CMGT 549
Case Studies in Digital Media
Spring 2009
Monday 6:30-9:20
Professor Jonathan Taplin
ASC 301B
jtaplin@usc.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday 2-4:30 PM
Imagining the Future
Course Description: The revolution in Digital Special Effects has allowed filmmakers to
imagine the future in increasingly realistic ways. But the future as depicted in movies has
always had a distinctly dystopian feel and movies as recent as Wall-e from Pixar-Disney
have shown that science fiction can be used as social commentary on the present. This
course will explore the history of science fiction film from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis,
through the work of Stanley Kubrick (2001, Clockwork Orange) and to film renditions of
the work of one of the great science fiction writers of our time, Philip K. Dick
(Bladerunner, Minority Report ). The films will be assessed for both their technical
sophistication and their thematic views of globalization and democracy.
Course Requirements: There are four requirements:
Class Discussion Participation. Students are expected to participate in each of the
weekly sessions by making informed critiques of the films studied. They will need to do
the required reading for each class and be generally aware of current developments in the
Digital special effects world.
Film Presentations. The Class will be divided into teams of students who will lead the
presentation of each film, starting in week 2. The presentation teams will be responsible
for presenting a basic historical introduction to the film and the director and then leading
the discussion after the film. They should acquaint themselves with the technical
innovations of the period in which the film was made.
Mid Term Exam-There will be a take home mid-term exam handed out in week 7 and
due in week 8. It will consist of two questions requiring critical analysis based on the
films and reading materials from the first half of the course. Each question will require a
three page (double-spaced) answer.
Final Paper Each student will be required to write a 12 page (double spaced) film
treatment for a science fiction film.
Grading: Requirements will be weighted as follows:
Class Participation
Film Presentation leadership
Mid-term Exam
Final Film Treatment
10%
20%
40%
30%
Course Material. There is one required book available at the USC bookstore: The
Science Fiction Reader, edited by Gregg Rickman (Limelight Editions, New York, 2004)
A brief announcement from the Office of Civil Rights: Students requesting academic
accommodations based on a disability are required to register with Disability Services
and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations
can be obtained from the DSP when adequate documentation is filed. Please be sure the
letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DPS is open Monday-Friday,
8:30-5:00. The office is in Student Union 301 and their phone number is (213) 740-0776.
The Annenberg School for Communication is committed to upholding the University's
Academic Integrity code as detailed in the Campus Guide. It is the policy of the School
of Communication to report all violations of the code. Any serious violation or pattern of
violations of the Academic Integrity Code will result in the student's expulsion from the
Communication major or minor.
Class Schedule
Week 1-The Analog Age and the Century of the Self
Film-Century of the Self parts 1 & 2
Week 2: Why Science Fiction?
Film-Metropolis -Dir. Fritz Lang
Week 3: The Atomic Bomb
Film-The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) –Dir. Robert Wise
Week 4: The Pod People
Film-Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)-Dir. Don Siegel
Week 5-Disney & H.G. Wells
Film-20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)-Dir. Richard Fleischer
Week 6-A European View
Film- Fahrenheit 451 (1966)-Dir-Francois Truffaut
Week 7-Stanley Kubrick, pt. 1
Film-2001;A Space Odyssey (1968)-Dir. Stanley Kubrick
Week 8-Stanley Kubrick, pt. 2
Film-Clockwork Orange(1971)-Dir. Stanley Kubrick
Week 9-Hollywood Returns
Film-Planet of The Apes (1968)- Dir. Franklin Schaffner
Week 10-The Blockbuster
Film-Star Wars (1977)-Dir. George Lucas
Week 11-Comic Relief
Film-Sleeper (1973)-Dir. Woody Allen
Week 12-The Work of Phillip K. Dick, pt. 1
Film-Bladerunner (1982)-Dir. Ridley Scott
Week 13-The Work of Phillip K. Dick, pt. 2
Film-Minority Report (2002)-Dir. Steven Spielberg
Week 13-What’s Real?
Film-The Matrix (1999)-Dir. The Wachowski Brothers
Week 14-Animation & Sci Fi
Film-Wall-e (2008)-Dir. Andrew Stanton