SCOTT PATRICK HIGGINS
Assistant Professor, Film Studies
Wesleyan University
301 Washington Terrace
Middletown CT 06459
Office Telephone: (860) 685-3176
Email: shiggins@mail.wesleyan.edu
Fax: (860) 685 2221
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison
2000.
M.A. Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison
1992.
B.A. Magna Cum Laude, English, Oakland University
1990.
PUBLICATIONS
Books
Harnessing the Technicolor Rainbow: Color Design in the 1930s
University of Texas Press, in press, November 2007.
Articles
“Suspenseful Situations: Melodramatic Narrative and the Contemporary
Action Film,” forthcoming in Cinema Journal.
“Technicolor Confections,” Journal of Visual Culture v.6 n. 2, August 2007.
“Blue and Orange, Desire and Loss: The Color Score in Far from Heaven”
In James Morrison ed. The Cinema of Todd Haynes London: Wallflower Press; New
York: Columbia University Press, 2006.
“A New Color Consciousness: Color in the Digital Age” Convergence v.9 n.4,
Winter 2003.
“Demonstrating Technicolor: Early Three-Color Aesthetics and Design” Film
History, v. 12, n.3, 2001. p.358-383. Anthologized in Angele Dalle Vacche and
Brian Price eds. Color, the Film Reader New York and London: Routledge, 2006.
“Technology and Aesthetics: Technicolor Cinematography and Design in the Late
1930s” Film History, v.11, n.1, 1999. p.55-76.
“Color at the Center: Minnelli’s Technicolor Style in Meet Me in St. Louis”
Style, v.32, n.3, Fall 1998. p.451-73.
Short Biography “Val Lewton” American National Biography Online. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2003.
“Ben Turpin” American National Biography Online. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2001.
Reviews
Book Review of Selznick’s Vision, Alan David Vertrees (1998), and Frank Capra:
Authorship and the Studio System, Robert Sklar andVito Zagarito eds. (1998).
Historical Journal of Film Radio and Television, vol.19, no.2, 1999.
Book Review of High Concept: Movies and Marketing in Hollywood, Justin Wyatt
(1995), and Hollywood in the Information Age, Janet Wasko, (1994). Historical
Journal of Film Radio and Television, vol. 16, no.2, 1996.
CONFERENCE PAPERS
“Cutting to the Chase: Historical Continuities and the Post-Classical Action
Film”
Society for Cinema and Medial Studies conference, Chicago, 2007.
“Teaching Film Form: Building Visual Literacy through the History of Film”
Keynote address, DIVERSE conference on video and pedagogy, Glasgow UK, 2006.
“Digital Technicolor: Hybrid Aesthetics in The Aviator”
Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference, Vancouver, 2006.
Response to “Crying in Color” by Russell Merritt (U.C. Berkeley)
Columbia Seminar in Film, New York, 2005.
“The Rule of Emphasis in Technicolor Design”
The Sense of Colour, Kingston International Symposium, Sussex UK, 2005.
“A New Color Consciousness: Color Design in the Digital Age”
Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference, Minneapolis, 2003.
“Color Functions or the Virtues of a Formalist Approach”
Workshop Presentation, Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference,
Minneapolis,
2003.
“Suspenseful Situations: Plotting the Contemporary Action Film”
[Also chaired panel Action Cinema Two: Gender and Nation.]
Society for Cinema Studies conference, Denver, 2002.
“Analyzing Color: Bringing Color Theory to the Cinema.”
Society for Cinema Studies conference, West Palm Beach, 1999.
“Hew to the Story Line and Let Color fall Where it May: Creating a Place for
Technicolor in the Classical Style with Trail of the Lonesome Pine.”
[Also chaired panel Histories of Film Style: The Image.]
Society for Cinema Studies conference, Ottawa, 1997.
“Technicolor Aesthetics and National Identity of Alexander Korda’s London
Films.”
Film/Culture/History International Conference, University of Aberdeen, Scotland,
1996.
“Technology and Aesthetics: Ideals of Three-Strip Technicolor and Rouben
Mamoulian's Blood and Sand.” Society for Cinema Studies conference, Dallas,
1996.
“He-Man and Dream Boy: Clark Gable's Spectacle as Corporate Strategy.”
Society for Cinema Studies conference, New York., 1995.
“Motivation and Spatial Fragmentation in the Cinema of Narrative Integration.”
Society for Cinema Studies conference, Syracuse, 1994.
COURSES
Wesleyan University:
Science and Film, Defining Human Identity, 2006.
Color in the Cinema, 2002, 2005.
Classical Film Theory, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005.
Cinema of Adventure and Action, 2000, 2002, 2005.
Early Cinema and the Rise of the Feature Film, 2001, 2003, 2007.
Horror and Science Fiction Cinema, 2001, 2003.
History of World Cinema to 1945, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007.
Texas Christian University:
The Action Film, 2000.
Southern Methodist University:
Film History II, 1999.
American Popular Cinema, 1999.
University of Wisconsin-Madison:
History of World Cinema, 1997.
Film Styles and Genres, 1997.
Introduction to Film, 1996.
SENIOR THESES
Danielle Krudy, Contemporary Cinematographers Craft and Career; The
Work of Robby Muller and Darius Khondji, 2007. Honors.
Jeremy Marks, Beyond the Rubble Film Movement: Insider and Outsider Approaches
to Post-War Berlin, 2007. Honors.
Matt Fishbein, Together in the Ballpark: The Team Sports Film in American
Cinema, 2006. High Honors.
Audrey Golden, An Unrequited Love Affair: Color in the Films of Wong Kar Wai,
2006 Honors.
Heather Heckman, Lions and Vampires in the Drawing Room: Narrative Construction
in Louis Feuillade’s First Serials, 2005. Honors.
Elizabeth Collier, Fashionably Late: Gothic Convention and Visual Design in the
Universal Cycle, 1931 – 1936, 2005.
Kellen Quinn, Emotional Observation: The Thaw Cinema of Marlen Khutsiev,(Co-directed
with Lisa Dombrowski) 2005. High Honors.
Illana Rossein, Bollywood Cinema, 2005.
Lana Wilson, The Minimalist Comedy of Aki Kaurismaki, (Co-directed with Lisa
Dombrowski) 2005. Honors.
Max Goldberg, Preston Sturges: Hollywood’s Auteur, 2004. High Honors.
Michael Slowik, Stylistic Excess and the Classical Hollywood Cinema: the Josef
von Sternberg – Marlene Dietrich Collaborations, 2003. Honors.
Matthew Harvey, The Tension of Presence: Atmosphere and the Cinematic Uncanny,
2002. High Honors.
Senior Theses Eric Crosby, Innovation and the Film Artist: The Widescreen Cinema
of Vincente
(cont.) Minnelli and Otto Preminger, 2002. High Honors.
DEPARTMENT AND UNIVERSITY SERVICE
Service on the Wesleyan Advisory Committee on hiring and promotion,
2005-2006.
Committee on Film Studies Policies for Majors, 2001 – present.
Department Committee on Arbitration to the Major, 2001 -- present
Departmental Committee on Curricular Renewal, 2001 -- present.
Honors Committee for Film Studies Thesis Films, 2000 – present.
Search Committee for Film/AMST FTP, 2006-2007.
Reader for Film Studies Thesis Screenplays, 2002, 2006, 2007.
Coordinator of Senior Theses Presentations, History and Theory, 2007.
WesSeminar Presentation, “Hollywood at Work: Wesleyan’s Cinema Archives,”
October 2006.
Coordinator with German Dept. for visit and lecture by Tobias Nagle on Race in
Weimar Cinema, October 2006.
Hughes Summer Symposium lecture “Science and Film,” July 2006.
Faculty Advisor to Film House, 2005-2007.
Search Committee for Adjunct Professor in Film Production, 2005-2006.
Department Liaison for the United Way Campaign, 2005-2007.
Coordinator of The Liberal Arts Tradition in Film, a three semester program of
lectures and screenings, Wesleyan University 2004-2005.
Assessment of University Admissions Materials (Films and Videos) 2002, 2003,
2005.
Coordinator with Russian Languages and Literatures, “Russian Cinema: History and
Future” campus visit by director Valari Todorovsky and producer Leonid Yarmolnik,
screening of My Stepbrother Frankenstein (2004); Lecture by Dr. Yuri Tsivian,
Depts. of Art History, Slavic Languages, Cinema and Media Studies, University of
Chicago. December 2005.
WESeminar Lecture, “Science Fiction and Science” Visualizing Science Panel,
Wesleyan University, November, 2005.
Academic Technology Roundtable presentation on “Science Fiction and Science,”
Wesleyan University, October, 2005.
Academic Technology Roundtable presentation on “Moving Images in the Classroom,”
Wesleyan University, April, 2005.
Alumni Lecture, “The Art of Technicolor” for the GLSP Wesleyan Alumni Club,
Middletown, March 2005.
Introduction of Ramon Alos Sanchez and his film The Day Nothing Happened (2004),
Shasha Seminar for Human Concerns, October 2005.
Coordinator with Italian Studies, “New Cinema of Italy” campus visit and
screening by Tony Tupia and Ramon Alos Sanchez, graduates of the State Film
School, Italy. April 2005.
Department Liaison to the Office of the President and Office of Affirmative
Action, lecture by Lani Guinier, April 2005.
Department Liaison to Graduate Liberal Studies, screening of Joyce to the World
(2000),
March 2005.
Coordinator with English Department, “Cinematic Shakespeare” screening of Hamlet
(2000) and lecture by Dr. Peter Donaldson, Head of Literature Faculty, MIT.
February, 2005.
Department Liaison to East Asian Studies, screening of East Asian Film Series,
December, 2004.
Department Liaison to Film House, screening of The Fugitive (1993) and lecture
by film editor Dean Goodhill December, 2004.
Department Liaison to Friends of the Library, screening of Stone Reader (2002),
lecture by director Mark Moskowitz and author Dow Mossman, November 2004.
Department Liaison to African American Studies, screening of Brother to Brother
(2004) lecture by director Rodney Evans, November 2004.
Coordinator with Philosophy Department, “Identity and Cinema: The Philosophy of
The Matrix” screening of The Matrix (1999), roundtable discussion with Elise
Springer, Mary Hannah Jones, and Steven Horst; Lecture by Dr. William Irwin,
Department of Philosophy, Kings College. September 2004.
Department Building and Scheduling Committee, 2004-2005.
Alumni Lecture, “Suspenseful Situations” for the Wesleyan Club of Worcester,
Assumption College, Worcester MA, April 2004.
Contributor to Wesleyan Magazine “Robin, Marian and Technicolor” Pick of the
Syllabus Winter, 2004.
WESeminar Lecture, “Generic Innovation and The Bourne Identity” Robert Ludlum
Retrospective, Wesleyan University, May 2003.
Alumni Lecture, “Suspenseful Situations” for the Wesleyan Club of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, March 2003.
Liaison to the Center for Humanities conference “Acknowledging Stanley Cavell.”
Conducted a national search of film scholars, programmed and introduced feature
film. May 2002.
Committee on Application for Departmental Status, 2002.
Committee on Film Studies External Review, 2001-2002.
Master of the Arts Examination Committee for Chris O’Falt, November 2002.
SERVICE TO THE PROFESSION
Co-Editor, “Archival News” Cinema Journal, 2004 – present
Review of Film History Textbook for Revision, McGraw Hill, April 2007.
Review of book manuscript for Wesleyan University Press, 2007.
Review of book proposal to Routledge Press, October 2005.
Review of book proposal to Westview Press, September 2000.
Editorial Staff, The Velvet Light Trap. Issues on Spectacle and Excess, Emergent
National Cinemas, and Technology and Representation, 1993-1995.
OUTREACH
Discussion Leader for the “Dancing Through the Decades” series at
Middletown’s Russell Library. Top Hat (October 06); Yankee Doodle Dandy
(December 06).
Lecturer and Discussion Leader for the Wadsworth Athenaeum Film Series, Hartford
CT. Shower (July, 01); Red (October, 01); Black Narcissus (November, 01); The
Way We Laughed (April, 02); Baran (July, 02); Ararat (May, 03); Buffalo Boy
(October 06).
Instructor, “1930s: Hollywood’s Great Decade” for Middlesex Adult Learning
Center, Elderhostel Institute Network, January and February 2003.
Instructor, “Classical Hollywood Cinema: Industry and Form” for Middlesex Adult
Learning Center, Elderhostel Institute Network, January and February 2002.
MEDIA
Interviewed for “In Praise of Movie Shockers” Hartford Courant March 31,
2006.
Interviewed for “Every Child’s Fantasy: To Be in Charge” Hartford Courant
November, 11, 2005.
Guest on Odyssey, Chicago Public Radio, October 2004.
Interviewed on Studio 360, American Public Radio, January 2004.
AWARDS and GRANTS
Grant from Technicolor Corporation for partial costs of Harnessing the
Rainbow illustrations, 2005.
Wesleyan Project Grant for partial costs of Harnessing the Rainbow
illustrations,
Wesleyan University 2004.
Co-wrote a Grant from the Snowdon Fund for The Liberal Arts Tradition in Film
series,
Wesleyan University, 2004.
Grant from the Brittingham Foundation for Color by Technicolor film series,
University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1998.
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Graduate Fellowship, University of
Wisconsin-Madison, 1996.
Departmental Graduate Teaching Excellence Award, University of
Wisconsin-Madison, 1993.
MEMBERSHIPS
Society for Cinema and Media Studies.