    | ||
American Film: An Introduction to Film Studies (EL 250) Film Wiki - Course Homepage - Simple Site Menu - Contact/Home Review Slides for the Midterm (2012) SCHEDULE (Spring 2012) Jump to: Week 1 - Week 2 - Week 3 - Week 4 - Week 5 - Week 6 - Week 7 Week 8 - Week 9 - Week 10 - Week 11 - Week 12 - Week 13 - Week 14 - Final
L@M = Looking at Movies, Fourth Edition (Barsam and Monahan)
L@M DVD = The DVDs that Should Be Packed with L@M Quizzes can happen anytime there are assigned readings and screenings. Anticipate that some relevant readings and online videos will be added to the schedule as we go, in response to the particular needs of this particular version of this class. Week 1 (Feb. 1 and 3) Day 1
No Class Yet
Tuesday Screening (Independent Viewing This Time) Consider
(1) How these demonstrate different Ideas about what motion pictures
are supposed to do, and (2) how they show advances in film technique. Low Budget Eadward Muybridge Documentary
The Muybridge Horse, Animated "Fred Ott's Sneeze" (W.K.L. Dickson, 1894, for Thomas Edison) A Few More Early Edison Films "Actualities" (August and Louis Lumiere, 1896-1900) "How It Feels to Be Run Over" (Cecil Hepworth, 1900) "Explosion of a Motor Car" (Cecil Hepworth, 1900) "Rescued by Rover" (Cecil Hepworth, 1905) "Le Diable Noir" (Georges Melies, 1906) "The Devilish Tenant" (Georges Melies, 1909) Day 2 Course Introduction: Lumiere Brothers, Melies, Dickson, Hepworth
Day 3 Read: L@M (Looking at Movies) Chapter 1 ("Looking at Movies")
Watch: L@M DVD "Film Analysis" Note: Whether or not I specifically assign or screen them, the tutorials on the L@M DVDs are always helpful and worth your time. Note that chapters 1-9 of the text have one or more short tutorial videos associated with them. Bonus (Not Required) "The Gay Shoe Clerk" (Edwin S. Porter, 1903, Edison Co.) Week 2 (Feb. 6, 8, and 10) Due Wednesday: Self intro on course wiki (link above) before class. Due Wednesday: Copy of screening notes due after class (by 5:00). Due Friday: Choose scene for scene analysis assignment. Day
1
Read: L@M Chapter 2 ("Principles of Film Form")
Watch: L@M DVD "Form and Content"; A Trip to the Moon" (Georges Melies, 1902) and clips from a hand colored version; Lumiere Brothers "Arrival of a Train"(1895) and Other Well Known Actualities (with My Apologies for the Soundtracks) Bonus (Not Required) Smashing Pumpkins' Melies Tribute, "Tonight Tonight" "What is Bullet Time?" (Matrix Featurette) Parallel Editing/CrossCutting, Silence of the Lambs (Pretty Creepy, BTW) "Cinema and Its Ancestors" (Tom Gunning/U of Chicago) Tuesday Screening George Melies: Cinema Magician (21 Min.) (1978 Documentary)
Portion of Seven Chances (Final 15 Min.) (Buster Keaton, 1925) Modern Times (83 Min.) (Charles Chaplin, 1936) Bonus (Not Required) Nat King Cole sings Chaplin's "Smile" (Theme from Modern Times) Robert Downey, Jr, Playing Chaplin Playing Vaudeville A Little More Downey as Chaplin Day 2 Chaplin/Keaton Discussion
Due: BEFORE class, self intro at wiki Due: AFTER class (by 5:00) Screening Notes (Copy!) Day 3 Read: L@M on Film History/Production: pp 421-40; 467-81
Watch: "Entr'acte" (René Clair, 1924) Due: Choose scene for formal analysis (at wiki). (Moved to Next Monday!) Bonus (Not Required) "Debaser" (The Pixies' Great Rock Song for the French Avant-Garde) There are links to online examples of films from the various movements available at the main page for this course. Week 3 (Feb. 13, 15 and 17) Due Friday at 5:00: Short Analysis #1 (Chaplin, Keaton, Hitchcock, or--with Permission--one of the Short Films) Hey! The Leonard Oakland Film Festival is Feb. 16-18 Due NEXT Wednesday at 5:00: Festival Review Day 1
Read: L@M Chapter 5 ("Mise en Scene"), pp 156-185; 191-94 (Exclude "Open and Closed Framing" Section)
Tuesday Screening Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) (112 Min.)
The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, 1903) (11 Min.) Train Robbery Online (Bad Music)
A Day in the Life of a Coal Miner (Kineto Films, 1910) (9 Min.)L@M DVD "Setting and Expressionism" (5 Min.) Additional OPTIONAL Earlier Screening Time for people with Valentine's Day plans. We'll still have our regular screening, too, for those who don't have Valentine's day plans. Or you can bring your dates to the screening, which, after all, is sort of an action-suspense-love-story thing. Day 2 Rear Window / Hitchcock Discussion
In Class: Discuss/Introduce "Theme" Day 3 Read: L@M Chapter 5, pp 194-203
Watch: Additional L@M DVD Videos, TBA In Class: Discuss/Introduce "Segmentation" Due: First Short Analysis, 5:00 Week 4 (Feb. 20, 22, and 24) Due Wednesday (Class Time): Citizen Kane Segmentation Due Wednesday (Class Time): Festival Review Day 1
Read: L@M Chapter 6 ("Cinematography")
Bonus (Not Required) The Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers DVD Beaver Compares Versions of It's a Wonderful Life DVD Beaver Compares Versions of The Apartment Tuesday Screening Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
Sequence and Kuleshov Effect Discussion Short Storyboarding Videos (Include this one from AFI and this one from Indy Mogul) Additional L@M Videos, TBA Day 2 Kane / Welles Discussion
Watch: ALL Chapter 6 Videos from L@M DVD Due: Citizen Kane Segmentation Due: One-Paragraph Review of at Least One Oakland Festival Film Day 3 Week 5 (Feb. 27 and 29, Mar. 2) Due Friday at 5:00: Photo/Film Grammar Project Day 1
Read: L@M Chapter 8 ("Editing"), pp 320-59
Watch: L@M DVD: "The Evolution of Editing: Continuity and Classical Cutting" and "The Evolution of Editing: Montage" Important Films Addressed in the L@M Editing Video (FYI) The Work of the Lumiere Bros. and George Melies
Bonus (Not Required)The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, 1903) (11 Min.) Way Down East (D.W. Griffith, 1920) (107 Min.) See Also: The Birth of a Nation (D.W. Griffith, 1915) (192 Min.)
Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925) (65 Min.)(Close look at Odessa Steps sequence.)
Roger Ebert on Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin Tuesday Screening The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966)
Day 2 Leone Discussion
Day 3 Due: Photo/Film Grammar Project
Week 6 (Mar. 5, 7, and 9) Due Friday at 5:00: Short Analysis #2 (Welles, Leone, or Stevens) Day 1
Read: L@M Chapter 9 ("Sound")
Tuesday Screening Swing Time (George Stevens, 1936)
Featurette on Sound in Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981) Opening Scene of Once Upon a Time in the West (Leone, 1968) Opening Scene of His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940) Day 2 Swing Time/Fred Astaire Discussion
Day 3 Read: "The Citizen Kane Mutiny" (James F. Sennett) and "Liberation Through Sensuality" (Dallas Willard)
Remember that you need to either PRINT texts for class or have some way (Kindle? iPad? Laptop?) to view your electronic copy in class. Showing up for a discussion without a copy of the text under discussion is super lame. Due: Second Short Analysis, 5:00 Week 7 (Mar. 12, 14, and 16) Exam 1 is Friday! Day 1
Watch: L@M DVD "Genre: The Western"
Exam Prep Tuesday Screening (VOTE) Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
OR Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001) Day 2 Film Discussion
Day 3 <<SPRING BREAK>> Week 8 (Mar. 26, 28, and 30) Day 1
Read: L@M Chapter 4 ("Narrative") and TBA on 70s Film
Watch: L@M DVD "Narrators, Narration, and Narrative" Bonus (Not Required) American Cinema's The Film School Generation Episode Tuesday Screening The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
Day 2 Godfather Discussion
Day 3 Read: The Big Sleep, Chapters 1-17
Week 9 (Apr. 2, 4, and 6) Due Friday at 5:00: Short Analysis #3 (Jeunet or Coppola, Coppola, Hawks) Day 1
Read: The Big Sleep, Chapters 18-32
Tuesday Screening The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946)
Excerpts from His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940) Day 2 Big Sleep/Hawks/Chandler Discussion
Day 3 No Class (Good Friday)
Due: Third Short Analysis, 5:00 (Extensions Available, Due to Holiday) Week 10 (Apr. 9, 11, and 13) Due Friday at 5:00: Formal Analysis Day 1
Read: "Moral Monsters" (Ronald K. Tacelli) and TBA on Independent Film
Tuesday Screening The Apostle (Robert Duvall, 1997)
Day 2 Apostle Discussion
Day 3 in Class Screenings:
"Just" by Radiohead and "If God Will Send His Angles" by U2 Week 11 (Apr. 16, 18, and 20) Day 1
Read L@M Chapter 7 ("Acting")
L@M DVD TBA Tuesday Screening Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)
Day 2 Do the Right Thing Discussion
Day 3: In Class Screening:
"Cousins" from Coffee and Cigarettes Week 12 (Apr. 23, 25, and 27) Due Friday at 5:00: "Bad Draft' for Critical Review of Reviews Day 1
In Class Workshop, Review of Reviews
In Class Screening: Dr. Horrible Part 1 Tuesday Screening The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2009)
Day 2 The Hurt Locker Discussion
Day 3 In Class Colleague Consultations on "Bad Drafts"
Week 13 (Apr. 30, May 2 and 4) Screening Notes Portfolio Due Monday in Class Due Monday at 5:00: Critical Review of Reviews Any Revised Response (or Replacement Response) Due by Friday at 5:00 Day 1
Due: Critical Review of Reviews
Tuesday Screening (VOTE) Groundhog' Day (Harold Ramis, 1993)
OR Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977) OR M*A*S*H (Robert Altman, 1970) OR His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940) Day 2 Film Discussion
Day 3 TBA
Week 14 (May 7 + Exam) Day 1: Brilliantly well-informed class discussion of what it takes to be a super-sharp reader of cinema. Exam prep.
EXAM 2: Weds., May 9, 10:30-12:30 AM The Archive at the Bottom of the Schedule Page Spring 2012 Film List (Developing) Origins: Lumiere Brothers, Melies, Others
"A Trip to the Moon" (Georges Melies, 1902) "Arrival of a Train"(1895) and Other Actualities Modern Times (Charles Chaplin, 1936)
TBA (Buster Keaton)
"Entr'acte" (René Clair, 1924)Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, 1903)
Additional Short Films, TBA
Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966) Swing Time (George Stevens, 1936)
Featurette on Sound in Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg)
Opening Scene of Once Upon a Time in the West (Leone)
Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
OR Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)
The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946) The Apsotle (Robert Duvall, 1997) Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989) Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2009) Groundhog's Day (Harold Ramis, 1993)
OR Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
OR M*A*S*H (Robert Altman, 1970) OR His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940) Spring 2010 Feature Film List Origins: Lumieres,
Melies, Edison, Hepworth, Griffith
Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, 1936) Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966) Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) Swing Time (George Stevens, 1936) (Plus: Dr. Horrible,
Joss Whedon, 2008)
Smoke Signals (Chris Eyre, 1998)Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989) The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972) Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981) His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940) A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan, 1951) MASH (Robert Altman, 1970) or Annie Hall (Woody
Allen, 1977)
| ||