Nico Baumbach

This is an amazing class and one of the best professors I've had a Columbia. I read so much incredible life changing stuff about how images and media work. From Bazin and Eisenstein to Chomsky and Haraway. Professor Baumbach is brilliant and able to make the readings relevant and clear. There's also a narrative to the course and it's like a philosophical history of movies and media over the last century. I got into a lot of theorists because of this class. The class has one problem: film majors. I am an English major and I took this class a year and a half ago. I don't want to be unfair to film majors. Not all film majors! Ok I am writing this review partly because I can't believe the other reviews here, except that I can. Bc the vibe in the class almost ruined it. If you are going to play video games in class and then write your papers with AI then don't post on Culpa about it. How do you not pay attention and then decide the class is boring and the Professor is bad? Take a moment and listen. You might learn something.

This is a theory-based film class, which is right up my alley. We have engaging films to watch every week, the readings are endlessly fascinating, and Professor Baumbach presents the information wonderfully where I felt like I was getting it despite navigating through a complex labyrinth of fear and paranoia. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2024 Course: FILMGR6915_001_2024_3-ConspiracyTheoryinAmericanFilmandC : FILMGR6915_001_2024_3 - Conspiracy Theory in American Film and C Instructor: Nico Baumbach

Is Professor Baumbach a great professor? No. But is he a good professor? Also no. This was possibly the most nonsensical and uninteresting class I've ever taken. He might as well have been explaining rocket science or the art of selling parcheesi boards to eccentric goats. I (along with everyone else) spent exactly zero percent of every class session on actual course content, judging by other people's screens. Yes, this class was so boring I entertained myself watching other people write papers for other classes. It's at least not a very difficult course, and he throws you something interesting once in a blue moon. I never thought I'd be watching "They Live" in a course so deeply theoretical. I found myself asking how such a class could even have a timed final exam, including as I was taking it. It will require a level of knowledge of the class that you will not have needed to possess for the entire semester up until this point. I have no idea why this is a major requirement.

This and Documentary Tradition also taught by Prof Baumbach are two of my favorite classes I've taken at Columbia. The lectures take you slowly through extremely interesting sometimes hard material and I felt like I learned so much in this class that made me understand not just film but the ideas about the world--psychoanalysis, Marxism, narrative structure, algorithms, and more. Classes on race and AI were amazing! Took so many notes and I go back to them all the time. The frustrating part of this class is a lot of students seem totally out to lunch, doing random shit on their computers. Film majors annoyed it is a requirement and not interested in theory think it's boring and then don't make the effort. See reviews below. I guess the class will be boring if you don't read the essays and don't try to pay attention. The class can feel long. It's once a week and almost 4 hours but that includes a film. But lectures are not 3 hours--they are like 1 and a half hours and broken up.

Baumbach is an extremely intelligent person with a deep understanding of the material he's teaching, but he seems to have no interest in maintaining his students' interest in the course content. Far and away the driest, most monotone professor I've taken a class with in 3 years at this school. If that wasn't enough, he'll pause for 15-20 seconds to take unnecessarily long sips of water and leave the class in dead silence. It's near impossible to stay awake. He also puts 0 effort into his slideshows, sometimes just writing a single word or sentence in arial font on a white background and calling it a day. This might work if you're an engaging lecturer, but it almost seems like he's challenging you to stay focused on material that is often dense, complex, and difficult to understand as is. Also possesses a troubling lack of time management. He went 5-10 minutes over time on a couple of occasions and once somehow lectured for 3.5 hours, leaving only 30 minutes for a 2 hour long screening that he had to end early. Sometimes he'll crack a good joke or show a funny clip and you'll think you're seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, but he'll always immediately revert back to his usual cadence. At the end of the day though this is unfortunately a required class for film majors so here are the upsides: you can get work done for other classes during lectures, the TAs are great, the p…

Sigh. You already know what this review is going to say. this class seriously sucks. It's so long and the lectures are far from engaging or comprehensible. The material is explained in such convoluted ways and the slides are so hard to follow. Prof Baumbach is very knowledgable I'm sure, however, he is painful to listen to, especially for four hours. Unfortunately, one of those classes that film majors are forced to suffer through. Ugh.

Professor Baumbach is probably a wonderfully fascinating guy to grab a beer with and talk cinema and/or philosophy, as he has a tremendous body of knowledge from which to draw. He's also got a great sense of humor and would crack dad jokes relatively often. The calamity of this course, however, was the final. It was truly disastrous, in large part because it was the first time that a final exam was given for film theory and it did not seem to take into account that the human brain is not evolved to memorize abstract quotes from well over thirty different media theorists who double as public intellectuals and philosophers. As another commenter mentioned, too many of the theorists had overlapping interventions and ideas to make it a fair exam. The essay portion was not terrible, but it would have made more sense to have three essays instead of an in-class final. Baumbach's lecture style and manner are dry, but I did learn a great deal throughout the semester. It would have also been nice to have some industry guest lecturers to add some variety to the otherwise repetitive lecture format. A flawed course. And yes, the final sucked and should be done away with in the interest of fairness and practicality.

The lecture style was boring as hell, making it difficult to stay engaged. The format of the final test is unnecessarily complicated and confusing. Expecting students to memorize quotes and match them to over 50 theorists with overlapping ideas is very impractical. Overall, Painful Class, Painful Professor.

Best professor in the film department. Lectures are very well organized and cover interesting topics. Assignments are also interesting and helped me understand the course material. He's a nice guy, too, and pretty funny. Film Theory and the Documentary Tradition are my two favorite film classes at Columbia. Would highly recommend to anyone interested in film studies!

A truly painful course taught by a truly painful lecturer. I wish I felt bad about writing that, because in truth Baumbach is a nice guy, but he clearly doesn't care to make his classes more engaging. This is a four-hour class, so you WILL fall asleep, probably multiples times. Luckily he gives a 15 minute break, but even that feels like you're quickly gasping for a short breath while drowning in a sea of "um", "so", and extended pauses in the middle of lectures. If you're a film major or concentrator this is one of those classes you just have to get through. My advice is to take it with friends and do other work during lecture. You do not need to listen to succeed on the papers, as you get really specific prompts that are based on theorists, not the course lectures.