This course explains what communication is and what it has meant and means today, in a world characterized by relationships and connections. It is not possible to deny or ignore the influence media exert on people, not only from an industrial and commercial point of view, but also, and above all, from a human and social one. The course also focuses on different media fields that characterize Milan: journalism and news making, advertising industry, television and graphic novel. Every theme will be studied and analyzed from historical, theoretical, practical and productive points of view. Topics like journalism, advertising industry and television are developed through lectures, discussions and field studies dedicated to visits to television studios and to one of the most important comic book publishing companies in Milan.
Method of presentation:
Lectures and discussions, documentary films, field studies.
LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION: English
Required work and form of assessment:
: Attendance and participation (25%), mid-term exam
(25%), research paper (25%), and final exam (25%).
Students are expected to attend lectures and keep up with the readings. Mid-term and final exams will consist of multiple-choice and open-ended questions and a short composition. In-class quizzes and the mid-term exam will serve to prepare students for the final exam. A list of topics for research papers will be given to students after the mid-term exam. Students are required to choose one topic and to research materials from major newspapers, the Internet, and the IES and Milan-based university libraries.
content:
I. The Role of Communication
What communication is and what it means today (Cianci - Zambarbieri)
Required Reading: Ortoleva Peppino: “A Geography of the Media since 1945”
The power and great influence of media. The purpose of media and the various kinds of audience
(Zambarbieri).
Required Reading: selected pages from James Watson’s An Introduction to Theory and Process.
II. Television as a Powerful and Sophisticated Medium of Communication
What television is and how it works in Italy. Description and analysis of its genres and the idea of
“format” (Zambarbieri).
Required Reading: a hand out will be distributed in class
Analysis of program schedules of the main Italian channels (both national and commercial ones).
Screening and inquiry of some of the most followed Italian television programs (Cianci).
Required Reading: “The History of Game Shows” in The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows
What can you find “inside” the program? Workshop on television planning works, audience shares, scripts and teasers of the most successful Italian programs. (Cianci)
Required Reading: Patricia Holland, The Television Handbook, parts II and III.
Field study at Mediaset Studios: visit to the set of the most popular Italian game show “Who wants to be a millionaire?” or to the set of the satirical news program “Le iene” or of the international famous
musical program “Top of the Pops” (Cianci - Zambarbieri).
Required watching: some shows of the program on VHS given by the instructors.
III. The News as a Basic Component of the World of TV and Communication
Information and newsmaking in Italy: theory and practice (Zambarbieri).
Required reading: Howard Blumenthal, This Business of Television, part 4.
Analysis of three of the most followed and loved news programs broadcast by the most important Italian channels (the traditional ones: “Tg1”, “Tg5” and the satirical “Striscia la notizia”) (Cianci).
Required watching: Some news programs on television or on VHS given by the instructors.
Fashion and music as a particular kind of soft and ancillary “news”. Analysis of the Italian version of the international music format “Top of Pops” and of “Nonsolomoda”, the most longevous fashion program
broadcast in Italy. The music on television (guest speaker Davide Tortorella, one of the most qualified tv authors of the commercial Italian television) (Cianci - Zambarbieri).
Required reading: a hand out will be distributed in class.
Simulation of the mid-term exam and revision (Cianci - Zambarbieri)
Talking about current events on television. The most followed talk shows on Italian channels: the case of
“Porta a porta” and its popular anchorman Bruno Vespa and the case of “Maurizio Costanzo Show” with the famous host Maurizio Costanzo (Cianci).
Required watching: Segments from these programs.
IV. Mid-Term Exam
V. The Fabulous World of Advertising
Theory, rules and practice of advertising on television, magazines and newspapers (Zambarbieri).
Required reading: Howard Blumenthal, This Business of Television, part 5.
Content analysis and comparison between Italian and foreign television commercials (Cianci - Zambarbieri).
Required watching: Television spots recorded on VHS given by the instructors.
VI. Fiction as a Global Genre
Field Study at Mediaset studios: visit of the areas where programs are made (sets, studio control rooms, editorial offices) or of the editorial offices of a newspaper or of a comics publishing house in Milan or of a
fashion show in Fiera Milano (Cianci - Zambarbieri).
Narrative: the media as storytellers. Its genre, code and characters (Zambarbieri).
Required reading: Robert McKee, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and Principles of Screenwriting, part 4
Italian Graphic Novel tradition (the Italian school 1960-1990: Hugo Pratt, Guido Crepax and Milo
Manara) and its effects on contemporary arts (guest speaker Filippo De Bortoli, specialized journalist) (Cianci - Zambarbieri).
Required reading: link “comiclopedia” in www.lambiek.net (hand out).
Graphic Novel in Italy among comics, cinema and literature and the Italian Graphic Novel tradition in comparative perspective (USA, Great Britain, France and Belgium) - guest speaker Filippo De Bortoli,
specialized journalist (Cianci - Zambarbieri).
Required reading: link “comiclopedia” in www.lambiek.net (hand out).
Italian and American sitcoms: is it an impossible comparison? Analysis of two of the most popular sitcoms in Italy: the Italian “Finalmente soli” and the American “Will and Grace” (Cianci).
Required reading: “The inflow of American Television Fiction on European Broadcasting Channels
Revisited” in European Journal of Communication, Vol.16 March 2001 (hand out).
How can you write a sitcom? A workshop approach writing the concept for a sitcom (Cianci).
Required reading: Wolff Jurgen, Successful Sitcom Writing, chapters II and III.
Italian and American soap-operas. Analysis of two of the most popular soap-operas in Italy: the Italian
“Cento Vetrine” and the American “The Bold and the Beautiful” (Zambarbieri).
Required reading: “The inflow of American Television Fiction on European Broadcasting Channels Revisited” in European Journal of Communication (hand out) and “European soap-operas: the diversification of a genre” in European Journal of Communication, (hand out).
General review and discussion and questionnaire (Cianci - Zambarbieri)
Analysis of one important and very successful Italian fiction (“Il Commissario Montalbano”) from the best seller novels written by Andrea Camilleri.
Required reading: William Miller, Screenwriting for TV and Film.
VII. Final Exam
Required readings:
Blumenthal, Howard J. This Business of Television. Watson-Guptill, 1998.
Casey, Bernadette et al. Television Studies: The Key Concepts. London: Routledge, 2002. deWaal Malefyt, Timothy and Brian Moeran (eds.). Advertising Cultures. Oxford: Berg, 2003. Foot, John. Milan since the Miracle. Oxford: Berg, 2001.
Mayer, Martin. Making News. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1993.
McKee, Robert. Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and Principles of Screenwriting. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1997.
Ortoleva, Peppino. “A Geography of the Media since 1945”. In Forgacs, David and Robert Lumley. Italian
Cultural Studies: An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Patter, David A. Newspapers and New Media. White Plains, NY: Knowledge Industry Publications, 1986. Schwartz, David. The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows. New York, NY: Facts on File, Inc., 1999.
Wolff, Jurgen. Successful Sitcom Writing. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, Revised Edition, 1996.
Recommended readings:
Blumenthal, Howard J. and Oliver R. Goodenough. This Business of Television. New York, NY: Billboard Books; 3rd Rev&Up edition, 2006.
Field, Syd. The Screenwriter’s Workshop. A Workshop Approach. New York, NY: Dell Publishing Co., 1994. Holland, Patricia. The Television Handbook. New York, NY: Routledge, 1997.
Howard, David and Edward Mabley. The Tools of Screenwriting: a Writer’s Guide to the Craft and Elements of a Screenplay. New York, NY: St. Martins Press, 1995.
McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Company, 1964. Miller, William. Screenwriting for TV and Film. Allyn and Bacon USA, 1998.
Pavel, Thomas G. Fictional Worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986. Seger Linda. Making a Good Script Great. Hollywood, CA: French Trade Inc., 1994.
Taylor, Charles. The Malaise of Modernity. Ontario: Anansi Press, 1991.
Vogler, Christopher. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Film Productions USA, 1992.
Watson, James. An Introduction to Theory and Process. London: MacMillan Press, 1998.
This course explains what communication is and what it has meant and means today, in a world characterized by relationships and connections. It is not possible to deny or ignore the influence media exert on people, not only from an industrial and commercial point of view, but also, and above all, from a human and social one. The course also focuses on different media fields that characterize Milan: journalism and news making, advertising industry, television and graphic novel. Every theme will be studied and analyzed from historical, theoretical, practical and productive points of view. Topics like journalism, advertising industry and television are developed through lectures, discussions and field studies dedicated to visits to television studios and to one of the most important comic book publishing companies in Milan.
Lectures and discussions, documentary films, field studies.
LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION: English
: Attendance and participation (25%), mid-term exam
(25%), research paper (25%), and final exam (25%).
Students are expected to attend lectures and keep up with the readings. Mid-term and final exams will consist of multiple-choice and open-ended questions and a short composition. In-class quizzes and the mid-term exam will serve to prepare students for the final exam. A list of topics for research papers will be given to students after the mid-term exam. Students are required to choose one topic and to research materials from major newspapers, the Internet, and the IES and Milan-based university libraries.
I. The Role of Communication
What communication is and what it means today (Cianci - Zambarbieri)
Required Reading: Ortoleva Peppino: “A Geography of the Media since 1945”
The power and great influence of media. The purpose of media and the various kinds of audience
(Zambarbieri).
Required Reading: selected pages from James Watson’s An Introduction to Theory and Process.
II. Television as a Powerful and Sophisticated Medium of Communication
What television is and how it works in Italy. Description and analysis of its genres and the idea of
“format” (Zambarbieri).
Required Reading: a hand out will be distributed in class
Analysis of program schedules of the main Italian channels (both national and commercial ones).
Screening and inquiry of some of the most followed Italian television programs (Cianci).
Required Reading: “The History of Game Shows” in The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows
What can you find “inside” the program? Workshop on television planning works, audience shares, scripts and teasers of the most successful Italian programs. (Cianci)
Required Reading: Patricia Holland, The Television Handbook, parts II and III.
Field study at Mediaset Studios: visit to the set of the most popular Italian game show “Who wants to be a millionaire?” or to the set of the satirical news program “Le iene” or of the international famous
musical program “Top of the Pops” (Cianci - Zambarbieri).
Required watching: some shows of the program on VHS given by the instructors.
III. The News as a Basic Component of the World of TV and Communication
Information and newsmaking in Italy: theory and practice (Zambarbieri).
Required reading: Howard Blumenthal, This Business of Television, part 4.
Analysis of three of the most followed and loved news programs broadcast by the most important Italian channels (the traditional ones: “Tg1”, “Tg5” and the satirical “Striscia la notizia”) (Cianci).
Required watching: Some news programs on television or on VHS given by the instructors.
Fashion and music as a particular kind of soft and ancillary “news”. Analysis of the Italian version of the international music format “Top of Pops” and of “Nonsolomoda”, the most longevous fashion program
broadcast in Italy. The music on television (guest speaker Davide Tortorella, one of the most qualified tv authors of the commercial Italian television) (Cianci - Zambarbieri).
Required reading: a hand out will be distributed in class.
Simulation of the mid-term exam and revision (Cianci - Zambarbieri)
Talking about current events on television. The most followed talk shows on Italian channels: the case of
“Porta a porta” and its popular anchorman Bruno Vespa and the case of “Maurizio Costanzo Show” with the famous host Maurizio Costanzo (Cianci).
Required watching: Segments from these programs.
IV. Mid-Term Exam
V. The Fabulous World of Advertising
Theory, rules and practice of advertising on television, magazines and newspapers (Zambarbieri).
Required reading: Howard Blumenthal, This Business of Television, part 5.
Content analysis and comparison between Italian and foreign television commercials (Cianci - Zambarbieri).
Required watching: Television spots recorded on VHS given by the instructors.
VI. Fiction as a Global Genre
Field Study at Mediaset studios: visit of the areas where programs are made (sets, studio control rooms, editorial offices) or of the editorial offices of a newspaper or of a comics publishing house in Milan or of a
fashion show in Fiera Milano (Cianci - Zambarbieri).
Narrative: the media as storytellers. Its genre, code and characters (Zambarbieri).
Required reading: Robert McKee, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and Principles of Screenwriting, part 4
Italian Graphic Novel tradition (the Italian school 1960-1990: Hugo Pratt, Guido Crepax and Milo
Manara) and its effects on contemporary arts (guest speaker Filippo De Bortoli, specialized journalist) (Cianci - Zambarbieri).
Required reading: link “comiclopedia” in www.lambiek.net (hand out).
Graphic Novel in Italy among comics, cinema and literature and the Italian Graphic Novel tradition in comparative perspective (USA, Great Britain, France and Belgium) - guest speaker Filippo De Bortoli,
specialized journalist (Cianci - Zambarbieri).
Required reading: link “comiclopedia” in www.lambiek.net (hand out).
Italian and American sitcoms: is it an impossible comparison? Analysis of two of the most popular sitcoms in Italy: the Italian “Finalmente soli” and the American “Will and Grace” (Cianci).
Required reading: “The inflow of American Television Fiction on European Broadcasting Channels
Revisited” in European Journal of Communication, Vol.16 March 2001 (hand out).
How can you write a sitcom? A workshop approach writing the concept for a sitcom (Cianci).
Required reading: Wolff Jurgen, Successful Sitcom Writing, chapters II and III.
Italian and American soap-operas. Analysis of two of the most popular soap-operas in Italy: the Italian
“Cento Vetrine” and the American “The Bold and the Beautiful” (Zambarbieri).
Required reading: “The inflow of American Television Fiction on European Broadcasting Channels Revisited” in European Journal of Communication (hand out) and “European soap-operas: the diversification of a genre” in European Journal of Communication, (hand out).
General review and discussion and questionnaire (Cianci - Zambarbieri)
Analysis of one important and very successful Italian fiction (“Il Commissario Montalbano”) from the best seller novels written by Andrea Camilleri.
Required reading: William Miller, Screenwriting for TV and Film.
VII. Final Exam
Blumenthal, Howard J. This Business of Television. Watson-Guptill, 1998.
Casey, Bernadette et al. Television Studies: The Key Concepts. London: Routledge, 2002. deWaal Malefyt, Timothy and Brian Moeran (eds.). Advertising Cultures. Oxford: Berg, 2003. Foot, John. Milan since the Miracle. Oxford: Berg, 2001.
Mayer, Martin. Making News. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1993.
McKee, Robert. Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and Principles of Screenwriting. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1997.
Ortoleva, Peppino. “A Geography of the Media since 1945”. In Forgacs, David and Robert Lumley. Italian
Cultural Studies: An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Patter, David A. Newspapers and New Media. White Plains, NY: Knowledge Industry Publications, 1986. Schwartz, David. The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows. New York, NY: Facts on File, Inc., 1999.
Wolff, Jurgen. Successful Sitcom Writing. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, Revised Edition, 1996.
Blumenthal, Howard J. and Oliver R. Goodenough. This Business of Television. New York, NY: Billboard Books; 3rd Rev&Up edition, 2006.
Field, Syd. The Screenwriter’s Workshop. A Workshop Approach. New York, NY: Dell Publishing Co., 1994. Holland, Patricia. The Television Handbook. New York, NY: Routledge, 1997.
Howard, David and Edward Mabley. The Tools of Screenwriting: a Writer’s Guide to the Craft and Elements of a Screenplay. New York, NY: St. Martins Press, 1995.
McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Company, 1964. Miller, William. Screenwriting for TV and Film. Allyn and Bacon USA, 1998.
Pavel, Thomas G. Fictional Worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986. Seger Linda. Making a Good Script Great. Hollywood, CA: French Trade Inc., 1994.
Taylor, Charles. The Malaise of Modernity. Ontario: Anansi Press, 1991.
Vogler, Christopher. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Film Productions USA, 1992.
Watson, James. An Introduction to Theory and Process. London: MacMillan Press, 1998.
Recommended Graphic Novels:
Battaglia, Dino. Moby Dick. Rizzoli Edizioni.
---. Tottentanz. Rizzoli Edizioni.
Manara, Milo. El Gaucho. Lizzard Edizioni.
---. Un’estate indiana. Rizzoli Edizioni. Micheluzzi. Attilio. Afghanistan. Lizzard Edizioni.
---. Johnny Focus. F.Ivaldi Editore.
Pratt, Hugo. Wheeling. Lizzard Edizioni. Toppi, Sergio. Blues. Rizzoli Edizioni.