Interactive Syllabus

Contemporary Hollywood and Digital Effects

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This series of six lectures interrogates the relationship between popular Hollywood cinema and the emergence of computer graphics, looking at a selection of flashpoint films that each reflect a key moment in the technological evolution and visual spectacle of digital effects. Taking as a starting point the integration of computer-generated imagery (CGI) within mainstream U.S. cinema during the 1980s, the course offers a chronological overview of the major innovations in effects technologies, from the photorealistic representation of metamorphosing bodies and expansive digital multitudes to developments in motion-capture performance and the virtual recreation of youth. We will map how Hollywood as an entertainment industry has responded to advances in – and pushed the boundaries of – different kinds of computerised effects, images, characters, and bodies, alongside the ways in which audiences have been invited to marvel at the creative possibilities enabled by Hollywood’s computer revolution.

After completing this course, students will be able to:
• chart the history of digital VFX imagery within contemporary Hollywood cinema from the 1980s to the present.
• define the industrial and technological shifts that have supported the acceleration of computer-generated imagery within mainstream filmmaking.
• situate transformations in film style and aesthetics within broader critical paradigms and contexts.

Please note that student attendance is obligatory on all lectures and will be regularly checked. Please report your absences to us in advance with a proper excuse why you cannot attend a particular lesson or the whole course. Once the enrolment number will reach 74 and more, some students will have to take the classes online, through MS Teams. Further instructions regarding the capacities will be specified mid-March, once the enrolment is closed. For those students, who are not able to attend the lectures, recordings will be provided in the IS system. The final test is an open book test, consisting of three questions they can answer at their convenience and upload the final document into the homework vault on the due date.

Assesment methods:

An open book "test" consisting of three questions, each trio attached to different deadline and a homework vault. Each answer should be between 300 - 500 words, so the final word count should be between 900 and 1500 words. You must include a methodological framework in each answer.

You can write your answers in Czech, Slovak or English language.

In order to get an A grade, you must:

- Stay within the range with each answer

- Consult at least one piece of scholarship in each answer, preferably those from the reading list (but not limited to)

- Demonstrate a considerable depth of understanding the topic as well as the ability to apply the key concepts when analysing a film or films we will be screening throughout the course

- Use sophisticated and precise vocabulary and clearly structure your answers (please no bulletpoints!)

- Have a near faultless typography and layout, plus exemplary citation and bibliography

Lecture 1: Digital VFX and Hollywood’s Wonder Years

Teacher recommends to study from 17/3/2025 to 23/3/2025.

Lecture 2: New Digital Wonderlands

Teacher recommends to study from 24/3/2025 to 30/3/2025.

Lecture 3: Masses and Multitudes

Teacher recommends to study from 31/3/2025 to 6/4/2025.

Lecture 4: Motion Capture and Digital Performance

Teacher recommends to study from 7/4/2025 to 13/4/2025.

Lecture 5: Posthumanist Bodies and the Cyborg

Teacher recommends to study from 14/4/2025 to 20/4/2025.

Lecture 6: Digital De-Aging

Teacher recommends to study from 21/4/2025 to 27/4/2025.

Contemporary Hollywood and Digital Effects
- Study now
  
  Lecture 1: Digital VFX and Hollywood’s Wonder Years
- Study now
  
  Lecture 2: New Digital Wonderlands
- Study now
  
  Lecture 3: Masses and Multitudes
- Study now
  
  Lecture 4: Motion Capture and Digital Performance
- Study now
  
  Lecture 5: Posthumanist Bodies and the Cyborg
- Study now
  
  Lecture 6: Digital De-Aging

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