Film (FILM)
FILM 180 - 14 FILMS YOU SHOULD SEE BEFORE YOU GRADUATE FROM RICE UNIVERSITY
Short Title: 14 FILMS BEFORE YOU GRADUATE
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Distribution Group: Distribution Group I
Credit Hours: 4
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level
Description: Featuring the important, but less familiar works of American and European directors from the 1930s - 1960s. This class represents an ideal mixture of modernist auteur cinema and shameless viewing pleasure. Cross-list: HART 180.
FILM 215 - MYSTIC CINEMA: KABBALAH IN FILM
Short Title: MYSTIC CINEMA
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Distribution Group: Distribution Group I
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level
Description: This course explores uses by the film industry of ideas drawn from Jewish mysticism. We will examine themes such as monsters, spirits, numerology and the paranormal, as portrayed in classic film and through to contemporary Hollywood. Emphasis will be placed on the medieval textual and folkloric traditions behind such portrayals. Cross-list: RELI 215. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for FILM 215 if student has credit for FILM 114/FSEM 141/RELI 114.
FILM 218 - HISTORY THROUGH FILM IN EAST AND NORTHEAST ASIA
Short Title: EAST/NORTHEAST ASIA FILM HIST
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Lecture
Distribution Group: Distribution Group I
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level
Description: Can we learn history by analyzing movies? Using documentary and feature films from Asian film culture's beginnings, we view 19th-20th century Chinese, Japanese, and Korean history. Collective in-class film viewing, discussion and reading required. Cross-list: ASIA 218, HIST 218.
FILM 238 - SPECIAL TOPICS
Short Title: SPECIAL TOPICS
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Internship/Practicum, Laboratory, Lecture, Seminar, Lecture/Laboratory, Independent Study
Credit Hours: 1-4
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level
Description: Topics and credit hours vary each semester. Contact department for current semester's topic(s). Repeatable for Credit.
FILM 275 - COMICS AND SEQUENTIAL ART
Short Title: COMICS AND SEQUENTIAL ART
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Studio
Distribution Group: Distribution Group I
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level
Description: An introduction to the art of combining words and pictures: diverse applications such as storyboarding for stage and screen, comic books and graphic novels, and serial or multiples in a variety of media all fall under the umbrella of Sequential Art. Through instruction, demos, readings and practice, students will learn the history and implementation of linear visual narratives utilizing the Comics Art Teaching and Study Workshop as a resource. Students in this class will also participate in the construction and establishment of a permanent research center for the study of Comic Book Art within the Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts. This course has limited enrollment. The roster is formatted on the first day class by the instructor, who may allow additional registration for majors. It is necessary to attend the first class meeting to confirm your place on the class roster. Cross-list: ARTS 230.
FILM 280 - HISTORY & AESTHETICS OF FILM
Short Title: HISTORY & AESTHETICS OF FILM
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Distribution Group: Distribution Group I
Credit Hours: 4
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level
Description: Introduction to the art and aesthetics of film as an artifact produced within certain social contexts. Includes style, narrative, mise-en-scene, editing, sound, and ideology in classical Hollywood cinema, as well as in independent, alternative, nonfiction, and Third World cinemas. Cross-list: ARTS 280, HART 280.
FILM 284 - NONFICTION FILM
Short Title: NONFICTION FILM
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Distribution Group: Distribution Group I
Credit Hours: 4
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level
Description: Introduction to the history and aesthetics of nonfiction film as both a social artifact and as a work of art. Includes discussions of actualities, the city film, the social documentary, surrealist cinema, propaganda, ethnography, the essay film, and the contemporary nonfiction film from around the world. Cross-list: HART 284.
FILM 287 - INTRODUCTION TO EXPERIMENTAL VIDEO AND INSTALLATION ART
Short Title: INTRO TO VIDEO AND INSTALL ART
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Distribution Group: Distribution Group I
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level
Description: Learn to create unique experiences by sculpting time and space. With an emphasis on production and practice, this course introduces students to installation art and experimental uses of video. Students will learn the basic tools and techniques of digital video production.
FILM 308 - IMPROVISATION FOR STAGE AND SCREEN
Short Title: IMPROV FOR STAGE AND SCREEN
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Lecture/Laboratory
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: This is a course in the practical training of comedic, long-form, improvisation. Students will learn how to craft scenes spontaneously using tools like character dynamic, status, comedic pattern, beat structuring, and agreement. Classic forms of scenic improv will be taught and the course will also examine the role of improvisation in comedy films, video, and the creation of sketch comedy. Students will get to practice their skills by crafting videos in the class' culmination run of improv shows. Cross-list: THEA 308.
FILM 324 - ENVIRONMENTAL FILMMAKING
Short Title: ENVIRONMENTAL FILMMAKING
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Distribution Group: Distribution Group I
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: Explore the ways in which films influence environmental perspectives—and vice versa—through the process of making a short film. This hybrid seminar/studio course introduces key tools and approaches to filmmaking that are informed by ecological frameworks. The course includes field trips, screenings, discussions, and workshops in digital cinematography, sound recording, and editing. Emphasis is given to the study of experimental films, films from the global South, and films that address environmental concerns in relation to race, class, Indigeneity, gender, sexuality, and disability. No prior filmmaking experience required. Instructor Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.
FILM 327 - DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION
Short Title: DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Studio
Distribution Group: Distribution Group I
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: Study of the expressive possibilities of documentary production using digital systems. Space in studio classes is limited. Registration does not guarantee a place in class. The class roster is formulated on the first day of class by the individual instructor. Cross-list: ANTH 324, ARTS 327.
FILM 328 - FILMMAKING I
Short Title: FILMMAKING I
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Studio
Distribution Group: Distribution Group I
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: Dramatic film production class that requires the making of one digital video and one 16mm film. Space in studio classes is limited. Registration does not guarantee a place in class. The class roster is formulated on the first day of class by the individual instructor. Cross-list: ARTS 328.
FILM 333 - VIDEO ACTIVISM: CREATING CHANGE THROUGH VIDEO STORYTELLING
Short Title: VIDEO ACTIVISM
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Studio
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: This course employs video as a tool to make and distribute stories about people and issues in our world aimed at affecting change. We will learn about the history of video activism and watch examples to inform our own work. Students in the course will complete a series of exercises and one central issue driven video work. All necessary equipment will be provided. Recommended Prerequisite(s): FILM 327
FILM 336 - CINEMA AND THE CITY
Short Title: CINEMA AND THE CITY
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Distribution Group: Distribution Group I
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: This class explores representations of the city in 20th and 21st century world cinema. Central concerns will include the city as cinematic protagonist, parallels between urban and cinematic space and the intertwined histories of both film and urban design over the last century. Cross-list: ASIA 355, HART 336.
FILM 339 - A REVOLUTION FROM WITHIN: TRENDS IN CONTEMPORARY CUBAN CULTURE
Short Title: TRENDS IN CUBAN CULTURE
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Distribution Group: Distribution Group I
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: This research seminar will explore contemporary trends in Cuban culture through literary texts, films, music and works of art. We will examine the ways in which politics and the practices of artistic representation intersect in post-revolutionary Cuba. A research trip to Cuba has been organized as part of this seminar. Course taught in Spanish. Previously offered as SPPO 392. Credit cannot be earned for SPAN 392 if student has previously taken SPPO 392. Instructor Permission Required. Cross-list: HART 304, SPAN 392. Recommended Prerequisite(s): Third year Spanish or permission of instructor.
FILM 351 - HOLOCAUST REPRESENTATION IN LITERATURE, ART, AND FILM
Short Title: HOLOCAUST REPRESENTATION
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: This course will address the representation of the Holocaust in literature, art, and film. Is the Holocaust representable? What literary and artistic techniques and devices have been employed to represent the unrepresentable? Through Holocaust narrative, poetry, fiction, art, memorials, documentary and narrative film, we will explore these questions. Cross-list: JWST 351. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for FILM 351 if student has credit for FILM 349/RELI 349.
FILM 359 - CINEMAS OF URBAN ALIENATION
Short Title: CINEMAS OF URBAN ALIENATION
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Credit Hours: 4
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: This seminar examines cinematic engagements with urban spaces and experiences around the world spanning the last two centuries. Particular attention will be paid to issues of migration, marginality, colonialism, war and post-war, nostalgia and memory, race and gender. Cities of focus include Berlin, Istanbul, Moscow, Algiers, Beirut and Paris. Our weekly discussions of individual films will be grounded in critical writings of the cities' histories and theories of space and film. Cross-list: ARCH 359, HART 359.
FILM 361 - WHAT IS CINEMA? CLASSIC READINGS OF CLASSIC FILMS
Short Title: WHAT IS CINEMA?
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: Using a variety of readings now considered classics as our guide, this class will look closely at a broad range of films and film movements discussed by critics and theorists such as Rudolf Amheim, Jean Epstein, Sergei Fisenstein, Walter Benjamin and Andre Bazin. Cross-list: HART 361.
FILM 373 - SURVEY OF AMERICAN FILM AND CULTURE
Short Title: SURVEY OF AMER FILM & CULTURE
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Distribution Group: Distribution Group I
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: A course that explores the history of cinema in the U.S. from its origins to the present day. This course will examine the development of narrative, sound, the classical Hollywood form and style; film genres; the emergence of television; the influence of postwar “art cinemas”; the origins of the blockbuster; and the status of Hollywood as “global cinema.” Cross-list: ENGL 373, HART 380.
FILM 381 - MEDICAL MEDIA ARTS LAB
Short Title: MEDICAL MEDIA ARTS LAB
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Lecture/Laboratory
Distribution Group: Distribution Group I
Credit Hours: 4
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: Students will collaborate with health professionals to create solutions to real-world medical communication, visualization and design problems. Working individually and in teams, students will apply critical thinking and theory to hands-on design. Projects may include production of short videos, infographics, app development, 3-D virtual models, creative writing, and other media arts. Cross-list: ENGL 386.
FILM 383 - GLOBAL CINEMA
Short Title: GLOBAL CINEMA
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Credit Hours: 4
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: This course introduces students to cinema as a global enterprise. It explores the relationship between nations, identities, races, concepts, and genres. It inquires into the question of globalization as it relates to the motion picture audience, corporations, and the commerce of ideas. Cross-list: HART 383.
FILM 385 - FILM STUDIES
Short Title: FILM STUDIES
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Lecture
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: A variable topics course that may focus on such areas as film genres, national cinemas, world cinema, directors or other thematically organized topics. Cross-list: ENGL 385. Repeatable for Credit.
FILM 386 - MEDIA STUDIES
Short Title: MEDIA STUDIES
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Lecture
Credit Hours: 3-4
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: A variable topics course that addresses interdisciplinary approaches to studying the relationships between film, photography, television, and digital technologies such as the internet and computer-generated imaging. Cross-list: ENGL 388. Repeatable for Credit.
FILM 395 - FILM INTERNSHIP
Short Title: FILM INTERNSHIP
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Internship/Practicum
Credit Hours: 1-6
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: This course is a field-based, supervised, professional learning experience designed to enhance classroom learning. Students will be responsible for identifying and securing internship positions and must obtain permission from the department chairman and have a department faculty sponsor. All interns are required to keep an internship journal recording duties and activities; the journal will be used as the basis of a five-page paper summarizing the internship experience. Documentation of the work produced during the internship is required portfolio, CD, DVD, etc. Instructor Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.
FILM 396 - SPECIAL PROBLEMS IN FILM & VIDEOTAPE MAKING
Short Title: SPEC. PROB: FILM & VIDEO
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Independent Study
Credit Hours: 1-6
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: Study of problems in film and film production. Topics may vary. Please consult with the department for additional information. May be used in awarding transfer credit. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Instructor Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.
FILM 420 - FILM STUDIO
Short Title: FILM STUDIO
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Prerequisite(s): FILM 327 or FILM 328 or FILM 324 or FILM 287 or FILM 444 or FILM 333 or FILM 380
Description: A class for advanced filmmaking students working independently, and meeting as a group to participate in discussions and workshops on a variety of filmmaking topics. Repeatable for Credit.
FILM 432 - FILM GENRE: THE WESTERN
Short Title: FILM GENRE: THE WESTERN
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Distribution Group: Distribution Group I
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: Survey of the essential American film experience spanning all the years of U.S. cinema, with emphasis on the western and its mythic function in society. Space in studio classes is limited. Registration does not guarantee a place in class. The class roster is formulated on the first day of class by the individual instructor. Cross-list: ARTS 432.
FILM 433 - FILM GENRE: SCIENCE FICTION CINEMA
Short Title: FILM GENRE: SCIENCE FICTION
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Distribution Group: Distribution Group I
Credit Hours: 4
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: In this course we will trace the history and elements of the popular film genre of science fiction, from early silents to recent configurations. We will look at the links between the genre cinema itself. Topics for the Film Genre courses will vary and will include the uncanny, transhumanism, utopia and dystopia, and technology.
FILM 434 - COMPARATIVE FILM GENRE
Short Title: COMPARATIVE FILM GENRE
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Credit Hours: 4
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: This course will explore the tradition of genre filmmaking, with an emphasis on how the concept of genre situates itself within the evolving system of commercial institutional film and how it is thought of a window on culture and society. The course covers three or more genres from the point of view of nations, transnationalism, ethnic and racial identity, and global culture.
FILM 435 - SEMINAR ON FILM AUTHORSHIP: THE NEW HOLLYWOOD
Short Title: SEMINAR ON FILM AUTHORSHIP
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Credit Hours: 4
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: This seminar covers the concept of authorship in Hollywood cinema since 1968. Topics include: the auteur theory, biography, voice, the implied author, intention, and others. Cross-list: ARTS 435, HART 480.
FILM 444 - HANDMADE FILM
Short Title: HANDMADE FILM
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Studio
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: 16mm film production course utilizing handmade cinema techniques, 4 required 16mm films made using surface treatments, shooting with a 16mm film camera, hand developing, classic animation, crating soundtracks and digital editing. Space in class is limited. Registration does not guarantee a place in class. Cross-list: ARTS 444.
FILM 456 - SPECIAL PROBLEMS IN FILMMAKING
Short Title: SPECIAL PROBLEM: FILMMAKING
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Independent Study
Credit Hours: 1-6
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: Study of advanced problems in film and film production. Topics may vary. Please consult with the department for additional information. May be used in awarding transfer credit. Instructor Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.
FILM 477 - SPECIAL TOPICS
Short Title: SPECIAL TOPICS
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Internship/Practicum, Laboratory, Lecture, Seminar, Lecture/Laboratory
Credit Hours: 1-4
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: Topics and credit hours vary each semester. Contact department for current semester's topic(s). Repeatable for Credit.
FILM 499 - SENIOR FILM AND PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO
Short Title: FILM AND PHOTO STUDIO
Department: Art
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Studio
Credit Hours: 3
Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.
Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level
Description: Required course for all film and photography major concentrations. This course involves focused preparation of their work for the annual senior exhibition. This course consists of lectures, visits, and critiques by artists, filmmakers and photographers, and intensive work. Students must receive permission from their faculty advisor or department chair to register for this class; only department majors who have senior academic standing will be allowed to register for this course. Instructor Permission Required.