This course will focus primarily on developing a theoretical understanding of US television as specific form of mediation. The course will begin with a general introduction to the primary concepts in television theory before turning to a brief history of the emergence of television both in domestic and in public spaces. We will then take on the issue of reception and the various practices‹both authorized and unauthorized‹of actual viewers. We will then look at how television fits into the greater cultural apparatus of postmodernism. Finally, we will explore alternatives to television in video art and on the periphery of the broadcast media.

This course is designed as an introduction to a broad range of practices sometimes labeled "experimental video." The focus of the course will be exclusively on non-narrative approaches to the theory and practice of videomaking. Students will work on a number of short projects throughout the semester (about one every two weeks) that engage simultaneously with different theoretical problems, technological challenges, and aesthetic strategies. The projects will span all of the stages of video production from conception to sound editing as well as a wide variety of aesthetic forms. The course will conclude with a short final project of the your own devising that grows out of one or a number of the theories and formal approaches that we have explored during the semester.

ENG 4136:
Video Production