Course Offerings
Fall 2012
FILM 105 Fundamentals of Film and Video Production, Sultan, Thurs, 5:30-7:30pm AND Wed, 5:30-6:30pm; Rattner, Tues, 5:30-7:30pm AND Wed, 5:30-6:30pm
In this introductory class we will explore the conceptual, organizational, and technical skills of video production. Through hands-on technical workshops, screenings, lectures, projects and discussions, you will develop the basic skills in cinematography, sound design, video editing, and screenwriting as they apply to single-camera narrative, documentary, and experimental filmmaking. Course work includes a mix of group and individual hands-on projects, culminating in the production of a 3-5 minute short film. Software programs you will receive training on in this course include Final Cut Pro, Soundtrack Pro, and DVD Studio Pro.
FILM 125 Introduction to the Study of Film, Fay, MW, 9:10-10:25am
The gateway to the Film Studies major, this course serves as an introduction to concepts of film style and topics in film studies. Thus we will devote several weeks to building a precise vocabulary to describe mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and sound in film with the goal that students will learn to trace the function of style and form within a scene and across a film, and learn to reflect on their own spectatorial practices. The second part of the class explores alternative modes of filmmaking (including non-fiction, experimental, and art cinema) and critical methods related to film theory, genre, and history. Students will be expected to engage familiar films in unfamiliar ways and to work through films that may not be as accessible. This is a rigorous and demanding class; it is not film appreciation.
FILM 201 Film Theory, Young, MWF, 10:10-11:00am
This course provides an introduction both to the concept of “film theory” and to most of the major film theories since Hugo Münsterberg’s The Photoplay (1916). Unlike film criticism, which evaluates the quality of individual films and film analysis, which examines the meanings implicit in an individual film’s form and style, film theory uses specific films and viewing experiences to catalyze more general and abstract claims about what film means for its viewers and their culture, and how the medium creates those meanings. Prerequisite: 125.
FILM 211: History of World Cinema, Fay, MW, 1:10-2:25pm
Cinema, even in its pre-history, has always been a global phenomenon, one that tells us a great deal about the culture of globalization itself. In fifteen weeks, this course covers over a century of global film history as it unfolds in twelve different countries at various moments in time, including China, Iran, India, Senegal, the United States, the Soviet Union, Hong Kong, Japan and Germany. We will consider not only those instances in which science and industry open up new possibilities for the medium while foreclosing others (particularly in the growth of the Hollywood studio system and commercial narrative cinema in the United States), but also how the modern pressures of war, poverty, colonialism, gender identities, and liberation (to name a few) have inspired new horizons of production and reception. We will be especially attentive to the tensions between local film culture and the global networks of trade and competition. We'll consider how transnational cultural flows and borrowings shape cinema in the 20th and 21st century. Prereq: Film 125.
FILM 227W Screenwriting, Staff, T/Th, 11:10-12:15pm
You begin the semester by coming up with ideas for a feature length screenplay. By semester's end, you will do character breakdowns, a detailed outline, and write the first 40 pages of a feature screenplay. Emphasis is on clean, clear, concise writing and compelling storytelling. Each week, you read a screenplay and watch the film in class. Each week you have writing assignments that become part of the final 40 pages. Lectures build on the screenings and readings and cover character construction, format, story structure, dialogue, and rewriting, as well as the business of motion picture and television. From time to time, we will speak to screenwriters, producers, directors in Los Angeles about their role in the screenplays studied in class.
A screenwriting workshop followed by the production of a short narrative video project. Students will work in groups from story conception to post-production. Prerequisite: FILM 105
FILM 288 01: 16mm Film, Rattner, T/Th, 1:10-2:25pm
This intensive production course is designed to introduce students to 16mm production. Students in this course will be required to shoot and edit three 2-minute non-sync black and white films. This course will cover the basics of camera operation, lighting, non-sync sound design, and pre-production. Students will gain experience as directors, sound technicians, assistant directors and editors. Projects of all modes and genres will be completed in crews of four every week. Prerequisite: FILM 105
FILM 288 02: Short Form Screenwriting, Staff, T/Th, 1:10-2:25pm
Script writing for ten-minute film "shorts." Students will adapt scenarios from preexisting sources such as short stories, poems, newspaper articles, or songs.
Spring 2012
FILM 105 Fundamentals of Film and Video Production
In this introductory class, we will explore the conceptual, organizational, and technical skills of video production. Through hands-on technical workshops, screenings, lectures, projects and discussions, you will develop the basic skills in image creation, sound design, and editing as they apply to single camera techniques for nonfiction, narrative, and alternative modes. This class will provide a cultural context for different forms of production as well as give you an opportunity to develop critical and collaborative skills through group projects and class critiques. In this course you will create five short film projects, individually and by working in groups. Programs you will receive training on include Final Cut Pro, Compressor and DVD Studio Pro.
FILM 125 Introduction to the Study of Film
The gateway to the Film Studies major, this course serves as an introduction to concepts of film style and topics in film studies. Thus we will devote several weeks to building a precise vocabulary to describe mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and sound in film with the goal that students will learn to trace the function of style and form within a scene and across a film, and learn to reflect on their own spectatorial practices. The second part of the class explores alternative modes of filmmaking (including non-fiction, experimental, and art cinema) and critical methods related to film theory, genre, and history. Students will be expected to engage familiar films in unfamiliar ways and to work through films that may not be as accessible. This is a rigorous and demanding class; it is not film appreciation.
FILM 170 Intermediate Narrative Filmmaking
Three hands-on filmmaking projects combined with developing a script and doing pre-production, leading to shooting and editing a short narrative film. Emphasis on storytelling, use of camera to help tell the story, editing and post production sound.
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Project 1- Three minute silent film. Shot in-camera. Followed by rewrite, reshoots, and addition of music and sound effects.
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Project 2- Editing exercise. Edit a scene from the Helen Hunt film AS GOOD AS IT GETS. Students get the dailies, the script, and script supervisor's notes. Each team edits the footage they way they choose, and compare in class with the finished scene in the movie.
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Project 3- Post Production Sound exercise. Students are given a completely silent scene from THE KILLING FIELDS and must create a complete sound landscape and dialogue. Emphasis on using sound to tell the story.
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Project 4- Five minute narrative. Sync sound. Using the script developed through the semester, students make a short film. Through Vanderbilt's relationship with the Nashville Composers Association, each film will have an original score.
FILM 211: History of World Cinema
Cinema, even in its pre-history, has always been a global phenomenon, one that tells us a great deal about the culture of globalization itself. In fifteen weeks, this course covers over a century of global film history as it unfolds in twelve different countries at various moments in time, including China, Iran, India, Senegal, the United States, the Soviet Union, Hong Kong, Japan and Germany. We will consider not only those instances in which science and industry open up new possibilities for the medium while foreclosing others (particularly in the growth of the Hollywood studio system and commercial narrative cinema in the United States), but also how the modern pressures of war, poverty, colonialism, gender identities, and liberation (to name a few) have inspired new horizons of production and reception. We will be especially attentive to the tensions between local film culture and the global networks of trade and competition. We’ll consider how transnational cultural flows and borrowings shape cinema in the 20th and 21st century.
It is my hope that students come away from the course with a sense of film history and film historiography. That is, students should know the basic contours of film history (or at least know the kinds of historically-grounded questions one may ask of any film), as well as understand that all history, including film history, is a narrative subject to revision and to the claims of new archives. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I hope that in discovering or rediscovering films from elsewhere and else-when, students embrace their own enworlded spectatorship and global citizenship.
FILM 275W Advanced Screenwriting
Prerequisite: Screenwriting. In a semester, students will write two complete drafts of a motion picture screenplay. They may continue with the 40 pages they completed in the Fall semester, or they can elect to begin with a completely new idea. Students will pitch their idea, work up a rough outline, and will turn in script pages every week until they have a complete script. They will then rewrite the first draft and end the semester with a second draft screenplay. Classroom time will consist of screenings, lecture and conversations with industry professionals -- screenwriters, directors, producers. Emphasis will be on professionalism, responding to notes, reading great scripts, seeing great movies and learning a lot about writing.
FILM 278 Advanced Production Workshop
Students will crew on a twenty minute narrative video, to be completed in one semester. All aspects of film production will be covered: script development, pre-production, shooting, editing, location & post sound, score, and color correction. Students will learn camera, lighting, and location sound recording. Nashville based industry professionals will serve as on-set heads-of-department mentors to the students. We are fortunate to work with the finest actors in Nashville, and the films regularly are screened at the Nashville Film Festival. The highest level of production offered at Vanderbilt. Emphasis will be on professionalism, getting the job done, and having a blast making a movie together.
FILM 288 Documentary Workshop
This class will examine the history, theory and practice of nonfiction film and the many different modes (expository, poetic, performative, observational, reflexive, participatory) that encompass it. In addition to weekly readings, presentations, screenings and discussion, you will be assigned three production projects. This is an interdisciplinary history, theory, and practice class that welcomes students from all areas: no previous production experience is necessary. In addition to readings and our group projects, we will look at films by the Lumiere brothers, Chris Marker, Agnes Varda, Ross McElwee, Werner Herzog, Joris Ivens, Fredrick Wiseman, Errol Morris, Dziga Vertov, and other well-known filmmakers who have explored this genre of filmmaking. In this class we will explore and use a wide range of sound and video equipment from SLR digital cameras to DSLR's and HVX's.
FILM 290B Senior Seminar on Film
Practice Advanced independent filmmaking and portfolio assembly. In addition to individual presentations and lectures, each student is required to complete a 1 - 7 minute festival ready thesis project.
Restricted to senior majors.