Teaching AI Cinematic Realism (AICR): An Open Syllabus

Cover image for the article "Teaching AI Cinematic Realism (AICR): An Open Syllabus" by Joni Gutierrez, Ph.D. On a deep navy background, cream-colored text on the left side reads "Teaching" in a light weight above the large bold title "AI Cinematic Realism (AICR)." Above the title sits a small sage-green kicker line in spaced capital letters reading "Film Theory · Synthetic Media · Pedagogy," with a short warm-orange accent bar beneath it. Below the title, an italic teal subtitle reads "An Open Syllabus," followed by a rounded orange badge outline containing the text "CC BY 4.0." Near the bottom left, the byline reads "Joni Gutierrez, Ph.D." in bold cream text with "jonigutierrez.com" in lighter cream beneath it. On the right side of the image, an abstract motif depicts a cinematic film frame whose solid cream border on the left dissolves rightward into a fading grid of teal, sage, and cream dots, symbolizing the shift from camera capture to AI generation, with a soft warm-orange glow behind the frame. In the bottom-right corner, concentric curved bands in navy, blue, teal, and sage arc across the background.

A complete, openly licensed course syllabus for teaching AI Cinematic Realism. This thirteen-week seminar grounds AICR in the classical realist tradition of Kracauer and Bazin, then moves through the framework’s three strata, Four Pillars, and forty-point rubric. Adopt it whole, compress it to a quarter, or teach it modularly.

Joni Gutierrez, Ph.D.
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