Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema Courses

Description: This is a mandatory course in the Film and Moving Image Studies Program. Course materials examine the ways that moving image history, theory, criticism, and analysis have been and can be written, encompassing established ways of seeing, interpreting and understanding cinema and related media.

• Although these courses are not sequenced, it is strongly recommended that students enroll in this course prior to enrolling in FMST 602.
• Students who have received credit for FMST 600 may not take this course for credit.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: Although these courses are not sequenced, it is strongly recommended that students enroll in FMST 601 prior to enrolling in this course.

Description: This is a mandatory course in the Film and Moving Image Studies MA Program. Students develop advanced research, writing and presentation skills. In addition to technical and practical matters, students develop productive and original research questions reflecting traditional and emergent approaches to cinema and related media.

• Students who have received credit for FMST 600 may not take this course for credit.

Description: This seminar explores the spectrum of Canadian cinema and video produced in English, and features screenings of historical and contemporary works within fiction, documentary and experimental areas, and in some instances, video and television as well. The culture, political and institutional contexts of production and reception are emphasized, with textural analysis at the core.

Component(s): Seminar

• Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 605 may not take that same topic under FMST 805 for credit.

Description: The course explores Québécois cinema culture. Emphasis is placed on the cultural and political contexts of production and reception. Topics may include the structure of the film industry in Québec, the role of the NFB and other institutions, avenues of distribution and exhibition, also particular groups of films, such as cinema direct, or on specific time periods, or the work of specific filmmakers.

Component(s): Seminar

• Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 610 may not take that same topic under FMST 810 for credit.

Description: This course covers topics in Russian, German, French, Italian, British, Spanish and Eastern European Cinemas. Questions of national culture, patterns of film production, distribution and reception, and aesthetic histories are covered. The course incorporates future experimental and documentary films as well as readings in specific cultural histories.

Component(s): Seminar

• Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 615 may not take that same topic under FMST 815 for credit.
  

Description: This course focuses on Asian, African and South American filmmaking, film cultures and film industries, and comparative studies of issues pertinent to more than one of these cultures.

Component(s): Seminar

• Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 620 may not take that same topic under FMST 820 for credit.

Description: This course explores specific problems and methods of film historiography, and examines the practices associated with one or more of these methods. Course topics emphasize various historiographic methods and theories, problems of methodology and analysis.

Component(s): Seminar

• Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 625 may not take that same topic under FMST 825 for credit.
  

Description: This course is devoted to close readings of key tests in film theory, examining their background, intellectual histories, and analyzing their significance. Topics may concentrate on historical developments in film theory, or they may address a given method or approach.

Component(s): Seminar

• Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 630 may not take that same topic under  FMST 830 for credit.

Description: This course examines the broader cultural and aesthetic histories relevant to film theory and practice. These theories are studied in depth, beyond the limits of film studies, in order to situate film history and theory within other interdisciplinary perspectives. Topics may include postmodernism, modernism, philosophical aesthetics, sexual representation, Frankfurt School theory, postcolonialism, Marxism, deconstruction, and psychoanalysis.

Component(s): Seminar

• Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 635 may not take that same topic under  FMST 835  for credit.

Description: This course provides an opportunity to contextualize a range of historical and theoretical feminist positions, and women’s film practices. Sample course topics include pornography, experimental feminist praxis, gender and race, or constructions of gender in specific historical periods or countries.

Component(s): Seminar

• Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 640 may not take that same topic under  FMST 840 for credit.

Description: This course explores specific narrative film genres, such as the musical, the western, comedy, horror, melodrama and film noir. In each case, the history of the genre and its socio-historical dimensions is explored. Questions of genre transformation, popular mythology, cultural sources and parallel media, institutional analysis (studio practices) and spectatorship are addressed.

Component(s): Seminar

• Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 645 may not take that same topic under  FMST 845 for credit.

Description: This course examines the history, aesthetics, theory and practice of experimental/avant-garde film and video, and may be organized around specific bodies of work, or theoretical issues such as the politics of representation, pure cinema, poetic structures, reflexivity, or documentary representation. Questions of medium specificity, modernism/postmodernism, performance art and theory, exhibition, distribution, canonization and criticism are addressed.

Component(s): Seminar

• Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 650 may not take that same topic under  FMST 850  for credit.
  

Description: Documentary history, aesthetics and theory are addressed in this course. Questions of ideology, narrative and style in the context of specific groups of films are studied. Topics may relate to specific countries, histories, methods, institutions and cultural issues and methodological and theoretical problems arising from the concomitant evolution of television journalism, rapidly evolving technology, and changing patterns of exhibition and reception are examined.

Component(s): Seminar

• Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 655 may not take that same topic under  FMST 855 for credit.

Description: This course examines the work of one or more specific directors from stylistic, aesthetic, cultural and historical perspectives. Directors that may be studied include Welles, Dreyer, Eisenstein, Hitchcock, Lang, Pasolini, Godard, Von Sternberg, Akermann and Arzmer, have been the foundation of extensive film studies scholarship.

Component(s): Seminar

• Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 660 may not take that same topic under  FMST 860 for credit.

Description: This course covers special topics related to an instructor’s research project. Students study limited and more specialized aspects of film and moving image studies.

Component(s): Seminar

• Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 665 may not take that same topic under  FMST 865 for credit.

Component(s): Independent Study

Description: A student may receive credit for work at film institutions (e.g. festivals, archives), periodicals, educational or production establishments and for academic professional internships. Each internship must be approved in advance by the Program Director and the student must consult with an academic supervisor. The duties will be supervised by an individual within the sponsoring organization, in consultation with an academic adviser, to ensure that the student’s responsibilities are in keeping with aims of the MA program.

Component(s): Practicum/Internship/Work Term

• The academic advisor will determine the credit value of the internship, which will be evaluated on the basis of the student’s written report. The report should demonstrate the student’s understanding of the organization’s social and cultural role as well as an analysis of the activities and functioning of the organization. This 3-credit practicum should involve at least 135 hours at the host institution.

Description: A student may receive credit for work at film institutions (e.g. festivals, archives), periodicals, educational or production establishments and for academic professional internships. Each internship must be approved in advance by the Program Director and the student must consult with an academic supervisor. The duties will be supervised by an individual within the sponsoring organization, in consultation with an academic adviser, to ensure that the student’s responsibilities are in keeping with aims of the MA program.

Component(s): Practicum/Internship/Work Term

• The academic advisor will determine the credit value of the internship, which will be evaluated on the basis of the student’s written report. The report should demonstrate the student’s understanding of the organization’s social and cultural role as well as an analysis of the activities and functioning of the organization. This 3-credit practicum should involve at least 135 hours at the host institution.

Description: A student may receive credit for work at film institutions (e.g. festivals, archives), periodicals, educational or production establishments and for academic professional internships. Each internship must be approved in advance by the Program Director and the student must consult with an academic supervisor. The duties will be supervised by an individual within the sponsoring organization, in consultation with an academic adviser, to ensure that the student’s responsibilities are in keeping with aims of the MA program.

Component(s): Practicum/Internship/Work Term

• The academic advisor will determine the credit value of the internship, which will be evaluated on the basis of the student’s written report. The report should demonstrate the student’s understanding of the organization’s social and cultural role as well as an analysis of the activities and functioning of the organization. This 6-credit internship has the same requirements and provisions as the 3-credit internships, except that the student is expected to do twice the work (270 hours). This may occur in a concentrated period of time (one semester), or may be taken over two consecutive semesters.

Description: The examination committee will consist of three faculty members, and will be chaired by the Graduate Program Director, who will remain a neutral member of the committee. The GPD may appoint an alternate chair if he or she is a supervisor or reader of the thesis. Theses must be submitted to the department at least six weeks prior to the submission deadline given in the graduate calendar.

Component(s): Thesis Research

Prerequisite/Corequisite: Enrolment in the Cinematic Arts MFA is required.

Description: This research-creation methods course develops theoretical frameworks within cross-disciplinary trajectories for contemporary cinematic practices. Students investigate the reciprocal affiliations between theory and creative process, and the cultural and discursive contexts in which various cinematic idioms reside. Practice-based methodologies reflect the objectives of the program. Through a combination of seminar discussions, studio experiments, screenings, readings, and individual writings, students situate their thesis research creation conceptually and reflect critically on their creative processes. Writing exercises provide the foundation of the research-creation thesis proposal.

Component(s): Seminar; Studio

• Students who have received credit for FMPR 610 may not take this course for credit.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: Enrolment in the Cinematic Arts MFA; or a basic understanding of cinematographic principles such as exposure theory, lighting and camera-to-screen processes and written permission of the Graduate Program Director.

Description: Students address moving image aesthetics from a filmmaker-creator's perspective through individual or group exercises and in-depth formal analyses. Moving from concept to screening, topics explored may include the poetics of light, spatialization, script visualization, improvised imaging, experimental optical processes, and analogue praxis. The overall focus of this course is on the relationships between methods, materials, and the formal or stylistic strategies used across diverse cinematic practices.

Component(s): Seminar; Studio

• Students who have received credit for FMPR 611 may not take this course for credit.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: Enrolment in the Cinematic Arts MFA; or a basic knowledge of sound recording and post-production processes is required; and permission from the Graduate Program Director is required.

Description:

This studio course addresses sound aesthetics and allows students to develop an individualized approach to the audio/visual relationship within cinematic contexts. Studio projects emphasize the composition of sound in combination with film production, animation, and other forms of moving-image media. Workshops in audio production complement screenings and readings are included. Topics may include auditory perception, sound for animation, documentary and fiction, music for screens, visual music, sound art, and sound re-recording.

Component(s): Seminar; Studio

• Students who have received credit for FMPR 612 may not take this course for credit.

Description: This studio course in methods and processes examines interdisciplinary and collaborative strategies of innovative cinematic processes in a diversity of genres. Through a combination of studio experiments, screenings and writings, the course engages topics such as division of labor and disciplinary specialization; poetics of space and temporality; cinematic technologies and exhibition modalities; creative producing strategies; and assessment of experimental processes and outcomes. The course culminates in a presentation of creative work and the thesis project proposal.

Component(s): Seminar; Studio

• Students who have received credit for FMPR 613 may not take this course for credit.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: The following course must be completed previously: FMPR 623.

Description: Under the guidance of an instructor, the Graduate Symposium fosters a community of practice and research by exposing students to a diversity of materials, methods and processes, with the aim of expanding their understanding of disciplinary similarities and differences within the cinematic arts. Throughout this symposium series, in-progress thesis research presentations by students are enhanced with presentations by faculty and visiting cine-artists. In addition to oral presentations, students are required to submit a written research report for evaluation.

Component(s): Seminar; Studio

• Students who have received credit for DISP 615 may not take this course for credit.

Description: This course examines approaches specific to contemporary nonfiction cinematic production. Through studio assignments, screenings and readings, the course integrates both theory and practice in idea development, production and post-production with a focus on aesthetics and ethics. Topics may include independent documentary approaches, direct cinema, essayistic forms, experimental practices, hybrid forms, interactive documentary, ethnographic research creation, and expanded screen idioms.

Component(s): Seminar; Studio

Description: This graduate studio course covers contemporary approaches to auteur-driven cinematic fiction directing. Through workshops, readings, screenings and studio experiments, topics explored may include writing as creative practice, dramatic screenwriting and script analysis, innovative development processes, previsualization, work with actors, experimental on-set methodologies, mise-en-scène and diverse directorial approaches to image/sound poetics.

Component(s): Seminar; Studio

Prerequisite/Corequisite: Students must complete 9 credits in the MFA in Cinematic Arts prior to enrolling. An internship proposal must be supported by a full-time faculty member and approved with written permission by the Graduate Program Director.

Description: Under the joint supervision of the faculty member and the film industry supervisor, the student is employed within by a professional organization or other research affiliate relevant to the field of cinematic arts. Upon completion of the 150-hour internship, students are required to submit a learning outcomes report to the industry supervisor for signature, prior to submitting the report to the faculty member for assessment.

Component(s): Practicum/Internship/Work Term

• Students may not take this course to satisfy the Cinematic Arts MFA elective courses. Students may only receive credit for this course in place of the out-of-program elective requirement with written permission from the Graduate Program Director.
• Students who have received credit for INTP 661 may not take this course for credit.

Prerequisite/Corequisite: Students must complete 9 credits in the MFA in Cinematic Arts prior to enrolling. The independent study proposal must be supported by a full-time faculty member and approved with permission by the Graduate Program Director.

Description: The independent study course offers students opportunities to research and write about particular topics in film production that are not covered in the courses offered.

Component(s): Independent Study

• Students may not take this course to satisfy the Cinematic Arts MFA elective courses. Students may only receive credit for this course in place of the out-of-program elective requirement with written permission from the Graduate Program Director.
• Students who have received credit for INDS 671 may not take this course for credit.

Description: The thesis encompasses two synthesized components: a creative production component and a written component. The creative production constitutes an integral part of the research creation and may be presented in a variety of cinematic idioms and platforms. Its length is dictated by considerations of genre and technique, and therefore varies accordingly. The written component should demonstrate knowledge of prevailing practices and precedents as they relate to the creative production; critically consider the processes employed; and exhibit a basic knowledge of the literature relevant to the creative production.

Component(s): Thesis Research

• Students who have received credit for PROJ 691 and PROJ 692 may not register for the Research-Creation Thesis.