Courses & Special Topics Fall/Winter 2013-14

“Course Summaries” will be listed below as they become available – simply click on the course title to view the course summary information. Special Topics courses may vary from year to year.

Please note:

the TIME and LOCATION of courses is published in the Public Class Schedule
OFFICIAL COURSE DESCRIPTIONS are available in the Undergraduate and Graduate Calendars
the OFFICIAL COURSE OUTLINE will be distributed at the first class of the term

[slideme title=”FYSM 1509 Monstrosity – Fall and Winter terms”]

Arts One First-Year Seminar: Monsters and Monstrosity
Movie Monstrosity: A Creepy Fascination with the Abnormal
Instructor: André Loiselle
Monsters have appeared on film for 100 years. Since 1902 with the “Selenites”, the monkey-like insectoid aliens that populate the lunar landscape of Georges Meliès’s A Trip to the Moon, monstrous creatures have terrified and captivated movie goers. From the gothic monsters of 1930s Universal and 1950s/60s Hammer Studio productions to sadistic villains of recent slashers, cinematic tales of terror have showcased fiends of all shapes and sizes. But as much as monsters are meant to scare us, they also serve as metaphors for deeper personal, cultural and social concerns. While the zombies that wander aimlessly through the empty streets of post-apocalyptic cityscapes in search of human flesh represent our fears of mindless consumerism, the dark handsome vampires that have graced the silver screen over the last several years embody our hopeless longing for eternal romantic love. Indeed, monsters symbolize not only what we fear but also what we desire. As Robin Wood has famously suggested, the horror film can be summarized as “normality is threatened by the monster.” The monster therefore is any cinematic figure whose abnormality challenges our banal, mundane existences. As such, the Monster can be at once an object of admiration and dread, for it compels us to break with the boredom of the everyday and contemplate other modes of being. Using a wide variety of examples ranging from well-known horror movies, such as Psycho (1960), to more esoteric titles such as Freaks (1932), this seminar will explore various kinds of movie monstrosity to encourage students to develop a critical perspective on notions of normality and aberrance.
Tentative list of Assignments and Grade distribution:
1. Three (3) Commentaries on films screened in Class: 30% (individual work)
2. Five (5) Article Worksheets: 5% (individual work)
3. Fall Term Ethno-Monstrosity Research Project: 20% (team work)
4. Winter Term Culminating Project: An exercise in Audiovisual/Performative Monstrosity: 30% (team work)
5. Take Home Final Exam: 15% (individual work)

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[slideme title=”FILM 1000A Intro to Film Studies – Fall and Winter terms”]

Instructor: José Sánchez
FILM 1000 “Introduction to Film Studies” is the only Film Studies course offered in first year at Carleton University. It is offered by the Film Studies Program, one of the three Programs within the School for Studies in Art and Culture. (The School’s other two Programs are Music and Art History). Students may pursue a B.A General or a B.A. Honours in Film Studies. Many students take Film Studies courses as options within other degree Programs.
This course is organized as an introduction to the different ways in which films may be studied. We pay particular attention to questions of form, style and critical method. The objectives of the course are to familiarize students with the vocabulary and concerns of cinema studies and to survey three overlapping areas of inquiry: film as art, the aesthetics of film form and film as a social practice. While there is obviously a historical dimension to the course, we do not follow a strictly historical chronology in the presentation of films or issues.
The course is divided into four units. Unit 1, “Style and Technique,” introduces students to the basic elements of cinema as an artistic and communicative form. During Unit 2, “Film Genres,” we look at generic categories as a way of classifying films and examine particular genres. The genres studied are the Romantic Comedy and the Horror Film. Unit 3, “The Filmmaker,” looks at the problems and advantages of analyzing films in terms of the creative personality of the director as Auteur. We will examine three different filmmakers. Finally, Unit 4, “A Period in Film History,” focuses on specific movements within film history. This year we will look at Contemporary Québec Cinema
CAVEAT: Films screened in this course may contain disturbing images and sounds. In order to conduct valid film analyses, students must be able to adopt a critical distance vis-à-vis audiovisual material that might be unsettling or shocking. Individuals who are unable or unwilling to adopt such critical distance should not take this Film Studies course.
Evaluation: Each section of the course will be examined separately by an In-Class Test and/or Out-of-Class Essay and/or Formal Exam. During the discussion groups there may be surprise pop-quizzes on the readings and the films or written exercises aimed to improve essay writing. Attendance and participation are compulsory and will be evaluated as part of the final grade.
Lecture format: lecture & screening (three hours/week); discussion group (1 hours/week)
Text: Textbook & Coursepack

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[slideme title=”FILM 1000B Intro to Film Studies – Fall and Winter terms”]

Instructor: José Sánchez
FILM 1000 “Introduction to Film Studies” is the only Film Studies course offered in first year at Carleton University. It is offered by the Film Studies Program, one of the three Programs within the School for Studies in Art and Culture. (The School’s other two Programs are Music and Art History). Students may pursue a B.A General or a B.A. Honours in Film Studies. Many students take Film Studies courses as options within other degree Programs.
This course is organized as an introduction to the different ways in which films may be studied. We pay particular attention to questions of form, style and critical method. The objectives of the course are to familiarize students with the vocabulary and concerns of cinema studies and to survey three overlapping areas of inquiry: film as art, the aesthetics of film form and film as a social practice. While there is obviously a historical dimension to the course, we do not follow a strictly historical chronology in the presentation of films or issues.
The course is divided into four units. Unit 1, “Style and Technique,” introduces students to the basic elements of cinema as an artistic and communicative form. During Unit 2, “Film Genres,” we look at generic categories as a way of classifying films and examine particular genres. The genres studied are the Romantic Comedy and the Horror Film. Unit 3, “The Filmmaker,” looks at the problems and advantages of analyzing films in terms of the creative personality of the director as Auteur. We will examine three different filmmakers. Finally, Unit 4, “A Period in Film History,” focuses on specific movements within film history. This year we will look at Contemporary Québec Cinema
CAVEAT: Films screened in this course may contain disturbing images and sounds. In order to conduct valid film analyses, students must be able to adopt a critical distance vis-à-vis audiovisual material that might be unsettling or shocking. Individuals who are unable or unwilling to adopt such critical distance should not take this Film Studies course.
Evaluation: Each section of the course will be examined separately by an In-Class Test and/or Out-of-Class Essay and/or Formal Exam. During the discussion groups there may be surprise pop-quizzes on the readings and the films or written exercises aimed to improve essay writing. Attendance and participation are compulsory and will be evaluated as part of the final grade.
Lecture format: lecture & screening (three hours/week); discussion group (1 hours/week)
Text: Textbook & Coursepack

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[slideme title=”FILM 2000 Intro to Film Theory and Analysis – Fall and Winter terms”]

Instructor: Marc Furstenau
The objective of this course is to familiarize students with the main theories and methods of analysis that have been developed for the study of film. As we trace the history of film theory, we will consider a wide range of significant examples of film analysis and interpretation, as well as broader accounts of the cinema as a medium. We will view films chosen from throughout the history of the cinema, representing various genres, styles, and national contexts. The main theme that will be developed in the course is the question of cinema as a popular art. Our primary case study will be the cinema of Alfred Hitchcock. We will view several of his most significant films, which have raised key theoretical questions for film critics.
METHOD OF EVALUATION: Four Short Essays (5 to 7 pages each essay): 70%. Final Take-Home Exam: 30%
READINGS: The main text for this course is Marc Furstenau, ed. The Film Theory Reader: Debates and Arguments (New York: Routledge, 2010), which will be available at Haven Books. Additional readings will be available through the on-line reserve system of the Carleton University library.

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[slideme title=”FILM 2101 The Film Industry – Winter term”]

Instructor: Sylvie Jasen
This course addresses film production, distribution and exhibition within a global context and historical perspective. Significant attention is placed on Hollywood with a focus on the development of the studio system, vertical integration, and dominance in international markets. We will also examine the impact of technological changes and censorship on industrial practices, along with recent developments towards increasing media concentration. Although Hollywood is a central focus, attention is also placed on the industrial structure for independent filmmaking in the United States and the emergence of international co-production strategies in Europe and Canada.
Required Text: Course Pack from Haven Books
Evaluation: Attendance, Mid-term Exam, 2 Reading Reviews, Final Exam.

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[slideme title=”FILM 2106 Documentary – Fall term”]

Instructor: Sylvie Jasen
This course is a historical survey of documentary cinema, providing an overview of the canonical films, filmmakers, and movements. We will examine changes in styles and conventions in relation to shifts in technologies and socio-cultural contexts. A wide variety of documentary practices will be considered, including ethnographic, poetic, and experimental forms. Emphasis is on critical analysis of the films screened, with attention to the issues that have been central to documentary theory and practice.
Required Texts: A New History of Documentary Film by Jack C. Ellis and Betsy A. McLane (New York: Continuum, 2005) and a course pack from Haven Books.
Evaluation: Attendance, Reading Review, Formal Analysis, Final Exam

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[slideme title=”FILM 2201A National Cinema – Fall term”]

The Cinema of Italy
Instructor: Tom McSorley
This course offers an introduction to and a survey of the Italian cinema from the arrival of neo-realism in the mid-1940s up to the present. In addition to the close study and analyses of the films and filmmakers in the course, we will explore and discuss the historical, cultural, political, economic, and aesthetic development of Italy after World War II. The course will also investigate theories of nationalism and national cinema by way of exploring how national identities are imagined and/or constructed in a cinematic context. Films screened in the course include works by directors such as Roberto Rossellini, Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Matteo Garrone, and others.

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[slideme title=”FILM 220B1 National Cinema – Winter term”]

Chinese Cinemas
Instructor: David Richler
This course will explore the category of “national cinema” and its changing role in an increasingly globalized world. As an exemplary case study, we will focus on the Chinese-language context: namely, the cinemas of Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Taiwan, with brief detours to Singapore, Malaysia, and the greater Chinese Diaspora. We will begin in 1937 with a look at the cosmopolitan cinema of 1930s Shanghai, with Street Angel (China, Yuan Muzhi, 1937), and conclude with the record-breaking international co-production, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (China/Hong Kong/Taiwan/USA, Ang Lee, 2000). In between we will discuss the relationship between film, national identity and history; the importance of genre (e.g., the Wuxia film, musical, film noir and the action film); consider the representation of genders, as well as the “rural” and the “urban”; look at the history of cross-over stardom (e.g., Bruce Lee, Chow Yun-Fat, Jackie Chan) and cross-cultural adaptation (e.g. Infernal Affairs and The Departed); and examine the important roles played by international film festivals, government film policies and international co-productions.
Format: Three hour lecture/screening, one hour lecture/discussion per week. Evaluation: Group Presentation, essay proposal, final research paper.

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[slideme title=”FILM 2209 Canadian Cinema – Fall and Winter terms”]

Instructor: Tom McSorley
This course provides an overview of the history and development of filmmaking in Canada from the silent era right up to today. The course features works by Canada’s greatest filmmakers, such as David Cronenberg, Denys Arcand, Deepa Mehta, Bruce McDonald, Sarah Polley, Atom Egoyan, and many others. This is a comprehensive introduction to the many impressive achievements of cinema in Canada, and includes feature fiction films, documentaries, experimental films, and animation.
Workload: one essay and one exam in each term, plus a short film review in October.

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[slideme title=”FILM 2401 The Film Maker – Fall term”]

Instructor: Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano
The Filmmaker “Ozu in the Postwar Period”
Study on Yasujiro Ozu’s films in English started in the 1970s with Paul Schrader’s Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer (1972), Donald Richie’s Ozu (1974), Audie Bock’s Japanese Film Directors (1978). David Bordwell’s voluminous work, OZU and the Poetics of Cinema (1988), finally elevated Ozu as one of the great masters in cinema history. While Ozu’s work received acclaim abroad from the 1970s on, domestically his films were criticized as “bourgeois,” “conservative,” and “repetitious,” especially by the new wave filmmakers in the 1960s. This course will examine Ozu’s twelve films in the postwar period between 1947 and 1962.
Our objectives are twofold: the first goal is to carefully examine his films one by one and enjoy their qualitative “differences”; and the other goal is to analyze the various methods deployed across the range of studies on Ozu’s films.

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[slideme title=”FILM 2401 The Film Maker – Winter term”]

Instructor: Corey Stevenson
The Film Maker: Terry Gilliam
This course will explore issues and ideologies surrounding the concept of the auteur through an exploration of the development and influence of a specific filmmaker. The work and career of maverick filmmaker Terry Gilliam will be used as a case study in an examination of the role of the director from the perspective of both art and industry. In the auteurist tradition, the course will provide a detailed study of the dominant style and themes present throughout the filmography of Gilliam. A major topic of discussion will also be the tensions and incongruities that exist between the artistic ideals of the filmmaker and the industrial realities of the Hollywood cinema. Gilliam’s reputation as a “maverick” filmmaker and his relationship to mainstream cinema will be a central focus of the course.
Evaluation: In-class Participation, Mid-term Exam, Screening Assignment, Term Paper.

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[slideme title=”FILM 2601A Film Genre – Fall term”]

Instructor: Corey Stevenson
Film Genres: Science Fiction Film
For a variety of reasons to be explored through this course, science fiction (SF) is often considered the most explicitly cinematic of film genres. These links position the SF genre as a particularly illuminating means of discussing and debating the operation of generic models in cinema. This course will trace the development of the SF genre in film, and examine its interaction with and relation to its larger social environment in an effort to understand both the industrial and cultural imperatives that shape its evolution. Such an examination will touch upon questions of definition, generic identity, boundaries and hybridity that will provide a broader understanding of the concept of genre itself within film.
Evaluation: In-class Participation, Mid-Term Assignment, Reading/Screening Quiz, Term Paper

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[slideme title=”FILM 2601B Film Genre – Winter term”]

Instructor: Charles O’Brien
Musical Films: from Hollywood to Bollywood
This course examines the film musical through a comparative study of Hollywood and Bollywood approaches to song performance. The film musical first developed with the American film industry’s conversion to synchronous sound in the late 1920s, when films with song performances proved popular around the world. In India by the late 1930s, a major film industry had developed centering on films featuring popular songs. That the cinema in India ultimately became known as Bollywood suggests similarities between the India’s song-centered movies and the Hollywood film musical. Our project this term is to survey similarities and differences between these two popular commercial cinemas, with special reference to how filmmakers handle song performances.
Topics covered by the course include: theories of film genre; the peculiarities of how songs function in narrative films; cross-cultural commonalities in filmic storytelling; the role of cultural traditions and trends in shaping popular cinema; the challenges of producing films for wide, global distribution; and cinema’s interface with sheet music, recorded discs, public performance, and other extra-filmic media. Addressing these topics will involve engaging with essential facts regarding filmmaking in India versus that in Hollywood.
The main course requirements are: reading the weekly assignments and attending all lectures and screenings; two exams (a midterm and a final); and a paper to be submitted at the end of term. Regarding the paper, students will be asked to choose from a menu of topics/questions pertaining to how a specific song functions in a specific Hollywood or Bollywood film.
Grade breakdown:
midterm exam 30%
final exam 35%
final paper 35%

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[slideme title=”FILM 2608 History of World Cinema – Fall and Winter terms”]

Instructor: Aboubakar Sanogo
This course is articulated around three major categories: time, space, and form. Through the category of time, the history and evolution of the cinema will be explored from its beginnings in the late 19^th century to the first two decades of the 21^st century. The category of space will not only make it possible to look at the cinema in a truly global manner, but also to study ways in which the cinema is at once tributary to the space of the nation-state and is inevitably bound to exceed it in light of the historical and contemporary configuration of capital and geopolitics. Finally through the category of form, we will examine the evolution and transformation of film form, from the cinema of attractions to the age of the digital, via Soviet Montage, German Expressionism, Italian Neorealism, the French New Wave, African Cinema, the rise of Asian cinema, Dogma 95, the New Iranian cinema and the Romanian New Wave.
Evaluation: Take home exams, reading reports, midterms, research papers.

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[slideme title=”FILM 3105 Questions of Documentary Practice (Auteurship) – Winter term”]

Instructor: Zuzana Pick
XL with JOUR 3105
Instructor: Zuzana Pick
In this course, we will explore issues related to authorship in documentary by examining the work of three prominent Canadian directors Donald Brittain, Alanis Obomsawin and Michel Brault. Selected films will be studied from the perspective of each filmmaker’s distinctive stylist signature and use of the codes and conventions of documentary filmmaking. Consideration about production contexts will enable us to move beyond questions of personal expression and subjectivity to examine the role of institutional, technological and cultural mediations in the respective careers and practices of these directors.
Readings: course reader and online resources
Requirements: Reading quizzes, 2 short essays and final exam

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[slideme title=”FILM 3301 Topics in Cinema and Gender – Fall term”]

Topic: Gender and the Horror Film
Instructor: Aalya Ahmad
This course examines gender in relation to horror film. Many critics have argued that horror targets a young male heterosexual audience that delights in seeing women victimized. More recently, feminist critical analyses have taken into account the powerful complexity of women’s relationships to horror film. Students will look at a range of theories on the topic, examining horrific representations of gender from the “monstrous-feminine” to the “Final Girl” and beyond. We will screen films that foreground issues of gender and/or that are produced by women.
A coursepack will be available through Octopus Books.
Students will be asked to write a critical analysis of a horror film as well as prepare a group in-class presentation and discussion around one of the screenings. There will also be a final take-home exam.

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[slideme title=”FILM 3402 Film Music – Winter term”]

Instructor: James Deaville
also listed as MUSI 3402
This course examines the historical use of music (and sound) in film, from the silent era to the present day, studying the techniques, styles and theory of film music through the examination of selected scenes. We begin with a brief introduction to the technical aspects of film music, then chronologically and theoretically survey its history (the major portion of the course) and conclude with the consideration of such topics as music in Bollywood, films about music and music for television and animation. Lectures are copiously illustrated with examples from films. Instead of a formal term paper, students will be required to write a 1500-word review of the music for one film, from a selection of four films determined by the class. Attendance at the weekly screenings is required.
Evaluation: Midterm (30%), Final (35%), Review (25%), 2 scheduled quizzes (10%)

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[slideme title=”FILM 3505 Aspects of Film History and Theory – Fall and Winter terms”]

Instructor: Malini Guha
Readings: tba
Instructor’s Statement: In this course, we will study advanced topics in film history and film theory. The course is structured in accordance with a number of key moments within both domains of study, in a manner that seeks to demonstrate the often inextricable link between the two as in contemporary film scholarship, the theoretical ‘turn’ within film history is echoed by the historical ‘turn’ within film theory. During the fall term, we will begin with the ‘modernity’ thesis, which will allow us to situate the birth of cinema within a larger framework of historical transformation and then move chronologically through significant periods of film history, including the coming of sound, colour and other moments of technological change and development. Alongside of this, we will also chart the development of film theory, beginning with scholars associated with European modernity, including Siegfried Kracauer and Walter Benjamin in the fall term while moving towards contemporary film theory in the winter term, ending with considerations of how digital technology is altering the way we think historically as well as theoretically about the cinema and its future.
Evaluation: One mid term test, one research paper, one final test and class participation
Lecture Format: Lecture and screening, three hours a week, discussion two hours a week.

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[slideme title=”FILM 3608 Topics in Film History – Fall term”]

Instructor: Aboubakar Sanogo
Topic: African Cinema
This course will explore the history of cinema in Africa, from its beginnings to the present. It will explore among other things the work of the Lumiere brothers in Africa, the colonial cinema, the multiple ways in which Africans have used the cinema since the advent of independence starting in the late 1950s and early 1960s and the recent boom in film production on the continent. The works of such masters as Ousmane Sembene, Souleymane Cisse, Idrissa Ouedraogo, Abderrahmane Sissako, MedHondo, Faouzi Bensaidi, Fanta Nacro, Jean-Pierre Bekolo, John Akomfrah, will be explored. Such major concerns in African cinema as the problem of auteurism, spectatorship, realism, third cinema, the national, feminism, the popular, cinephilia, Nollywood, the postcolonial, race, Afro-futurism, genre and the challenge of the digital will also be examined.
Evaluation: Take home exams, research paper, and final exam.

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[slideme title=”FILM 3701 Topics in Animation, Video and Experimental Film – Fall term”]

Topic: The History of Animation in America
Instructor: Jenna Stidwill
This course aims to introduce students to the history of animation in America. It starts from the assumption that animated films have something important to tell us about the societies which produce and/or exhibit them. During the term we will explore what animation reveals about select political, cultural, and technological developments that took place in America during the 20th and 21st centuries. Topics to be explored include: racial representation during the early 20th century; the production of animated propaganda during WWII; Disney and the rise of the American middle-class child; the shift from cinema to television; the role fan cultures played in the popularization of anime in America; and, the new media paradigm shift.
Evaluation (Tentative): Students will be required to complete 5 assignments throughout the term, including a critical review of a film screened at the 2013 Ottawa International Animation Festival (15%), a collaborative DVD commentary assignment (25%), an avatar creation assignment (10%), a research paper proposal (20%), and a final historical research paper (30%).
Required Text: All readings will be made available through the course moodle.

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[slideme title=”FILM 3808A Cinema and Technology – Fall term”]

Topic: Film Editing and Media Technology
Instructor: Mohsen Nasrin
Most noted directors of silent cinema confidently claim that the process of editing is the most creative component of film production. Since a movie can possibly go under great deal of change at the post-production stage, right from the beginning editing has been known as a challenge to the principles of the author theory. Today, with the advent of digital editing, film editors and their assistants have become even more responsible for many areas of filmmaking that used to be the responsibility of others. How have film editing practices evolved in response to media-technological change? This course is devoted to the study of film editing from various historical, theoretical, and analytical angles. It covers major technologically-based historical turning points, (such as soviet filmmakers’ radical exploration with montage, transition to sound, and the introduction of digital technology) that have permanently challenged the process of editing. This course also discusses the new trend in the statistical analysis of film editing patterns in order to discover what we can learn from the metric structure of a film. Finally, we will examine the cognitive and psychological impacts of editing patterns on the audience. Hence, topics such as the relationship between editing and subjectivity, the role of editing in shaping memory, and the expressiveness of film editing will be studied throughout the term.
Evaluation (Tentative):
In class quizzes at the beginning of the discussion sessions (40%)
Final Paper (60%) (5-6 pages) Proposal (10%) Class Presentation (10%)
Up to 5% will be added for maintaining attendance and active participation in class.

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[slideme title=”FILM 3808B Cinema and Technology – Winter term”]

Instructor: Jessica Aldred

Title: Hollywood Cinema/Transmedia Play

This course will examine the industrial and aesthetic impact of digital technology on contemporary Hollywood cinema, with a particular focus on the growing convergence of cinema and digital games. It will situate a series of salient media franchises within the broader industrial context of media conglomeration and convergence, and examine how digital technology has, at least in theory, enabled the re-conceptualization of film as a kind of “intellectual property” that flows freely across various media platforms, and addresses spectators as ‘active’ (and even ‘interactive’) cross-media consumers. This course will consider the impact this industrial focus on digitally-enabled “transmedia play” has had on the way we consume cinema, and stories and characters more broadly. In so doing, it will challenge more idealistic predictions for the future of media convergence, and the supposedly “seamless” cross-platform translation enabled by the digital.

Evaluation (tentative):

Participation (10%)

Transmedia marketing review (20%)

Final paper (40%)

Critical reading responses (2 x 15%, 500-600 words each).

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[slideme title=”FILM 3901 Special Topic – Winter term”]

Instructor: Mitsuypo Wada-Marciano
Topic: Transnational East Asian Cinemas
Film 3901 examines East Asian cinemas’ transnational current at various levels. Despite Hollywood’s historical dominance of the global market, the ways in which cinema is disseminated have never been monolithic. We scrutinize the dynamic between the global and the local, focusing on those cinemas’ strategies towards globalization/regionalization.

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[slideme title=”FILM 4001 Research and Critical Methodologies – Fall term”]

Instructor: Charles O’Brien
This course introduces fourth-year students to methods of advanced film-historical research. It focuses on a basic question in film scholarship: the status of films as objects of historical study. The question has become imposing since the 1980s, when the study of film history began to be conceived not merely as distinct from the project of analyzing films but as opposed to it. While devotees of film analysis are said to remain focused on the filmic “text,” film historians are said to take a broader view by situating films in extra-filmic “contexts,” whether economic, technological, political or social. Recognizing the validity of both textual and contextual approaches to the study of film history, this course uses musical films of the late 1920s/early 1930s as a case study for exploring approaches to film-historical study in which the projects of film analysis and film historical research are combined and integrated.
Topics covered by the course include: the documentation used in making film-historical claims (film reviews, trade press reports, drafts of scripts, interviews with filmmakers, correspondence, censorship records, etc.); the limits and possibilities for contextualizing films relative to aesthetic, psychological, economic, technological, and social conditions and forces; and technical and aesthetic issues pertaining to film sound and music. The course will also touch on the practicalities of designing and writing a film studies research proposal that might ultimately be submitted to a funding agency and/or admissions committee for a graduate program. The course is thus relevant to students considering graduate work.
The main course requirements for undergraduate students are: reading the weekly assignments and attending all lectures and screenings; two exams (a midterm and a final); and a paper to be submitted at the end of term. Regarding the paper, students will be asked to choose from a menu of topics pertaining to how a specific song functions in a specific film. Though the course emphasizes the late 1920s/early 1930s, students are welcome to chose for the paper assignment a song-promoting film from any era, country, or genre.
Grade breakdown for undergraduate students:

midterm exam 30 %

final exam 35 %

final paper 35 %
Grade breakdown for graduate students:

midterm exam 20 %

final exam 20 %

final paper 50 %

class presentation 10 %

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[slideme title=”FILM 4002 Topics in Audio Visual Culture /XL w 5500 – Fall term”]

Instructor: Paul Théberge
This course will survey a number of textual and cultural modes of film analysis with a focus on the relationship between film theory and analytic frameworks and methodologies. Special, though not exclusive attention will be paid to the ways in which sound and music can figure into film analysis and to Science Fiction as a genre within film history and theory.
Method of evaluation:
Two short papers, one or more in-class presentations, attendance & participation.

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[slideme title=”FILM 4201B Topics in National Cinema – Winter term”]

Instructor: Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano
Topic: Media Activism in Asia
This course examines contemporary documentary and media activism in Asia. Media activism is defined as “a broad category of activism that utilizes media and communication technologies for social and political movements.” (wikipedia). We often view political movements through television and newspaper, but so-called mainstream media certainly have their own limitations. In contrast, what can cinema do to express our political concerns? Have documentary films ever produced social change? What are cinema‘s limitations and advantages in terms of media activism? While cinema has been influenced by the recent technological transformation toward the digital, have the changes in production and consumption influenced the medium’s political direction? What are the influences of highly-accessible communication formats such as YouTube and Twitter on media activism? The digitalization of cinema has brought democratization to many amateur and/or professional documentarians, and they can now record a number of issues in their mundane lives. Did this current situation change tendencies within media activism? By focusing on these questions, we will analyze documentary films from the P.R.C., Japan and other parts of Asia.

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[slideme title=”FILM 4501B Topics in Film Theory – Winter term”]

Topic: Theories of Film Spectatorship
Instructor: Steve Rifkin
The very idea of cinema begins and ends with acts of spectatorship. Yet most theories of film never ask how – or why – people actually watch movies. This course explores the various theories that have tried to account for the role of the film viewer. We will trace the history of these theories from early writing on cinema, through the development of complex psychoanalytic, cognitive, and identity-based theories, to more recent work focusing on audience response and affect. Examining these theories in cultural and intellectual context, we will ask how and why the subjective act of film spectatorship is understood in different ways at different moments in the history of cinema.
Required text: Course pack.
Assignments and Evaluation (tentative): Short reading response papers, film-analysis essay, final term paper, seminar attendance and participation.

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[slideme title=”FILM 4800: Archives and Curatorial Practice – Winter term”]

Topic: Film Programming
Instructor: Tom McSorley
Film programming is everywhere. From the multiplex movie chains, to the ByTowne Cinema and Mayfair Theatre ‘repertory’ cinemas, to institutions like the Ottawa Film Society and the Canadian Film Institute, to hundreds of film festivals in Ottawa, across Canada and abroad, curatorial decisions are being made that will affect what is seen and, equally important, what is not seen.
Just what is this cultural practice called film programming? What is its role in contemporary culture, and in what forms does it appear? Who decides what gets shown in the many public presentation contexts of cinematheques, galleries, museums, and film festivals? And, more immediate to the broad intentions of this course, how does it work? How does one actually apply one’s knowledge of and passion for cinema in these various venues? These and many other questions will be discussed and analyzed in this course.
This seminar/workshop course is intended to give students practical experience in four specific areas of film programming: themed film series, retrospectives, national cinema programming, and film festivals.

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[slideme title=”FILM 4901A Special Topic – Fall term”]

Instructor: Malini Guha
Topic: Cinema and Mobility
This course will explore a variety of methods by which film studies and other related disciplines have forged a series of intrinsic relationships between cinema and mobility. In addition to the examination of textual concerns related to film style, genre and narration, this course will also situate the topic of cinema and mobility within broader historical frameworks that will take us from the onset of 19th century modernity to our current period of globalization. We will examine the following questions and topics: representations of mobile perception related to the use of film style; relationships between filmic mobility and genre as figured through the road movie, travel film and dance film; considerations of the manner in which journey narratives can signify in relationship to broader notions of tourism and travel as well as in terms of the production of alternative forms of knowledge as featured in documentary or fictional films; motifs of mobility, including the significance of the road, landscapes, vehicles of travel; figures that one finds across some of these films including the traveler, the tourist, the migrant, the exile, the flaneuse and the nomad.
Evaluation: Seminar Presentation, Participation, Short Assignment, Final Research Paper

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[slideme title=”FILM 4901B Special Topic – Winter term”]

Film and Philosophy: The Cinema of Terrence Malick
Instructor: Marc Furstenau
DESCRIPTION: In this course we will consider the relation between popular cinema and certain basic themes of modern philosophy, focusing on the example of the American filmmaker Terrence Malick. Before becoming a filmmaker, Malick had studied and taught philosophy, and his films are often understood in relation to his specific philosophical interests. We will read from the critical literature on Malick, and also consider the emerging discourse on film and philosophy more generally.
METHOD OF EVALUATION: 2 Short Essays: 15% x 2 = 30%; Final Essay: 70%

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[slideme title=”BUSI 4901A Managing the Arts (elective) – Fall term”]

A new elective offered by The Sprott School of Business
Description: Marketing, human resource management, strategy, leadership, finance and other managerial functions are examined within the context of the artistic and aesthetic considerations that obtain within the arts and culture industry.
Prerequisites: Third Year Standing, available to students in Film Studies, Music and Art History. Minors in these disciplines also welcome. For permission to register please submit a Registration Override Request.
Lectures three hours a week.
Topics: Strategy, Programming, Art and tourism, Joint ventures and partnerships, Government relations, Leadership, Governance and dealing with boards, Marketing, Fundraising, Human resources, Career paths
Arts and culture is a large and growing industry, which must deal with all of the issues faced by managers in other sectors but within a quite distinct context. Government granting agencies, donors, specific audiences, personnel hired from an international market and competition from numerous entertainment alternatives help define the competitive space within which arts and culture organizations must compete. The normal factors that influence managerial decisions are overlaid with aesthetic and artistic considerations, which are almost impossible to measure empirically, but which carry great weight for many of the organization’s members, clients and consumers. The task of managers is thus made more complex by competing logics that operate in a highly dynamic and increasingly competitive market. This course is designed to introduce students to the realities of managing in this sector through an examination of the research material and through interactions with managers active in arts and culture organizations.
This course is ideally suited for students enrolled in programs (including Minors) in the School for Studies in Art and Culture. Priority registration will be given to the aforementioned students

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[slideme title=”FILM 5000 Film Theory and History – Fall and Winter terms”]

Instructor: Charles O’Brien
New Directions in Film Theory and Film History; 2012-2013
FILM 5000 is the core seminar in the Film Studies graduate program. Its basic objective is to situate recent film-studies trends in the history of film theory and historiography. An additional aim is to facilitate the generation of research topics appropriate for MA research papers and thesis topics.
The course divides roughly into two parts. During the fall term, we examine current film studies in light of the history of film theory and historiography. Topics include affinities between current film theory and the film-theoretical themes and concepts that emerged beginning in the first decades of the twentieth century when writers, critics, philosophers and academics sought to describe and analyze cinema as a new art form. Canonical texts in film theory by Munsterberg, Bazin, and others will be examined in light of more recent work by contemporary theorists involved in reviving, revising or critiquing earlier theoretical models and concepts. The development of film theory will be presented as a constantly changing body of thought, affected by dramatic changes over the decades to the cinema itself, and elaborated in response to contemporaneous social, political and economic transformations. In addition to covering the topics listed above, the course will also provide advice for the writing of applications for grants and fellowships.
During the winter term, the focus will shift towards questions of national, transnational, global and world cinema, with an emphasis on the popular cinema of India. A detailed outline for the winter term will be available by 1 October 2013. During the winter term, students enrolled in the thesis stream can start working on their thesis project.
Course requirements are as follows:
Three in-class presentations/position papers on reading assignments (15% each) 45%
Thesis topic outline, due in Feb. 0%
In-class presentation of final paper topic, due in March 15%
Final paper, due in April 40%

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[slideme title=”FILM 5002 Special Topic – Winter term”]

Instructor: Malini Guha
The Politics of the Image
This course investigates the longstanding relationship between cinema and politics, moving across seminal debates in film studies that pivot around the question of whether or not the formal characteristics of a film are where its politics must lie. This course begins by examining the relationship between cinema and ideology as it coincides with the rise of political modernist filmmaking and other forms of militant cinema in the late 1960s to recent examples of political filmmaking that centre on racial, sexual and gendered identities as well as those that explore moments of political crisis and upheaval around the world. We will spend time thinking carefully about the tools of representation on offer in these films including, but not limited to, the use of archival footage, of documentary-style re-enactments, the use of spectacle or decorative imagery and so on. Alongside of these topics, a second trajectory will run through this course that addresses contemporary debates about whether or not film studies as a discipline is becoming increasingly depoliticized.

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[slideme title=”FILM 5500 Advanced Topics in Film Analysis/ XL w 4002 – Fall term”]

Instructor: Paul Théberge
This course will survey a number of textual and cultural modes of film analysis with a focus on the relationship between film theory and analytic frameworks and methodologies. Special, though not exclusive attention will be paid to the ways in which sound and music can figure into film analysis and to Science Fiction as a genre within film history and theory.
Method of evaluation:
Two short papers, one or more in-class presentations, attendance & participation.

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[slideme title=”FILM 5601 Topics in Culture, Identity and Rep. – Winter term”]

Instructor: Aboubakar Sanogo
This course will explore the theory, history and aesthetics of the documentary mode of filmmaking. As such it will examine major theoretical debates related to the very nature of documentary, and its relationship to larger debates such as truth, reality, fiction, representation, memory, history, identity, subjectivity, among other things. The history of the documentary form will also be examined through such canonic figures, schools and movements as the Lumiere brothers, Thomas Edison, Robert Flaherty, John Grierson, Dziga Vertov, Joris Ivens, Jean Rouch, Chris Marker, alongside such newer figures as Su Friedrich, Naomi Kawase, John Akomfrah, Harun Farocki and Ari Folman.
Evaluation: Discussion leading, position paper, research paper.

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[slideme title=”FILM 5701 Topics in Animation – Fall term”]

Instructor: Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano
Anime
Anime’s ability to cross the boundaries of culture and media challenges our attempts to place it within conventional categories. This course will examine how anime has been constructed in journalistic or academic writings. We map anime across various paradigms such as history, genre, and media.

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midterm exam	20 %
final exam	20 %
final paper	50 %
class presentation	10 %