Film Studies

FILM 195. Independent Capstone. 4 Units.

The Capstone course is a 4 unit course designed to conclude students' experiences as film studies' majors at the University of the Pacific as well as to develop students' research, writing, and/or production skills. In class, students analyze or produce films that pertain to the special topic of their choice. Peer review will occur throughout the writing or film production process. At the end of the course, students present their findings and/or films to the class and faculty members from the Film Studies department in a 15-20 minute presentation. Junior or Senior standing.

ARTH 116. Contemporary World Art 1945 to Present. 4 Units.

This course explores major artists, styles, and movements in world art from 1945 to the present. Gestural abstraction, Pop, Photo Realism, Happenings, Video, Performance, Conceptual and Political art as well as film are a few of the trends that are considered. Ever-expanding notions of what constitutes art in this pluralistic era is also examined. This course satisfies a requirement of the Film Studies minor. (DVSY, FILM, GEAP, GEDI, GEND)

ARTS 011. Digital Photography. 4 Units.

This course provides an introduction to the theory, process, and aesthetics of digital photography. Through a series of practical and conceptual assignments, students learn to work with digital cameras and a selection of software for image editing and printing. Students must provide their own digital cameras with fully manual exposure controls. Approximately $150 should be budgeted for other photographic materials that are not supplied by the University. Additional lab fees also apply. (FILM, GE2C, GEAP)

ARTS 095. Camera and Lighting. 4 Units.

Camera and Lighting is an intermediate level course teaching professional lighting and camera operation for both still photography and video projects. Students will learn lighting techniques for portrait photography, video interviews and acting scenes in the studio and on location. Training will cover professional cinematography techniques and equipment. Projects will include a mixture of individual still photography assignments and collaborative group video projects. Prerequisites: ARTS 011or MEDX 011 or Instructor’s Permission. (FILM)

ARTS 141. Advanced Photography. 4 Units.

Advanced Photography builds upon instruction in ARTS 011: Digital Photography and ARTS 095: Camera and Lighting. It emphasizes conceptual portfolio development and visual storytelling for publication and exhibitions. This course develops professional practices in photography including studio lighting for still life and product photography. It teaches editing techniques necessary to develop and print a long-term photography book and exhibition project. The course also covers advanced image editing software applications for professional photographers who create photographs for editorial illustration, advertising, photojournalism, publication and exhibition. Prerequisites: ARTS 011 or ARTS 095 or Instructor’s Permission. (FILM)

ASIA 120. Asian Cinemas. 4 Units.

This is an introductory course on Asian films that focuses on how contemporary films from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and India represent their people, re-imagine their cultural identities, and negotiate the local and global, tradition and modernity. Possible topics include the relationship between film and literary/cultural discourses, and traditional aesthetic praxis; different film genres; visual images and cinematic techniques; and various thematic concerns. The course aims to both expand the knowledge of the cinematic and socio-historical contexts of Asian cinemas and to enhance critical thinking. Lectures and readings are in English; all films have English subtitles. (FILM, GEAP)

COMM 131. Media Production and Digital Culture. 4 Units.

Students learn how to use industry-standard production equipment, software, and facilities to produce audio podcasts and video projects while developing a practical and theoretical understanding of the basic fundamentals of lighting, sound, camera work, broadcasting, and audio/video editing. The focus is on producing original content ready for inclusion in students’ portfolios using foundational methods that emphasize production quality and critical understanding of the production process. Lab Fee required. (FILM)

COMM 133. Documentary Film as Persuasive Communication. 4 Units.

This course is a survey of documentary film beginning at the turn of the century and continuing through contemporary productions from a historical and rhetorical perspective. Students explore documentary film's origins and trace out its development in relation to its use and reception as students become familiar with the history of the documentary, the evolution of the genre, its rhetorical construction and its cultural influences. (DVSY, ETHC, FILM, GEDI)

COMM 134. Documentary Film Production. 4 Units.

This course is a field video production course in documentary production. Through a series of assignments, lectures and screening students learn the basics of video production for documentary style productions. This includes research, management, pre-production, production and post-production processes. Students work primarily within groups to produce documentary projects using digital production equipment and techniques. There are no prerequisites fo this course. (FILM)

ENGL 031. Aesthetics of Film. 4 Units.

This course introduces the principles of artistic expressiveness of films; lighting, color, camera, composition, space, movement, image, setting and sound. Attention is also given to narrative techniques and editing styles. This course explores such theories as realism, formalism, surrealism, Marxism, psychoanalysis and gender theory. Both American and foreign films are viewed and discussed. (FILM, GE2C, GEAP)

ENGL 115. Screenwriting. 4 Units.

In this comprehensive course, students study the art and craft of short subject and feature film screenwriting, including, but not limited to: theme, plot, story, structure, characterization, format, and dialogue via writing, lecture, discussion, close analysis, and instructor-peer critique. Time is spent not only on idea generation and visual storytelling, but on how to meaningfully connect with the audience. Students are required to write: two short film treatments (one original and one adaption), a short film script, a detailed film treatment, and the first 10+ pages of a feature film screenplay. (DVSY, FILM, GEAP, GEDI)

ENGL 121. Major Filmmakers. 4 Units.

The focus of this course is on the work of such major directors as Coppola, Fassbinder, Scorsese, Fellini, Kubrick, Bergman, Hitchcock, Antonioni, Losey, Bertolucci and Truffaut. The course also considers major schools of cinema: French New Wave, Italian Neo-Realism, New German Cinema and narrative genres such as the psychological thriller, chamber film and epic. Emphasis is placed on critical analysis and interpretation of the individual director's styles and themes. This course may be taken twice if it is taught with a different theme in each instance. (FILM, GE2C, GEAP)

ENGL 123. Film, Literature, and the Arts. 4 Units.

This course investigates the theory, practice and critical methods underlying aesthetic form in the arts, including film, literature, painting and sculpture. Corollary illustrations are drawn from music and architecture. This comparative course attempts to examine the underlying styles and structures among the arts. (FILM, GE2C, GEAP, GEND)

ENGL 124. Film History. 4 Units.

This course is a comprehensive look at the history of cinema, from its beginnings in Europe and America, through the emergence of national cinematic traditions and the classical period tied to the Hollywood studio system, and concluding with current transnational developments. This course includes screening and analysis of significant American and international films. (FILM)

ENGL 131. Shakespeare. 4 Units.

Throughout his extraordinary dramatic career, Shakespeare wore many masks: lover, misogynist, royalist, traitor, poetic genius, racist and, most emphatically, double-agent. Nothing could be more evocative of the many faces of William Shakespeare than his unrelenting afterlives on screen. In this course, we will focus on the ways in which Shakespeare’s characters – specifically, bastards, moors, and whores – instantiate and disturb categories of “difference” that otherwise exist to shore up the boundaries of the “normal”. These profoundly non-normative characters, often deemed secondary or minor, are in many cases the unacknowledged engines of the plot, as well as envoys of the message (particularly in their contemporary cinematic incarnations) that the lechery and treachery afoot in Renaissance England is alive and well in the tribalism of our own times. (DVSY, FILM, GE2A, GEDI, GELN, GEND)

FREN 120. Le Cinema Francais/French Cinema in English. 4 Units.

Students study the development of French cinema from its inception to the present through the analysis of themes, culture, styles, and cinematography. Directors who are studied include Lumiere, Melies, Vigo, Gance, Renoir, Carne, Godard, Truffaut, Resnais, Chabrol, Tavenier, Varda, Cantet, Kassovitz and others. The course is in French. Occassionally offered in English with no prerequisite. (Course is applicable to the French Studies Track in French or English version.) Prerequisite: FREN 025 with a "C-" or better or permission of the instructor. (FILM, GE2C, GEAP)

HIST 119. History Goes to Hollywood. 4 Units.

This course examines how films shape our understanding of certain historical events. It provides students with the tools to watch films critically and to place them in the context of a broader historical time period. The films selected cover different time periods from the ancient to the modern world and portray a variety of national and cultural contexts. (FILM, GE2C, GEAP, GEND)

MCOM 019. Music and Computer Technology. 3 Units.

This in-depth course of study examines the use of the digital audio workstation Logic Studio Pro as a tool for creative composition. Topics include basic sequencing and MIDI recording, the manipulation of MIDI using the Environment Window, use of digital audio in a MIDI environment, MIDI controller manipulation, sampling and digital synthesis, and plug-in effects and instruments. This project oriented study requires that students complete several compositions during the process of the course. Prerequisite: MCOM 009. (FILM)

MCOM 127. Film and Media Scoring. 3 Units.

This course is an introduction to scoring for film and media. Students study the use of music in film and media with an emphasis on understanding the complex role sound plays in our experience. Through creative projects, film viewing, discussion, and analysis, students delve into the thinking of current film composers and sound designers. (FILM)

MEDX 117. Film Production. 4 Units.

Students are introduced to the fundamental principles of motion picture production. Emphasis is on visual storytelling and auditory communication through demonstration, hands-on production and critical analysis. Students produce short films in small crews. (FILM, GE2C, GEAP)

MMGT 106. Sound Recording Fundamentals. 3 Units.

This course introduces students to basic audio techniques applicable to recording sound. This course is a combination of lecture, lab sessions and independent studio projects which provides a basic understanding of how audio is captured, stored and manipulated in the recording industry. (FILM)

RELI 171. Religion and Cinema. 4 Units.

Students study the way religious ideas, institutions and figures are presented on film. The course involves screening and analyzing various films. The scope of the course is international and intercultural, but the majority of the images are Western. The course intends to demonstrate the power of cinematic images to define, illustrate, enrich and sometimes pervert religious sensibility. (FILM)

SPAN 114. Latin American Women's Film. 4 Units.

This course will introduce students to Latin American women film directors and their representations of Latin American culture and society. Students will view and critically analyze films directed by women directors from several Latin American countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru. The topics that will be covered in the course include gender representation in film, representation of the female body, race and ethnicity as portrayed in film, and the unique technical aspects of Latin American film. In this course, students will also compare gender, race, ethnicity, and socio-economic class within the Latin American and U.S. film contexts. All films will be in Spanish or Portuguese with English subtitles except for films originally in English. Lectures will be in English. Spanish majors and minors will complete all written and oral work as well as group discussions in Spanish while other majors will complete work in English. Please see catalog for further reference. (DVSY, FILM, GE2C, GEAP, GEDI, GEND)

THEA 031. Stage Makeup Fundamentals. 2 Units.

Students study essentials of makeup for stage, including basics of makeup application, color theory, etc. Class projects include two-dimensional and three-dimensional techniques, cross-gender and stylized makeup designs. Students learn to apply makeup on themselves and, through service hours to Theatre Arts productions, on others. (FILM)

THEA 071. Fundamentals of Acting. 3 Units.

This course introduces students to the theories and techniques of acting. Fundamental skills of acting are explored through exercises, character analysis, scene study, and improvisation, based on the theories of Constantine Stanislavsky. This course satisfies a G.E. II-C requirement, and an elective within the Media X major and Film Studies minor. (FILM, GE2C, GEAP)

THEA 137. Lighting Technology. 2 Units.

Students study and practice the principals of Theatrical Lighting while working with equipment and technology in both classroom and lab environments. Course includes the controllable properties of lighting, including, color, texture and fixture choice, as well as experience with programming cues through the computer light board. Study includes basic understanding of electricity and electronics and as well as practical participation in current Theatre Department productions. This course is intended for majors, but is suitable for interested general students. Prerequisite: THEA 033 with a "C-" or better or permission of instructor. (FILM)