Cinema
Departmental Guidelines
The Department of Cinema’s curriculum requires courses in both cinema studies and in film/digital production. Cinema majors and minors are strongly encouraged to complete at least CINE 104 - Film Aesthetics and Analysis and CINE 221 - Elementary Cinema Production during the first year, and CINE 225 - History of Cinema and CINE 230 - Intermediate Cinema Production by the end of their sophomore year. Cinema majors are also urged to select a faculty member in the Department of Cinema as their advisor.
Mission Statement
The Department of Cinema is devoted to teaching the practice and the scholarly study of the art of cinema in all its forms (e.g. narrative, documentary, avant-garde/experimental, animation). Our curriculum incorporates film/digital production and the study of film aesthetics, history, and theory, with majors required to take production and cinema studies courses in equal measure. This reflects our belief that filmmaking and film studies are mutually sustaining: the experience of researching and analyzing cinema at a high intellectual level provides the developing filmmaker with a sense of their place in film-historical tradition as well as an aesthetic and conceptual sophistication that leads to more compelling artwork; and the experience of making films allows students to see cinema in new ways, enriching their analytical, historical, and theoretical writing and thinking.
As a department in Denison’s Division of Fine Arts, we approach cinema first and foremost as an art form. Making and studying art merges technical skill and experience, aesthetic sensibility, historical knowledge, and a wide range of ideas and types of thinking. Our goal is to help our students become more critical, discerning, and worldly producers and consumers of cinematic art.
As a department at a liberal arts university, we teach cinema in a way that encourages students to connect it with the other arts, and to forge links between the study of film and their academic work in other courses at Denison. In film studies courses, students examine cinema from multiple perspectives: historical, scientific and technological, philosophical, psychological, economic, political, and cultural. They engage in film analysis, historical research, and theoretical inquiry. The film/digital production courses provide an immersive education in filmmaking technology and craft, while also challenging students to think artistically, critically, and ethically as they work to produce compelling works of film art.
Faculty
Jonathan Walley, Chair
Associate Professors Jonathan Walley, Marc Wiskemann, Jesse Schlotterbeck; Assistant Professor Michael Morris
Equipment Manager
Tennyson Hendershott
Program Coordinator
Alex Sokolik
Cinema Major
Required Courses for B.A.: 36 credits
| Code | Title | |
|---|---|---|
| CINE 104 | Film Aesthetics and Analysis | |
| CINE 221 | Elementary Cinema Production | |
| CINE 225 | History of Cinema | |
| CINE 230 | Intermediate Cinema Production | |
| CINE 360 | Advanced Cinema Production | |
| CINE 407 | Jr./Sr. Film Production Seminar | |
| or CINE 408 | Jr./Sr. Film Studies Seminar | |
| CINE 412 | Theory of Cinema | |
| Two elective courses in Cinema | ||
Cinema Minor
Required Courses: 24 credits
| Code | Title | |
|---|---|---|
| CINE 104 | Film Aesthetics and Analysis | |
| CINE 221 | Elementary Cinema Production | |
| CINE 225 | History of Cinema | |
| CINE 230 | Intermediate Cinema Production | |
| CINE 312 | Cinema Seminar | |
| or CINE 407 | Jr./Sr. Film Production Seminar | |
| or CINE 408 | Jr./Sr. Film Studies Seminar | |
| CINE 360 | Advanced Cinema Production | |
Courses
CINE 104 - Film Aesthetics and Analysis (4 Credit Hours)
An introduction to the study of cinema as an art form. The focus is on the analysis of narrative (as well as some non-narrative forms of cinema) and film style (the elements of film technique such as editing, cinematography, lighting and color, staging, and sound). Students learn to identify these elements of cinema aesthetics and analyze the ways in which they work in a variety of different types of film, including Hollywood films, art cinema, documentary, and avant-garde/experimental film. Required weekly film screenings. Required for all Cinema majors and minors: majors and minors should complete CINE 104 by the end of their first year.
CINE 150 - Special Topics in Cinema (4 Credit Hours)
Selected topics in Cinema.
CINE 199 - Introductory Topics in Cinema (1-4 Credit Hours)
A general category used only in the evaluation of transfer credit.
CINE 201 - The Horror Film (4 Credit Hours)
A seminar on the horror film, one of the most popular and enduring of all cinematic genres. We will compare attempts to define the genre and to explain its intense psychological effects and popular appeal. We will also examine the major aesthetic traits of the horror film, analyzing characteristic plots, events, characters and elements of cinematic style (e.g. cinematography, music, special effects). And we will trace the horror genre over time, considering how it has been shaped by film industry conditions, changes in filmmaking technology, and broad social/cultural developments. In addition to viewing films, we will look at manifestations of the horrific in the other arts.
CINE 202 - Screenwriting (4 Credit Hours)
A workshop-style course on dramatic narrative writing for the screen. Students learn the specific format of the standard film script, but more importantly engage in critical examination of the unique nature of cinematic narrative in both feature length and short films. The course considers both classical narrative film and its alternatives, including art cinema, independent film, and the short film. Analysis of scripts and finished films alike is supplemented by readings from screenwriting manuals and scholarly writing on narrative form, addressing such things as plot structure, character, dramatic conflict, description, and dialogue. As a writing workshop, the course also emphasizes general aspects of good writing technique and the processes of editing and revision. Frequent exercises and assignments in and out of class allow students to hone specific writing skills and develop their understanding of narrative form and ability to create compelling stories. Cinema elective; open to non-majors.
CINE 203 - Introduction to Animation (4 Credit Hours)
Animation is the illusion of motion created by the consecutive display of slightly varying drawings or models of static elements. In this course, students will learn the fundamentals of traditional animation techniques, as well as cover many aspects of the more experimental contemporary forms of stop-motion animation processes. Students will be given several animation "studies" over the course of the semester that will offer them experience with different types of stop-motion and computer key-framed techniques, as well as experience in story-boarding, sound recording, character movement and rig development, and post digital effects work. In addition to workshop projects, students will be exposed to outside readings and film viewings.
CINE 221 - Elementary Cinema Production (4 Credit Hours)
An introductory digital production course exploring the nature of the cinematic medium from the point of view of production and technique, with an emphasis upon cinema as an aesthetic form. Each student will complete a series of projects in the digital format. Students are required to share in the expenses of their digital productions. Required of Cinema majors.
CINE 225 - History of Cinema (4 Credit Hours)
An overview of some major trends in the history of cinema from its invention to the present. Individual films provide a basis for the exploration of the larger developments in technology, economics, politics, and culture that make up their historical context. The course also focuses on the development of critical skills for assessing arguments about film history, including analyzing written historical texts, comparing and contrasting competing historical arguments, and conducting film-historical research. The scope of the course is international, and encompasses a variety of important periods, film genres and modes, and national film movements. Required weekly film screenings. Required for all Cinema majors and minor; it is recommended that majors and minors complete CINE 225 by the end of their second year.
CINE 230 - Intermediate Cinema Production (4 Credit Hours)
An intermediate production course that builds and expands upon the skills and techniques learned in Elementary Cinema Production. In this course, each student will complete a series of short filmmaking assignments with an emphasis on film grammar, film aesthetics, and all facets of the production process. Required of Cinema majors.
Prerequisite(s): CINE 221.
CINE 299 - Intermediate Topics in Cinema (1-4 Credit Hours)
A general category used only in the evaluation of transfer credit.
CINE 312 - Cinema Seminar (4 Credit Hours)
The subject for these seminars varies from year to year, and offers the advanced student of cinema intensive and humanistic investigation of specialized generic, stylistic, and creative problems in the fields of film and/or video. Research papers, screenings, critical essays, readings. Repeatable.
Prerequisite(s): one cinema course or consent of instructor.
CINE 360 - Advanced Cinema Production (4 Credit Hours)
A production course designed for the advanced student of cinema. A rigorous and intensive practical course in the techniques of sound motion picture production. Students complete a series of individual and group projects. Students learn the fundamentals of production management, camera work, sensitometry, lighting, sound recording and mixing, and double-system editing. Students are required to share in the expenses of their productions. Required of Cinema majors.
Prerequisite(s): CINE 230.
CINE 361 - Directed Study (1-4 Credit Hours)
CINE 362 - Directed Study (1-4 Credit Hours)
CINE 363 - Independent Study (1-4 Credit Hours)
CINE 364 - Independent Study (1-4 Credit Hours)
CINE 399 - Advanced Topics in Cinema (1-4 Credit Hours)
A general category used only in the evaluation of transfer credit.
CINE 401 - Documentary Filmmaking (4 Credit Hours)
An introduction to the history and production of documentary filmmaking. Students will study various modes including poetic, vérité, and essayistic, and produce a series of short projects of their own in multiple styles. Prerequisite: CINE 310.
CINE 407 - Jr./Sr. Film Production Seminar (4 Credit Hours)
These seminars vary from year-to-year, and offer junior and senior cinema students intensive inquiry into specific cinematic production topics. Repeatable.
Prerequisite(s): CINE 410 or consent of instructor.
CINE 408 - Jr./Sr. Film Studies Seminar (4 Credit Hours)
These seminars vary from year-to-year, and offer junior and senior cinema students intensive inquiry into specialized topics in film studies. Repeatable.
Prerequisite(s): CINE 104 or consent of Instructor.
CINE 412 - Theory of Cinema (4 Credit Hours)
This course examines major concepts and important writings in film theory from the 1920s to the present. Students engage with a wide variety of theories: on the nature of cinema as an art form, its relationship to the other arts, its meaning-making capacities, its aesthetic and psychological powers, and its potential social and political effects. Theories are critically examined for their argumentative structures and use of evidence, and assessed in comparison to other theories. The scope of the course typically includes Modernist and realist film theories of the “classical” period, and more recent approaches to film theory informed by structuralism and post-structuralism, semiotics, Marxism, feminism, psychoanalytic and cognitive psychology, and queer theory. Required weekly film screenings. Required for all Cinema majors.
Prerequisite(s): CINE 104.
CINE 450 - Cinema Workshop (4 Credit Hours)
Designed for a limited number of students who have demonstrated significant ability in cinema production. The course involves students in the creation of works of cinematic art in 16mm sound format as a total process from script to screen. Some advanced video production may be permissible, by consent. Students are required to share in the expenses of their productions. Repeatable up to a limit of 16 credit hours. It should be noted that Cinema Workshop is not designed to provide professional training but rather to permit students to explore their creative abilities while employing professional tools and procedures.
Prerequisite(s): CINE 360.
CINE 451 - Senior Research (4 Credit Hours)
CINE 452 - Senior Research (4 Credit Hours)