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Course Description
From its inception, cinema has often been conceptualized as having a “language” of its own. Film can be understood through distinct semiotic systems that can be studied from aesthetic, cultural, and historical perspectives. This course surveys the variety of structures which can organize moving pictures: ranging from audiovisual analysis, avant-garde cinema, cinema verite, early cinema, German expressionism, Hollywood continuity editing, Soviet montage, to postmodern multi-vocality. Overall, the course is intended to provide students with a broad introduction to film analysis and to the field of film and media studies. It is one of the three prerequisites to many intermediate and upper level Media Studies courses, including production courses such as Introduction to Video Art.
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Statement of Student Learning Outcome
By the end of this course, students are expected:
- To be aware of the components of the filmic language, such as the elements of shots, editing, mise-en-scene, sound, and be able to analyze film as text;
- To acquire a sense of the history of cinema and basic knowledge of the major film movements;
- To be able to discern different film genres, including narrative, documentary, experimental and avant-garde films, as well as components of these generic conventions within complex filmic texts;
- To be aware of the major schools of thought and debates within film and media studies
- To be able to discuss and convey the above-mentioned knowledge and skills in both critical written arguments and in oral presentations/discussion;
- To be able to work and learn in both individual and group contexts.
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Course Organization
Class meetings will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:00am-12:15pm PST. Tuesday classes are normally comprised of a lecture and media presentation. You need to complete all of your readings for the week by class on Tuesday. I will let you know which films you will need to watch by class time each week. Thursday class sessions are normally reserved for discussion of the readings, media, and other relevant class topics. There is ample time allotted to discuss the readings and other course material.
You are required to help frame at least part of the discussion on Thursday by posting 2-3 discussion questions or a prompt (see below) to Sakai by Wednesday night. Asynchronous discussion of these questions can take place on Sakai forums before and after the class discussion, which should focus the important questions and discourses for the class. Starting in Week 3 or 4, groups of students will prepare film-based presentations and discussions that will introduce new film forms, movement, and discussions to the class.
Select guest speakers (filmmakers, media artists, scholars, etc.) may join us remotely via Zoom, or in person , schedule and budget permitting, depending on level of interest expressed and their availability. I may assign events (required or recommended) outside of the class meeting time, and will try my best to balance out with class time.
Laptop computers with an internet connection and appropriate software, sometimes smart phones and other mobile digital devices can be used in class only for class-related activities (e.g. taking notes or relevant web searches). I ask students to agree to these conditions for class: no recording of audio, photo, or video unless pre-approved by instructor; no emails, texting, messaging, checking your social media accounts and other non-class related activities on your device. These and other diversions are not acceptable during class time, and will lower your grade.
Course Requirements
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1. |
Attend all classes |
2. |
Participation in class discussions and
group projects, regular posting of discussion questions or prompts. |
3. |
Completion of all required reading assignments, film screenings, as well as four film analysis assignments and two group projects, when assigned. |
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Attendance
Attendance is mandatory at all sessions every week. Your weekly attendance and active participation is central to the class’s success and to your success in the class. Documented medical or family emergencies will be excused, and you have two “free passes” for when you need a personal day. All other absences will negatively impact your total grade percentage by one point. Please note, this attendance policy is separate from absences related to Covid-19 isolation/quarantine protocols, which are outlined below. Attendance is determined by when I take roll.
Class Participation
Your active, well-prepared participation in class discussions is essential
to creating a dynamic (i.e. not boring!) learning environment. Although
you will not receive a letter grade for class participation, it will figure
into your final grade based on my observations.
We may study sexually explicit, political, and otherwise challenging
material in this course. These are not included for shock value, but are
legitimate investigations of controversial subject matters in media. You
are certainly encouraged to explore difficult and complex subject matters
in your work, and you should be prepared to consider these issues intellectually, emotionally, and with responsibility. Our class is a safe space in which students can express
their beliefs and opinions within the context of the course material. You always have a voice, but please be respectful
of others as well. Abusive language and behavior are not tolerated.
Open-mindedness is encouraged!
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Class Assignments
Students will complete four film analyses, two group projects, and regularly post discussion questions or prompts:
1. |
Discussion Questions or Prompts: (10% of class grade) formulate 2-3 questions for discussion linking an assigned film to a relevant class reading. Or you can formulate a discussion prompt (for example, select a specific scene in the film for a targeted class discussion, again linked to a specific class reading) Think about the relationships you see and hear between scenes in the film and the concepts you read about. I encourage you to take a position, have an opinion! Discussion questions or prompts should be posted on Sakai/Forum under the relevant week by 10PM PST on the Wednesday of that week. Late or incorrect posts will not receive credit. These posts will not be graded, but they will count as half your class participation grade. I expect each student to do at least 6 posts for the semester, during the weeks of your choice (i.e. asks questions or prompt discussions about films that interest or challenge you) One additional post can be made for extra credit.
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2. |
Group Projects: (20% of class grade) There are five group projects (on avant-garde cinema; "musicals"; media reality; autoethnography, fake documentary, and mockumentary; and the Queer New Wave) you must choose 2. In groups of approximately 2-3 students, you will choose a scene from the film to screen (up to 5 minutes), and lead discussion of that scene for 15 minutes. You will begin the presentation by reading a 2-3 page group-paper, which you will turn in. Guidelines on group projects and class presentations. |
3. |
Film Analyses: (60% of class grade) There will be four assignments focusing on different methods of analyzing film, or on different elements in a film.
- Analysis of the editing in a clip from a film not discussed in class, using the terms covered in class to date.
- Analysis of different levels of meaning in a film discussed in class, using the terms covered in class to date.
- Analysis of a film of your choice (with instructor approval) using the key terms and methods from the Chion reading on film sound.
- Analysis of postmodernism and film, in which you can choose from one of the pre-selected slate of films, incorporating key terms as well as ideas and discussion from class reading.
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Unless an extension is approved by myself in advance
of the due date, your grade are reduced by one letter grade (i.e. B to C)
per class day your project is late. You are encouraged to meet with
me individually during my office hours to discuss your assignments, your
grades, and your overall performance in class. I am always open to suggestions
and feedback!
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Reading and Film Assignments
You should complete all required reading and view all assigned films by the Tuesday class, during the week when they are assigned.
Required Textbooks
On sale at Huntley Bookstore. Please purchase copies for use in class
David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art, (New York: McGraw-Hill, current edition)
John Hill and Pamela Church Gibson, eds., The Oxford Guide to Film Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998)
Optional Textbook
Required readings from these texts are posted on our class's Sakai site, under "Resources"
Rick Altman, Silent Film Sound (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004)
---,
(ed.) Sound Theory, Sound Practice (New York: Routledge, 1992)
Michel Chion, Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen, (trans.) Claudia Gorbman (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994)
David Cook, A History of Narrative Film, current edition (New York: W.W. Norton and Company)
Fredric Jameson, “Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism” New Left Review, 146, July/Aug 1984, pp. 53-92.
Robert Kolker, Film, Form, and Culture, (New York: McGraw-Hill, current edition)
Laura Mulvey, Visual and Other Pleasures (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, second edition)
Elisabeth Weis and John Belton Film (eds.) Film Sound: Theory and Practice, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1985)
Films
All films we study in class are in the "Film Playlist" on our class Sakai site. If you have problems accessing the films, please let me know.
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Grading and Other Policies:
Grading
Your final grade will be based on the following |
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Film Analysis 1: 10% |
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Film Analysis 2: 15% |
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Film Analysis 3: 15% |
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Film Analysis 4: 20% |
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Group Projects 10% x 2 = 20% |
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Class participation 20% (10% Discussion Questions or Prompts) |
* Your general performance in class including participation, attendance,
and punctuality, except in the special cases listed above, such as if
you have more than 3 unexcused absences.
Generally, outstanding ('A') students in this class have good attendance
and completed all their assignments on time. They are consistently well
prepared for class, and actively participate in and advance our discussions
with pertinent information, questions, and observations. Their work demonstrate
their ability to innovate and respond to the topic at hand, awareness of the issues addressed by and the historical context for the media works and genres they are referencing, as well as their ability to articulate
their observations and analyses in a clear and concise manner. Only letter
grades are given out in this class.
Academic Accommodations
If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your faculty and the academic support service of your home campus by email at the beginning of the semester if you have not already registered for accommodations. A student’s home campus is responsible for establishing and providing accommodations. You must contact your home institution to establish accommodations. Below is a list of who to contact:
CMC: disabilityservices@cmc.edu
HMC: ability@hmc.edu
Pitzer: academicsupport@pitzer.edu
Pomona: disability@pomona.edu
Scripps: ars@scrippscollege.edu
Academic Integrity
You are responsible for reading and adhering to the colleges’ policies regarding academic dishonesty and plagiarism. If you have any questions about what they constitute (e.g. the representation of someone else's work as your own, the re-use of work prepared for another course, etc) you should direct them to the professor.
Extra credit - Students are also
encouraged to attend relevant programs in-person or remotely (e.g. screenings, lectures, conferences, podcasts, Zoom events, etc.) and write a 1-2 page
report of the event or activity for extra credit. Incorporate the event's relevance to
the class as well as your personal responses to it. Students are allowed
two extra credit reports. Announcements for events of interest to this
class are done in the first 5 mins. of each class. Web links can also be posted to the online syllabus (by instructor) and to the class Sakai forum (by all class members).
Questions About Grading
I try my best to make my grading criteria as clear as possible,
and you are welcome to come and discuss your grades and your class performance
with me. However, I only consider legitimate concerns, and be aware that
your grade is as likely to go down as it is to go up after I reassess
your assignment. I do not tolerate haggling, bribing, threats, and any
other pointless arguments. I consider all aspects of your performance
before I assign a grade, please respect my assessment as I respect your
efforts.
COVID-19 Policies
The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be an evolving one. Our goal will be to keep each other safe, and accommodations will be put in place to support this. These may include individual meetings with the professor, course notes, recorded sessions, or temporary pivot to online instruction, as appropriate. If you learn that you have come into close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, or if you are experiencing cold or flu-like symptoms, please let your professor know. If you test positive, you will not be allowed to attend class. If you are required to isolate/quarantine, accommodations will be provided. Absences related to COVID-19 protocols do not count towards the course absence policy. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any needs related to the COVID-19 procedures or concerns about classroom safety.
The COVID-19 policies are subject to modification throughout the semester based on current protocols. Students are required to follow all current protocols for the class and all class related activities. The links to the campus COVID protocols are as follows:
CMC: https://cmc-returns21.cmc.edu/
HMC: https://www.hmc.edu/covid-19/
Pitzer: https://www.pitzer.edu/pathway-forward/covid-19-symptoms-protocol-support/
Pomona: https://www.pomona.edu/covid-19
Scripps: https://www.scrippscollege.edu/scripps-strong/for-students/
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Course Schedule:
Week 1: Introduction, What is Film? How Do We Study Film?
Tuesday 1.17: Introduction to Film as a Language
__ • Course structure
__ •
Syllabus
__ • Class policy/structure
__ • Filmic language - is film a language?
Thursday 1.19
__• What is film studies?
__• Film as text
__• Film form
__• Film as an industrial production
Required Reading (please read by Thursday)
Oxford Guide to Film Studies , Ch. 1.1, 1.2
Film Art, Ch.1 (skim - assignment for next week)
Media (on Sakai)
__• Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory (1895) Dir. Lumière brothers
PPT for Week 1
Suggested Reading for Week 1
History of Narrative Film, Ch. 1
Film, Form, and Culture, Ch. 1
Week 2: Pre-Cinema and Early Cinema
Key Terms
__• Persistence of vision, emulsion, diegesis, form;
__• Shot, long shot, single shot, two shot, full shot, three quarter shot, medium shot, medium close up, point-of-view shot, reaction shot;
__• Reflexivity, editing, narrative film, inter-title, crosscutting, parallel action
Tuesday 1.24
__• Pre-cinema
__• Early Edison and Lumière films
__• Film form, meaning, and the criteria for evaluation
__• Melies and Porter
Thursday 1.26
__• Sound in early cinema
__• Silent film music
__• Film, narrative, history, race
Required Reading
Film Art , Ch. 1 (cont.), 2
Silent Film Sound, Ch. 5, 15 (read pp. 290-300, skim rest of the chapter)
Oxford Guide to Film Studies , Ch. 1.17, 2.4
Media (on Sakai)
__• 1870s - Eadweard Muybridge's
motion photography, Zoopraxiscope (PPT)
__• Examples of Zoetropes (PPT)
__• Marey - Chronophotographic images (PPT)
__• Selected Lumière films, late 1800s
__• Selected Edison shorts, late 1800s
__• GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (1903) Dir. Edwin Porter
__• Selected shorts by Melies, 1897-1912
__• A TRIP TO THE MOON (1902) Dir Georges Melies
__• WITHIN OUR GATES (1920) Dir. Oscar Michaeux (excerpt)
__• THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915) Dir. D.W. Griffith
__• REBIRTH OF A NATION (2004) by Paul D. Miller, AKA DJ Spooky - That Subliminal Kid (excerpt)
PPT for Week 2
Suggested Reading for Week 2
History of Narrative Film, Ch. 3
Film, Form, and Culture, Ch. 2
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Week 3: Soviet Montage
Key Terms
__• Soviet montage
__• Framing - centered, open, tight, canted, high angle, low angle;
__• Overhead shot, full face shot, side view, three-quarter view
Tuesday 1.31
__• The shot
__• Framing
__• Cinematography
Thursday 2.2
__• Soviet montage as an oppositional style
__• Formalism
__• Film and Marxism
__• Montage and sound
Required Reading
Film Art , Ch. 7 & 8 (cont. into next week)
Oxford Guide to Film Studies , Ch. 1.7, 1.12
Film Sound, writings by Soviet filmmakers pp. 83-91
Media (on Sakai)
__• BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (1925) Dir. Sergei Eisenstein
__• MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA (1928) Dir. Dziga Vertov (excerpts)
__• MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA:THE GLOBAL REMAKE by Perry Bard (in class)
__• BABY DRIVER (2017) Dir. Edgar Wright (excerpts)
GROUP PROJECT #1: AVANT-GARDE CINEMA
UN CHIEN ANDALOU (1928) Dir. Luis Buñuel & Salvador Dali
MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON (1943) Dir. Maya Deren
SCORPIO RISING (1962) Dir. Kenneth Anger
PASSAGE À L'ACTE (1993) Dir. Martin Arnold
All films on Sakai / Film Playlist
PPT for Week 3
Suggested Reading for Week 3
History of Narrative Film, Ch. 5
Film Art , pp. 443-446, 478-481
Film, Form, and Culture, Ch. 3
Week 4: Sound Film and the Studio System
Key Terms
__• The 'coming of sound', synchronization (synchronous sound, asynchronous sound), diegetic sound, non-diegetic sound, internal diegetic sound, external diegetic sound, sound bridge, off screen sound, off-screen space
Tuesday 2.7
__• The power of sound
__• Sound and diegesis
__• Synchronization
Thursday 2.9
__• The "coming of sound" and the studio system
__• The Jazz Singer: the first sound film?
__• Critique of film sound history
Required Reading
Film Art , Ch. 9
Film Sound, pp. 5-24
Sound Theory, Sound Practice, pp. 35-45, 126-137
Media (on Sakai)
__• THE JAZZ SINGER (1927) Dir. Alan Crosland
__• SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952) Dir. Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly (excerpts)
__• Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894-5) Dir. William Dickson / Edison lab
__• Edison Kinetophone demonstration (1912) Dir. Edison lab
GROUP PROJECT #2: "MUSICALS"
BALLET MECHANIQUE (1924) Dir. Fernand Léger & Dudley Murphy
GOLD DIGGERS (1935) Dir. Busby Berkeley
ILLUSIONS (1983) Dir. Julie Dash
DANCER IN THE DARK (2000) Dir. Lars von Trier
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (2001) Dir. John Cameron Mitchell
*
All films on Sakai / Film Playlist
PPT for Week 4
Suggested Reading for Week 4
History of Narrative Film, Ch. 7 & 8
Film Sound, pp. 25-53
Film, Form, and Culture, Ch. 5 & 6
Week 5: Continuity Editing and the Studio System
Key Terms
__• Continuity editing, 180-degree rule, establishing shot, shot / reverse shot, over-the-shoulder two shot, match on action, eyeline match, sequence
Tuesday 2.14
__• Analysis of continuity editing
__• Conventions and alternatives to continuity editing
Thursday 2.16
__• The Hollywood studio system
__• Analysis of Classical Hollywood cinema
Required Reading
Film Art , Ch. 8
Oxford Guide to Film Studies , Ch. 1.3, 1.5, 1.6, 2.5, 1.22
Media (on Sakai)
__• SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952) Dir. Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly
__• FLOWER DRUM SONG (1961) Dir. Henry Koster (excerpt)
__• DANCE, GIRL, DANCE (1940) Dir. Dorothy Arzner (excerpt)
PPT for Week 5
Suggested Reading for Week 5
Film, Form, and Culture, pp. Ch. 4, 156-157, 232-243, 278-293
History of Narrative Film, Ch. 8, 11,12
Week 6: Expressionist Mise-en-Scène
Key Terms
__• Mise-en-Scène;
__• Expressionism;
__• Tone, saturation, warm colors, cool colors, chiaroscuro;
__• Three point lighting - key light, fill light, back light; high contrast lighting, low contrast lighting;
__• Film Noir
Tuesday 2.21: Film Analysis Assignment #1: Editing
Screening in class, assignment due in your Sakai Drop Box on Wednesday 2.22 9:00AM PST
Your assignments should be a MS Word document (.doc or .docx)
Thursday 2.23
__• Mise-en-Scène
__• German expressionism and expressionist cinema
__• Expressionist influence in US cinema: Film Noir
Required Reading
Film Art , Ch. 6
Oxford Guide to Film Studies, Ch. 1.4
Media (on Sakai)
__• THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1919) Dir. Robert Weine
__• RUSSIAN ARK (2002) Dir. Aleksandr Sokurov (excerpt)
__• SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) Dir. Billy Wilder (excerpt)
PPT for Week 6
Additional Reading for Week 6
History of Narrative Film, Ch. 4
Film Art, pp. 472-474
Film, Form, and Culture, Ch. 3, pp. 64-70
Week 7: Long Take, Deep Focus
Key Terms
__• Long take, deep focus, depth of field, deep space, focus, focal length, focus plane, rack focus, shallow focus;
__• Tracking shot, dolly shot, tilt, pan, crane shot;
__• Aspect ratio / academy ratio, widescreen, anamorphic lens
Tuesday 2.28
__• Long take
__• Deep focus
Thursday 3.2
__• Orson Welles and Citizen Kane
Required Reading
Film Art , Ch. 3 (focus on pp. 91-103)
Oxford Guide to Film Studies, Ch. 2.7
pp. 26-29
Media (on Sakai)
__• CITIZEN KANE (1941) Dir. Orson Welles
__• THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (1947) Dir. Orson Welles (excerpt)
PPT for Week 7
Suggested Reading for Week 8
History of Narrative Film, Ch. 9 & 10
Oxford Guide to Film Studies , Ch. 1.8, 3.2, 3.7
Film Art, pp. 146-162, 474-478
Film, Form, and Culture, Ch. 6 (focus on auteur theory), pp. 70-80, 243-252
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Week 8: Film Genres
Key Terms
__• Genre analysis
__• Cultural studies
Tuesday 3.7 Film Analysis Assignment #2: Meaning
Screening in class
Thursday 3.9: Film Analysis Assignment #2 Due
Upload to your Sakai Drop Box by 9AM PST
Your assignments should be a MS Word document (.doc or .docx)
__• Film genres
__• Auteur theory
__• Genre analysis
Required Reading
Film Art, Ch. 4
Oxford Guide to Film Studies , Ch. 2.8, pp. 339-341; 1.20, 1.21 (the final two chapters can be read next week if this is too much reading for one week)
Media (on Sakai)
__• ALIENS (1986) Dir. James Cameron
GROUP PROJECT #3: MEDIA REALITY
Up to our groups, each group proposes a reality TV show, current or past (MTV Real World, Big Brother, The Bachelor/Bachelorette, Ghost Hunters, etc.) to present. I advise you focus on a representative or controversial episode that says something about the series to present on.
PPT for Week 8
Suggested Reading for Week 9
History of Narrative Film, pp. 374.384, 406-424
Film, Form, and Culture, Ch. 7 & 9
Oxford Guide to Film Studies , Ch. 2.9, 2.10, 2.11, 2.12
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Week 9: Spring Break, No Class Meeting
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Week 10: Audiovisual Analysis
Key Terms
__• Added value
__• Vococentrism, verbocentrism, music (empathetic and anempathetic) spotting, synchresis, temporalization;
__• Three modes of listening - causal, semantic, reduced
Tuesday 3.21
__• Chion's film sound theories
Thursday 3.23
__• Audiovisual contract
__• Chion's methods - forced marriage and masking
__• Time
__• Listening
Required Reading
Michel Chion, Audio-Vision, pp. 3-34
Oxford Guide to Film Studies, Ch. 1.20, 1.21 (if you did not read these last week)
Media (on Sakai)
__• PSYCHO (1960) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock (excerpt)
__• LA JETEE (1962) Directed by Chris Marker (excerpt)
Film Analysis Assignment #3: Audiovisual Analysis (Due Thursday 4.6)
PPT for Week 10
Suggested Reading for Week 10
History of Narrative Film, Ch. 12, pp. 269-284, 777-794
Film Art, pp. 493-296
Film, Form, and Culture, Ch. 8
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Week 11: Documentary
Key Terms
__• Documentary
__• Realism, cinéma vérité, direct cinema;
__• Real time, location shooting, zoom, hand held shot;
__• Direct sound, contrapuntal sound, voice over, pitch, timbre
Tuesday 3.28
__• Documentary film language
__• Documentary genres
__• Documentary form
__• Modes of documentary
Thursday 3.30
__• Documentary sound
Required Reading
Film Art, Ch. 5 (focus on pp. 128-146)
Oxford Guide to Film Studies, Ch. 3.4
Media (on Sakai)
__• NANOOK OF THE NORTH (1922) Dir. Robert Flaherty
__• HIGHSCHOOL (1968) Dir. Frederick Wiseman
__• AN AMERICAN FAMILY, EPISODE 1 (1973) Craig Gilbert, series director
GROUP PROJECT #4: AUTOETHNOGRAPHY, FAKE DOCUMENTARY, MOCKUMENTARY
BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999) Dir. Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez
BONTOC EULOGY (1995) Dir. Marlon Fuentes
CALENDAR (1993) Dir. Atom Egoyan
SURNAME VIET GIVEN NAME NAM (1989) Dir. Trinh T. Minh-ha
THIS IS SPINAL TAP (1984) Dir. Rob Reiner
* All films on Sakai / Film Playlist
PPT for Week 11
Suggested Reading for Week 11
Film, Form, and Culture, Ch. 8
Film Sound, pp. 162-176
Bill Nichols, Introduction to Documentary (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001/2010)
Holly Rogers, (ed.) Music and Sound in Documentary Film, (New York: Routledge, 2015)
Leslie C. Dunn & Nancy A. Jones, (eds.) Embodied Voices: Representing Female Vocality in Western Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994) pp. 166-178
Week 12: Feminist Film Theory
Tuesday 4.4
__• Feminism and film studies
__• Feminist film theories
__• Areas of study and production
__• Psychoanalysis
Thursday 4.6: Film Analysis Assignment #3 Due
Your assignments should be a MS Word document (.doc or .docx). Please upload to your Sakai Drop Box by 5PM PST
Required Reading
Oxford Guide to Film Studies , Ch. 1.9, 1.13
Laura Mulvey, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (focus on pp. 14-26)
Media (on Sakai)
__• BLOND VENUS (1932) Dir. Josef von Sternberg (excerpt)
__• VERTIGO (1958) Dir. Alfred Hitchcock (excerpt)
PPT for Week 12
Suggested Reading for Week 12
Film, Form, and Culture, Ch. 6
B. Ruby
Rich, Chick Flicks: Theories and Memories of the Feminist Film Movement (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2012) pp. xv-6, 57-84
Week 13: Postmodernism
Tuesday 4.11
__• Theories of culture
__• Postmodernism
Thursday 4.13
__• Postmodernist debates
Required Reading
Fredric Jameson, “Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism” pp. 53-92
Oxford Guide to Film Studies , Ch. 1.10, 1.11
Media (shown in class)
__• RIDDLES OF THE SPHINX (1975) Dir. Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen
GROUP PROJECT #5: QUEER NEW WAVE
FRESH KILL (1994) Dir. Shu Lea Cheang
LOOKING FOR LANGSTON (1989) Dir. Isaac Julien
MOD FUCK EXPLOSION (1994) Dir. Jon Moritsugu
PARIS IS BURNING (1990) Dir. Jennie Livingston
SWOON (1992) Dir. Tom Kalin
* All films on Sakai / Film Playlist
PPT for Week 13 & 14
Suggested Reading for Week 13
History of Narrative Film, Ch. 20, 21
Film, Form, and Culture, Ch. 7
Oxford Guide to Film Studies, Ch. 2.6, 2.12
Week 14: Postmodern Cinema
Tuesday 4.18 & Thursday 4.20
__• Postmodernism & film
Required Reading for the week
Oxford Guide to Film Studies , Ch. 1.14, 1.15, 3.3
Media (on Sakai)
__• THE WATERMELON WOMAN (1995) Dir. Cheryl Dunye
Suggested Reading for Week 14
History of Narrative Film, Ch. 13
Oxford Guide to Film Studies , Ch. 3.9, 3.26, 3.27
Film Art , pp. 486-489
Film Analysis Assignment #4: Postmodernism - Please come talk to me this week if you are a graduating senior
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Week 15
Tuesday 4.25 & Thursday 4.27
__• Finish class discussion on Postmodernism
__• Finish class presentations
No Media or Reading This Week
Friday 4.28, 5PM PST: Senior Deadline for Film Analysis Assignment #4
Please upload the MS Word document (.doc or .docx) to your Sakai Drop Box.
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Week 16: Last Week of Classes
Tuesday 5.2
__• Wrap up
__• Film analysis assignment #4
__• Class evaluation
No Media or Reading This Week
Film Analysis Assignment #4: Postmodernism
Due Tuesday 5.9, 5PM PST
Please upload the MS Word document (.doc or .docx) to your Sakai Drop Box.
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