Weimar Cinema – the diverse film culture of 1920s Germany – gave
birth or early impetus to some of the most important film genres
for global cinema, including horror, film noir, science fiction,
and melodrama. The course will chart how it was within the
context of Weimar Germany and, above all, its uneasy
confrontation with modernity and modernization that the horror
film, film noir, science-fiction film, and the melodrama all
emerged.
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; project. Introduction to basic
research methods for Technocultural Studies: electronic and
archived images, sounds and data, satellite downlinking,
radiowave scanning, and oral histories. GE credit: VL, WE.—Drew
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; laboratory—3 hours. Prerequisite:
course 1. Introduction to object-oriented programming for
artists. Focus on understanding the metaphors and potential of
object-oriented programming for sound, video, performance, and
interactive installations. GE credit: VL.—S. Ostertag
Students majoring in TCS or Film Studies will have:
The basic technical and analytic vocabulary of film and media
form and criticism
The ability to historicize, situate, and reflect on the links
between aesthetics, technology, modes of production, sociology
and politics in moving image and audio media in different times
and spaces
A comparative perspective on film, media, and audio from
different historical periods, their styles, and national and
transnational contexts, in writing and orally
Lecture—3 hours; extensive writing. Contemporary developments in
the fine and performing arts, media arts, digital arts, and
literature as they relate to technological and scientific
practices. GE credit: ArtHum | AH, VL, WE.
Introduction to different forms of critical analysis of media,
with focus on creative responses to the media within visual arts,
media arts, and net culture. Response of artists to the power of
mass media, from early forms of photomontage through contemporary
“culture-jamming” and alternative media networks.
Issues arising from historical and contemporary encounters
between the arts and sciences, with emphasis on comparative
notions of research, experimentation, and progress.
Evolution of media technologies and practices beginning in the
19th Century as they relate to contemporary digital arts
practices. Special focus on the reconstruction of the social and
artistic possibilities of lost and obsolete media technologies.
Issues of technological and scientific developments as conveyed
through mass media and popular culture with special attention to
public spectacle, exhibitions, broadcasts, performances,
demonstrations and literary fictions and journalistic accounts .
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; laboratory—3 hours. Experimental
approaches to the making of film and video in the age of digital
technologies. Opportunities for independent producers arising
from new media. Instruction in technical, conceptual and creative
skills for taking a project from idea to fruition. GE credit: VL
Continuation of course 100 with further exploration of digital
cinema creation. Additional topics include new modes of
distribution, streaming, installation and exhibition.
This course will introduce students to the fundamentals of
creating interactive screen-based work. Subjects will include
theories of interactivity, linear versus non-linear structures
and audience involvement and participation. Students will utilize
various digital production tools to produce class projects.
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; project. Prerequisite: course 7B or
the equivalent, course 155. Traditional and new forms of
documentary, with focus on technocultural issues. Skills and
strategies for producing work in various media. Progression
through all stages of production, from conception through
post-production to critique. GE credit: VL
Introduction to object-oriented programming for artists. Focus on understanding the metaphors and potential of object-oriented programming for sound, video, performance, and interactive installations.
Included here are images of several music apps students created in TCS 110.
History and practice of media production focusing on how media
makers use video and new media tools to address social issues
among neighborhood and community groups. Students will utilize
basic video, sound, and lighting techniques as they work with
local groups in a group video project.
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; laboratory—3 hours. New feature and
documentary production for radio and other audiophonic media,
including audio streaming Web sites and installation. Emphasis on
new and experimental approaches to audio production for broadcast
on community radio and in international arts programming.
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; laboratory—3 hours. Impact and
implications of computer- based networks in community, civic, and
social life. Subjects may include community-access computer
sites, neighborhood wireless networks, the digital divide,
open-source software, and citizen action.
Lecture—3 hours; laboratory—3 hours. Creative application of
electronic technology relevant to media and fine arts involving
both electronic principles and hands-on application.
A survey of the use of sound, voice, noise, and modes of
listening in the modernist, avante-garde, and experimental arts,
from the late 19th Century to the present. Focus on audiophonic
and audiovisual technologies.
