Intercollegiate Media Studies Major

Media Studies is an intercollegiate major offered jointly by Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, Pomona and Scripps Colleges. The major requires the completion of 11 courses, with a concentration in Film/Video, Digital/Electronic Media, or Critical Studies.

All Media Studies majors will complete the following courses.

Courses listed as fulfilling each requirement are subject to change, and other courses may be counted toward those requirements with the consent of the IMS curriculum committee.

1. One introductory critical/theoretical course

MS 49 PZ, PO, SC: Introduction to Media Studies

Presents a comprehensive view of the issues important to media studies, including the development of new technologies, visual literacy, ideological analysis, and the construction of content. Students read theory, history and fiction; view films and television programs; and write research and opinion papers. Course is taught at least once a semester on at least one of three campuses. Instructor: Staff [Introductory]

MS 50 HM, PZ, PO or LIT 130 CM: Language of Film

This course is taught at least once a semester on one or more of four campuses. Language of Film is an introductory film course that considers the formal elements of cinema as well as the history of film beginning in 1895. This course serves as a prerequisite for production courses and some film history courses. Instructor: staff. [Introductory]

MS 51 PO: Introduction to Digital Media Studies

An interdisciplinary introduction to digital and electronic media, exploring the relationships between "old" and "new" media forms, the historical development of computer-based communication and the ways that new technologies are reshaping literature, art, journalism and the social world. Instructor: K. Fitzpatrick [Introductory]

2. One introductory production course

ART 20 PO: Photography I

A basic photographic course emphasizing all aspects of black and white film exposure, development, and printing. Classes develop technical and conceptual expertise, knowledge of historic and contemporary directions in the field, and an ability to make extended, personal statements in the medium. Equipment needed: camera; tripod useful but optional. Instructor: Staff [Production]

ART 21 PO: Digital Art I

Introduction to creative and conceptual strategies for artists working in the area of digital art. Readings and lectures provide a historical, technical and conceptual framework, while studio practice introduces computer- and network-based methods of art production. Instructor: M. Allen [Production]

ART 141 SC: Introduction to Digital Imaging

This course is designed to develop a sense of computer literacy using the Macintosh system and to acquaint students with the most current state-of-the-art programs in graphics software. Critical discourse is a key element to the structure of the course in examining some of the principles of visual literacy that are encountered in photography, video, animation, and the Internet. Laboratory fee: $75. Offered annually. Instructor: N. Macko [Production]

ART 143 SC: Digital Color Photography

Adobe Photoshop is a program of many levels and complexities. This course will provide the student with an opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of the program through a series of advanced tutorials. Students will then create a digitally output portfolio. Issues of digital printing, digital photography and contemporary photographic practice will be discussed in relation to their work. Related readings on contemporary photography and digital art practice. Laboratory fee: $75. Instructor: N. Macko [Prereq: ART 141, 145. Introductory]

ART 145 SC: Beginning Photography

A lecture and laboratory course in black-and-white photographic principles with an emphasis on visual content, aesthetic concepts, and creative seeing. Instruction in basic camera and darkroom technique and in the history of the photographic medium. Instructor: J. Orser [Students need to have constant access to a 35mm camera. Lab Fee: $75. Production]

ART 148 SC: Introduction to Video

A studio course introducing students to the basic techniques of digital video production: camerawork and non-linear editing. Production is augmented by critiques, screenings, and discussions of conceptual and formal ideas. Instructor: T. Tran or Staff [Non-Scripps students need instructor permission. Production]

MS 82 PZ: Intro to Video Production

This workshop is an introduction to all aspects of digital video production—camera, lights, tripods, sound and non-linear editing. Hands-on assignments will be organized around the formal properties and power of video. The workshop will allow students to evaluate each other’s work as well as that produced by media professionals and to create a final video of their own. Instructors: A. Juhasz, M. Ma, S. Hutin [Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51 or equivalent. Enrollment is limited. Fee: $150. Production]

MS 182s HM, Introduction to Video Production

Students learn how to make their own videos, using professional video cameras and editing systems. Weekly, hands-on workshops will cover the entire production process-storyboarding, shooting, lighting, recording sound, and editing in Final Cut Pro. Students will complete several group exercises and individual projects, and participate in critiques of professional media and each other�s work. Video is explored as a medium for expression, persuasion, humor, storytelling and art-making. Prerequisite: MS 50 or equivalent. Instructor: R. Mayeri [P]

3. One course in media history

LIT 131 CM: Film History I (1925-1965)

This course surveys the history of cinema as art and mass medium, from the introduction of sound to the rise of the “New Hollywood.” Topics such as cinematic response to World War II, the decline of the studio system, and “new waves” of European filmmaking are studied in social, cultural and aesthetic perspectives. Offered every other year. Instructor: J. Morrison [Media History]

LIT 132 CM: Film History II (1965-Present)

This course surveys the history of cinema as art and mass medium, from 1965 to the present. Topics such as the rise of independent filmmaking in America, the conglomeration of the studios, and European resistance to Hollywood’s domination on the world market are considered in social, cultural, and aesthetic terms. Offered every other year. Instructor: J. Morrison [Media History]

LIT 134 CM: Special Studies in Film

A seminar designed to explore the aesthetic achievement and social impact of film as an art form. Subjects for study include such topics as specific film genres, the work of individual film-makers, and recurring themes in film. Each year the seminar concentrates on a different area-for example, “Film and Politics,” “The Director as Author,” or “Violence and the Hero in American Films.” Offered every other year. Topic for Spring 2011: Welles and Modern Cinema. Instructor: J. Morrison [Media History]

LIT 136 CM: American Film Genres

Mainstream genres can be seen as expressions of American culture’s popular mythology. This course will concentrate on selected genres to examine the social values, issues, and tensions that underlie these narratives and their characteristic ways of resolving fundamental societal conflicts. Instructor: J. Morrison [Theory/Film Theory; G/U]

MS 45 PZ: Documentary Media

This course involves production, a historical survey of documentary practices in photography, film and video, and a discussion of the ethical and ideological issues raised by the genre. Students will be expected to produce two short documentary projects in any media. Instructor: J. Lerner [Media History/Intermediate Production]

MS 47 PZ: Independent Film Cultures

While Hollywood is the dominant film system, it is by no means the only structure through which films are made or enjoyed. Artists, political people, counter-culture types and many others who oppose mainstream culture have created independent film cultures including avant-garde, "indie" and digital cultures. Course work will explore these 3 cultures through readings, screenings, written papers and production projects. Instructor: A. Juhasz. [Media History or Theory/Film Theory; G/U]

MS 79 PZ: Silent Film

How does the invention of cinema fit within the emerging order of modernism? This class will examine early cinema in the context of the turn-of-the-century project of extending the field of human vision, examining topics such as ethnography, science, journalism, travel, representations of the city and architecture, and the construction of racial difference. Instructor: J. Lerner [Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51 or equivalent. Media History]

MS 86 PZ: History of Ethnographic Film

This course offers a historical survey of ethnographic film, beginning in the silent era with the early efforts of Robert Flaherty and with Curtis, and continuing to recent works by Manthia Diawara, Marlon Fuentes and Trinh T. Minh-ha. Instructor: J. Lerner [Media History]

MS 89 PZ: Mexican Film History

This survey of the evolution of Mexican media extends from the first Edison to contemporary video art. Special attention will be paid to the avant-garde and other marginalized cinemas in relation to other art forms, experimental filmmakers from other countries working in Mexico and the Mexican film industry. Instructor: J. Lerner [Media History]

MS 91 PZ: History of American Broadcasting

Studies the history of American broadcasting from the diffusion of radio as a mass media through the transition to television, up to the development of television as the dominant broadcasting form. Students will begin to understand the impact of U.S. broadcasting by familiarizing themselves with key programs and trends. Instructor: T. MacLean [Media History]

MS 100 PZ: Asian Americans in Media

This is an historical survey of Asian American involvement in media production, beginning with the Silent Film Era and ending with contemporary projects in film, video, and new media. In this course, we will focus on the shifting yet continuous participation of Asians in the production of media in North America, and look at how changing political, social, and cultural discourses have shaped media representations of Asians throughout this period. Instructor: M. Ma [Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51 or equivalent, or PI AA 90 or PI AA 101 or CMC HIST 125. Media History]

4. One course in media theory

Art 181 SC, Theory Seminar in Studio Art and Media Studies

This upper-division course provides an in-depth look at the history and methodologies underlying contemporary art practices and is intended to provide students with an opportunity to explore, research, and write on visual culture. Connecting contemporary art practice to the wider history of art, topics may include uses of photography in the 19th century, the avantgarde in Europe, Performance Art, Conceptual Art, Minimalism, Installation Art, Pop Art, and contemporary practices. Repeatable for credit with different topics. Staff.

ART 181G SC: From Beauty to the Abject: Race, Whiteness and Modernism

Looking at various aesthetic models, this course will highlight the intersection of modern and contemporary art criticism with issues related to social and cultural constructions of difference as manifested within the visual arts. Topics include modernism, whiteness, race, and the history of lynching in California. Instructor: K. Gonzales-Day [Theory; G/U]

ART 183 SC: Feminist Concepts & Practices in Studio Art and Media Studies

This seminar/studio course examines the recent history and current trends of women's roles and contributions in media studies and studio art through readings and projects with an emphasis on gender in relationship to media culture. Analysis of and experimentation with visual media including print, photography and digital art in relation to the theory and practice of media studies and studio art is informed by a feminist perspective and critique. [Prerequisites: Art 131, Art 141, or Art 145, or permission of instructor. Theory]

ARHI 141B PO: Africana Cinema: Through the Documentary Lens

Course examines documentary films and videos created by filmmakers from Africa and the African Diaspora (United States, Britain and Caribbean). Topics include: history and aesthetics of documentary filmmaking, documentary as art, the narrative documentary, docu-drama, cinema vérité, biography, autobiography and historical documentary. Offered alternate years. Instructor: P. Jackson [Theory/Film Theory]

ENGL 118 PO: Nature of Narrative in Fiction and Film

Investigates narrative as a fundamental mode of understanding and organizing human experience. Practice of storytelling in writers like Calvino, Diderot, Kundera, Borges, Proust, Kafka, Dante, Sterne, Woolf and Sartre; and in filmmakers like Lynch, Hitchcock, Roeg, Mallek and Allen. Theories of narrative from Aristotle through Freud to Barthes. Instructor: A. Reed [Elective]

LIT 103 HM: Third Cinema

Emerging in Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s, the notion of Third Cinema takes its inspiration from the Cuban revolution and from Brazil’s Cinema Novo. Third Cinema is the art of political film making and represents an alternative cinematic practice to that offered by mainstream film industries. This course explores the esthetics of film making from a revolutionary consciousness in three regions: Africa, Asia and Latin America. Instructor: I. Balseiro [Theory/Film Theory]

LIT 136 CM: American Film Genres

Mainstream genres can be seen as expressions of American culture’s popular mythology. This course will concentrate on selected genres to examine the social values, issues, and tensions that underlie these narratives and their characteristic ways of resolving fundamental societal conflicts. Instructor: J. Morrison [Theory/Film Theory; G/U]

LIT 138 CM: Film & Mass Culture

This course will examine film as art and as medium in the context of the rise of 20th-century “mass culture.” We will take up such topics as the role of film in producing the ideas of “mass culture;” the cinematic representation of the “masses;” film as an instrument of the standardization of culture and as a mode of resistance to it; film and modernism; film and postmodernism; representations of fascism in cinema; and “subculture” considered as an effect of mass culture. Offered every third year. Instructor: J. Morrison [Theory/Film Theory; G/U]

MS 46 PZ: Feminist Documentary Production and Theory

Women have made politicized documentaries since the invention of the motion picture camera. Students will learn this complex theoretical, historical and political tradition while producing their own feminist documentary. Enrollment is limited. Course fee: $150. Instructor: A. Juhasz [Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51 or equivalent, or MS 82. Theory/Film Theory; G/U]

MS 48 PZ: Media Ethnography/Autobiography

This integrated production/theory course will survey the rich traditions of autobiographical and ethnographic media production while also reading theories and histories of these practices to consider the diverse ethics, strategies, contradictions, and motives of using a camera for knowledge of self and other. Students will produce media ethnographies and autobiographies, as well as written analyses of these practices. Course fee: $150. Instructor: A. Juhasz [Prereq: MS 82. Theory or Intermediate/Advanced Production; G/U]

MS 114 PZ: Film Sound

An intermediate-level course focusing on sound theory and relationships between sound and image. This topic will be examined through reading assignments, screenings and listening sessions, in-class presentations, writing and sound recording assignments. In this class students will engage with the history of audio reproduction, the concepts of French theorist Michel Chion, the psychoanalytic theories on the female body and voice, the notion of the soundscape, and the relationship between ethnography, colonialism, and audio technology. Instructor: M. Ma [Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51 or equivalent. Theory/Film Theory; G/U]

MS 76 PZ: Gender and Genre

Generic coding allows for the telling and re-telling of narratives which revel in (white, male, heterosexist) society’s “hidden” fears, desires and beliefs. But what happens when the demons, seductresses, whores and monsters of such tales revision genre for their own ends? We will consider how horror, melodrama and film noir speak to/for/about women. Instructor: A. Juhasz [Theory or Film Theory; G/U]

MS 110 PZ: Media & Sexuality

This course is an intermediate/advanced-level course examining the intersections between media theory and the study of sexuality. In exploring issues including transgenderism, pornography, censorship, feminism, queer cinema, and representations of race and sexuality, this course focuses on compelling case studies that provide students with specific understanding of the prevailing debates and defining theories of sexuality within media studies. Please note: Students must be aged 18 and above to enroll in this course. Instructors: A. Juhasz/M-Y. Ma [Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51 or equivalent. Theory; G/U]

MS 147B PO: Topics in Media Theory: Body, Representation, Desire

A close examination of theories of media analysis, with an emphasis on the visual arts (painting, photography, film, video, installation art, performance art, conceptual art, art museums). Topics change from year to year. Course may be repeated for credit as topics vary. Prerequisite: one media studies or art history course. Topic for Spring 2011: Body, Representation, Desire. Instructor: J. Friedlander [Theory]

MS 149 PO: Topics in Media Theory 2

A rigorous, focused inquiry into the theorists, schools and movements that have set the terms for analysis of contemporary media, including print media, film, television and the Internet. Topics change from year to year; course may be repeated for credit as topics vary. Instructor: K. Fitzpatrick, L. Mullens [Theory]

MS 197 PZ: Media Praxis in Ontario

Political people and communities have often used the media to contribute to social change within the context of and in dialogue with theoretical and political traditions. As we study these moments in media history (e.g., Soviet montage, Third Cinema, feminist film, queer cinema, hip hop), we will ourselves be engaged in something similar: a semester-long community-based media project in Ontario. We will look at moments in film history where artists created socially conscious art while also attempting to theorize this practice. We will read this writing and view its associated work, and we will discuss what we can gain for our own practices in Ontario from their experiences, ideas, and images. Then, we will make and theorize our own media praxis. Instructor: A. Juhasz [Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51 or equivalent, and 82. Theory or Intermediate/Advanced Production; G/U]

5. A senior seminar

MS 190 PO, MS 190 PZ, or MS 190 SC (MS 190: Senior Seminar will be taught jointly effective Fall 2007.)

Each student will also complete one of the following six-course concentrations:

Film/Video

6. One intermediate or advanced film/video production class.

7. One additional course in media history, as listed above.

8-11. Four appropriate electives, drawn from the list of all approved courses that follows (note that Pitzer MS majors must select MS 194 PZ, Media Arts for Social Justice, or MS 196 PZ, Media Internship, as one of their electives).

Digital/Electronic Media

6. An intermediate or advanced digital production course.

7. One course in twentieth or twenty-first century art history:

ARHI 181 SC: Art Since 1945

Painting, sculpture, and non-traditional art forms from Abstract Expressionism to the present, with emphasis on American art. Topics include Abstract Expressionism, Pop, Minimalism, Conceptual and Performance Art, Land Art, Site-Specificity and Institutional Critique, feminist art and video. Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Instructor: J. Koss [Prereq: one previous art history course. Art History/Elective]

ARHI 184 PO: Modernism, Antimodernism & Postmodernism: A Social History of North American Art

A comparative analysis of artistic production in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico in the 20th and 21st centuries. Examines issues of race, class, and gender and the relationships between artistic theories and practices, economic developments, and social and political movements (e.g. the Mexican Revolution, the Depression, the Women's Movement). Instructor: F. Pohl [Art History]

ARHI 185 PO: History of Photography

Explores evolution of the photographic image in documentary work, portraiture, aesthetic expression, journalism, and advertising from its inception to the present time. Instructor: K. Howe [Art History/Media History]

ARHI 185T PO, Art and Time

8-11. Four appropriate electives, drawn from the list of all approved courses that follows (note that Pitzer MS majors must select MS 194 PZ, Media Arts for Social Justice, or MS 196 PZ, Media Internship, as one of their electives).

Critical Studies

6. One additional media theory course, as listed above. One of the two required media theory courses must be MS 147 PO or MS 149 PO, Topics in Media Theory I or II.

7. One additional course in media history, as listed above.

8-11. Four appropriate electives, drawn from the list of all approved courses that follows (note that Pitzer MS majors must select MS 194 PZ, Media Arts for Social Justice, or MS 196 PZ, Media Internship, as one of their electives).

Critical Studies: Film Studies Option

Students desiring an emphasis in Film Studies should follow the Critical Studies track, tailoring their major by selecting the following courses:

1. MS 50 PZ or LIT 130 CM, Language of Film

2. MS 82 PZ, Introduction to Film and Video Production; ART 148 SC, Introduction to Video; or MS 182s HM, Introduction to Video Production

3. MS 147 PO, Topics in Media Theory I; or MS 149 PO, Topics in Media Theory II

4. One course in film theory such as: LIT 103 HMC, Third Cinema; LIT 138 CMC, Film and Mass Culture; LIT 139 CM, Film Theory; MS 46 PZ, Feminist Documentary Production and Theory; MS 72 PZ, Women and Film; or MS 76 PZ, Gender and Genre; MS 48 PZ, Media Ethnography/Autobiography; MS 74 PZ, Sound Theory, Sound Practice; MS 110 PZ, Media and Sexuality; MS 197 PZ, Media Praxis in Ontario; or ARHI 141B PO, Africana Cinema: Through the Doc Lens

5-6. LIT 131 CM, Film History I (1925-1965) and LIT 132 CM, Film History II (1965-Present)

7. MS 190 PO, Senior Seminar

8-11. Four appropriate film-oriented electives drawn from the list of all approved courses that follows (note that Pitzer MS majors must select MS 194 PZ, Media Arts for Social Justice, or MS 196 PZ, Media Internship, as one of their electives).

Senior Exercise

The senior exercise consists of a topical senior seminar jointly taught during the fall semester by faculty from each of the concentrations. This seminar asks students to bring together the various aspects of their course of study, producing an appropriate culminating seminar project that demonstrates their command of the fields and the forms of critical and creative practice that they have studied. During this seminar, all senior Media Studies majors will be given the option to develop a proposal for a second-semester Senior Project. These proposals will be reviewed by the Media Studies faculty, and selected students will go on to complete an independent project under the supervision of two members of the Media Studies faculty or appropriate affiliated faculty members from the Claremont Colleges. The Senior Project course will count toward the four electives required for the major.