The University of Texas at Austin Department of Radio-Television-Film RTF 306: INTRODUCTION TO WORLD CINEMA HISTORY Web based Unique # 08235/ Fall 2020 CONTACT INFORMATION: Professor: Caroline Frick, PhD Office: CMA 6.130A Email: [email protected] Office Hours: Tuesday, 12:30 – 3:30pm Teaching Assistant: Laura Springman Email: [email protected] Course Description: Romantic images of the archaeologist have been a component of cinema for over one hundred years. But what if Indiana Jones needed to search for old media –nitrate celluloid or a moldy VHS tape – instead of golden treasure? This course will cast students as historical explorers, focusing our quest to discover and better understand the media as artifacts rather than just as narratives or “texts.” How can understanding radio, television, film and online video as physical objects that decompose (and even explode) over time complicate our understanding of the past? This class will focus upon the materiality of media within specific socio-cultural, economic and technological time periods, each with their own modes of historic, and futuristic, discourse. Topics will include studio preservation policy and national cinemas, the role of the archive and museum, high profile film restorations, and even Martin Scorsese. Course Learning Objectives: 1. Explain the value and role of media preservation, archives, and museums to the evolution and contemporary understanding of film, television, and digital media as artifact 2. Identify key archives, museums, libraries, and companies involved in the preservation of U.S. and international film and television collections 3. Assess the importance of provenance and context to media as entertainment and/or information 4. Actively construct and interpret history by “hands on” research and applying this knowledge to increase public access to media artifacts Accessing the Course: Required Technology and Materials • Canvas serves as your “Home” base for the course (Note: If possible, please try to access the course with a laptop vs. phone/tablet) • Readings will be uploaded to Canvas and available in the “Files” section 1 • Films/Videos: Assigned films and video clips will be accompanied by information as to where to access them either within the syllabus *or* links will be sent directly to students throughout the semester. Course Requirements: * Attendance and participation at class meetings and in-class exercises Note: As participation is a key component of this course, device cameras will be required to be on during the majority of the class period. If you anticipate any technical challenges/issues that could prevent you from using video, please contact the professor as soon as possible. * Completion of assigned readings and film/videos * “Making Old Media Social” Team Competition * “Mystery Film” project and “reflection” exercise/essay Grading: There is no "grading curve" for this course. Grades are based on the standard scale (i.e., 100 - 90 = A, 89 - 80 = B, 79 - 70 = C, 69 - 60 = D, 59 or below = F). Here are the point values for each assignment and the weight that each assignment will carry in calculating the final grade: * In-Class Exercises/Participation 100 points 50% * “Making Old Media Social” Project 100 points 25% * Mystery Film Project and Essay 100 points 25% In-Class Exercises/Attendance/Participation: Throughout the semester, we will be conducting in-class exercises (i.e., our archaeological “digs”). Each of these activities will be completed by either an individual or a team. The completion of these exercises will total 100 points by the end of the semester and will encompass a total of 50% of your grade. In order to allow for the inevitable disruptions likely to occur during the semester, you will be allowed to skip *one* of these digs no questions asked. (If you do not skip any assignment, we will drop your lowest grade.) Assessments: 1. In-class archaeological “digs” (to gauge comprehension and encourage applied learning) 2. Projects (to encourage applied learning and critical thinking) 3. Short Essays (to gauge critical thinking) CLASS SCHEDULE AND DUE DATES: (Subject to change) Week 1: INTRODUCTION Aug. 27 (R): Introduction to the course, syllabus, and schedule Week 2: MEDIA ARTIFACTS Sept. 1 (T): Pre-Cinema and the Persistence of Vision 2 Readings and Video: Archaeology of the Cinema, Preface and Chapter 1: Dubious and Serious Forerunners (Ceram); excerpts from “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (Benjamin); Mr. Wizard!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecgfCJVyYGM Sept. 3 (R): 35mm Celluoid: Nitrate Dreams Readings/Videos: “Is Time Rotting Our Film Records?” (Fairfield); “The Sparkling Surface of the Sea of History” – Notes on the Origins of Film Preservation” (Bottomore); Legion of the Condemned (Pierce) Week 3: ARTIFACTS Sept. 8 (T): Small gauge film Readings/Videos: Chapter 3: The Case of 16mm (Winston); “The Moving Image Archive of the Japanese American Historical Museum” (Ishizuka); Something Strong Within (1995): https://vimeo.com/channels/1445603/videos; Amateur Media in the Age of Television (Mostrescu-Mayes and Aasman) Sept. 10 (R): Video/Early Television Readings/Videos: Amateur Media in the Age of Television (Mostrescu-Mayes and Aasman), cont., “The Revolution was Recorded” (Hilderbrand); “The Dawn of Tape” (Martin); Videophiles and Betamania: Hacking the VCR (Greenberg) Week 4: ARTIFACTS Sept. 15 (T): Is Technology Neutral? Case Study: Color Readings/Videos: https://filmcolors.org/ ; “Glorious Technicolor Comes to Britain” (Street); https://texasarchive.org/2016_02128 and https://texasarchive.org/2016_01348 and more... Sept. 17 (R): Is Technology Neutral? Case Study: Color Readings and Video: Chapter2: The Case of Colour Film (Winston); https://www.mic.com/articles/184244/keeping-insecure-lit-hbo-cinematographer-ava-berkofskyon- properly-lighting-black-faces Week 5: COLLECTING Sept. 22 (T): The Individual Readings/Videos: “From rubbish to representation: individuals and collecting” (Martin); “The Contemporary Cinephile” (Klinger) – and what do YOU collect?? Bring it!! Sept. 24 (R): Archives, Museums, and Libraries Readings/Videos: “Museums and the Late Victorian World” (Conn); “Early Years and the Museum of Modern Art“ (Slide); Excerpt from Rewind This! (2013) via Canvas Week 6: ARTIFACTS [Week to include special guest visitor] Sept. 29 (T): Ephemera? Costumes, Magazines, Posters, and More! [with Special Guest TBA] 3 Readings/Videos: “The Critic: Louise Brooks, Star Witness” (Hastie); Ephmerata and Resources on Mexican Silent Film (Serna and Navitski); https://www.reganarts.com/spill/2016/11/peeking-behind- thehollywood-backdrop/index.html [Additional readings TBD by guest speaker] Oct. 1 (R): Ephemera? Costumes, Magazines, Posters, and More! Readings/Videos: “The Critic: Louise Brooks, Star Witness” (Hastie); Ephmerata and Resources on Mexican Silent Film (Serna and Navitski); https://www.reganarts.com/spill/2016/11/peeking-behind- thehollywood-backdrop/index.html; https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020- 0814/column-lillian-michelson-built-the-most-famous-research-library-in-hollywood-can- someoneplease-give-it-a-home Week 7: CURATION, PROGRAMMING, AND FESTIVALS Oct. 6 (T): Curation and Film Festivals [with Special Guest TBA] Readings/Videos:“Film Curatorship: The Making of a Definition” (Usai, Francis, Horwath, Loebenstein); “Film Festivals, Programming, and the Building of a National Cinema” (Czach); Film Festivals: From European Geopolitics to Global Cinephilia (Excerpts) (DeValck) Oct. 8 (R): The Rise of Algorithms and “Recommended for You” Readings/Videos: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/how-do-netflixs-algorithms-work-machinelearning- helps-to-predict-what-viewers-will- like#:~:text=Netflix%20uses%20machine%20learning%20and,genres%20to%20make%20its%20pre dictions.; https://netflixtechblog.com/artwork-personalization-c589f074ad76 ; and more… Week 8: USE AND ETHICS Oct. 13 (T): Programming Cont., and Access: Antiquated Concept? Readings/Videos: DeValck, cont.; “Special Issue: Manual Access to Film Collections” (Journal of Film Preservation) Oct. 15 (R): Case Study: Documentaries and “Found Footage” [Examples include Senna (2010), Jane (2017), Zelig (1983), Capturing the Friedmans (2003)] Readings/Videos: Jaime Barron, The Archive Effect, Chapter One with special emphasis on pgs. 5-11 Available via www.lib.utexas.edu / https://search.lib.utexas.edu/discovery/search?query=any,contains,archive%20effect&tab=LibraryC atalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=01UTAU_INST:SEARCH&offset=0 Week 9: USE AND ETHICS Oct. 20 (T): Access: Deep Fakes First: Watch this, no context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWLadJFI8Pk Readings/Videos: Everything in Your Archive is Now Fake: https://lab.witness.org/projects/synthetic-media-and-deep-fakes/ 4 https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/10/09/1009850/ai-deepfake-acting/ Oct. 22 (R): “Chain of Custody” and amateur film as evidence Readings/Videos: “Can You be BLACK and Look at This? Reading the Rodney King Video” (Alexander); “The Audio Going with the Video” (Braun) Week 10: USE AND ETHICS This week will feature a project in which students are grouped into teams and asked to research, contextualize, and edit assigned archival footage related to how the footage will be used in a particular platform (e.g., TikTok, FB, Twitter, and more….). We will be applying concepts discussed in the previous week by making *you* the curator. More details to come. Oct. 27 (T): “Making Old Media Social” Project Oct. 29 (R): “Making Old