Visit the Bell Museum of Natural History Site

See our first draft of the film festival description and schedule!

WEEK 4 -- FEB 11

Imaging Wildlife Before Moving Pictures: Tour of the Bell Museum Fine Arts Collection

6:00-7:00: GUEST SPEAKER: Don Luce, Curator, Bell Museum of Natural History
Artists who participated in the conservation movement of the late nineteenth century

Key issues for class:
What are the elements of Visual Fine Arts Representation that artists work with? What should we look for in order to learn more from images (paintings, drawings, photos) of wildlife?
What is the history of wildlife imagery before moving pictures? What is unique about American wildlife painting and photography? What are some of the most ancient images of wildlife? What are some of the most important artistic, scientific and social movements in the history of wildlife art?
What is the controversy surrounding the role of the wildlife photographer as a hunter? Of artist as conservationist?

7:00-7:30: ACTIVITIES: in-class reflective writing activities (handed in), exploring the Elements of Visual Fine Arts Representation in paintings and dioramas

7:30-8:00 SCREENING a segment of narrative, documentary and jungle genre film, Simba (1928). Observations will be noted using guidelines from previous week.

8:00 - 8:30 ACTVITY Discussion of observations about Simba.

READING FOR FEB 18: Contradictory Forces: Jean Painlevé, 1902-1989, from Science is Fiction: The Films of Jean Painlevé, A.M. Bellows, M. McDougall and B. Berg, eds., 2000, Cambridge:MIT Press, pp. 3-47.

ACTIVITY DUE FEB 18: Answer the questions provided that address issues raised in Science is Fiction in a one to three page essay.

OPTIONAL READING: Cook, D.A. 1990. "Origins", In A History of Narrative Film. WW Norton & Co. pp. 1-9.

Course notes and homework assignment.