Oberlin College Course Catalog

Cinema Studies

Cinema is both the primary art form of modern culture and the central component of the media industries that structure contemporary society. We cannot understand fully how music, painting, and literature, or other artistic practices have developed without seeing them in relation to cinema, and we cannot begin to comprehend the full significance of the media in our lives without first studying cinema. The major in Cinema Studies is designed to teach students to examine the meanings of cinema in the broadest, most interdisciplinary ways, considering movies as works of art, as cultural forms, and as industrial practices.

Cinema Studies offers three kinds of courses. Electives are cinema courses open to all students without prerequisite. All such courses count toward the major. Introductory Core courses are Cinema Studies 101, Style, Form, and Meaning in Cinema, and the Cinematic Traditions Courses taught by the Cinema Studies Faculty. Cinema Studies 101 and one Cinematic Traditions course are required for the major. Advanced Core courses are 300- and 400-level courses taught by core faculty. These courses require at least Cinema Studies 101 or a Cinematic Traditions course or consent of the instructor as a prerequisite.

Further information about the major, faculty and courses is available at the Cinema Studies home page on the web (www.oberlin.edu/fsc).

Major. The Cinema Studies Major requires 30 hours in Cinema Studies courses, including

• Cinema Studies 101, Style, Form, and Meaning in Cinema.
• At least one course from among the "Cinematic Traditions" courses.
• At least three 300- or 400-level courses taught by core faculty.
• The senior tutorial course; with consent of the program's core faculty, a 400 seminar may count toward this requirement.
• Electives chosen in consultation with the student's advisor.

Film Production. The Cinema Studies Major does not at this time offer a separate production track for the major. However, courses in Film Production do count toward the major.

Spring Semester at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. The Cinema Studies major has a consortial arrangement with the Film Program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Students interested in the spring semester at Tisch should consult with the Director of the Cinema Studies Program. All film courses, including those in film production, offered at Tisch count toward the Cinema Studies major at Oberlin.

Transfer of Credit. No more than 15 hours of transfer credit in Cinema Studies may be applied to the Oberlin Cinema Studies major. At least 12 hours in advanced courses (300- and 400-level courses, including the senior tutorial) must be taken within the program. To have transfer credit approval toward the major and/or toward meeting prerequisites for upper-level courses, students should consult the Director of the Cinema Studies Program (or his/her designate), preferably with syllabi in hand.

Winter Term. Winter Term projects sponsored by Cinema Studies faculty will be according to the interests and availability of staff. Students also are encouraged to propose group projects which, with an approved sponsor, they will direct.

Honors. Students interested in Honors in Cinema Studies should consult with the Director of the Cinema Studies Program early in the second semester of their junior year. Students who wish to do Honors should complete their Senior Tutorial Project the fall semester of their senior year (Spring semester of their Junior year for those graduating in December). Admission to Honors will be based on performance in the Senior Tutorial Project.

In this Department

Courses of General Interest

Courses of General Interest
Cinema Studies 101, 241, 244, 245, and 272 are open to students who have completed any Writing Intensive course, or have gained Writing Certification in any course in the Humanities. They are also open to those who have achieved a 5 on the AP exam in English Language/Composition or English Literature/Composition, or a score of 710 or better on the SAT II writing test. Other students may be admitted by consent of the instructor, with the understanding that students should be able to demonstrate the ability to handle writing, discussion, and analysis in ways typically taught in Writing Intensive classes.

First-Year Seminar Program

FYSP 128. Media and Memory
3 hours 3HU,WRi
First Semester.
For description, please see "First-Year Seminar Program" in this catalog. Enrollment Limit: 14 first-year students only.
Mr. Pence

Introductory Courses
Introductory Cinema Studies courses have no prerequisites. Cinema Studies majors are required to take the Introductory Core Courses: Cinema Studies 101 (Form, Style, and Meaning in Cinema) and at least one of the Cinematic Traditions courses taught by the Cinema Studies faculty.

101. Form, Style, and Meaning in Cinema
4 hours 4HU
First and Second Semester.
This course considers the cinema as a particular media form and explores issues and methods in cinema studies. The class focuses on questions of film form and style (narrative, editing, sound, framing, mise-en-scène) and introduces students to concepts in film history and theory (industry, auteurism, spectatorship, the star system, ideology, genre). Students develop a basic critical vocabulary for examining the cinema as an art form, an industry, and a system of culturally meaningful representation. Identical to ENGL 173. Enrollment Limit: 60.
Staff

244. Masters Of World Cinema: Focus On Fellini
2 hours 2HU
Second Semester. First Module.
A critical analysis and discussion of Federico Fellini's most celebrated films from his earlier films associated with post-war Italian neorealism to his internationally acclaimed baroque film fantasies of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Special emphasis will be placed on Fellini's ambiguous relationship to Italy's political left and neorealism and to the critical controversies surrounding his later films. The evolution of his distinctive and influential film style will be traced out in I Vitelloni, La Strada, Nights of Cabiria, La Dolce Vita, 81/2, Juliet of the Spirits, and Amarcord. Enrollment Limit: 40.
Mr. Goulding

245. Masters Of World Cinema: Focus On Kieslowski
2 hours 2HU
Second Semester. Second Module.
One of the leading figures in East European cinema of the 1970s and 1980s, Krzysztof Kieslowski was closely associated with Poland's Cinema of Moral Concern which helped give birth to the Solidarity movement and the collapse of Poland's Communist regime. He later gained international critical acclaim for his 1990s French/Polish co-produced film trilogy White, Blue, and Red. Kieslowski's films receiving close critical attention include Camera Buff, the monumental Decalogue, The Double Life of Veronique and the tricolor trilogy, White, Blue, and Red. Enrollment Limit: 40.
Mr. Goulding

246. Indian Cinema
2 hours 2HU, CD, WR
Second Semester. Second Module.
This course will study Indian Cinema through the narrative forms of Indian film and the types of public debate about nationhood, community and gender it generated. Central concerns will be how notions of time and space were re-organized through the new medium; how earlier paradigms of representation in India influenced and were altered by cinematic practice; and what kinds of social and cognitive orientation were solicited by the storytelling codes of the cinema, as well as other issues. Enrollment Limit: 25.
Mr. Vasudevan

In this Department

Cinematic Traditions Courses

Cinematic Traditions Courses
Prerequisites: These courses are open to students who have completed any Writing Intensive course, or have gained Writing Certification in any course in the Humanities. They are also open to those who have achieved a 5 on the AP exam in English Language/Composition or English Literature/Composition, or a score of 710 or better on the SAT II Writing test. Other students may be admitted by consent of the instructor, with the understanding that students should be able to demonstrate the ability to handle writing, discussion, and analysis in ways typically taught in Writing Intensive classes.

221. Documentary Forms
4 hours 4HU, WR
Second Semester.
What exactly do we mean by "documentary"? Is it a mode able to capture the actual world in ways that fictional forms cannot? What is at stake in doing documentary work? In this course we will explore some of the practical and theoretical issues surrounding documentary representation. Focusing on cinema, we will examine an array of documentary texts and compare various documentary traditions, asking how each frames its pursuit of "the real." We will consider documentary practices from diverse standpoints—structural, aesthetic, political, ethical, historical. Identical to ENGL 221. Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment Limit: 30.
Mr. Pingree

235. Special Topics in German Cinema: East German Cinema
3 hours 3HU, CD, WR
First Semester.
For description, please see "German" in this catalog. Identical to GERM 335. Enrollment Limit: 30.
Ms. Hamilton

241. History of German Cinema
3 hours 3HU, CD, WR
Second Semester.
For description, please see "German" in this catalog. Identical to GERM 341. Enrollment Limit: 30.
Staff

272. American Cinema: The Possibilities of Art in the Entertainment Business
4 hours 4HU, WR
First Semester.
For description, please see "English" in this catalog. Identical to ENGL 272. Enrollment Limit: 30.
Mr. Day

In this Department

Advanced Courses

Advanced Cinema Courses
These 300- and 400-level courses taught by Cinema Studies core faculty require as prerequisites CINE 101 and a Cinematic Traditions course or two 200-level English courses, including at least one Gateway course or three 200-level English courses, or consent of the instructor.

320. Documentary Production
4 hours 4HU, WR
Second Semester.
This course explores documentary structure in critical and creative ways. Students examine different ways to think about and understand documentaries (in terms of form, purpose, audience, etc.) and practice basic documentary production (camera, lighting, sound, non-linear editing). After engaging in various individual and small group exercises, students spend the balance of the semester working together to produce short documentary videos. Identical to ENGL 320. Consent by instructor required. Enrollment Limit: 12.
Mr. Pingree

340. Technology and Contemporary American Culture
4 hours 4HU, WR
Second Semester.
For description, please see "English" in this catalog. Identical to ENGL 340. Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment Limit: 25.
Mr. Pence

392. Selected Directors: Almodovar, Hartley, von Trier
4 hours 4HU, WR
First Semester.
For description, please see "English" in this catalog. Identical to ENGL 392. Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment Limit: 25.
Mr. Pence

498. Senior Tutorial
4 hours 4HU,WR
First and Second Semester.
Students should consult with the Director of the Program about arranging a Senior Tutorial. Consent of instructor required.
Mr. Day, Mr. Pingree

499. Honors Project
0-4 hours 0-4HU, WR
First and Second Semester.
Students interested in pursuing Honors should consult with the Director of the Program. Consent of instructor required.
Staff

995. Private Reading
0.5-3 hours 0.5-3HU
First and Second Semester.
Consent of instructor required.
Staff

In this Department