Courses Professional MA Preservation and Presentation of the Moving Image

Below you find the detailed course descriptions of the courses offered in the academic year 2004-2005.

Course descriptions of the courses on offer in the academic year 2005-2006 will be available from June 2005 onwards.

Media-archeology

Course title	Media-archeology
ECTS	10
Semester	1
Lecturer(s)	S.M. Dasgupta; T.P. Elsaesser; W.B.S. Strauven

Aims
Students will be expected to apply a range of methodologies acquired during the BA phase to the three media-forms in question, at a fairly high level of conceptual abstraction, in order to understand the historical dynamic which makes them converge as well as undergo further differentiation. The challenge will be to understand some of the conditions or 'rules' that underlie changes in dominant media, how these reconfigure older media practices and other media uses, and what the complex cultural consequences are the result from such shifts.

Contents
This course takes as its starting point the momentous changes in media configurations, in image, sound and data delivery systems as well as audio-visual technologies we have been witnessing over the past decade. To the ubiquity of the Hollywood blockbuster and the instantaneity of television around the globe, we have to add the World Wide Web, made possible by the telephone and digitisation. Rather than looking at each phenomenon in isolation, or trying to'theorize' them within the currently available, globalizing paradigms of postmodernism, virtual reality or multi mediality, we shall begin by tracing these media-transformations back to the late C19th and to the so-called 'origins' of the cinema.

Classes per week
lectures, seminars and viewings, 2  hours lecture/viewings per week + 2 hours seminar per week

Study materials

• T. Elsaesser, K. Hoffman (eds), Cinema Futures: Cain Abel or Cable? Amsterdam University Press, 1997
• S. Zielinski, Audio-Visions. Amsterdam University Press, 1999
• Reader

Assessment
presentation and paper

Preservation and the Archive I

Course title	Preservation and the Archive I
ECTS	5
Semester	1, period 1
Lecturer(s)	Mark-Paul Meyer, Giovanna Fossati

Aims
This course will introduce all aspects of working in a moving image archive. From the moment a film enters the archive till the moment that it is presented to public. With the help of case studies students will be familiarized with both the theory as well as the practice of working in a film archive. The course has set as it's educational aim not only provide the students with the basic knowledge and skills involved, but also to encourage them to develop their own vision and creativity.  At the same time students will be taught to base this vision and creativity on knowledge, reflection and academic objectivity, without always having to fall back on existing literature or techniques.

Contents
The lectures and seminars are offered by members of staff of the Filmmuseum, experts within the fields of  film archiving. Film registration and identification, the principles of film conservation and restoration, theory and practice of accessibility and museum presentation are the main themes of the course. The students will get hands-on experience with film material and there will be visits to archives and film laboratories. The course also focuses on the newest digital developments involving film restoration. Since the new technological changes have deeply modified production, distribution and aesthetics of contemporary screen arts, attention will be paid to the consequences of all these shifts for the practices and future roles of film archives and museums.

Classes per week
lectures, seminars, practical labs, 3 hours per week.

Study materials

• Paul Read & Mark-Paul Meyer, Restoration of Motion Picture Film. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000;
• Penelope Houston, Keepers of the Frame: The Film Archives. London: British Film Institute, 1994;
• Paolo Cherchi Usai,  Silent Cinema: An Introduction. London: British Film Institute, 2000;
• reader
  

Costs
Purchase of books and reader plus travel costs

Assessment
Portfolio

Preservation and the Archive II

Aims
This course aims to provide insight into the processes of audiovisual archiving, exemplified by the practices of the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (het Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid) at the Broadcasting Centre in Hilversum. In this module students will be taught in the subjects of acquisition, collection management, usage and presentation of historical audiovisual collections that have largely been produced in the context of broadcasting organizations. The module will look at the ways in which the new technological developments influence collection policies, preservation and accessibility. Central to this topic will be the impact of these (digital) changes on the function and position of the modern audiovisual archive.

Contents
This module follows up on Preservation and the Archive I and covers the terrain of archiving  and presenting television and radio materials. Specialists from the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (het Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid) take care of the lectures and seminars.

The course will start by providing students with an overview of the history and typology of audiovisual archiving and it's infrastructure. Additionally attention will be paid to operative methods of acquisition, selection (collection formation) and conservation of (television) film and video systems. Furthermore the module will focus on the issues concerning copyrights.

In the context of the developments towards a digital workflow the course will also concentrate on digital media production and distribution, media-asset management systems, the importance of standardized metadata and digital rights management. Moreover issues of migration, convergence and selection in a digital surrounding will be considered. Besides these matters, forms of catalogue methods involving automatic techniques for indexation and dilatation (image and voice recognition) will be discussed.
On a more theoretical level the module will deal with the question of integrity and authenticity of digital files as well as the effects of new technological changes and digital workflow on the process of management and the mode of presentation. With regard to the accessibility of existing audiovisual productions, attention will be paid to the (re) usage within new media programmes. Furthermore the course will look at streaming-media methods for educational purposes.

In the context of the new interactive media museum that's currently being developed by the institute, modern museum presentation techniques will be examined. The subjects of management, selection and research for specific museological purposes as well as the signification of historical fragments in such a setting, will be discussed.
A major part of the classes will take place within the setting of Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision. Students will visit different departments of the institute. Presentations will be given on the various projects that are organized by the institute.

Classes per week
Guest lectures and seminars, 3 hours per week.

Study materials
Reader

Costs
Purchase reader plus travel expenses.

Assessment
Portfolio

Film Theory: Special Focus European Cinema

Aims
Students will learn to use various conceptual models to deepen their understanding of the cultural environment in which the cinema is presented. In particular, the course responds to the challenges that a new type of film culture - defined by new modes of production, new forms of presentation and new means of distribution - poses to traditional models of film theory, film analysis and film interpretation/ appreciation, notably in respect of the case of European cinema, usually defined via primarily literary categories (author/national cinema).
In addition to the use of classic and contemporary modes of film analysis students learn to explore interdisciplinary methodologies in the study of both individual films and the institution cinema. The course will be complemented by Film Theory II (International MA Film Studies) and Digital Media(MA Preservation and Presentation) during the second 7-week period.

Contents
The course focuses on European cinema and explores in seven thematic sessions new conceptual approaches to study film. These sessions are:

• the concept of authorship
• the idea of new waves and national cinema
• the idea of independent and post-modern film style
• the new audiences for art and cult cinema: the new 'cinephilia"
• film festivals and their relation to genre and style
• technological transformations: tv co-production and DVD as production, delivery and exhibition system
• the question whether there is a new 'ethics' or a new 'metaphysics' in European cinema

Throughout the sessions special attention will be given to globalisation and its effects on cultures, in particular of cinema.

Classes per week
lectures and seminars, 4 hours per week

Study materials
Reader and books

Assessment
Paper

Costs
Purchase of literature

Digital Media: The New Screen Arts

Course title	Digital Media: The New Screen Arts
ECTS	5
Semester	1, period 2
Lecturer(s)	J.A.A. Simons

Aims
Students will be taught to critically analyse, reflect upon and assess the effects of new computer based technologies on the aesthetics of screen arts and their relationship to the user-spectator. The course will examine whether and how far concepts of classical film theory and narratology are helpful in discovering and delineating the 'old' in the 'new', as well as what sort of 'new' concepts are needed to study new screen media and how they can be helpful to detect the 'new' in the 'old'.

Contents
New, computer based media are being claimed to 'remediate' old, existing media in many and radical ways. Cinema, for instance, no longer provides the spectator with 'records' of a pre-existing, 'pro-filmic' reality, but with images that are instantly generated by computer algorithms from binary codes. By affording the spectator with possibilities to intervene in the world on screen, new 'screen media' seem to dissolve the chronological and causal chain of events that has characterized narrative. In doing so, they also make the spectator transgress the treshold that used to separate the space of the spectator from the on screen story world to the extent that the spectator is no longer a mere wittness of a 'far, far away', but instead gets immersed into the diegetic universe and becomes an actor in the events: the 'screen' arts are at the verge of breaking away from the boundaries of the classical two dimensional screen that has supported the visual arts for centuries.

New media therefore raise scores of issues that range from philosophical question concerning the relationship between digital (re-)presentations and the 'real', the ontological status of the human body vice-a-vice its synthetically created counterparts in virtual environments, but also issues concerning space, time, and causality. The question on which this course will focus is whether 'new screen arts'  really break away from the concepts, categories and relations that have underpinned narrative in the 'old' screen media, or whether they invite us to reconsider these notions from the point of view of the new.

Classes per week
Lectures and seminar, 3 hours per week. 

Study materials

• Martin Rieser & Andrea Zapp (eds.). New Screen Media.  Cinema/Art/Narrative. London: BFI, 2002;
• Dan Harries (ed.) The New Media Book London: BFI, 2002.

Costs
Approximately € 50

Assessment
Paper

Museum Cultures and Exhibition Practices

Course title	Museum Cultures and Exhibition Practices
ECTS	10
Semester	2
Lecturer(s)	P.J.M. Voorhuis

Aims
This course provides insight into the context in which audiovisual media are being collected and preserved as well as the contemporary presentation practices of film, video and new media. Subjects are amongst others museology, origins and accessibilty of media collections, curatorship, programming and contemporary cultural politics.

Students will examine the sociological, anthropological and cultural theories that form the foundations of the collecting practices in the history of art and media. Various presentation types will be discussed: from exhibitions of media art to international film festivals and other media festivals. From programming of film museums and art house cinema to new media presentations.

Contents
During the 14 weeks semester lectures will be given about collecting, museology, exhibition policies and presentation forms in general, with a special focus on audiovisual media. Attention will be paid to the births and the cultural positions of museums, film museums, film archives and international festivals. Aspects that will be dealt with are: collection formation, circulation and copyrights and accessibilty of collections and presentation practices.
The second half of the course will focus on the various forms of presentation in film, video, and new media. Both the programming of museums, film museums and art house cinemas will be taken into consideration as well as the roles of film and media festivals. Attention will be paid to single screen shows but also to more mixed forms of media presentation. Aspects like copyrights, distribution rights, 'archive prints", technical exhibition requirements, media and film programming are topics that will come up, as well as the contemporary discussions concerning digital presentation practices.

The course is taught by the main instructor. Guest lectures are planned by curators of museums and other cultural institutions, directors and programme directors of Dutch film festivals or other specialists.
During the course the students will visit the most important institutions within the fields of film, video and new media in the Netherlands (Filmmuseum, Montevideo, Rialto, V2, De Waag, Stedelijk Museum, Van Abbe Museum) and will be introduced to the main festivals like IDFA, IFFR, World Wide Video Festival, Impakt.

The students will have to give a presentation that consists of a 'written' media programme comprised of a 'curatorial statement', an introduction and descriptions of the works and if possible a budget and financial plan.

Classes per week
Lectures and Seminars, 2x2 hours per week

Study materials
Reader and books

Costs
Purchase of literature plus fees for visits to festivals and museums

Assessment
Presentation and paper

Seminar Audiovisual Sources

Course title	Semiar Audiovisual Sources
ECTS	10
Semester	2
Lecturer(s)	Julia Noordegraaf, MA

Aim
This course aims to provide insight into the various aspects involved in working with audiovisual sources, in particular with the purpose of presenting them to a public. At the end of the course, students should be able to find audiovisual source material on their own and to consciously use this material in various types of presentations. In addition, students learn to reflect on the processes of identification, selection, application and reception of audiovisual sources. Further, students are introduced to possible problems with regards to the use of audiovisual source material, such as conservation demands, limited accessibility and/or legal restrictions. The theoretical and practical findings result in a motivated proposal for a presentation (film, TV or festival programme, DVD, exhibition), that students will present and defend at the end of the course.

Contents
The course is structured around several themes, that are explored through individual and group assignments, excursions and guest lectures. In order to gain insight into access to audiovisual sources we investigate where they can be found, and to what extent and how they can be accessed. After that, we will practice the identification of audiovisual sources through an analysis of material from the collection of the Institute of Sound and Vision, via streaming video. Then, the selection of audiovisual source material is explored through the analysis of different types of presentations (TV and/or radio programmes, (documentary) films, DVD's and film programmes) and - where possible - through a comparison of the material used in a specific film or programme with the original source. There will be special attention for the possibilities and problems regarding the use of historical audiovisual material in new contexts. Students will also be introduced to the basic principles of audiovisual law and the problems it causes in the practice of programming audiovisual material. Finally, we will look into the reception of audiovisual sources in various presentations through a discussion of relevant literature and a limited reception study. The last two sessions are reserved for the presentation and defence of the proposal for a presentation.

Classes per week
Lectures and seminars, 3 hours per week

Study materials
To be announced in class

Costs
Approximately € 50,- for excursions and assignments

Assessment
Portfolio and presentation

Work Placement/Internship

ECTS	20
Semester	1(year 2)
Lecturer(s)	F.A.M. Laeven

Aims

• Practical specialisation and application of knowledge and skills on the terrains of archiving, presentation or a combination of both;
• Acquiring profound insight into the practices of archiving and/or presenting audiovisual material as well as learning to reflect on these processes;
• Be able to work independently and in a team regarding the design and application of collection and acquisition

Contents
Each student chooses a specific terrain on which he or she wants to qualify further. In addition, the work placement offers students the opportunity to get acquainted with the professional field of audiovisual archiving and presentation. Work placement providers have the chance to experience what these students can contribute to their organisation.
The work placement project takes place at one of the cultural institutions, museums, festivals or archives with which the programme collaborates. A detailed project plan, to be handed in before the start of the project, contains agreements on nature and position of the project in the organisation, the specific tasks, desired end results, evaluation and supervision by representatives of both the UvA and the work placement organisation. The supervisor of the work placement provider guides the student during the whole project and coaches the student in developing his or her expertise on a specific terrain. The student works for a minimum of 14 weeks, full time (38 hours per week). The work placement is concluded with a written report of minimum 2000 words.

Type of instruction
Individual workplacement, full time 36 hours per week

Hours per week
14 weeks full time or an equivalent number of hours part time, to be agreed upon with the work placement provider.

Assessment
Regularly held evaluations, written report of the student, final discussion of project with supervisors

Remarks
Students who are entitled to a scholarship from the IBG groep are entitled to a reimbursement equivalent to the 'basisbeurs' plus a reimbursement of the public transportation costs covered by the IBG groep.