M.A. Course Structure
Year One
Requirements:
- 30 credits of graduate course work (six courses plus Selznick Colloquium, year one).
- Personal Project (as part of coursework, second semester)
Curriculum:
Selznick Colloquium (year one: required of all students in the Joint Program). During this year-long course of study in the Selznick School, all students enrolled in the Joint Program will take part in the Selznick Colloquium, a sequence of intensive two-hour seminars meeting three to four times each semester. These seminars will be conducted cooperatively by faculty from the Selznick School at GEH and faculty in Film and Media Studies / English at the UR; they will introduce students to the shape and details of the Joint Program, address the central topics, methods, issues covered in the Program, and enable students to begin to work with faculty from both GEH and UR as early as possible in their studies.
In the first semester, the organization of the Selznick Colloquium might typically cover:
- Introduction to the Selznick Graduate Program: a session run cooperatively by GEH and UR faculty, covering methods, topics, requirements, and objectives of the Joint Program
- Film Preservation and Film Studies: An Overview a session addressing the links between the activities and professional expertise sponsored by GEH, as public museum, preservation center, and archive, and the academic study of film history and film analysis
- Film History: Institutions and Industries An introduction to the structures – economic, commercial, governmental, in Hollywood and throughout the world – that have supported, shaped, and constrained the production and distribution of cinema
- Film History: Methods and Modes A survey of the approaches and categories through which film has been produced, studied, and taught, including silent and sound, commercial and art, genres, auteurs, periods, national cinemas, and so on, with attention to the rationales that drive different approaches
In the second semester, the Selznick Colloquium might cover:
- Film and Media Studies: Bibliography, Archive, Digitization An introduction to the resources available, in hard copy and electronically, for the study of film; an overview of related media (from pre-cinema and stills to TV and video) and their study; and an introduction to the latest methods of preservation and access to film.
- Film History and Analysis: National Cinemas A short account of the overlaps and distinctions among film produced in different countries, periods, and according to distinctive national traditions, with attention to the bases and usefulness of conventional categories
- Film History and Film Analysis: Categories and Approaches An introduction to the variety of ways in which film has been studied in the twentieth century, including genres (musical, gangster, western, “women’s film”), directors and schools (Renoir, Hitchcock, Wilder; French New Wave, etc.), and approaches (popular culture, technical histories, feminism, etc.)
Students will prepare for each of these sessions according to a detailed syllabus, listing reading assignments, points of discussion, and supplemental readings.
First Semester (15 credits):
- Museum Practice (Rotations, 4 credits)
- Curatorial Theory and Practice (Paolo Cherchi Usai, 5 credits)
- Includes guests for: cataloging, Regional Archives
- Film Conservation and Restoration (Ed Stratmann, 4 credits)
- Includes guests for: Image Permanence, videotape and digital introduction
- Selznick Colloquium (U of R Staff/GEH 2 credits; see above)
Second Semester (15 credits):
- Archive Management (Paolo Cherchi Usai, 5 credits) Includes guests for: archival management and copyright
- Laboratory Work (Ed Stratmann, 4 credits)
- Includes: field trips, and guest lecturers
- Personal Project (TBA, 4 credits)
- Selznick Colloquium (U of R Staff/GEH 2 credits; see above)
Year Two
Requirements:
- 30 credits of graduate course work (six courses plus Selznick Colloquium, year two). Note: the required thirty credits may include up to six credits of coursework transferred from study completed in the first year of the Joint Program at the George Eastman House
- Master’s Essay / Project: possibilities include traditional research essay; substantive account of professional work with digitized materials, moving-image preservation, etc.; directed project (at UR, GEH, film profession).
Curriculum:
Selznick Colloquium (year two: required of all students in the Joint Program). During this second year of the Joint Program, students who have completed the year-long course of study in the Selznick School at GEH will enroll in six approved courses at the UR. In addition, they will take part in the second year of the Selznick Colloquium (2 credits each semester, for a total of four credits), which will again comprise a sequence of intensive two-hour seminars meeting three to four times each semester. These seminars will underscore the connections between the work already completed in year one of the Joint Program, and the on-going for the MA program in Film and Media Studies. The Colloquium will be conducted by faculty with whom students have already worked, from the Selznick School, in cooperation with faculty in Film and Media Studies / English at the UR. In effect, the second year of the Selznick Colloquium offers venues and structures to pursue and bind up the parallels and connections established in the Joint Program.
In the first semester, the organization of the Selznick Colloquium might typically cover:
- Archives, Access, the Film Public
- Film History and Popular Audiences
- Film Societies and Sponsored Series
- Private and Public Sectors: Grants, Corporate Sponsorship, Subscription
In the second semester, the Selznick Colloquium might cover:
- Educating Popular Taste: the Role of the Museum
- Strategies of Research: the Personal Project and the Master’s Essay
- Technology and the Future of Film and Media
Students will prepare for each of these sessions according to a detailed syllabus, listing reading assignments, points of discussion, and supplemental readings.
Coursework – two semesters (30 credits):
1. Film History (two required courses, chosen from following):
- English 433: History of Silent Cinema, 1895-1927
- English 434A: History of Sound Cinema, 1927-1959 present
- English 434B: History of Sound Cinema, 1959-present
2. Film Analysis, Film Historiography (one course drawn from approved offerings in each year; see Appendix 1).
3. Bibliography / Filmography, Preservation, Museum Studies (one course from among the following):
English 454: Museum Studies (S2002); possibility of a “Residence in Rochester” program: co-taught semester-long course with intensive units of one to three weeks presented by visiting experts.
4. Moving Image, Digital and Media Studies, Studio and Institutional Studies, Film Theory (one appropriate elective course drawn from approved offerings each year – see Appendix 2 for recent examples – or from an approved course among those listed in Appendix 1, below).
5. Selznick Colloquium (2-credit seminar in each semester, with GEH / UR faculty; see above).
Master’s Essay / Project. The Master’s Degree requires a final project, which may take a variety of forms. This will be conducted under the supervision of faculty from GEH and UR. All aspects of the Project must be completed by early August in order for students to receive a September degree.)