Camera as a Tool for Drama

Catalog description

What role does the movie camera play in the art of storytelling? The earliest prehistoric cave paintings portray events as a series of images, implicating space and time. The movie camera has the capacity to corral space and capture time. Is this the source of film’s disarming power as a medium for visual storytelling? What are specific attributes of the camera's action that exploit this power? Why is one shot more dramatic than another? How does a choice of camera style inform the story’s pace? Students will explore these questions, and more, comparing the effects created by the variety of ways a camera corrals space into narrative meaning. For students interested in telling stories visually, the course will encourage more authority in their camera choices. At each stage of our exploration, students will be assigned exercises (1-3 min videos shot with a Smartphone) to provide the first-hand experience in creating some of the effects we explore in class. Our source material will include essays, interviews, podcasts, full-length feature films, and select film clips, past and present, from every region of the world. This course will be offered in January-Term 2026. This course will be taught at NYU Los Angeles and will count as an Away J-Term course.