Undergraduate Courses: Summer 2013

FilmStd 111: Introduction to Film, TV, and the Internet

Gilberto M. Blasini
Section 211 | 1st 4-week session (May 28 – June 22)

Entertainment Arts 111 offers a general introduction to the critical study of film, television, and new media. While examining each technology individually we will also work in a state of persistent comparison, endeavoring to comprehend media culture as a larger phenomenon. There are no prerequisites for this course and you are therefore not expected to have any prior knowledge of media studies. We will begin with the premise that film, television, and new media offer much more than “entertainment” and, accordingly, studying these forms is a serious undertaking requiring rigor and diligence. There are no textbooks or readers to be purchased for this course. All required readings are available in PDF format at our course’s D2L site. As part of your work for this class, you will write three short papers, one for each of the course’s units–that is, one on TV, one on film and one on new media. These papers will assess how well you can apply the theories, and methods presented to you through lecture notes, readings and screenings. This course satisfies the General Education Requirement in the Humanities. English 111 is a core course for the Digital Arts and Culture Certificate Program.

More info: gblasini@uwm.edu

FilmStd 290: Introduction to Film Studies

Tasha Oren
Online

Learn about the basics of film style, criticism, story structure and what makes movies work. This course introduces students to the basics of film analysis, formal elements, genre, and narrative structure and helps develop skills to recognize, analyze, describe and enjoy film as an art and entertainment form. The class includes readings, screenings, writing assignments and online discussion. Class, screenings, lectures and readings are all online: no textbook purchase is required. Open to all students; satisfies the GER Humanities requirement and a DAC certificate course.

More info: tgoren@uwm.edu

FilmStd 312: Topics in Film Studies

Cinema and Digital Culture
Tami Williams
Online

From cinema to cell phones, the multimedia context of contemporary life is rapidly changing. From the late 19th century kinetoscope to the 21st century iPhone, moving image culture has, in fact, never stopped reinventing or creating itself anew. This course provides a general introduction to the critical study of motion pictures in relation to digital media. We will examine the nature of the digital from a variety of perspectives: technological, economic and social. However, our primary approach will be cultural and aesthetic. Namely, we will look at how “”new media,”” such as digital photography, video games, virtual reality, and the “World Wide Web,” refashion earlier forms such as film and television, as well as how these latter are, themselves, influenced by emerging media. In addition to studying critical, historical and theoretical texts on new technologies, we will consider the place of the Self within the context of new media. Class discussions will focus on readings, film viewings and web visits. This course counts towards the Digital Arts and Culture Certificate Program. (For more info, visit the DAC program website).

More info: tamiw@uwm.edu and http://uwmdac.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/spring-2013-online-offering-englishfilm-studies-312-cinema-and-digital-culture/.

English 449: Writing Internship in English

Rachel Spilka
Meetings will be scheduled at the students’ convenience

This flexible-credit internship is an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to gain “real world” writing or related experience that can supplement their academic credentials and broaden their marketability for postgraduate positions in both academia and industry. Internship placements are available in publishing, public relations/advertising, and non-profit agencies and larger businesses or corporations. When meeting with the instructor prior to the summer term, students will create a short-list of placements that match up well with their career goals and interests. Students might be called upon to complete a variety of tasks in an internship placement, but typically their work involves research, writing, editing, design, proofreading, and other activities related to creating quality documentation. Students can enroll for ENG 449 for 1-4 credits per term and if they wish, they can take the course multiple times (at the same internship placement or different placements) up to a total of 9 credits. Most students prefer to take the course for 3 credits, which means that they will spend an average of 10-15 hours each week on internship work. If you are interested in setting up a summer internship, contact Rachel Spilka at spilka@uwm.edu, if possible before the end of the spring semester. Note that it commonly takes between three or more weeks to move through the process of finding and finalizing a placement.

More info: spilka@uwm.edu

English 452: Shakespeare

Mark Netzloff
Section 51 | M-R, 1:00-3:30 (2nd 4-week summer session)

This course provides an introductory survey of Shakespearean drama. Due to our compressed four-week schedule, we will be focusing on only four plays: The Merchant of Venice, Henry V, Hamlet, and Othello. Complementing our close reading of the plays, we will also be situating the texts in relation to their literary, theatrical, and historical contexts. Because Shakespeare wrote his plays for performance rather than publication, we will pay particular attention to the cultural importance of the early modern theater. In addition, we will examine the ways these texts have been reinterpreted over time by looking at the plays in performance and on film, including screenings of productions of each play.

More info: Netzloff@uwm.edu