This course begins with cinema, the first art of the moving image. We will study cinema's principal aesthetic features: its basic stylistic techniques, such as editing, cinematography, mise-en-scene, and sound, as well as its major narrative and non-narrative forms. We will watch a variety of films from the US and abroad that exemplify cinema's myriad forms and styles: mainstream and avant-garde, fiction and non-fiction, narrative and non-narrative, black-and-white and color, silent and sound. We will then consider the extent to which cinema's aesthetic features are shared by television, as well as what is artistically distinctive about TV. Theoretical concepts relevant to moving image art, principally genre, authorship, and character identification, will also be considered. No prior study of cinema or other moving image media is required.

Required core course for all FMS majors and minors. Twice weekly screenings (recitations) are required.

Students should take Art of the Moving Image (FMS-0001) as their first course in the major (or aim to complete it in their first year in FMS). FMS-0001 is a pre-enrollment requisite for a number of FMS courses and must be taken before enrolling in those courses. This course is taught every semester and is open to first-years, sophomores, and juniors. Questions about the course can be directed to the instructor or Denise Cummings, Director of Undergraduate Studies.