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General Information

Course ID (CB01A and CB01B)
F/TVD045.
Course Title (CB02)
History of Experimental Film/Video
Course Credit Status
Credit - Degree Applicable
Effective Term
Fall 2023
Course Description
This is a survey of experimental styles and practices in film and video, addressing the artists and historical developments of these media formats. The course situates experimental film and video work within the larger contexts of artistic traditions as well as networks of production and reception.
Faculty Requirements
Course Family
Not Applicable

Course Justification

This course is a CSU and UC transferable course and belongs on the Film/TV: Production A.A. degree program. The course provides students in Film/TV with essential foundations in experimental media.

Foothill Equivalency

Does the course have a Foothill equivalent?
No
Foothill Course ID

Course Philosophy

Formerly Statement

Course Development Options

Basic Skill Status (CB08)
Course is not a basic skills course.
Grade Options
  • Letter Grade
  • Pass/No Pass
Repeat Limit
0

Transferability & Gen. Ed. Options

Transferability
Transferable to both UC and CSU

Units and Hours

Summary

Minimum Credit Units
4.0
Maximum Credit Units
4.0

Weekly Student Hours

TypeIn ClassOut of Class
Lecture Hours4.08.0
Laboratory Hours0.00.0

Course Student Hours

Course Duration (Weeks)
12.0
Hours per unit divisor
36.0
Course In-Class (Contact) Hours
Lecture
48.0
Laboratory
0.0
Total
48.0
Course Out-of-Class Hours
Lecture
96.0
Laboratory
0.0
NA
0.0
Total
96.0

Prerequisite(s)

Corequisite(s)

Advisory(ies)

EWRT D001A or EWRT D01AH or ESL D005.

Limitation(s) on Enrollment

Entrance Skill(s)

General Course Statement(s)

Methods of Instruction

Lecture and visual aids

Film screenings and facilitated group film discussions

In-class essays

Quiz and examination review performed in class

Homework and extended projects

Collaborate projects

Discussion of assigned reading

In-class exploration of Internet sites

Collaborative learning and small group exercises

Assignments

  1. Assigned reading
    1. Required text
    2. Film periodicals, journals and scholarly articles on Internet sites
    3. Class PDFs
  2. Writing
    1. Research paper requiring students to evaluate and synthesize facts, opinions, and presentations about experimental film and video from various sources; or a journal or film analysis paper requiring students to identify and employ an appropriate critical methodology to demonstrate some achievement of course objectives
    2. Script for a short film requiring students to apply experimental theory and practices
  3. Viewing films, television and electronic media

Methods of Evaluation

  1. Midterm and final examination using a combination of objective, short answer and essay questions to evaluate the student's grasp of the terminology, theories, core concepts, and methods of analysis that comprise the course content. The essay component will require critical thinking and analysis.
  2. Written research paper, journal or critical analysis paper reflecting a synthesis of this new knowledge and a greater understanding of experimental cinema, and applying this knowledge to selected media and artists, as viewed and discussed in the course. A script for a short experimental work will demonstrate experimental theory and practices studied throughout the course.
  3. Participation in classroom discussions, including analyses of in-class screenings in the context of theoretical perspectives pertaining to experimental works and artists.

Essential Student Materials/Essential College Facilities

Essential Student Materials: 
  • None.
Essential College Facilities:
  • Lecture room with 16mm film projection equipment in the control booth, Blu-ray/DVD deck and 1/2-inch VHS tape deck

Examples of Primary Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisherDate/EditionISBN
Rees, A.L. "A History of Experimental Film and Video." 2nd ed. British Film Institute, 2011.
Sitney, P. Adams. "Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde, 1943-2000." 3rd ed. Oxford UP, 2002.

Examples of Supporting Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisher
Benson, Timothy O., ed. "Central European Avant-Gardes: Exchange and Transformation, 1910-1930." MIT P, 2002.
Blaetz, Robin, ed. "Women's Experimental Cinema: Critical Frameworks." Duke UP, 2007.
Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey, and Wheeler Winston Dixon, eds. "Experimental Cinema, The Film Reader." Routledge, 2002.
Gonzalez, Jennifer, et al. "Christian Marclay." Phaidon, 2005.
Hak Kyung Cha, Theresa. "Dictee." U of California P, 2009.
Horak, Jan-Christopher. "Lovers of Cinema: The First American Film Avant-Garde, 1919-1945." U of Wisconsin P, 1998.
Jonas, Joan. "Joan Jonas: Performances Film Installations 1968-2000." Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2000.
Keller, Sarah. "Maya Deren: Incomplete Control." Columbia UP, 2014.
Le Grice, Malcolm. "Experimental Cinema in the Digital Age." British Film Institute, 2002.
Leslie, Esther. "Hollywood Flatlands: Animation, Critical Theory and the Avant-Garde." Verso, 2004.
Lewallen, Constance, et al. "The Dream of the Audience: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951-1982)." U of California P, 2001.
Lovejoy, Margot. "Digital Currents: Art in the Electronic Age." Routledge, 2004.
MacDonald, Scott. "Avant-Doc: Intersections of Documentary and Avant-Garde Cinema." Oxford UP, 2014.
Minh-ha, Trinh T. "When the Moon Waxes Red: Representation, Gender and Cultural Politics." Routledge, 1992.
Quasha, George and Charles Stein. "Tall Ships: Gary Hill Projective Installations #2." Barrytown/Station Hill, 1997.
Rabinovitz, Lauren. "Points of Resistance: Women, Power, and Politics in the New York Avant-garde Cinema, 1943-71." 2nd ed. U of Illinois P, 2003.
Ranier, Yvonne. "A Woman Who: Essays, Interviews, Scripts." PAJ Publications, 2009.
Remy, Patrick, ed. "Jonas Mekas: Just Like a Shadow." Steidl, 2000.
Russell, Catherine. "Experimental Ethnography: The World of Film in the Age of Video." Duke UP, 1999.
Small, Edward S., and Timothy W. Johnson. "Direct Theory: Experimental Motion Pictures as Major Genre." 2nd ed. Southern Illinois UP, 2013.
Viola, Bill, and Robert Violette. "Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House Writings 1973-1994." MIT P, 1995.
Vogel, Amos, and Scott MacDonald. "Film as a Subversive Art." New York: D.A.P./C.T. Editions, 2005.
Wees, William C. "Light Moving in Time: Studies in the Visual Aesthetics of Avant-Garde Film." U of California P, 1992.

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

Course Objectives

  • Identify, examine, and critique the formal standards, techniques, and aesthetics by which representational and non-representational moving images are created and evaluated.
  • Identify and examine the history of the development of the avant-garde, experimental, and underground film and video movements.
  • Analyze the influence of the other arts including painting, sculpture, mixed media, music, literature, and theater on the evolution of experimental film and video.
  • Identify key technological elements including 16mm and 8mm film, portable video, and digital systems in the development of experimental film and video.
  • Analyze the representation of race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and ability in the films screened.
  • Examine how films reflect the social attitudes and political issues of the cultures and time periods in which they were produced.

CSLOs

  • Comprehend the historical development of experimental film and video, including the identification of major international artists, styles, and works.

  • Develop and utilize critical thinking skills in understanding experimental film and video works from around the world, demonstrating this in four ways: aesthetic, technological, economic and social/political.

Outline

  1. Identify, examine, and critique the formal standards, techniques, and aesthetics by which representational and non-representational moving images are created and evaluated.
    1. Spatial elements
      1. Graphics: line, shape, texture, color, contrast
      2. Optical and photographic: composition, angle, tonality
    2. Temporal dynamics in editing
      1. Melody, succession, continuity, development, matching
      2. Rhythm, tempo, contrast, oppositions
    3. Aural aesthetics
      1. Fidelity and space
      2. Synchronous sound elements
      3. Asynchronous sound elements
  2. Identify and examine the history of the development of the avant-garde, experimental, and underground film and video movements.
    1. Germany: 1920s and Expressionism
    2. France: 1920s and Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, Impressionism
    3. Russia and France: 1930s and Futurism, Suprematism, Constructivism, Poetic Realism
    4. Early American Avant-garde Film: 1920s and 1930s
    5. Psychodrama and late Surrealism: 1940s and 1950s
    6. Mythic cinema and Abstract Expressionism: early 1960s
    7. Underground Cinema and Pop Art: late 1950s and 1960s
    8. Expanded and Mixed Media Cinema: 1960s and 1970s
    9. Structural Cinema and Minimalism: 1970s
    10. Video pioneers and conceptual art: 1970s
    11. Performance video and post-modernism: 1980s
    12. Experimental screens in the age of digital media
  3. Analyze the influence of the other arts including painting, sculpture, mixed media, music, literature, and theater on the evolution of experimental film and video.
    1. The avant-garde traditions in fine arts and graphics
    2. Experimental and modernist music
    3. Avant-garde and underground literature and poetry
    4. Traditional and avant-garde dance
    5. Experimental theater and performance art
    6. Notable artists and contributions
  4. Identify key technological elements including 16mm and 8mm film, portable video, and digital systems in the development of experimental film and video.
    1. Evolution of narrow gauge film, 16mm, 8mm, Super 8
    2. Evolution of experimental film production and post-production techniques
    3. Arrival of electronic images
    4. Evolution of portable video
    5. Development of video synthesizers, feedback, effects and computer graphics
    6. Development of digital technology, distribution and exhibition
  5. Analyze the representation of race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and ability in the films screened.
    1. Examine the filmic representations and cinematic histories of specific groups
    2. Identify and analyze stereotypical images, tracing the emergence of important issues about representation and difference, the power structure and labor practices of the industry, spectatorship and identification, and the relationship between experimental films and the dominant culture
    3. Compare the relationship of stereotypes to broad historical and political processes
  6. Examine how films reflect the social attitudes and political issues of the cultures and time periods in which they were produced.
    1. Examine how experimental films preserve audiovisual information, functioning as a social and historical document
    2. Analyze how experimental films comprise a record of the aspirations, obsessions, and frustrations of those spending time and money making or viewing them
    3. Appraise how cinema mirrors and shapes a society
      1. Interpret the way groups are depicted and, therefore, valued
      2. Question how experimental films often expose the "lies of culture" and disseminate alternate cultural and ideological values
    4. Recognize how government policies, including funding and censorship, affect popular expression
    5. Debate issues of objectivity and interpretation
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