Welcome to the “On the Big Screen” FIG page. I’m your FIG Assistant, Forrest. Your College Connections professor is Dr. Michael Aronson, and we’re so glad you’re here! If you scroll down, you can learn more about us. But first, let me tell you a bit about the program.
First-Year Interest Groups are designed to help you adapt both academically and socially to college. I believe studying movies is the best way to get you there. Why? In the last hundred or so years, movies have redefined culture and consumerism. (Be honest, how many hours a week do you spend on Netflix? Or on YouTube? How long has it been since you’ve seen an ad?) Our brains seem to instantly understand what’s happening on the screen. For example, when we see one person on the screen, then cut to another, we can assume that they are looking at each other. But did you know that this a learned skill? You’ve been trained! Brainwashed!
The goal of this FIG is to unravel what’s really going on when you watch a film. In ENG 265: History of Motion Picture, you’ll explore the beginnings of film as a medium and as an industry. You can take that historical background with you to CINE 230, in which you’ll take on the future of media production in a postmodern age: how we recycle old material and make new ideas out of existing ones. (Think mashups, but way cooler.)
It’ll all come together in our college connections course. We’ll be finding relationships between new and old media. Our goal is to help you see how you can be more than just consumers, and be well on your way to media producers, or at least smart consumers. Your major doesn’t matter. I have a friend, a business major, who took a film course, and it has forever changed how she watches TV- and has influenced her marketing skills dramatically.
Want a taste of the kind of work we’ll be doing? Check out the mashup below and think about these four things as you watch it.
All media is self-reflexive; it talks about itself. Based on the definition given in the beginning, what parts of this piece express self-reflexivity? Consider how strong your need to find a narrative is. Do you find yourself wanting to draw a thread between each one of these clips, even if there isn’t one? Editing can create commentary and meaning between shots. What do the “older-looking” clips have to say about the clips that come before it? Are the animated clips about marbles a metaphor? If so, what does it say about culture?
College Connections Faculty: Michael Aronson
You’ll be working with Dr. Michael Aronson, Director of the Cinema Studies program and associate professor in the English Department. His first book is Nickelodeon City, which explores the silent era of film in Pittsburgh. I’ll tell you first hand that you’re going to learn a lot from him. His passion for film is unmatched; he knows how to relate 1910’s cinema to the YouTube, and you’ll never look at that magic cellphone you have in your pocket the same way again. In case you ever need to reach him, his email is aronson@uoregon.edu.
FIG Assistant: Forrest Munro So, who are you, mysterious writer?
My name is Forrest. I’ll be a senior this year at the UO. I am a cinema studies major with a creative writing minor and prospective physics minor. I grew up in Lawrence, Kansas. Beyond my FIG assistant gig, I work for the English Department, and I volunteer teaching creative writing at the Juvenile Detention Center. My work is often a focus on the intersections between arts and sciences. I’m also a big fan of late night taco-bell runs.
Next Steps: Summer Assignment and Information
Would You Kindly… Email me at forrestm@uoregon.edu, so I can get your email? Tell me about yourself if you like. Include something special about yourself, maybe a picture of your favorite grocery store aisle.
We look forward to our first mandatory meeting, which will take place during the Week of Welcome on Friday, September 25, 2015. We will meet in Straub 156 at 11:00 a.m.
And finally… here is your summer homework.
Summer Homework! What? Fear not, this summer assignment is pretty simple. For this assignment, you have TWO options: you may opt to catalog your media usage for two consecutive days, or opt to go on a media fast for 24 hours.
For the purposes of this assignment, “media” includes the following: TV, movies, music, video games, the internet (that includes things like Facebook & Instagram), magazines, and comics. If you choose the media diary, you must catalog ALL interactions with any of these formats, and if you choose the media fast, you must forgo contact with ALL of these formats. (You may freely check your email, text, and call with your phone—all other apps are considered media usage.)
1. 48 hour Media Diary
For this paper, you will document your media use—ALL of your media use!—for two consecutive days in a diary.
You must catalog ALL of your media use during these two days, whether that use was intentional or not. If you are walking through the EMU (or what’s left of it) and someone’s got music playing—document it. If you are at a friend’s and their roommate has a movie playing, so you watch part of it—document it. You should use the media diary form found on the course Canvas site. Note that the diary forms give you entries for 3 days—you only need to document your media use for 48 consecutive hours, but since I’m not sure what time you’ll start, I give you 3 days’ worth of forms.
In creating your diary, please follow this formula:
Media Form: Information about what you saw/heard/played, etc; Context
If you did something specific for that time, make your information more specific. If it was more general (e.g., hearing music at a party, listening to an iTunes playlist), a general description is OK. Examples:
TV: Oregon football game; TV in dorm room
Film: Bridesmaids; DVD in common room with roommates
Film: Age of Adaline; in theater with parents
Internet: checked Facebook; on my cell phone between classes
Internet: read Wired; on my laptop in the library
Game: Call of Duty: Black Ops; played long-distance with best friend from high school
Music: EDM; at party
Music: Indie rock playlist; on iPhone in car
2. 24-Hour Media Fast
For this paper, you need to go on a complete media fast for 24 consecutive hours. This means that you may not use media AT ALL during that timespan. You should keep a “diary” of the experience using the diary form available on Canvas, also—but instead of inputting media you come into contact with, make notes about moments when you narrowly avoided media, absolutely could not avoid media, or were struck by something interesting (or uncomfortable) in your efforts to avoid media. For example: “I went to lunch at Whataburger and couldn’t avoid the music they’ve got playing there!” or “I drove to work without any music playing, which felt really weird.” You may not simply submit a blank diary form.
Please, please, complete this homework before our first meeting.
