MACS 496

Fall 2014 Part of Term B

Part of Term B
Oct 20-Dec 10

Advanced Media/Cinema Topics

Credit: 3 OR 4 hours.

Advanced study of cultural, social, historical, economic, and/or political issues in media and/or cinema; topics vary but may include national and transnational cinemas, directors, genres, historical movements, social and political movements, thematic studies, television, convergence culture, new media.

3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. May be repeated in the same or separate terms to a maximum of 6 undergraduate hours or 8 graduate hours as topics vary. Prerequisite: One College of Media course or consent of instructor.

My Favorites

My Schedule

Section Status updates every 10 minutes.

MACS 496 class schedule data for fall 2014
	CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
	57694	Lecture-Discussion	A3	10:00AM -1:20PM	TR	N107 Turner Hall	Turnock, J	Part of Term: B Date Range: 10/20/14-12/10/14 Credit: 3 hours Section Title: Special Effects Section Info: MOVIE MAGIC: VISUAL EFFECTS AND CGI This roughly chronological course will explore special effects technology, history and aesthetics. More specifically, we will use the technological history of special effects (which span cinema history) to examine representational strategies of film. Academic interest in cinematic special effects has largely been limited to discussion of genre (especially science fiction) or by theoretical interest in "the digital". This course will take a more broad historical view, in order to question the various binaries common in discussions of special effects, especially optical vs. digital, and realism vs. fantasy. Drawing on texts by theorists and practioners alike, we will examine how the films mobilize specific technologies, and the aesthetic frameworks they bring into play. Students will be expected to apply "close viewing" strategies to assignments, specifically to understand how specific effects techniques discussed are functioning in specific instances, both technologically and discursively. In addition, students will put these viewing and analyzing practices to work in a longer, research based final paper. The course will discuss the wide variety of films that have made extensive and creative use of special effects. We will screen films ranging from early trick films, experimentation in the silent era, studio-era process photography and optical printing, 1960s avant-garde animation, the intensified interest of special effects work in 1970s blockbusters, and into the digital era beginning in the early 1990s, to the present. PLEASE NOTE: Sophomores may register with instructor's permission. Restriction(s): Restricted to students with Junior, Senior, or Graduate class standing.