FIST 100
Introduction to Film Studies
This course provides students with a basic introduction to the vocabulary of film studies and an overview of historical, analytical, and theoretical approaches to film. Students will begin to develop the critical means for engaging with the filmic medium in discussion and writing. These aims will be met through a diverse selection of films rooted in different cultures, times, and ideologies.
Units: 6.
FIST 191
Directed Study in Film Studies
Directed study follows a syllabus set primarily by the instructor to meet the needs or interests of an individual student or small group of students. The main goal of directed study is knowledge or skill acquisition, not research or creative work.
Units: 1 TO 98.
Prerequisite: Counter Registration Required.
FIST 240
Digital Processes
An introduction to using digital media to convey artistic concepts. Digital photography, video, book design, and blogging are covered. The evolution of technology, new media theory, contemporary art discourse, and visual culture are explored through lectures, readings, discussions, and projects. Mac-based.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: ART 100 or ART 110
Also listed as Studio Art 240
FIST 245
Interarts: New Media Projects
Digital media are used to explore the relationship between art and knowledge. Lectures, discussions, readings, and critiques will investigate contemporary art practices and interdisciplinarity. Conceptual-development, planning and production will be covered as students work individually or collaboratively on video, performance, installation, and web projects. Mac-based.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: ART 100 or ART 110, or consent of instructor
Also listed as Studio Art 245
FIST 260
The Art of Film
A study of the narrative and visual techniques in films selected from masterpieces of modern cinema. Readings in film history, film theory, and film aesthetics along with viewings of approximately ten movies from various periods and countries, by directors such as Eisenstein, Wells, Fellini, Kurasawa, and Truffaut.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing
FIST 270
Post-Soviet Film (in English)
This course will focus on the works of seminal filmakers in the post-Soviet period. Through the prism of post-Soviet films students will be introduced to contemporary Russian culture and to the issues explored within these cinematic narratives: national identity, gender relations, role of the arts in a post-Soviet society, and the re-examination of Russia's historical and cultural past. Taught in English.
Units: 6.
Also listed as Russian 270
FIST 277
Introduction to German Film Studies
With its pivotal role in the inauguration of the cinema, knowledge of German film is critical to any understanding of the history of film. This course is intended to be an introduction both to German cinema and to the discipline of film studies. Considered perhaps as one of the most accessible aesthetic forms, the moving image pervades our everyday lives and yet we seldom think of what we do in the movie theatre as “reading.” Throughout this course, students will be introduced to the practice of reading the filmic text using three structuring lenses: 1) history, 2) formal and generic elements, and 3) film criticism.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: GER 312
Also listed as German 377
FIST 287
Russian Through Film
This course will examine topics in Russian film. Topics may include specific generes (e.g. the sad comedy), the work of a director or tradition, films important for a specific historical moment (e.g. the Thaw or World War Two), or films devoted to a specific theme. Students will expand their Russian vocabulary, improve fluency, increase speaking confidence and gain cultural knowledge by viewing Russian films and analyzing the psychology of the characters. Throughout this course, students will be introduced to the practice of reading the filmic text using three structuring lenses: 1) history, 2) formal and generic elements, and 3) film criticism. May be repeated when topic is different.
Topic for Fall 2013: Domestic Warfare
In this course we will watch several Russian films that focus on different kinds of battles both at home and on the war front. The films include late Soviet classics, such as
A Cruel Romance and
Adam’s Rib, as well as some of the most famous post-Soviet films,
The Prisoner of the Mountains,
The Thief,
East-West and others. The course’s primary goal is to strengthen students’ listening and speaking skills in Russian. This course will help students expand their Russian vocabulary and improve their fluency. The students will also gain cultural knowledge by viewing, analyzing, and discussing the films and the historical context in which those films were produced.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: RUSS 250 or consent of instructor
Also listed as Russian 287
FIST 300
Reel Men: Masculinity in American Film, 1945-2000
Focusing on an array of well-known American films — “The Maltese Falcon,” “Red River,” “Dr. Strangelove,” “McCabe and Mrs. Miller,” “Chinatown,” “Die Hard,” and “American Beauty” among them — the course will integrate film theory, gender theory, and American history to address the problem of how masculinity has been constructed in American culture since World War II. Not open to students who have previously received, or need to receive, credit for HIST 400. (NA)
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: Sophomore level or above.
Also listed as History 300, Gender Studies 323
FIST 302
Cinematically Speaking
French films function as a springboard for readings, discussions, oral presentations, and short critical essays. We will briefly examine the history of French film from 1940 to the present, study cinematic techniques, the vocabulary of cinema, and explore the principal themes.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: FREN 202 or consent of instructor
Also listed as French 302
FIST 305
Film as History and History as Film
An examination, through selected films, of specific moments in European history and an examination of film itself as a source of historical interpretation. Possible “historical moments” include Medieval England, Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust, and possible films include
Becket, The Triumph of the Will, and
Schindler’s List.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or consent of instructor
Also listed as History 305
FIST 309
Hollywood Goes to High School
Year after year, Hollywood turns out movies that are set in schools and present images of teachers and teens. Many of these films address typical coming-of-age issues, societal fear of teen crime and delinquency and, of course, the search for romance. A subset of these films provide powerful and culturally enduring images of teachers and teaching. High school movies also provide ingisht into the fantasies, anxieties, dreams, and assumptions prevalent in American culture. This course will examine the world and worldview found in Hollywood high school movies and the extent to which the stories they tell make us who we are.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing
Also listed as Education Studies 309
FIST 318
Topics in Film Production
This course allows for an in-depth examination of various aspects of film and video production, such as documentaries, storyboarding, animation, or sound. The course includes an exploration of the historical and conceptual development of media to enable students to situate their individual film, video, and new media projects in a larger context. May be repeated when topic is different.
Topic for Fall 2013: Documentary Filmmaking
An introduction to the fundamentals of researching, writing, planning, shooting and editing a documentary film. Students will research and create a short video, learn to operate visual and audio equipment in a competent and creative way, and act as a member of a video production team. Prereq: None
Topic for Fall 2013: Storyboarding for Animation and Film Production
Explores the process of pre-visualizing staging, lighting, design and continuity of a written script or story. Students will study this form of sequential art as it is used in animation and live action film making, and design a shot by shot storyboard of a short film or story idea. Prereq: FIST 100 or permission of the instructor
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: See below
FIST 319
Principles of Editing
A theoretical and practical introduction to connecting images and sound in a compelling way. The goal is to promote understanding of film, video, and new media as tools for creative expression and to help students think critically and make informed choices about editing.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: FIST 100 or consent of instructor
FIST 320
Topics in Russian Film (in English)
This course explores facets of the development of Russian film in its historical and cultural context. Topics may include: “The Golden Age of Soviet Film,” “The Cinema of Tarkovsky,” and “Film as Propaganda.” Taught in English. Russian majors and minors may participate in a two-unit tutorial in which discussions and some course readings will be in Russian.
Units: 6.
Also listed as Russian 320
FIST 324
Gender and Cinema
This course examines gender and film in an international context. Topics include the construction of femininity and masculinity in film, feminist and queer film theories, analysis of film using intersectional and formal approaches, women behind the camera, and gender and genre.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: FIST 100, GEST 100, the equivalent, or consent of instructor
Also listed as Gender Studies 324
FIST 330
Introduction to Film
An introduction to the critical analysis of Latin American and Spanish film. Selected films represent various countries, genres and directors from Latin America and Spain. Readings of relevant film theory, class discussions and composition tasks prepare students for other advances courses in the Spanish program.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: SPAN 202, its equivalent, or consent of instructor; not open to native speakers of Spanish.
Also listed as Spanish 330, Theatre Arts 352
FIST 340
Intermediate Digital Processes
A continuation of Art 240 or 245 with an emphasis on the extension of existing art forms such as photography, filmmaking, and book design. Lectures, readings, discussions, and projects focus around the exploration of new media theory and contemporary art issues. Mac-based.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: ART 240 or ART 245
Also listed as Studio Art 340
FIST 345
Screenwriting
An exploration of the plot, character, and theme in the work of short films and scripts followed by the creation of one or more short screenplays.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: FIST 100 or consent of instructor
FIST 350
Modern Chinese Literature and Cinema in Translation
A survey of 20th-century Chinese fiction and cinema. Iconoclastic works of modern Chinese vernacular fiction from 1919 through the post-Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) will be juxtaposed alongside films dealing with the same period, such as
Red Sorghum (1987) and
Farewell, My Concubine (1992) made by the so-called Fifth Generation of film directors (born after 1949, when the People’s Republic was founded). Class conducted in English. No knowledge of Chinese required.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing; EAST 150 recommended
Also listed as Chinese and Japanese 350, East Asian Studies 350
FIST 352
The Film Music Score in the Holywood Studio System
Intermediate studies in music analysis, focusing on a particular analytic technique, critical approach, or repertory, such as text/music relations, Renaissance counterpoint, music and film, and non-western music. Topics vary from year to year. Course may be repeated with consent of instructor.
Topic for Spring 2012: The Film Music Score in the Hollywood Studio System
This course will examine the development of the dramatic film score produced by the major Hollywood film studios from 1928 to 1959. Through aural and written analysis of selected film scores, as well as engagement with primary and secondary source readings, the course will explore the changing role of musical underscore in its formative years. Films to be studied include
/Anthony Adverse/ (1936),
/The Maltese Falcon/ (1941), and
/The Best Years of Our Lives/ (1946).
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: MUTH 301
FIST 357
Film in Germany (In English)
This course selects from 90 years of filmmaking in Germany. Films range from expressionism to Nazi propaganda and from escapist comedies to avant garde art. Learning to “read” German films critically also means finding out how to understand movies from Hollywood and beyond. Possible topics include “From Caligari to Hitler,” “German Literature as Film,” and “What Makes Lola Run.” Taught in English. German majors and minors may participate in a two-unit tutorial in which discussions and some course readings will be in German.
Units: 6.
Also listed as German 357, Theatre Arts 351
FIST 360
Chinese Contemporary Film in English
Using feature films and documentaries from the so-called Fifth [1982-] and Sixth Generations [beginning in the 1990s] of film directors in China, this course provides a visual record of the immense political, economic, and social changes in China since the Reform and Opening up period at the end of the Cultural Revolution. Taught in English.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing; EAST 150 or EAST 420 recommended
Also listed as Chinese and Japanese 360, East Asian Studies 360
FIST 390
Tutorial in Film Studies
Units: 1 TO 98.
Prerequisite: Counter Registration Required.
FIST 391
Directed Study in Film Studies
Directed study follows a syllabus set primarily by the instructor to meet the needs or interests of an individual student or small group of students. The main goal of directed study is knowledge or skill acquisition, not research or creative work.
Units: 1 TO 98.
Prerequisite: Counter Registration Required.
FIST 399
Independent Study in Film Studies
Units: 1 TO 98.
Prerequisite: Counter Registration Required.
FIST 400
Reel Men: Masculinity in American FIlm, 1945-2000
At the upper level, the course will serve as a history seminar in preparation for the history department's capstone course. Those taking it at that level will be required to write at least one paper addressing film or gender theory and to write a 10-15 page research prospectus. Not open to students who have previously received credit for HIST 300.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: Junior standing or above
Also listed as History 400, Gender Studies 423
FIST 402
Introduction to Film Theory and Criticism
What is the language of film? What is the relationship between spectator and screen? What is the role of film as mass and global phenomena? This course explores basic issues in film theory and criticism that may include auteur theory, genre criticism, apparatus theory, stardom, feminist and queer film theories.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: One of FIST 100, FREN 302, FREN 411, GER 177, GER 277, GER 357, GER 411, or SPAN 330; or consent of instructor
FIST 411
Fascism and Film
This course lets students examine films that were ostensibly made as entertainment or explicitly crafted as propaganda in the historical context of Nazi Germany and occupied France. Aside from learning how governments and their cinematic agents used this relatively new medium to shape public opinion (in support of the war, against Jews, etc.), students will see where and how resistance was possible.
Units: 2.
Prerequisite: One course in French at the 300 level or consent of instructor
Also listed as French 411
FIST 412
Fascism and Film (In English)
This course lets students examine films that were ostensibly made as entertainment or explicitly crafted as propaganda in the historical context of Nazi Germany and occupied France. Aside from learning how governments and their cinematic agents used this relatively new medium to shape public opinion (in support of the war, against Jews, etc.) students will see where and how resistance was possible.
Units: 6.
Also listed as German 411
FIST 418
Topics in Film Studies
Topics in Film Studies allows for an in depth examination of topics across time, for example, the work of women directors, or it permits a detailed analysis of special topics, for example, Turkish-German or Central European film.
Topic for Spring 2014: Film Sound / Film Silence -- Listening to the Movies
This course will cover terms and methods for analyzing and interpreting the relationship between sound and image in the cinema. We will examine the interplay between the three relatively autonomous components of the soundtrack – dialogue, music, and effects. In addition, the course will consider the role of sound in the exhibition of “silent films” as well as various ways that the cinematic image has been utilized to emulate music and the function of silence in movies. We will explore the historical development of cinema sound technology with attention to how technological advances have altered the structural relationships between film’s visual and audio elements. The overall goal is to shift the emphasis from being film “spectators” to being an “audience,” by focusing on cinema as an aural experience.
Units: 6.
FIST 419
Korean Modern History through Literature and Film
Using fiction, feature films, and historical texts, this course provides an in-depth introduction to modern Korean history, from the end of the Chŏsun dynasty in 1910 to contemporary North and South Korea. Students will gain an understanding of Korea’s colonial experience, civil war, dictatorships, development, democratization, and gender politics.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: EAST 150 or consent of instructor
Also listed as East Asian Studies 418
FIST 422
Borrowed Music in the Movies
When a film uses a pre-existing piece of music (popular or classical), meanings multiply, both within and outside the film itself. This course will explore these meanings, focusing on the fluid and reciprocal relationship between film and the music it borrows.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: MUHI 201 and MUHI 202
Also listed as Music History 422
FIST 447
Migrants and German Culture
Despite a long-term refusal to open itself to immigration, Germany has become a nation of immigrants and asylum-seekers. The course focuses on how both literature and films, including works by and about minorities in Germany, have dealt with key cultural phenomena: multiculturalism, diversity, acculturation, assimilation, “majority culture,” and parallel societies.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: GER 312 or consent of the instructor
Also listed as German 447, Ethnic Studies 382
FIST 460
Topics in Community-Engaged Film Production
This course will explore the role of documentary video in public life, the way in which new digital media are reshaping communities and civic engagement, and the potential of video as a creative medium of participatory democracy.
Topic for Winter 2014: The Civic Life Project
Civic Life Project at Lawrence will explore the role of documentary video in public life, the way in which new digital media are reshaping communities and civic life, and the potential of video as a medium of democratic engagement.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: FIST 100 or consent of instructor
FIST 464
Francophone Literature and Screen Adaptations
Focusing on the works of writers and filmmakers such as Sembene Ousmane, Joseph Zobel, Aimé Césaire, D.T. Niane, Dani Kouyate, Euzhan Palcy and Raoul Peck the course examines the interface between the literary and filmic media in raising consciousness about societal challenges, nationhood, power and identity. It also analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of each medium in accomplishing these objectives.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: 300-level French course or consent of instructor
Also listed as French 464
FIST 470
American Indians on Film
The course examines the ways in which American Indians have been depicted on film. Ethnographic, documentary, and feature films are examined and compared to understand how film has shaped our image of American Indians.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: ANTH 350 or consent of instructor
Also listed as Anthropology 470, Ethnic Studies 430
FIST 540
Advanced Digital Processes
A continuation of Art 340. Advanced work in digital media and contemporary art theory. Discussions, readings, and projects focus around art issues and conceptual exploration. Project planning and implementation are emphasized as students work toward producing a self-designed project with a developed artist statement. Mac-based.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: ART 340 and consent of instructor
Also listed as Studio Art 540
FIST 580
Dis(re)membering the Nation: Contemporary Film & Fiction of Spain and Latin America
A thematic analysis of film and fiction produced in the late and post-dictatorial context of Spain and several Latin American countries. The course studies the cultural processes of historical memory, collective trauma, oblivion, and questioning of national narratives in selected works from the past four decades. Readings include Manuel Puig's
Kiss of the Spider Woman, Ariel Dorfman's
Death and the Maiden, and Carmen Martin Gaite's
The Back Room, as well as films by Lucrecia Martel, Victor Erice, Pablo Larrain, and Guillermo del Toro, among others.
Units: 6.
Prerequisite: One 400-level course in Spanish or consent of instructor
Also listed as Spanish 580
FIST 590
Tutorial in Film Studies
Units: 1 TO 98.
Prerequisite: Counter Registration Required.
FIST 591
Directed Study in Film Studies
Directed study follows a syllabus set primarily by the instructor to meet the needs or interests of an individual student or small group of students. The main goal of directed study is knowledge or skill acquisition, not research or creative work.
Units: 1 TO 98.
Prerequisite: Counter Registration Required.
FIST 599
Independent Study in Film Studies
Units: 1 TO 98.
Prerequisite: Counter Registration Required.
FIST 690
Tutorial in Film Studies
Units: 1 TO 98.
Prerequisite: Counter Registration Required.
FIST 691
Directed Study in Film Studies
Directed study follows a syllabus set primarily by the instructor to meet the needs or interests of an individual student or small group of students. The main goal of directed study is knowledge or skill acquisition, not research or creative work.
Units: 1 TO 98.
Prerequisite: Counter Registration Required.
FIST 699
Independent Study in Film Studies
Units: 1 TO 98.
Prerequisite: Counter Registration Required.
