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Writing about Film: Creative and Critical Eyes
 
One week: July 20-26, 2008

 Writing About Film will seek to develop the student's writing skills by focusing on the compelling ways in which films work to engage audiences. As a visual medium, film can often resist easy translation into written expression; yet film's condensed and complex forms of expression also solicit a particular appreciation and understanding that only careful writing (descriptive, interpretive and argumentative modes) can yield. The class will explore how many important filmmakers themselves began or continued to work as creative writers of scripts and/or critical interpreters of film. The course also will pay particular attention to the elements of film style: setting, camera angle and movement, editing and sound. Students will discover characteristic features of the "classical Hollywood style," a series of formal and narrative conventions and patterns which are as present today in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan and Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing as they were in John Ford's classic western, Stagecoach. In addition, the course will explore film genre and the issue of literary adaptation by examining film adaptations of Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Directing this program will be Vincent Hausmann, assistant professor of English at Furman, where he teaches film analysis, literary theory and composition. He serves as co-editor of the Bryn Mawr Review of Comparative Literature; he has served as a board member of the Upstate Film Society and is currently the moderator of Furman's student-run Independent Film Society. His articles have appeared in the scholarly journals Camera Obcsura, Journal of Film and Video, and Conradiana, and in Literary Modernism and Photography, a collection of essays exploring the relations between literature and the visual arts.

Program Dates and Tuition Costs
· The instructional program begins Monday, July 21 at 9 a.m., and ends Friday at 4 p.m.
· Registration is from 2 - 4 p.m. on Sunday, July 20
· The program fee is $800 including room, board, materials, field trips and activities.
· Meals: Sunday dinner through Saturday breakfast.

Campus Housing and Amenities
· Participants will be housed in Lakeside Housing, one of Furman's residential complexes.
· Summer Scholars Program participants have access to campus amenities such as the James B. Duke Library, tennis courts, jogging trails, fitness trails, swimming pool, the University Center, and campus dining facilities. Bring casual and sports clothing for outdoor recreational activities.

Program Entrance Requirements
Summer Scholars programs are open to students entering the 11th or 12th grades who have strong academic skills and motivation. Rising sophomores may be admitted under special circumstances. Program enrollments are limited and qualified students are accepted on a first-come basis, so early application is recommended. Applications may be obtained from the Enrollment Office, Furman University, 3300 Poinsett Highway, Greenville, SC 29613 (864) 294-3231 or from the Summer Scholars Web site: http://www.furman.edu/summerscholars. Students may apply for one class each week. Once your application is approved, you will receive an admission letter and registration form requesting that you mail in your $150.00 non-refundable deposit. The deposit will guarantee your space in the program(s). If you plan to attend both weeks, you will be required to pay a deposit for each class.


 
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