It’s a common disappointment and, frankly, a cliche—nobody wants to hear another rant about the Columbia undergraduate film program’s relentless goal to keep its students thinking about film and not making it. I’ve moaned, you’ve moaned, we’ve all moaned for the chance to come out of Columbia’s program with, say, a thesis film, or extensive equipment experience. But as someone who is one class away from her B.A. in film studies, and as someone who has made her fair share of student films, I can safely say that the program is an extremely useful complement to the art of filmmaking.
Yes, the few production classes do have you touch a camera, and the screenwriting classes teach you how to write films, but you’re going to have to put something into those movies and scripts. Below, a list of the best classes to give you the fodder for your own creations.
Film Theory and Documentary Tradition—These two classes take you through the theories that have fueled filmmaking since its inception. You learn how film differentiated itself from theater and became its own medium, as well as how the technological improvements of the 1960s changed film forever. You question shot, montage, and the role of film. These classes enable you to make films that question the filmic status quo, but they especially help you make films in which form backs up your content.
Silent Cinema—You begin by watching the “primitive” first films, which were monomaniacal documentations of the physical world. Watching these films is the perfect inspiration to try something new, experiment with film form, and replicate the fire that created the medium, instead of getting bogged down in the standard ways of shooting a film.
Senior Seminar in Film Studies—In this class, you analyze how industry, production, and economics affect the content and aesthetics of film. You learn about the effect that home entertainment—and later the Internet—have had on the structure of films. Furthermore, because you watch and analyze all aspects of one film for eight weeks (this semester, the two sections are watching “Blade Runner” and “The Importance of Being Earnest”), you really see how all the theory you learn has physical implications or manifestations in the real world of cinema. It’s a reality check in the best sense.
History of the Producer and the American Studio System—A historical look at the ways in which famous producers worked within different genres and budgets to achieve their visions, and the tricks of the dog-eat-dog world that is producing. You learn how to be creative with smaller budgets and how to fight for a bigger budget, but the most important lesson you learn is that money is not the be-all and end-all of movie making.
The undergraduate film program at Columbia is much more than a consolation prize. More than just analyzing films from a critical or academic perspective, you analyze them as productions. The knowledge I have accumulated in class is invaluable and has continued to fuel every silent-era-inspired, psychological-drama or kitchen-sink realism wannabe film that I’ve made. With equipment available to you through student clubs, the film program works to give you the content you need to put into your work. With the information available through the aforementioned classes, you can be well on your way to making your own informed, deeply effective films.
At the end of the semester, I’ll let you know how Topics In World Cinema: the Arab World and Africa treats me.
Frances Bodomo is a Columbia College senior in Film Studies. Campus Cut runs alternate Thursdays.
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