Status: Closed — this petition is no longer accepting signatures.
Final supporters
Columbia University is one the most respected universities in the world, and the Film HTC classes -- along with the Professors that teach them -- contribute to that reputation. There is no question that these classes are valuable, and that they help filmmakers understand the history of film while providing an intellectual environment for analysis and critique. But the requirement's workload has taken away from the reason MFA students are here: to produce, write, and direct films. The HTC workload has pulled students away from their creative ambitions, and has left many of us with regret and frustration, since it has lessened our already limited time with MFA professors.
To be more specific, the research and writing requirements of the HTC classes have taken us away from class exercises, writing assignments, screenplays and films. Our DMC has been full of MFA students "pulling all-nighters" to complete research papers, and in doing so are unable to participate in filmmaking. Again, HTC provides a valuable experience, but when its demands have a negative impact on our filmmaking, it becomes a problem. As MFA's our requirements should not be the same (or in most cases, even more demanding) as undergraduate students.
Professor Insdorf’s “Film Language I” is a great example of how an HTC class for MFA students should run. We might suggest “Film Language II” to help us transition. Since Professor Insdorf has replaced all of the films screened in Film Language I with different films, it should really be considered a different class. This would be a great short-term solution to help some of us fulfill our requirement, while offering a great environment that is accessible and complimentary to our studies.
The experience of HTC should enhance our filmmaking, not detract from it. We would like to see the HTC tradition continue in a manner that is useful and manageable to all of us.
We feel it is imperative that this issue be addressed prior to the Spring semester.
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18 Comments
My feelings exactly. Great classes but it's simply too much work if we are to write decent feature screenplays and focus on directing as well.
I love the HTC courses but would like to see the requirements and workload reduced for MFA students, i.e. less essays, reading etc. The lectures themselves are invaluable. Doing coursework is counter productive as most of us cannot commit to doing the work properly anyway.
Mike, I'm responding because you brought up a great point about genre specific classes. Just a few years ago, Columbia had some great film classes that were genre - and even director - specific. There were courses that studies Hitchcock, Kaufman, etc. I think Kaufman was taught by Insdorf. They also had a GREAT class I took that was all about the history of Hollywood studios, and how the game changed over the years. It followed Laemmle, Selznick, Hitchcock, Ford, MGM musicals etc. It was great, and it was taught by Leon Falk, the former president of Orion Pictures. I have no idea what happened to these classes. Additionally, the MFA program used to have a test-out procedure, but it only exempted you from the Intro class. I see the main problem being the pushback that the administration will get from the HTC professors. For reasons probably tied to "reputation," they may not want to lighten our load. I know the petition and its goal were discussed in faculty meeting today. Thanks for the note. I see that you didn't sign the petition. It seems like you agree, so I wonder what the concerns were. I ask only to satisfy my curiosity. Thanks man, Rob
I agree with a lot of what has been said here, particularly the idea that for many of us with film studies majors or minors from our undergrad, the HTC requirement is redundant. Some of us were talking about the possibility of students testing out of the requirement, or having an opportunity to demonstrate our knowledge of film HTC without needing to take the courses. In the event that the faculty retains the requirement, then I think the push should be to, as Rob put forth in the original post, ensure that the HTC courses for grad students are designed to compliment our core workload, rather than hinder it. Analysis of Film Language is a great example, but if the HTC's were even more specific, focusing on genres, forms or styles that we are trying to explore in our writing/directing, they could become helpful and practical resources rather than sources of stress and distraction.
It happens. But it is open to public; however, it has only been posted on our CU sites. One thing I have learned: Anonymous is famous for dim-witted, ignorant responses. But, we've given the shit-ball too much time already. :)
If you do not have the guts to write your name, don't write at all.
Seriously, are these petitions open to the general public? I just can't picture anybody in our class posting something like this.
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Status: Closed — this petition is no longer accepting signatures.
Final supporters
Columbia University is one the most respected universities in the world, and the Film HTC classes -- along with the Professors that teach them -- contribute to that reputation. There is no question that these classes are valuable, and that they help filmmakers understand the history of film while providing an intellectual environment for analysis and critique. But the requirement's workload has taken away from the reason MFA students are here: to produce, write, and direct films. The HTC workload has pulled students away from their creative ambitions, and has left many of us with regret and frustration, since it has lessened our already limited time with MFA professors.
To be more specific, the research and writing requirements of the HTC classes have taken us away from class exercises, writing assignments, screenplays and films. Our DMC has been full of MFA students "pulling all-nighters" to complete research papers, and in doing so are unable to participate in filmmaking. Again, HTC provides a valuable experience, but when its demands have a negative impact on our filmmaking, it becomes a problem. As MFA's our requirements should not be the same (or in most cases, even more demanding) as undergraduate students.
Professor Insdorf’s “Film Language I” is a great example of how an HTC class for MFA students should run. We might suggest “Film Language II” to help us transition. Since Professor Insdorf has replaced all of the films screened in Film Language I with different films, it should really be considered a different class. This would be a great short-term solution to help some of us fulfill our requirement, while offering a great environment that is accessible and complimentary to our studies.
The experience of HTC should enhance our filmmaking, not detract from it. We would like to see the HTC tradition continue in a manner that is useful and manageable to all of us.
We feel it is imperative that this issue be addressed prior to the Spring semester.
18 Comments
Agreed. It would be much more useful to replace HTC slots with writing or production based classes. We're paying aren't we?
My feelings exactly. Great classes but it's simply too much work if we are to write decent feature screenplays and focus on directing as well.
I love the HTC courses but would like to see the requirements and workload reduced for MFA students, i.e. less essays, reading etc. The lectures themselves are invaluable. Doing coursework is counter productive as most of us cannot commit to doing the work properly anyway.
Mike, I'm responding because you brought up a great point about genre specific classes. Just a few years ago, Columbia had some great film classes that were genre - and even director - specific. There were courses that studies Hitchcock, Kaufman, etc. I think Kaufman was taught by Insdorf. They also had a GREAT class I took that was all about the history of Hollywood studios, and how the game changed over the years. It followed Laemmle, Selznick, Hitchcock, Ford, MGM musicals etc. It was great, and it was taught by Leon Falk, the former president of Orion Pictures. I have no idea what happened to these classes. Additionally, the MFA program used to have a test-out procedure, but it only exempted you from the Intro class. I see the main problem being the pushback that the administration will get from the HTC professors. For reasons probably tied to "reputation," they may not want to lighten our load. I know the petition and its goal were discussed in faculty meeting today. Thanks for the note. I see that you didn't sign the petition. It seems like you agree, so I wonder what the concerns were. I ask only to satisfy my curiosity. Thanks man, Rob
I agree with a lot of what has been said here, particularly the idea that for many of us with film studies majors or minors from our undergrad, the HTC requirement is redundant. Some of us were talking about the possibility of students testing out of the requirement, or having an opportunity to demonstrate our knowledge of film HTC without needing to take the courses. In the event that the faculty retains the requirement, then I think the push should be to, as Rob put forth in the original post, ensure that the HTC courses for grad students are designed to compliment our core workload, rather than hinder it. Analysis of Film Language is a great example, but if the HTC's were even more specific, focusing on genres, forms or styles that we are trying to explore in our writing/directing, they could become helpful and practical resources rather than sources of stress and distraction.
It happens. But it is open to public; however, it has only been posted on our CU sites. One thing I have learned: Anonymous is famous for dim-witted, ignorant responses. But, we've given the shit-ball too much time already. :)
If you do not have the guts to write your name, don't write at all.
Seriously, are these petitions open to the general public? I just can't picture anybody in our class posting something like this.
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Agreed. It would be much more useful to replace HTC slots with writing or production based classes. We're paying aren't we?