Monday, August 22: Course Introduction and Crash Course in Film Terminology, Part 1
Reading:
None
Wednesday, August 24: Crash Course in Film Terminology, Part 2
Reading:
None
Monday, August 29: Film Analysis Practice, Part 1
Reading:
The Art of Watching Films, Chapter 5 (pp. 103-133)
Screening:
To be determined (based on in-class response from first day of class)
Wednesday, August 31: Film Analysis Practice, Part 2
Reading:
None
Screening:
To be determined, continued, followed by discussion
Monday, September 5: Labor Day (no class)
Wednesday, September 7: Early Cinema and the Rise of Narrative, Part 1
Reading:
None
Screening:
Early Edison Company Films (USA, 1894, 1900)
Films of the Lumière Company (France, 1895-1900)
Méliès Trick Films (France, 1900-1901)
A Trip to the Moon (Méliès, 1902)
Great Train Robbery (Porter, USA, 1903)
Monday, September 12: Early Cinema and the Rise of Narrative, Part 2
Reading:
The Art of Watching Films, Chapter 6, pp. 155-184
Screening:
Lonedale Operator (Griffith, USA, 1911)
Excerpt from Strike (Eisenstein, USSR, 1924)
Excerpt from Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein, USSR, 1925)
Excerpt from Man With a Movie Camera (Vertov, USSR, 1929)
Wednesday, September 14: Classical Hollywood, Part 1
Reading:
The Art of Watching Films, Chapter 3, pp. 33-69
Screening:
Stagecoach (Ford, USA, 1939)
Monday, September 19: Classical Hollywood, Part 2
Reading:
None
Screening:
Stagecoach, continued, followed by discussion
Wednesday, September 21: Alternatives to Classical Hollywood, Part 1
Reading:
Andre Bazin, “Evolution of Film Language” (online)
Screenings:
Excerpt from Citizen Kane (Welles, USA, 1941)
Excerpt from Germany Year Zero (Rossellini, Italy, 1947)
Breathless (Godard, France, 1960)
Monday, September 26: Alternatives to Classical Hollywood, Part 2
Reading:
None
Screening:
Breathless, continued, followed by discussion
Wednesday, September 28: Intensified Continuity and “Chaos Cinema”
Reading:
David Bordwell, “Intensified Continuity: Visual Style in Contemporary American Film” (online)
Screening:
“Chaos Cinema” (Stork, USA, 2011)
Various excerpts from contemporary action cinema (e.g. Brick Mansions, Taken 3, Gamer)
Monday, October 3: Film Sound
Reading:
The Art of Watching Films, Chapter 8, pp. 219-244
Screening:
Excerpt from Death Proof (Tarantino, USA, 2007)
Excerpt from M (Lang, Germany, 1931)
Excerpt from Blade Runner (Scott, USA, 1982)
Excerpts from The Conversation (Coppola, USA, 1974)
Wednesday, October 4: Film Music
Reading:
The Art of Watching Films, Chapter 9, pp. 249-267
Screening:
Excerpt from early Mickey Mouse cartoons
Excerpt from Spider-Man (Raimi, USA, 2002)
Excerpt from Platoon (Stone, USA, 1986)
Excerpts from Stagecoach
Excerpt from Little Big Man (Penn, USA, 1970)
Excerpt from Singin’ in the Rain (Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, USA 1952)
Excerpt from Southland Tales (Richard Kelly, USA, 2006)
Excerpt from Koyaanisqatsi (Reggio, USA, 1982)
Monday, October 10: Review Session for Midterm Exam
Reading:
None
Wednesday, October 12: Midterm Exam
Monday, October 17: Animation, Part 1
Reading:
The Art of Watching Films, Chapter 5, pp. 133-148
Andre Bazin, “The Ontology of the Photographic Image” (online)
Screening:
Excerpt from Chicken Run (Park and Lord, USA, 2000)
Excerpt from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (USA, 1937)
Excerpt from Matrix III (Whitney, USA, 1972)
Wall-E (Stanton, USA, 2008)
Wednesday, October 19: Animation, Part 2
Reading:
None
Screening:
Wall-E, continued, followed by discussion
Monday, October 24: Horror, Part 1
Reading:
None
Screening:
Excerpt from The Wolfman (Waggner, USA, 1941)
Excerpt from Friday the 13th (Cunningham, USA, 1980)
Excerpt from Friday the 13th Part 2 (Miner, USA, 1981)
Excerpt from Hostel (Roth, USA, 2005)
Excerpt from Paranormal Activity 3 (Joost and Schulman, USA, 2011)
Wednesday, October 26: Horror, Part 2
Reading:
None
Screening:
It Follows (Mitchell, USA, 2015)
Monday, October 31: Horror, Part 3
Reading:
None
Screening:
It Follows, continued, followed by discussion
Wednesday, November 2: Documentary, Part 1
Reading:
The Art of Watching Films, Chapter 15, “Social Problem Films and Documentary Filmmaking,” pp. 460-468
Screening:
Excerpt from Nanook of the North (Flaherty, USA, 1922)
Excerpt from Grizzly Man (Herzog, USA, 2005)
The Act of Killing (Oppenheimer, Norway/Denmark/United Kingdom, 2012)
Monday, November 7: Documentary, Part 2
Reading:
None
Screening:
The Act of Killing, continued
Wednesday, November 9: Comedy, Part 1
Reading:
None
Screening:
Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (Tati, France, 1953)
Monday, November 14: Comedy, Part 2
Reading:
None
Screening:
Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, continued, followed by discussion
Wednesday, November 16: Comedy, Part 3
Reading:
None
Screening:
Excerpts from the films of Buster Keaton
Excerpts from the films of Charlie Chaplin
Excerpt from The Nutty Professor (Lewis, USA, 1963)
Excerpts from Jackass: The Movie (Tremaine, USA, 2002)
Excerpts from Vic Berger’s YouTube channel
Monday, November 21: Extended Office hours (class optional)
Reading:
None
Screening:
None
Wednesday, November 23: Thanksgiving Break (no class)
Monday, November 28: Experimental Cinema, Part 1
Reading:
None
Screening:
Meshes of the Afternoon (Deren, USA, 1943)
La Jetée (Marker, France, 1962)
Wednesday, November 30: Experimental Cinema, Part 2
Due:
Film Review Essay
Reading:
None
Screening:
Free Radicals (Lye, New Zealand, 1958/1979)
Mothlight (Brakhage, USA, 1963)
Outer Space (Tscherkassky, Austria, 1999)
An Optical Poem (Fischinger, USA, 1938)
Synchromy (McLaren, Canada, 1971)
Monday, December 5: Responding to your Essays, Part 1
Reading:
None
Screening:
To be determined (based on your Film Review Essays)
Wednesday, December 7: Responding to your Essays, Part 2
Reading:
None
Screening:
To be determined, continued, followed by discussion
Monday, December 12: Summaries and Conclusions / Final Exam Review
Reading:
None
Wednesday, December 14: Final Exam
Humanities 1460 - Film as an Art 