are only a few exceptions to this rule: o Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with disabilities provided a current Memorandum of Accommodations from Students with Disabilities Services (SDS) is brought to me 5 10 days before the assignment in question. As a rule, students with disabilities are responsible for registering with SDS in order to receive academic accommodations. o Reasonable accommodations will be made in the case of religious holidays. Students who anticipate the necessity of being absent from class due to the observation of a major religious observance must provide notice of the date(s) to me, in writing, by the second class meeting. o Written documentation of illness from a qualified doctor. Academic Integrity and Dishonesty In all assignments, students are expected to explore their own personal ideas as generated by this course and supported by appropriate references to outside sources. Any signs of plagiarism (be it plagiarizing another student s work or any other source) may result in a FF grade for the course. USF holds an account with an automated plagiarism detection service (SafeAssignment) that allows instructors and students to check assignments for plagiarism. I reserve the right to 1) request that assignments be submitted as electronic files and 2) electronically submit assignments to SafeAssignment or 3) ask students to submit their assignments to SafeAssignment through Blackboard. Assignments are compared automatically with a database of journal articles, web articles, and previously submitted papers. I receive a report showing exactly how a student s paper was plagiarized. For more information about SafeAssignment and plagiarism, go to and click on Plagiarism Resources. For information about plagiarism in USF s Undergraduate Catalog, go to If I ask you to submit an assignment to SafeAssignment through Blackboard, please be sure to remove your name from the body of your paper and replace it with your USF ID number. Please 4

5 also remove your name from the file name and replace it with your USF ID number (e.g. U Essay 1.docx ) BEFORE submitting to SafeAssignment. Pursuant to the provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), students are requested to maintain confidentiality as a way to keep their personal contact information (i.e. name, address, telephone number, etc.) from being disclosed to vendors or other outside agencies. By your submission, you are agreeing to release your original work for review for academic purposes to SafeAssignment. Course Policies It is not permissible to sell written or audiotaped notes for this course. In general, electronic devices are not allowed in class. A student must consult me before taping class discussions for personal use. In the event of an emergency, it may be necessary for USF to suspend normal operations. During this time, USF may opt to continue delivery of instruction through methods that include but are not limited to: Blackboard, Elluminate, Skype, and messaging and / or an alternate schedule. It is the responsibility of the student to monitor Blackboard for course-specific communications and the main USF, College, and department websites, s, and MoBull messages for important general information. The last day to drop this course with a W is XX. Auteurism and the French New Wave Clip: 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959) Week 1 Read: Truffaut, A Certain Tendency in French Cinema (CR) COOK: Screening: Vivre sa vie (Jean-Luc Godard, 1962; 85 minutes) Clips: Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1959) Hiroshima mon amour (Alain Renais, 1959) Read: Silverman & Farocki, Nana Is an Animal (CR) Collet, An Audacious Experiment (CR) The European Art Cinema: Italy Read: COOK: and Week 2 Clips: L Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1959) 5

6 Blowup (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966) Screening: 8 ½ (Federico Fellini, 1963) JOURNAL ENTRY #1 DUE TO BLACKBOARD BY 5 P.M. Read: Fabe: The European Art Film (CR) Week 3 Documentary Filmmaking: Cinema Verité Read: Barouw, Observer (CR) Screening: Chronicle of a Summer (Edgar Morin & Jean Rouch, 1960) Read: Bill Nichols, What Types of Documentary Are There? (CR) Week 4 Documentary Filmmaking: Direct Cinema Read: COOK Screening: Titicut Follies (Frederick Wiseman, 1967) JOURNAL ENTRY #2 DUE TO BLACKBOARD BY 5 P.M. Read: B. K. Grant, Ethnography in the First Person : Frederick Wiseman s Titicut Follies (CR) Third Cinema Week 5 Read: Solanas & Getino, Towards a Third Cinema (CR) COOK: Clip: Hora de los hornos (Fernando Solanas & Octavio Getino, 1968) Screening: Os Fuzis (Ruy Guerra, 1964; 80 minutes) and La noire de (Ousmane Sembene, 1966; 60 minutes) Read: Willeman, The Third Cinema: Question Notes and Reflections (CR) Landy, Politics and Style in Black Girl (CR) 6

7 Week 6 Experimentalism from Film to New Media Read: Bordwell & Thompson, Experimental & Avant-Garde Cinema (CR) Screening: Animated Film: A Man and His Dog Out for Air (Robert Breer, 1957; available at Early Computer Animation: Synchromy No. 2 (Mary Ellen Bute & Ted Nemeth, 1935; see Unseen Cinema, Disc 3), Structural Film: Film in Which There Appear Sprocket Holes, Edge Lettering, Dirt Particles, Etc. (George Landow, 1966; available at T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G (Paul Sharits, 1969; available on YouTube); Video Game Art: Sheik Attack (Eddo Stern, 1999/2000); Vietnam Romance (Eddo Stern, 2003) Read: Stan Brakhage, excerpt from Metaphors on Vision (CR) P. Adams Sitney, Structural Film (CR) Irene Chien, Playing Against the Grain: Machinima and Military Gaming (CR) Interview with Eddo Stern (CR) Week 7 A New Cinema of Sensation: The Case of Violence Read: Williams, Discipline and Fun (CR) COOK, and and Clips: Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) Bonnie & Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) Screening: Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973; 110 minutes) Read: Schatz, The New Hollywood (CR) Hubbert, What Ever Happened to Great Movie Music? (CR) New German Cinema Read: Corrigan, A History, a Cinema (CR) COOK, Clip: The American Friend (Wim Wenders, 1977) Week 8 Screening: Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1974; 94 minutes) 7

8 JOURNAL ENTRY #3 DUE TO BLACKBOARD BY 5 P.M Read: Mayne, Fassbinder s Ali: Fear Eats the Soul and Spectatorship (CR) Week 9 The Politics of Style Clip: The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966) Read: Stam & Spence, Colonialism, Racism, and Representation (CR) Screening: Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989; 120 minutes) GRADUATE SEMINAR PAPER PROPOSAL DUE Read: Fabe, Political Cinema: Spike Lee s Do the Right Thing (CR) Week 10 New Iranian Cinema Read: Negar Mottahedeh, New Iranian Cinema (CR) Screening: Life and Nothing More (Abbas Kiarostami, 1991) JOURNAL ENTRY #4 DUE TO BLACKBOARD BY 5 P.M. Read: Stephen Bransford, Days in the Country (CR) Week 11 Bollywood Read: Corey Creekmur, Popular Hindi Cinema and the Film Song (CR) Screening: Dil Se/From the Heart (Mani Ratnam, 1998) SHORT PAPER #1 DUE TO BLACKBOARD BY 5 P.M. Read: Ananya Jahanara Kabir, Allegories of Alienation and Politics of Bargaining (CR) 8

9 Week 12 New Argentine Cinema Read: Myrto Konstantarakos, New Argentine Cinema (CR) Screening: La ciénaga/the Swamp (Lucrecia Martel, 2001) Read: David Oubiña, Between Breakup and Tradition (CR) Week 13 Contemporary New Media in Hollywood Read: COOK: Screening: The Matrix (Andy & Lana Wachowski, 1999; 136 minutes) JOURNAL ENTRY #5 DUE TO BLACKBOARD BY 5 P.M. Read: Kristin Whissel, Tales of Upward Mobility: The New Verticality and Digital Special Effects (CR) Week 14 Contemporary New Media beyond Hollywood: The Dogme 95 Experiment Read: Dogme 95: The Vow of Chastity (CR) Manovich, What is Digital Cinema? (CR) Screening: Dogville (Lars von Trier, 2003; 178 minutes) SHORT PAPER #2 DUE TO BLACKBOARD BY 5 P.M. Read: Bazin, Theater and Cinema: Part Two (CR) Contemporary Korean Cinema Week 15 Read: Hijangjin Lee, The Creation of National Identity (CR) 9

10 Screening: Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, 2003) Read: Steve Choe, Love Your Enemies (CR) Week 16 hitrecord.org & the Future of New Media Read: Joseph Gordon-Levitt & hitrecord, HitRECord: RECollection Vol 1 (excerpts) Screening: Morgan M. Morgansen's Date with Destiny (HitRECord, 2010; 6 minutes, 30 seconds) Morgan M. Morgansen s Eleventeenth Date, HitRECord, 2010; 7 minutes) Read: Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media (excerpt) FINAL EXAM 10

2017 Summer Session: May 31 June 28 Course Synopsis Requirements Class participation and short critical responses:

2017 Summer Session: May 31 June 28 Meeting time: Weekdays 11:00am-12:40pm Location: TBA Prof. Ulrich E. Bach, PhD. ubach@wesleyan.edu Office and office hours: TBA Course Synopsis In the 1960s and early