Archive Methodologies

6 units · Graduate courses (200-299)

Seminar, three hours. Limited to MA candidates. Introduction to UCLA Film and Television Archive (FTVA) as primary source of research and study. Students develop understanding of archival research methodologies, specific to moving image collections and tailored to examples from FTVA holdings. Weekly assignments engage with different approaches to historical inquiry to consider cultural-industrial frameworks within intersection of industrial trends (production, distribution, exhibition, reception); visual form (filmmaker or performer’s individual style, genre conventions, technological innovations); and impact of sociopolitical events on media production. Students design final research topic related to FTVA collection that draw on myriad archival materials—including moving image titles; paper (personal correspondence, press coverage, production paperwork); photographs; and oral histories—to map synergy across collections at UCLA and elsewhere. S/U or letter grading.