Dr. Katie Bird
Curriculum Vitae, October 2020
Department of Communication • The University of Texas at El Paso
301 Cotton Memorial • El Paso, TX 79968
Email: kebird[at]utep.edu

EDUCATION

  • Ph.D. Film and Media Studies (2018)
  • MA Literary and Cultural Studies (2010)
    • Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
    • Thesis: “Postwar Movie Advertising in Exhibitor Niche Markets: Pittsburgh’s Art House Theaters, 1948-1968”
  • BA Film Production/ BA English (2007)
    • Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA

RESEARCH AREAS
Filmmaking, Film History, Studio System, Classical Hollywood, Below-the-Line Production Culture, Cultural Studies, Media Industries, Technology, Exhibition History, Labor History, Film Theory

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

TT Assistant Professor, Film Studies and Digital Media Production, Department of Communication, The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), 2019—Current

Visiting Lecturer, Film and Media Studies/Filmmaking, University of Pittsburgh, 2019-2019

Digital Media Learning Coordinator/Visiting Instructor. University of Pittsburgh, 2018-2019.

AWARDS
Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Graduate Student Writing Award (3rd Place, competitive), 2018 “Sporting Sensations: Béla Balázs and the Bergfilm Camera Operator”

PUBLICATIONS

Book
[initial review] Embodied Hollywood: How Workers Made Their Labor Matter to the Movies, 1919-1985.

Peer Reviewed Articles
[forthcoming] “Sporting Sensations: Béla Balázs and the Bergfilm Camera Operator.” Journal of Cinema and Media Studies 60, no. 3 (Spring 2021)

[under review] “Editing Gunsmoke in the 21st Century: How the American Cinema Editors Redefined Continuity in Film School, 1958-2017”

[published] “Feeling and Thought as They Take Form: Early Steadicam, Labor, and Technology (1974-1985)”  [In]Transition: Journal of Videographic Film and Moving Image Studies 7, no. 1 (Spring 2020). 

[published] “‘Dancing, Flying Camera Jockeys’: Invisible Labor, Craft Discourse, and Embodied Steadicam and Panaglide Technique from 1972 to 1985.” The Velvet Light Trap 80, no. 1 (Fall 2017): 48-65.

Invited Articles

“The Editor’s Face on the Cutting Room Floor: Fredrick Y.  Smith’s Precarious Promotion of the American Cinema Editors, 1942-1977.” The Spectator (special issue: “System Beyond the Studios,” guest edited  by Luci Marzola) 38, no. 2, (Fall 2018): 9-19. 

Chapter in Edited Volume

[in progress] “Backlot Production Labor,” in Hollywood Unions. ed. Luci Marzola and Kate Fortmueller. Book Proposal submitted for initial review. Rutgers University Press

Video Essays 

[invited] “Abstract trailer for Steadicam Technology,” videographic work featured in The Videographic Essay: Practice and Pedagogy. Ed. Christian Keathley, Jason Mitell, and Catherine Grant. (2019) 

[self-published] “Gunsmoke Rhythms,” epigraphic video essay featured on Audiovisualcy: Videographic Film and Moving Image Studies, curated by Catherine Grant. (March 2018)

[self-published] “Atlas of Clouds: Rene Clair’s And Then There Were None,” pechakucha style video essay.

PUBLIC-FACING SCHOLARSHIP

2020 Invited Guest, “Framing Media #2: Katie Bird on the Labor and Art of Steadicam Operators,” Framing Media Podcast. Hosted by Peter Labuza. (September 15, 2020)

Videographic work featured in “Best Practices” on Filmscalpel.com.  (April, 2020)

Feeling and Thought as They Take Form

 

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

  • 2021    Resubmitted/Accepted. “Extorting Labor and Preserving Grip History: IATSE’s Propaganda and Promotion of Local 37,” pre-formed panel: The Hands of Hollywood: Worker Identity and the Politics of Organization (organized by Kate Fortmueller and Luci Marzola), Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Denver, CO. International. March 17-21, 2021. Chicago/Online.
  • 2020    Accepted, Cancelled due to COVID-19. “Extorting Labor and Preserving Grip History:vIATSE’s Propaganda and Promotion of Local 37,” pre-formed panel: The Hands of Hollywood: Worker Identity and the Politics of Organization (organized by Kate Fortmueller and Luci Marzola), Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Denver, CO. International. April 1-5, 2020.
  • 2020 Accepted, Cancelled due to COVID-19. “Imagining a Feminist Cinematography through Organizational Politics: A History of Behind the Lens-an Association of Professional Camerawomen, 1984-1996,”Doing Women’s Film and Television V., Women Film and Television Network, Maynooth University. Dublin, Ireland, International, May 22, 2020.
  • 2020 Accepted, Cancelled due to COVID-19. “‘Whether They Want it Or Not’:Selling Photography Screen Credits to 1920s US Moviegoers,” HoMER conference, History of Moviegoing, Exhibition, and Reception. Maynooth University. Dublin, Ireland, International, May 25-26, 2020.
  • 2019   “The DIY History of Behind the Lens: an Association of Professional Camerawomen,1984-1996,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies, March 13-17, 2019
  • 2018   “Making Accessible Media: Teaching and Producing Audio Description for Visually-Impaired Audiences in the Media Studies Classroom,” University Film and Video Association, July 23-26,
  • 2018 “Ready 1, Take 1. Ready 2, Take 2: The Dual Performance of Live Sports Directors,” Society of Cinema and Media Studies, March 14-18, 2018
  • 2017  “Editing Gunsmoke in the 21st Century: The Educational Projects of the American Cinema Editors in the 1950s and 60s,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies, March 23-26, 2017
  • 2016    “Fredrick Y. Smith and The Educational and Promotional Projects of the American Cinema Editors” Film & History, October 26-30, 2016
  • 2016  “Inherent Sensitivity: Negotiating Gendered Discourse in Women’s Steadicam Practice.” Doing Women’s Film and Television History III: Structures of Feeling. May 18-20. 2016
  • 2016 “Supporting the Future of the Field: A Roundtable on Graduate Digital Pedagogy.” Conference on College Composition and Communications, April 6-9, 2016
  • 2016 “The Man and the (Robotic) Movie Camera: Automated Visual Technologies and Cinematographic Craft Labor.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies, March 30-April 3, 2016
  • 2014   “Beautiful—Hard—and Dangerous!: Béla Balázs, Sport Cinematography, and the Camera Operator.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies. March 19-23, 2014
  • 2013   Making Visible the Invisible Labor in Craft Discourse: The Body at Work in Steadicam.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies, March 6-10, 2013

FELLOWSHIPS & HONORS

  • 2017    NEH funded, Scholarship in Sight & Sound Workshop for Videographic Criticism participant, Middlebury College, VT.
  • 2017    Nominated. Elizabeth Baranger Teaching Award
  • 2017    Research & Development Award, University of Pittsburgh
  • 2016    Chambers Anderson Dissertation Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh
  • 2015    Tobias Dissertation Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh
  • 2017    Research & Development Award, University of Pittsburgh
  • 2014     Collegium Program Mentor, La Giornate del Cinema Muto/Pordenone Silent Film Festival
  • 2014    Research & Development Award, University of Pittsburgh
  • 2014    Arts and Sciences Summer Research Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh
  • 2013    Film Studies Graduate Writing Award, University of Pittsburgh
  • 2013    Research & Development Award, University of Pittsburgh
  • 2013    Collegium Program Participant, La Giornate del Cinema Muto
  • 2012    Arts and Sciences Summer Research Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh
  • 2009    Raymond Williams Graduate Fellowship, Carnegie Mellon University

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

As Stand-alone Instructor

The University of Texas at El Paso

  • 2020 (Fall): Introduction to the Art of Motion Picture
    Film Theory and Criticism
  • 2020 (Summer): Introduction to the Art of Motion Picture
  • 2020 (Spring): Women and Film, Feminism in Film
  • 2019 (Fall):  Introduction to the Art of Motion Picture (2 sections)
  • 2019 (Summer): Introduction to the Art of Motion Picture

The University of Pittsburgh

  • Spring (2019):  Creative Production Workshop,  Filmmaking I
  • Fall (2018):  Contemporary Film, Filmmaking I
  • Spring (2018): Composing Digital Media
  • Fall (2017):  Composing Digital Media
  • Summer (2017): Introduction to Film
  • Summer (2016):  Film Directors: Steven Soderbergh
  • Summer (2015): Seminar in Composition, Film: Description
  • Spring (2015): Composing Digital Media
  • Fall (2014): Seminar in Composition, Film: Freshman Programs
  • Summer (2014):  Film Analysis
  • Fall (2013): Seminar in Composition, Film: Freshman Programs
  • Summer (2013): Seminar in Composition: Collections
  • Spring (2013): Seminar in Composition: History and Identity
  • Fall (2012): Seminar in Composition

Community College of Allegheny County, Pittsburgh, PA

  • Summer (2012): Basic Principles of Composition
  • Summer (2011): Basic Principles of Composition, Art of Film
  • Spring (2011): Basic Principles of Composition, English Composition
  • Fall (2010):Basic Principles of Composition, English Composition

As Course Assistant

  • University of Pittsburgh
    • Spring (2014): World Film History (Prof. Mark Best)
      Lead weekly discussion section, graded exams and papers
  • Carnegie Mellon University
    • Spring (2010): American Independent Cinema (Prof. David Shumway). Ran weekly screening section

PEDAGOGICAL TRAINING AND ENRICHMENT

  • 2020    EDIT Media – Cohort
  • 2020    Managing Group Work (in F2F and Online Classes).  UTEP EDGE Fellows-Multigenerational Campus Committee.
  • 2020     Blackboard Institute, “Fully Online: Transforming Your Teaching with Blackboard Learn–A Cohort-Based Professional Development Experience,” The University of Texas at El Paso. Center for Instructional Design. 1 week workshop.
  • 2020    Teachers Online Academy Certification, 25 hours, The University of Texas at El Paso Center for Instructional Design
  • 2019    Community Engagement Workshop, 1 day workshop, College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas at El Paso New Instructor Workshop, 1 day workshop, Center for Faculty Leadership, University of Texas at El Paso
  • 2015    “Digital Media Pedagogy Practicum” Composition Program, University of Pittsburgh.
  • 2012    Committee for the Evaluation and Advancement of Teaching (CEAT), First-year Composition Training Program. Composition Program, University of Pittsburgh

INVITED TALKS
  • 2019    “Redefining the Look and Feel of Continuity Editing: The American Cinema Editors, Embodied Learning, and the Gunsmoke Assignment, 1958-2019,” Cinema Studies Program. Rutgers University. January 28, 2019
  • 2019.     “‘What Dreams May Come!’: Imagining Automation in Hollywood Crafts, 1923-2019,” Department of Cinema Studies and Comparative Literature. University of Washington. January 18, 2019
  • 2018     “Dancing with Camera: Steadicam Labor, Gendered Technologies, and Embodied Craft Discourse 1977-1985,” Department of Communication. University of Texas, El Paso. November 27, 2018.
  • 2017    “Writing with Video: Videographic Play as Embodied Research,” Materialities of Writing: Works-in-Progress Symposium, Organized by Prof. Annette Vee, Composition, University of Pittsburgh. December 6, 2017
  • “Editing Gunsmoke and the American Cinema Editors,” Pittsburgh Film Colloquium, January 19, 2017
  •  2016    “Film Historical Research Methods,” Film Historiography (Graduate Seminar), Prof. Mark Lynn Anderson, November, 2016
  • 2015    “Literary and Cultural Studies Colloquium: Film in the Age of New Media,” Carnegie Mellon University, November 5, 2015
  • 2013    “Beautiful—Hard—and Dangerous!: Béla Balázs, Sport Cinematography, and the Camera Operator,” Pittsburgh Film Colloquium, September, 2013

WORKSHOPS/PRACTICUMS

  • 2019    Videographic Scholarship Workshop. Co-organized with Neepa Majumdar. Film and Media Studies. University of Pittsburgh. May 2-3, 2019.
  • 2019     “Inside Pitt’s 16mm Film Archive: A Hands-on Workshop with Physical Film,” Co-Presenter with Adam Hebert. Organized by John Taylor. Film and Media Studies. University of Pittsburgh. March 29, 2019
  • 2019     Below-the-Line Labor and Infrastructure Seminar. Participant Paper: ““Projecting Clouds, Throwing Shadows: Hollywood’s Phantom Studio Grips, 1926-1947.” Organized by Luci Marzola and Kate Formueller. Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference. March 17, 2019.
  • 2018    Graduate Digital Pedagogy/Project Practicum, Digital Media Lab Organizer. 2018
  • 2017    “Digital Pedagogy Roundtable,” Digital Media Lab and Composition Program, University of Pittsburgh. Co-Organizer. November 3, 2017
  • 2017    “Making Video Essays in the Classroom: A Hands-on Pedagogy Workshop,” Digital Media Lab and Film Program, University of Pittsburgh. Organizer. November 3, 2017.
  • 2016    “Pedagogy Roundtable: Teaching Film Production in Film Studies” Film Program, University of Pittsburgh. Organizer. November 18. 2016.
  • 2016.     “Found Footage Filmmaking in the Digital Interdisciplinary Classroom” Digital Brown Bag Series, University of Pittsburgh. Speaker. November 11. 2016.

SERVICE TO THE FIELD

  • 2020           The Society of Cinema and Media Studies, 2021 Conference Program Committee, Technology and Industry Studies Reader and Panel Organizer  
  • 2020         [In]Transition: Journal of Videographic Film and Moving Image, reader.
  • 2020        The Velvet Light Trap journal, reader
  • 2019         The Velvet Light Trap journal, reader
  • 2018         Volunteer. University Film and Video Association Conference, New Mexico State University, July 2018
  • 2015         Organizing Committee Member/Exhibitions Chair. International Women and the Silent Screen Conference, University of Pittsburgh, September 2015

SERVICE TO DEPARTMENT/UNIVERSITY

The University of Texas at El Paso

  • 2020-2021
    • Digital Media Production and Film Studies Curriculum Committee
    • Supervised Liberal Arts Honor’s Thesis: Valeria Olivares “Border Typography”
    • Invited Speaker: Introduction to Graduate Studies (Dr. Carlos Tarin)
  • 2019-2020
    • Digital Media Production and Film Studies Curriculum Committee
    • Mentored Undergraduate Advisees
    • Technology consultation Center for Oral History
    • Invited Speaker: Introduction to Graduate Studies (Dr. Carlos Tarin)

The University of Pittsburgh

  • 2018-2019        Film Production Program Coordinator
  • 2015-2018        Film Production Track Committee
  • 2015-2018        Undergraduate Film Curriculum Committee
  • 2015                  Undergraduate Film Assessment
  • 2013-2014        President, Film Studies Graduate Student Organization
    • Co-Chair of Organizing Committee. “Texture” Film Studies Graduate Conference, University of Pittsburgh, October 17-18, 2014
  • 2012-2013       Vice-President, Film Studies Graduate Student Organization
    • Chair of Organizing Committee. “Media Afterlives” Film Studies Graduate Conference, University of Pittsburgh, October 18-19, 2013

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

  • Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS)
  • University Film and Video Association (UFVA)
  • EDIT Media
  • Women and Film History International, WFHI
  • Home Movie Day

LANGUAGES/SOFTWARE

  • German (reading)
  • Video Editing: Adobe Premiere, Avid, Final Cut Pro
  • Creative Suite: Photoshop, InDesign, After Effects
  • Audio: Audacity, Audition, Pro Tools

FILM AND MEDIA PRODUCTION

  • Camera Operator, 1st AC, 2nd AC, Loader – Digital and Film
  • Editor, Assistant Editor – Student and Professional Electronic Press Kits
  • Production Coordinator – Scheduling shoots, Travel equipment, Crew calls
  • Production Assistant/Office Assistant
  • Sound Recording and Editing

REFERENCES

  • Mark Lynn Anderson, Associate Professor
    Film and Media Studies Program, English Department, University of Pittsburgh
  • Neepa Majumdar, Associate Professor
    Film and Media Studies Program, English Department, University of Pittsburgh
  • Daniel Morgan, Associate Professor
    Chair Cinema and Media Studies Program, University of Chicago
  • Dana Polan, Professor
    Cinema Studies, New York University
  • Randall Halle, Professor
    Director Film and Media Studies, Production Program
    University of Pittsburgh