2007: Film Course, J.F.K. Institut/MA, Kultur, F.U. Berlin
Alan Taylor has been delighted to be invited by Uni. Prof. Dr. Winfried Fluck to teach at the prestigious J.F.K Institute for North American Studies, Freie University of Berlin for the 2007 Spring/Summer Semester. A further course in FIlm Studies will follow for the Fall Term of 07-2008.
July 16th 2007: The course has now come to a close, though we do have 23 students currently working on their Research Papers. In fact, as of July 17th 2007, the first are coming through the system (!). Suggested reading list for essentail sequence analysis: Film Art (Brodwell) & How to Read A Film (Monaco). Both books stand side-by-side in the JFK-I library.
For a review of the course, here is the Weekly Schedule, though subject to changes as we proceeded: at-jfk-i-sum-07-week-schedule.pdf …and, as requested, highlights from the PowerPoint Presentations:at-film-jfk-i-sum-07-pp-hilites.pdf
Details of the Fall 2007-2008 Film Studies Programme at the J.F.K.I can be found here: http://kinowords.edublogs.org/jfk-fu-berlin/
Requirements for a Schein for the Spring Term - ‘The Conference Project’
1. Regular attendance (80% pus)
2. Productive and regular seminar contributions that forward and deepen our interest area, and which would be highlighted by a short descriptive account in the paper below…
3. “No text without context”: A research paper (20 pages). The hypethetical (or real?) audience for the paper is to be one of the many 2007 conferences on our subject and as listed, for example, in the links below. There will need to be a recogniseable U.S context to the paper.
Submission of the research paper would of course be supplemented with an introductory descriptive account of the chosen conference details, its assumed audience profile, expectations and the contemporary relevance of the research to such an audience.
One core element will be a descriptive analysis of a film/media text and, of course an abstract that will be undertaken as a first draft.
DEADLINES & GUIDES
THE DEADLINE for the Research Paper (RP) is Sunday September 30th, 2007. All necessary details (content, structure and contact/delivery procedures) are now here:
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- June 2007, JFK-I Newsletter profile on Course Leader, ALAN TAYLOR, page 11, by Tobias, JFK-I Student Journalist: http://www.jfki.fu-berlin.de/newsletter/newsletter04.pdf
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In construction: As of May 2007 we have a latest J.F.K.-I student website that incudes reviews, research plans and sample work: http://americannight.uniblogs.org/ (the title might change..).
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For added interest, our course is now listed amongst others that promote the advancement of Media Literacy across Europe http://www.euromedialiteracy.eu/index.php?Pg=index&Ug=allnews …and the advancement of new technologies in education, the Pro-Learn Virtual Competence Network: http://www.prolearn-online.com/links.php
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Berlin/NPR from the U.S.: The U.S. National Public Radio broadcasting channel (no ads!) now extends to Berlin. The 24 hour schedule of radio news, views, insights and reviews from Washington. D.C is excellent: http://www.npr.org/worldwide/berlin/ …as is their website.
OUR SUMMER 2007 SCHEDULE WAS AS FOLLOWS:-
WEEK 1. April 16th
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Coverage: Broad overview, issues and debates, core texts & film samples, ie:
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Links of the Week: US media histories, cultural theory & 2006/7 journalism…
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Excellent PDF Map on U.S. Media Today: http://www.thenation.com/special/2006_entertainment.pdf
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Kenneth Burke: http://nightfly.googlepages.com/kennethburke
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USA Media now: http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2007/
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US Media & Iraq War. Timeline from FAIR: “This timeline is an attempt to recall some of the worst moments in journalism, from the fall of 2002 and into the early weeks of the Iraq War. It is not an exhaustive catalog, but a useful reference point for understanding the media’s performance.”: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3062
WEEK 2. April 23rd
- Coverage: US Mass media beginnings: Signal Corps,GE, RCA, NBC, CBS, radio developments, Radio Act 1927, “toll broadcasting”.
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Links of the Week: RCA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA
- Communications Act of 1934: http://www.fcc.gov/Reports/1934new.pdf
WEEK 3. April 30th
- Coverage: From Radio to TV, into the 1930s, to the 1940s.
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Link of the Week: http://www.mztv.com/mz.asp
WEEK 4. May 7th
- Coverage: 1950s, the TV network & Hollywood, Universal Pictures.
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Link of the Week: http://vlib.iue.it/history/USA/ERAS/20TH/1950s.html
WEEK 5. May 14th
- Coverage: into the 1970s, advertisers or terroritsts? Network, 1976
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Link of the Week: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_%28film%29
WEEK 6. May 21st
- Coverage: The 1980s, Reagan, media deregulation, new technologies, Fairness Doctrine, Broadcast News, 1987
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Link of the week: http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/F/htmlF/fairnessdoct/fairnessdoct.htm
Week 7. NO SESSION MAY 28th
However, core reading for next week is: The Communications Act of 1996: http://www.fcc.gov/telecom.html
Search also, Bill # S.652/ENR, 1996 below.
Also, now that we are engaging with vital developments in Film Theory since the 1970s, all students and researchers would do well to review coverage on Narrative Cinema and Visual Pleasure, by Laura Mulvey, ie:
- http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Mulvey
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/hafvm/research/staff/staffMembers/MulveyLaura
WEEK 8. June 4th
- Coverage: the 1990s: Washington & Hollywood. Independence Day, 1996, Up, Close & Personal, 1996; Contact, 1998.
- Link of the Week: Search Communications Act, 1996, in 104th Congress, Bill # S.652/ENR:
- http://thomas.loc.gov/home/multicongress/multicongress.html
- John Gregory Dunne’s MONSTER, Living Off the Big Screen. Scripting the Film. http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Living-Off-Big-Screen/dp/0679455795
- PM Film: MAD CITY
WEEK 9. June 11th.
- Coverage: Detalied whole film anaylsis, staged viewing of Deep Impact, 1998, part one.
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Link of the Week: on Corporate Media of the 1990s: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_media
- PM Film: EDtv 8(1998)
WEEK 10. June 18th
Core feature: Deep Impact, part 2….
- Tonight’s film:
WEEK 11. June 25th.
Round Table: Students now on the research project have an opporunity to introduce their work in progress; ie:
1. Conference source…?
2. Theme - the general aea of interest…why important…?
3. Core area of analysis…sample texts…
CL will show a sequence from a film as a core sample…
- Tonight’s Film: The Insider (1999, dir. Mann)
WEEK 12. July 25th, 2007
A pick-up on general themes, subtexts, narratives, representations, histories…Core analysis:Wagthe Dog (1997). Part One 
The FINAL Evening screening will be Quiz Show (1994, Dir. Robert Redford)
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Links of the Week: Female Journalists in Herstory: http://www.goddesscafe.com/FEMJOUR/femjour.html
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2007 Katie Couric & CBS: http://www.nypost.com/seven/03152007/tv/couric_picks_up_speed_tv_adam_buckman.htm
WEEK 13. July 9th.Screening, part 2 of Wag the Dog (1997)
WEEK 14. July 16th
- Coverage: Reviews, Conlcusions, Extract Specials
- July 16th 1969, commemoration sequence of Apollo 11 launch
- Review of 1990s broadcast news insights - Bosnia, USA
- Review of film sequence from Deep Impact (1998)
- Final (!) FOX News Sequence, Guerilla Shopping & Bible sales, 2001
- The final sequence from the Heroes Charity, 2001: Hollywood sings farewell
- Links of the Week: http://www.corporatewatch.org/
- Excellent On-Line exhibition from the Museum of the Moving Image on the History of Televised Presidential Commericals entitled The Living Room Candidate, & running through 2008…
Download
And as our course comes to a close, we note the contemporary relevance of our study: MSNBC makes its own news about the news….June 2007:
- And the You Tube recording of Mika Brezezinski’s on-air contention against the prevalence of celebrity WAS here, now deleted (!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAcU3HSMKPU. Amongst other things, we can also consider the uncomfortable gender relationships that is also revealed in the exchange with her ‘fellow’ male leads.
- Here is the Act 2 follow-up report from MSNBC, as posted, again on YouTube and, again WAS here, since deleted…
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQAmMBQSLj4&mode=related&search=
- Finally, an excellent authoritative snapshot report of US Journalism/Media, 2007:
- http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2007/
AND: North American News Outlets and Related Government Websites from The Guardian, UK:
ADIOS Amigos
For Details of 2007 Fall Term Seminar Programme, Hollywood on Hollywood, and Evening Screening Programme odf Documentaries, see:-
Where to Now?
How About When Redford and Cruise came to visit us here in Berlin?:-
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