The latvian academy of culture

The Name of the Course: The Fundamentals of Photography Art

The Scope of the Course: 64 hours (40 lectures, 8 seminars, 16 compulsory practical tasks). 4 credit points. Type of Assessment – an oral test at the end of Term 1 and an oral theoretical examination at the end of Term 2, positively assessed practical tasks.

I.The Author of the Course: Lecturer Māris Kundziņš

The Content of the Course: The theoretical lectures of the course introduces students to the main principles of a graphic picture and perception of colours, the fundamentals of composition, the specific features of various photography genres, the types of lighting and their technical wear and the like. The students also perform practical work in the open air and the interior doing tasks given by their teacher. The objective of the course is to develop an ability to record the visual image of an object or an event at the right time and place and master the means of artistic expression viewed through the eyes of the photographer.

Preconditions for the Acquisition of the Course: Preliminary knowledge in photography. A personal reflex camera and photo materials.
Thematic Planning:

THEMES	Week	Type of classes and hours
An introduction to modern photography. The synthesis of technological and intellectual processes.	1	L2
A picture as a projection of visually encoded information in 2D plane. Technical preconditions for a qualitative projection.	2	L2
Optics used in photography. Technical data of object lenses and criteria of their evaluation.	3, 4	L2, P2
Optics as a means of artistic expression.	5, 6	L2, S2
Light sensitive materials, their photochemical essence and structure. The classification of materials.	7, 8	L2, P2
Light, its special character and significance in photography.	9	L2
The fundamentals of the work of the exposure meter.	10, 11	L2, P2
The process of negatives-positives.	12	L2
The process of inversion. Slides.	13, 14	L2, S2
Light filters and special effects.	15, 16	L2, P2
Perception principles of graphic pictures and their application in photography.	17	L2
Specific features of black-and-white photography.	18, 19	L2, P2
Perception principles of colours and their application.	20	L2
Specific features of colour photography.	21, 22	L2, P2
Genres of photography. Still-life, portrait, landscape, reporting and others.	23, 24	L2, S2
Special types of taking photos. Macro photography.	25	L2
Taking photos in a studio. The equipment of artificial lighting and its application.	26, 27	L2, P2
Fundamental features of photo-psychology.	28, 29	L2, S2
New technologies and creative consequences in photography.	30, 31	L2, P2
Digital processing of photographs. Photography and printing. Artistic aspects of the organisation of a photography exhibition.	32	L2

Preconditions for the Acquisition of the Credit Points:

5. 
   A positive assessment in the test; to do the practical tasks.
   
6. 
   10 exhibition-quality photographs have to be submitted at the end of the course.
   
7. 
   To pass the oral examination.
   

II.

III.Literature:

1. 
   Mare, E. Photography. - 6^th edition, London, 1977
   
2. 
   Nibbelink, D. Picturing People.- Amphoto, New York, 1976
   
3. 
   Haist, G. Modern Photography Processing. V 1,2. - A Wiley – Interscience Publication
   
4. 
   Frizboro. On the Nature of Things. The Scientific Photography. - Aperture, 1976
   
5. 
   Gasson, A. Exploring Black and White Photography. - W.M.C.Brown Publishers, Iowa, 1989
   
6. 
   Photography after Photography. Memory and Representation in the Digital Age. - G + B Arts, 1996
   
7. 
   Митчел, Э. Фотография. - Москва, Мир, 1988
   
8. 
   Фотокинотехника. - Энциклопадия, Москва,1981
   
9. 
   Уэйд, Дж. Техника пейзажной фотографии. - Москва, Мир, 1989
   
10. 
    Хокинс, Э., Эйвон, Д. Фотография.Техника и искуство. - Москва, Мир, 1986
    
11. 
    Хеймен, Р. Светофильтры. - Москва, Мир, 1988
    
12. 
    Дьяконов, А.Н. Химия фотографических материалов. - Москва, Искуство, 1989
    
13. 
    Панфилов, Н.Д. Введение в худжественную фотографию. - Москва, Планета, 1977
    

The Name of the Course: The History of the World Cinema: The History of the Documentary Cinema

The Scope of the Course: 32 academic hours ( 28 hours of lectures, 4 hours of seminars).

2 credit points. The form of assessment – an examination.

The Author of the Course: Lecturer Inga Perkone, MA, lecturer Agris Redovics.
Preconditions for the Acquisition of the Course: Prior knowledge in the history of the world culture and the cinema. Proficiency in languages.
The Contents of the Course: The course describes the most important trends, films and producers of documentary films.

The Thematic Planning:

CII.Theme	Week	Type of classes and hours
The Early documentary cinema. 1895 – 1914. The Documentary cinema as a source for history. The Documentary cinema and World War I.	1	L2
The Documentary cinema in-between the wars. The Documentary film as art. R. Flaherti, Dziga Vertov, J.Grierson, E.Shuba. The Cinema and authoritarianism. Films of Stalin’s period. The German national socialism and L.Riefenstahl.	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	L2; L2; L2; L2; L2; S2
The Documentary cinema during World War II. The USSR, Germany, the USA and Britain.	8, 9	L2; L2
The Documentary cinema between 1945 and 1960. The USSR and Eastern Europe – stalinism and the thaw. The change of the form and contents of documentary film in the USA and Western Europe.	10, 11, 12	L2; L2; L2
The Modern documentary cinema. The 1960ies – the 1990ies. Cinema verite, direct cinema, poetical cinema, problem films. The Documentary cinema and TV. The problems of documentary evidence.	13, 14, 15, 16	L2; L2; L2; S2