TCM Presents Mad About Musicals!

:
The History of the Hollywood Musicals

Vanessa Theme Ament, Ph.D.

Ball State University
June 3 – June 30, 2018

Course Syllabus

About the Professor:

Professor Bio: Vanessa Theme Ament hails from the Los Angeles film community, where she has worked as a
Foley artist and voice actor for such films as Platoon (1986), Predator (1987), Die Hard (1988), Beauty and the
Beast (1991), A Goofy Movie (1995), Delores Claiborne (1995), City Slickers 2 (1994), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Batman
Returns (1992) and Cats Don’t Dance (1997). Additionally, she was a Foley artist on the television
shows Dallas, Savannah, Knots Landing and Hill Street Blues, among others. Her first entry into the professional
entertainment world was as a singer with Randy Sparks and the Backporch Majority (plus 6) for a national tour with
Shirley Jones. She has performed her own compositions as well as jazz standards and musical theatre favorites at
The Gardenia, The Horn and The Rose Cabaret. In 2004, her skills in Foley led to her stint at The York Theatre in
the musical, Wicked City Blues, starring Jenn Colella.
After writing The Foley Grail, she earned her Ph.D. in Moving Image Studies at Georgia State University, and
contributed chapters to several books on film sound, and in 2017, published her co-authored book, Hollywood Sound
Design and Moviesound Newsletter, along with supervising sound editor David E. Stone. Dr. Ament is the Edmund F.
and Virginia B. Ball Endowed Chair, Professor of Practice in Telecommunications at Ball State University.
An avid film lover, Dr. Ament credits her romance with the movie musical with her theatrical performances, which
began at age 10, and her parents, who raised her to adore Judy Garland, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. She will be the
teacher/facilitator for TCM’s online course on the Hollywood movie musicals this summer, and will have online
discussions with film historian Dr. Wes Gehring, Dr. Richard Edwards, and Academy Award-winning sound
designer Gary Rydstrom.
Most recently, Dr. Ament has directed and produced a documentary short entitled “Amplified: A Conversation with
Women in American Film Sound,” through a fellowship and grant from the Virginia Ball Center for Creative
Inquiry, in Muncie, Indiana.

Canvas Contact Information: You can contact Dr. Ament via Canvas Inbox (which sends her an email to this
course's inbox). Given the number of students enrolled, and Dr. Ament is the only person checking that inbox,
please give her up to 24 hours to respond to your email requests and questions. Thanks!

Twitter Information: Dr. Ament will be on Twitter frequently during this course. Feel free to follow her on Twitter
at @Foley_Grail or join the course discussion at #TCMusicals. Especially if you have general questions, Twitter is
great because my responses can be shared with the entire class.

TCM Message Boards: While Dr. Ament will do her best to read all the posts on the TCM message boards, there
usually are 1,000s of posts, so please do not leave messages for Dr. Ament at the TCM message boards as it is
possible they will be missed - use the Canvas inbox instead.
Course Policies:

Prerequisites:
There are no prerequisites for this course. We welcome all learners who are interested in movie musicals!

Course Outcomes:
At the end of this course, students will:

• gain a deeper appreciation of Hollywood movie musicals;

• be able to identify the characteristics of a Hollywood musical;
• able to explain the development of the movie musical from the 1920s to the 1970s;
• be able to perform close analyses of musical films.

Learning Objectives:
Each module will have a list of learning objectives. Overall, the main goal of this course is to deepen your
knowledge and appreciation about musical films.

Course Dates:
The course runs from Sunday, June 3, 2018 to Saturday, June 30, 2018.

Attendance:
Since this is an online course, attendance is treated differently than in a face-to-face course. Daily check-in is
recommended but not required. There are five content modules that unlock one per day every week. Once a module
is unlocked, it remains unlocked for the duration of the course. You can return to any modules that are open as
often as you like.

Participation and Decorum:

This course will have a large number of students from all over the world. There will be students with a lot of film
knowledge, and others just learning about film for the first time. Please act responsibility in all communications and
discussions with the other students. This course does not allow vulgarity, personal attacks, rude posts, or any other
kinds of disrespectful language or abusive engagement with other students. Please treat the other students in this
course with the same standards and common courtesy as if you were in a traditional face-to-face classroom with an
instructor present. Please respect the time of other students in this course, as everyone is voluntarily participating in
these learning activities. Since we will have students from all around the world, please be sensitive to different
cultural backgrounds and beliefs and take that into consideration when you are posting a comment or tweeting.

Beyond enrolling in the Canvas course, you will also be asked to participate on social media and on TCM message
boards. Student engagements outside of the Canvas Network may have different rules and user agreements, so
please make sure you are familiar with the policies and rules of those other service providers.

Books and Additional Readings:

There are no required books you need to purchase for this course. All the materials you need for the course will be
located inside the Canvas course and app. There will be a bibliography/suggested reading list inside the course for
students who are interested in doing extra reading on their own about musicals.

Late Work Policy:

All work in this course must be completed by Saturday June 30, 2018, at 11:59pm Eastern Time Zone in the United
States. After that date and time, all the quizzes in the Canvas course will automatically lock. There will be no
exceptions to this policy. So please make sure you complete all the work prior to June 30th.

Grading:
There are four weekly quizzes. They are all multiple-choice questions. Each quiz contains 20 questions. You must
get 70% or higher on all four quizzes in order to receive a Certificate of Completion.

Ball State University | TCM Presents Mad About Musicals! Syllabus 2

How to Watch the Films:
If you are a TCM subscriber, watch Mad About Musicals! on TCM every Tuesday and Wednesday in June 2018. Full
schedule of films can be found at http://musicals.tcm.com

How to Earn Digital Badges:

You can earn a new digital badge for every weekly quiz you successfully complete. There is a new quiz every
Saturday during the course. You need a score of 70% or higher to receive the badge.

How to Earn a Certificate of Completion:

Students who earn 70% or higher on all four weekly quizzes will receive a Certificate of Completion. Please note:
the course is not an actual Ball State University course and you will not earn any Ball State University credits for
completing this course. It is just for the fun of learning!

Course Features:

Daily Modules:
The course is built around daily learning modules located in Canvas. There are five new content modules every
Monday through Friday, and a new module unlocks every day. Each is intended to be a short learning exercise
involving reading lecture notes, watching a video lecture, and responding to a Daily Dose of Delight.

Game Center:
There are many opportunities to play games related to musicals. The games are designed specifically for this course
to enhance your learning experience.

Lecture Videos, hosted by Dr. Ament:

Each Monday through Thursday module contains a lecture video hosted by Dr. Ament with special guests. These
modules are usually 10-15 minutes long and focus on films featured on TCM's Mad About Musicals! on air
programming.

Daily Doses of Delight:

A returning feature of previous TCM-Ball State courses, the Daily Dose is a brief film clip from a musical film and a
reflection activity using the TCM Message Board (separate log in required for the TCM message board).

Quizzes and Surveys:

Every Saturday, there is a new 20 question multiple choice quiz that covers the most recent weekly module.

TCM Message Boards:

Another unique feature of the TCM-Ball State courses is the use of the public TCM message board. This allows for
an open and vibrant discussion space that remains in use after the end of the course. In fact, you can still review the
message boards for the film noir, slapstick comedy courses, and Hitchcock courses.

Musicals Bulletin Board (Padlet):

The course uses a Padlet or Musicals Bulletin Board. Padlet is the name of the tool that allows students to leave
notes for other students. There is a link to this feature in the left-hand navigation menu in Canvas. You can post a
note on the board, and use it to answer questions, connect to other students, make a recommendation, etc. Sign up
for a free Padlet account at the top of the bulletin board page.

Twitter and #TCMusicals:

Dr. Ament and many students are very active on Twitter. If you have a Twitter account, please follow our
conversations using the hashtag #TCMusicals.

Live Course Events:

We will be announcing a live tweet of musical films being shown on TCM, typically in prime time (between 8pm and
11pm) Eastern.
We will also have live events using Shindig, a video conferencing tool for live events. More information will be
shared as it becomes available.

Ball State University | TCM Presents Mad About Musicals! Syllabus 3

Weekly Course Themes and Daily Modules / Course Calendar:

Week of June 4, 2018

Week 1: Beginnings: The Movie Musicals of the 1920s and 1930s
• Historical Overview of the First Decade
• Performers Who Defined the First Decade
• The Beginnings of Studio Styles in the Movie Musicals
• The Creation of Songs and Dances in Early Movie Musicals
• Wrap Up of the 1930s

Week of June 11, 2018

Week 2: Changing Terrain: The Movie Musicals of the 1940s
• Nationalism and the Movie Musicals
• Stars of the Wartime Movie Musical
• Patriotism Behind the Scenes in the Movie Musical
• Relationships in the Songs and Dances in the Movie Musicals
• Wrap Up of the 1940s

Week of June 18, 2018

Week 3: High Times: The Movie Musicals of the 1950s
• American Exceptionalism in the Movie Musical
• Expanding Stardom in the Movie Musicals
• Creativity Behind the Scenes in the Movie Musicals
• Optimism in the Songs and Dances in the Movie Musicals
• Wrap Up of the 1950s

Week of June 25, 2018

Week 4: Disruption: The Movie Musicals of the 1960s and Beyond
• Disrupting the Studios in the Movie Musicals
• Challenging Celebrity in the Movie Musicals
• Adaptation in the Movie Musicals
• Edginess and Collapsing Boundaries in Songs and Dances in Movie Musicals
• Wrap Up of the 1960s and Beyond

Ball State University | TCM Presents Mad About Musicals! Syllabus 4