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EL 250

EL 250 | Intro to Film Studies

Spring 2024

Useful Links: Course Wiki, Blackboard, Eli Review

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 – Week 15 & Final

Looking at Movies, 7th Ed., Online: Here
Am Lit eTexts and Helpful Sites: Here
Overview of Filmmakers: Here
Site for Making Storyboard Paper: Here

EL 250 is an introduction to film studies within the context of English studies, focusing especially on how stories can be told through and with film. We’ll look at the conventions of storytelling in film and mass media. We’ll explore the ways film tells stories using form, style, social conventions, and all of those things at once. We’ll study the vocabulary of film criticism and technique, and we’ll consider how historical forces have affected the making and viewing of film. Along the way, we’ll look at as much film as possible, exploring a broad range of stylistic and storytelling choices. You may not like every film equally, but you ought to look at each one as an opportunity to think about the many different ways film can be used.

Short Version: You’ll be learning to see what happens in film more clearly, and to talk more effectively about what you see.

Major Writing/Composing Assignments to Anticipate

  • Two Short Close Readings and a Revision (100 points / 10%)
  • Film Grammar Project: Photo Story + Essay (100 points / 10%)
  • Formal Scene Analysis (200 points / 20%)
  • Midterm, Part 1 (100 points / 10%)
  • Midterm, Part 2 (100 points / 10%)
  • Final Exam (200 points / 20%)
  • Notes Portfolio and Participation (100 points / 10%)
  • Other Scores / Daily Quizzes (If There’s Reading, There Might Be a Quiz) (100 points / 10%)

Note that reading and viewing links may be added and altered as we go. Also, note that while I do a lot of work to keep links and linked documents up to date, the Internet is full of tricks and inconsistencies. If needed/required links are broken or documents are not available when you try to get to them, it’s your responsibility to let me know that the links aren’t working or the documents have disappeared. Send me an email right away if you have trouble getting to any assigned online text or document.

Week 1 (Feb. 2)

Note: L@M = Looking at Movies, Seventh Edition (Barsam and Monahan)
Note: L@M Media = The Media Included with the L@M E-Text

Note: Notice that “due” items and small notes about any given week are listed right under each week’s heading. For example:

  • Due NEXT Monday: Brief self-intro on the the course wiki.

Day 1: No Class Yet

Day 2: Still No Class! Bummer.

Day 3: Course Introduction

Please Notice that readings and assignments are due at class time on the day where they appear in the schedule, unless there is a syllabus note to the contrary. *So* for what is due on Monday of Week 2, look below, to Monday of Week 2.)

“Screening 1” (Mostly shown in Class…)

Consider (1) How these demonstrate different ideas about what motion pictures are supposed to do, and (2) how they show advances in film technique.

We’ll watch in class, but these are available in This YouTube Playlist:

  • 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
  • The Arrival of a Train… (August and Louis Lumiere, 1895)
  • On the Lumiere’s 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)
  • The Gay Shoe Clerk (Edwin S. Porter, 1903)
  • Rescued by Rover (Cecil Hepworth, 1905)
  • Le Diable Noir (Georges Melies, 1906)
  • The Devilish Tenant (Georges Melies, 1909)

Week 2 (Feb. 5, 7, and 9)

  • Due Monday @5:00: Self-Intro on Course Wiki
  • Due Wednesday: Copy of screening notes due to Bb by 5:00 pm.
  • Due Friday: Choose film for scene analysis assignment. (MAYBE…)

Day 1: Looking at Movies

Due: Self-Intro on Wiki, Due @5:00p.

Watch: L@M ARCHIVED Media for Chapter 1: Film Analysis Parts 1 and 2 (Juno and Harry Potter) + the Hunger Games video. (Go to the Looking at Movies site and set up a login, if you still need to do that. From the front page there, choose the “Videos and Interactives” link. Under that link, you’ll find these videos in the “Chapter 1” section.)

Read: L@M Chapter 1 (“Looking at Movies”). Actual text pages 1-20. See my note below about this book.

About Looking at Movies: These chapters are long. This book is great because of its scope and clarity, but it is also…a lot. So right here on the schedule, I’m telling you to use good strategy to manage this reading. Take note of the sections and make sure you understand why they’re there. Take note of any bolded or emphasized terms, and notice that the embedded media help—quite a lot!—to explain those terms. You may choose to skim read, but give yourself enough time to really note the vocab/terms. It would be a very good idea to keep a notebook by your side and physically write down terms and your own brief, simplified definitions. That way, you build review and reinforcement into your reading, even if you’re reading very quickly. The part where you write with your own hand and in your own words is a major help for real learning, in all situations.

One More Thing About the Videos: Whether or not I specifically assign or screen them, the L@M Media tutorials and animations are always helpful and worth your time. *They will deepen your learning and help prep you for the tests!*

About Passing Daily Reading Quizzes: I’ll never be trying to really stump you on a daily quiz, if we have one; I aim to ask questions that will be pretty obvious to a reader who has read the assigned reading attentively. If there was assigned reading or viewing, there may be a quiz on it, always.

Receive: Today in class, I should have the assignment sheet for the two Close Readings.

Monday Night Screening: 6:30 – 9:30p, Robinson 310

Extras (If Time)
Nat King Cole sings Chaplin’s “Smile” (Theme from Modern Times)
Chaplin (Trailer for the Robert Downey, Jr., Film)

Day 2: Chaplin / Keaton Discussion

Due: AFTER class (by 5:00p): Screening Notes

Day 3: Principles of Film Form

Read:  L@M Chapter 2 (“Principles of Film Form”), pp 24-48. (Skip the final Donnie Darko section, unless you’re excited to read it.)

Watch: L@M Media “Form and Content (archived, longer tutorial)” (Archived with Chapter 2 “Videos and Interactives”) AND A Trip to the Moon” (Georges Melies, 1902). The Melies has no soundtrack attached; give it your eyes and your whole brain, anyway!

Extras You Might Like (Not Required): A substantial archive of Melies films, here; Smashing Pumpkins’ Melies Tribute, “Tonight Tonight“; “What is Bullet Time?” (Matrix Featurette); Parallel Editing/Cross Cutting, Silence of the Lambs (Pretty Creepy, BTW); “Cinema and Its Ancestors” (Tom Gunning/U of Chicago) (second source here, but you have to download and play the Quicktime file) ; “2011: Water Moves: The Egg!” (BIOS) (A Contemporary “Actuality”!); Homemade Bullet Time (Sort of) (Cinefix)

Week 3 (Feb. 12, 14, and 16) 

  • Due Wednesday: Mise en Scene Exercise
  • Due Friday @5:00p: Close Reading #1 to Eli Review

Day 1: Mise en Scène

Read: L@M Chapter 5 (“Mise en Scène”). Read: What Is Mise-en-Scène?, Design, Lighting, Composition, Kinesis, Approaches to Mise-en-Scène. Exclude the final section, “Looking at Mise-en-Scene.” Actual book pages: pp. 145-172. (A bit longer than previous readings!)

Be Thinking: Be thinking about questions you have about the first close reading. Be ready to ask them, if you’ve got them.

Plan This for Wednesday: This mise en scene exercise (intro’d in class today) will be due on Wednesday. With a 3-4 partners, create two highly similar scenes. Make the mise en scène of your two scenes close to exactly the same, but just different enough that you suggest very different kinds of things about the scene. Use at least one actor in each scene, and pack in as many mise en scène elements as you can make work. Photograph both and submit images to BB by Wednesday Night (11:59:59 pm). In your submission to Bb, include a sentence or three about how you feel the shift in mise en scène affects the meaning of the scene. Each individual submits images and writes (individually) about the shift. Include a quick list of the names of your partners. (10 points)

Monday Night Screening

L@M Media from Chapter 4:
“Lighting and Familiar Image in The Night … (longer tutorial)” (7.5 Min.)

L@M Media from Chapter 5:
“Lighting (archived, longer tutorial)” (9 Min.)
“Composing the Frame” series of very short films (~8-10 Min.)
“Setting and Expressionism (longer tutorial)” (6 Min.)

In Praise of Chairs (from Every Frame a Painting”) (5 min.)

The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, 1903) (11 Min.)
(Train Robbery online. Bad Music. We’ll watch a better version @the screening.)

A Day in the Life of a Coal Miner (Kineto Films, 1910) (9 Min.)
(Coal Miner Online. But we’ll watch it at the screening.)

FEATURE: Ida (Pawil Pawlikowski, 2013) (82 min.) (Take Notes) (You might takes notes on all the little films tonight, over course, but be sure to have good notes on Ida. That goes for any night like tonight where we have a main feature and also some additional small videos.)

Day 2: Ida / Pawlikowski Discussion

In class, we’ll talk about the notion of “Theme.”

Due: Mise en Scène Exercise. (See directions @Monday, above.)

Heads Up: The draft version of your first first close reading is due Friday (on Chaplin, Pawlikowski, or–with Permission–one of the Short Films). Schedule some writing time for yourself tonight or tomorrow, and give this short writing assignment your best shot. There’s a week ahead in which you’ll read and respond to the work of others and in which you’ll work on revising and improving your own work. For now, just make sure you’ve got a draft that seems to you like approximately the sort of thing the assignment is asking you to write. What’s really important here is just that you take a sincere shot at it, even if you miss the mark a bit; these short papers are absolutely designed to help you learn about what it means to do a close reading and about what sorts of skills you need to keep building. They do their job best when you draft them on time and participate fully in the Eli Review process.

Starting Points: Especially if you’re feeling stuck, you should review the starting points list from the assignment packet. For your convenience, I’ve also placed that list online: here.

Day 3: How a Movie is Made, Segmentation, Etc.

Read: L@M Chapter 11, ONLY TWO SHORT SECTIONS: “How a Movie is Made” and “The Studio System” (pp 397-407)

In Class: We’ll discuss “segmentation” as a way to look at a film’s structure.

Due @5:00: Close Reading #1 to Eli Review

Week 4 (Feb. 19, 21, and 23)

  • Due Wednesday @ Class Time: Feedback to Eli Review for Close Reading #1
  • Due Wednesday (Class Time): Crooklyn Segmentation
  • Due Thursday at 11:45 PM: Revision plan at Eli Review for CR#1
  • Due Friday at 11:45 PM: Close Reading #1 to Blackboard (for me) and Wiki (for all of us)

Day 1: Cinematography, the Videos

Watch! >>> Rather than assign the long and complex Chapter 6 of L@M for Monday, I’ve put the reading on Friday and a set of the chapter’s videos today. So watch the videos to prep for today’s class, and then pace yourself for a reading of the whole chapter by Friday. (This is an opportunity to not cram a whole chapter into one night!)

Go to the “Videos and Interactives” section of our online text, and then to the videos for Chapter 6. Watch these six:

  • “Focal Length (archived, longer tutorial)” (5.5 min.)
  • “Shot Types (archived, longer tutorial)” (6.5 min.)
  • “Camera Angles (archived, longer tutorial)” (6.5 min.)
  • “The Moving Camera” (4.5 min.)
  • “Zoom and Moving Camera Effects” (6 min.)
  • “Point of View (longer tutorial)” (5.25 min.)

Good Advice: At least read your CR#1 each day this week, as you tweak and improve it. Just a quick read so it stays in your mind. Tweak obvious things as you go, make notes, and schedule a dedicated hour, at some point, for focused revision. You want to keep the case in your head and the project on your mind, even if you just barely touch it most days this week. Feedback from your peers should roll in on Eli over the next couple of days.

Greatest thing: You already have a draft here. You’re not dealing with blank-screen writer’s block. You’re just taking what you’ve got and making it better. Might be fun, even.

Monday Night Screening

  • Brief discussion of segmentation.
  • “Diegetic and Nondiegetic Elements” (9 Min.) (from Chap. 4)
  • “Suspense and Surprise” (2 Min.) (from Chap. 4)
  • Intro to Film Grammar Project: Photo Story + Essay.
  • Crooklyn (Spike Lee, 1994) (115 min.) (Take Notes)

Day 2: Crooklyn  / Spike Lee Discussion

Due Wednesday @ Class Time: Feedback to Eli for CR#1 (Due @Class Time, to Give Your Peers Time to Revise Based on Your Feedback)

Due at Bb by 5:00p: Crooklyn Segmentation (Cancelled! We voted to not do this one for a grade!)

Due *Thursday* at 11:45 PM: Revision plan at Eli for CR#1. For this, you’re using the revision plan tools at Eli, which allow you to rate and work with your feedback from peers.

Day 3: Cinematography, the Big Chapter

Read: L@M Chapter 6 (“Cinematography”). Read: What Is Cinematography?, The Director of Photography, Cinematographic Properties of the Shot, Framing of the Shot, Speed and Length of the Shot, Special Effects. Skip the final section on Moonlight. (Book pages 180-221.)

This chapter is very full. Give yourself time to digest and track the key terms it’s presenting. I suggest, as always, taking notes by hand and defining terms for yourself as you go! (One Note: Don’t worry if the “open and closed framing” section is confusing.)

No guarantees, but do remember that anytime there’s a reading, there could be a quiz.

Eli Review Amnesty! — > If you didn’t yet do your assigned reviews at Eli, you may have until class time today to complete theme for credit.

Due Friday SUNDAY at 11:45 PM: CR#1 to Blackboard (for me) and Wiki (for all of us)

Extras (Not Required): The Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers; DVD Beaver Compares Versions of It’s a Wonderful Life; DVD Beaver Compares Versions of The Apartment; SFX Secrets: Film Gauges (Fandor); Hibernation Films (Color Grading / Post Production Business Run by WU Grad Ryan Graves); A video about the history of combining one shot with another in the same frame, inc. some of effects Melies’s work and shots in The Great Train Robbery: “Hollywood’s History of Faking It: The Evolution of Greenscreen Compositing”; More classical Hollywood mise en scene creation: “Matte Work in King Kong (1933)“; “What is Frame Rate?” (Studio Binder); “Why Films are Shot in 24 FPS” (Angus Davies)

Week 5 (Feb.. 26 and 28)

  • Film Grammar Project: During this week, it is a really good idea to meet with your Film Grammar team to do some planning and production.

Day 1: Editing, the Videos

Watch! >>> As with the Cinematography chapter, we’re starting here with the videos and will follow up with the reading. Watch the following videos to prep for today’s class, and then pace yourself for a reading of the whole chapter by NEXT Monday. I recommend you DO start that reading now.

Go to the “Videos and Interactives” section of our online text, and then to the videos for Chapter 8. Watch these two:

  • “The Evolution of Editing: Continuity and Classical Cutting (longer tutorial)“
  • “The Evolution of Editing: Montage (longer tutorial)”

FYI: Important Films Addressed in the L@M Editing Videos:

Bonus (Not Required):
Roger Ebert on Eisenstein’s The Battleship Potemkin

Monday Night Screening:

Day 2: Baby Driver / Wright Discussion

Receive in Class: Study Guide for Midterm

Thursday: If you haven’t met with your Film Grammar crew by today, today should really be your day!

Day 3: No Class (Faculty Development Day)

Recommended Ways to Use Your Time Off on Friday: (1) Take time to read Chapter 8. (2) Review terms we’ve studied so far and prep your own study strategies for the upcoming first test. (3) Do some drafting work for Close Reading #2.

Week 6 (Mar. 4, 6, and 8)

  • Due WEDNESDAY @5:00: Close Reading #2 to Eli Review

Day 1: L@M Chapter 8, Editing

Read: L@M Chapter 8 (“Editing”). Read: What Is Editing?, The Film Editor, Functions of Editing, Major Approaches to Editing: Continuity and Discontinuity. Exclude the “Looking at Editing: City of God” section, unless you’d like to read it. Actual book pages: pp. 265-95.

Monday Night Screening

  • Entr’acte (René Clair, 1924) (20. min.) (The film is also here, if the other link isn’t working.) (Take Notes)
  • The Swan (Wes Anderson, 2023) (17 min.) (Take Notes)
  • “The 30-Degree Rule in Filmmaking” (KaiCreative)
  • “The 180-Degree Rule (longer tutorial)” (L@M Chapter 8 Videos)
  • We’ll also be talking exam prep, exam prep groups, and I’ll hand you the basic assignment sheet for the Formal Scene Analysis project.

Extra (Not Required)
Studiobinder on the “Jump Cut“; “Debaser” (The Pixies’ great rock anthem for the French Avant-Garde).

Day 2: Intro Formal Scene Analysis Project (Receive Basic Assignment Sheet)

No Prep Needed!

More on Editing + Test Prep / Discussion

DUE to Eli by 5:00pm: Close Reading #2.

Midterm Part 1!

Day 3: Midterm Exam, Part I: Writing About Film

Week 7 (Mar. 11, 13, and 15)

  • Due Monday @ Class Time: Feedback to Eli Review for Close Reading #2
  • Due Thursday at 11:45 PM: Revision plan at Eli Review for CR #2
  • FRIDAY, Class Time: Midterm Part 2
  • Due NEXT MONDAY @11:45 PM: Close Reading #2 to Blackboard (for me) and Wiki (for all of us)

Day 1

Read: L@M Chapter 9 (“Sound”). Read: What Is Sound?, Sound Production, Describing Film Sound, Sources of Film Sound, Types of Film Sound (can skip or skim the War of the Worlds section), Functions of Film Sound. Actual book pages: pp. 303-31.

Due: Feedback for CR#2 to Eli Review (Class Time, to Give Your Peers Time to Revise Based on Your Feedback)

Monday Night Screening

  • Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952) (103 min.) (Take Notes)
  • Scenes from Swing Time (George Stevens, 1936) (Here.) (Take Notes)
  • Things We’ll Look at In Class This Week:
    –Featurette on Sound in Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981) (Here and here.)
    –Opening Scene of Once Upon a Time in the West (Leone, 1968) (Here and here.) (Take Notes)
    –Opening Scene of His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940) (Here.) (Take Notes)

Day 2: Singin’ in the Rain/Kelly/Musicals Discussion

CR#2 Revision Plan: Do this at Eli before the end of the day on Thursday.

Midterm Part 2!

Day 3: Midterm Exam, Part 2: Terms, Terms, Terms!

Week 8 (Mar. 18, 20, and 22)

  • Due MONDAY @11:45 PM: Close Reading #2 to Blackboard (for me) and Wiki (for all of us)
  • Plan Ahead: We’re reading a novel during the week after break. It’s a detective novel, and it moves fast, but budget time to read.
  • Hey, it’s advising season! Make sure you connect with your academic advisors this week!

Day 1: Acting

Read L@M Chapter 7 (“Acting”), ONLY THREE SECTIONS: The Evolution of Screen Acting, Aspects of Performance, How Filmmaking Affects Acting. (Pp. 233-43; 245-52; 252-57)

Watch L@M Media for Chapter 7: “Persona and Performance” + “Editing and Performance in Snapshot” (~15 min.)

Watch: Hoffman, Tomlin, and Russell on Charlie Rose (~20-30 min. Watch at least minutes ~20 to about 28.) (Link also at Bb.)

Due at 11:45 pm: Close Reading #2

Monday Night Screening

Catching up re: Film Grammar projects.

Feature: The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001) (110 min.) (Take Notes)

Day 2: Tenenbaums/Anderson Discussion

Day 3

Film Grammar photo sets should be posted to Google photos and linked at the wiki before you leave for break.

Catch Up / Setting You Up for Upcoming Projects

No new readings/screenings! Just focus n your projects.

Spring Break! Come back in a week!

Week 9 (Apr. 3 and 5)

  • Due Wednesday at Class TIme: Film Grammar Essay Draft (@Eli)
  • Due Friday at Class TIme: Film Grammar Essay Draft Feedback (@Eli)

Day 1: No Class (Easter Break)

Monday Night Screening: We’re not really back yet… But maybe we can gather (optionally) to screen the homework viewing assigned for Wednesday? Note the paper deadline for Wednesday! Note the novel-reading due for Friday!

Day 2

Watch: L@M Media for Chapter 4: “Narrators, Narration, and Narrative (archived, longer tutorial)” and L@M Media for Chapter 3: “Genre: The Western (longer tutorial)”

Watch: “The Art of Editing and Suicide Squad” (Folding Ideas) (This is 34 minutes, and designed to entertain. But you can use faster playback speed at YouTube and still follow this, if needed.)

Watch: “When the Editor Has to Fix It in Post” (CinemaStix) (This is a little more than minutes. It’s also entertaining, but I’d watch it in real time. It looks at how Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was edited into its final form.)

Due @ Class Time: Post to Eli Review: Draft of Your Film Grammar Essay

Day 3

Read: First half of Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley (1990) (Chapters 1 – 17).

Due @ Class Time: Eli Review feedback for Film Grammar Essays

Week 10 (Apr. 8, 10, and 12)

  • Due Monday, 11:59:59 PM: Film Grammar Essay (to Bb)

Day 1

Read: Second half of Devil in a Blue Dress (Chapters 17 – 31/end)

DUE at 11:59:59 PM: Film Grammar Essay (Bb)

Monday Night Screening

Feature: Devil in a Blue Dress (Carl Franklin, 1995) (102 min.) (Take Notes)

Receive: Formal Scene Analysis Assignment, Official Packet

Day 2: Devil in a Blue Dress / Franklin Discussion

Day 3: More on Narrative in Film

Read: L@M Chapter 4 (“Narrative”). The final Stagecoach section is optional. What Is Narrative?, The Screenwriter, Elements of Narrative. Physical book: pp. 107-134

More on Formal Scene Analysis, in class.

Week 11 (Apr. 15, 17, and 19)

  • Due Friday @11:45 PM: Element of Formal Analysis to Eli (Details TBA)

Day 1

Read: Ronald K. Tacelli, “Moral Monsters”

Watch: American Cinema’s “The Film School Generation” Episode (1 hour)

Monday Night Screening

Feature: The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972) (175 min.) (Take Notes)

Day 2: Godfather / Coppola Discussion

Day 3: 

DUE: Element of Formal Analysis to Eli (Middle Paragraphs: Details TBA)

In Class: Continued Godfather discussion + checking in on formal analysis work.

Week 12 (Apr. 22, 24, and 26)

  • Due Wednesday, Class Time, Eli Review Feedback (Details TBA)
  • Due Friday, Class Time, Element of Formal Analysis to Eli (Details TBA)

Day 1

Read: “The Citizen Kane Mutiny” (James F. Sennett) and “Liberation Through Sensuality” (Dallas Willard)

Monday Night Screening

Feature: The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006) (137 min.) (Take Notes)

Day 2:

Lives of Others / Donnersmarck Discussion

Due @ Class Time: Eli Review Feedback (Middle Paragraphs: Details TBA)

Day 3

Additional Reading / Screening TBA

DUE: Element of Formal Analysis to Eli (Opening and Closing: Details TBA)

You’re watching a film over the weekend! See below for details + link.

Week 13 (Apr. 29; May 1 and 3)

  • You’re watching a film over the weekend! See below for details + link.
  • Due Monday @Class Time: Due: Formal Analysis Feedback to Eli (Details TBA)
  • Due Friday by Midnight: Formal Analysis to Bb (Final Paper)
  • Due Friday by Midnight: Screening Notes Portfolio

Day 1

Watch Before Monday’s Class: Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) (112 min.) (Take Notes)

In Class: Rear WIndow / Hitchcock Discussion

Monday Night Screening

Feature: All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (Raven Jackson, 2023) (92 min.) (Take Notes)

Day 2: All Dirt Roads / Jackson Discussion

Due at Class Time: Formal Analysis Feedback to Eli (Opening and Closing: Details TBA)

Day 3

Due Friday @11:59:59: Formal Analysis to Bb (Final Paper)

Due Friday by 11:59:59: Screening Notes Portfolio

You’re watching a film over the weekend! See below for details + link.

Week 14 (May. 6, 8, and 10) 

  • You’re watching a film over the weekend! See below for details + link.
  • Due Wednesday @5:00: Any (Optional!) Revised Close Readings (See Revision Guidelines)
  • On Friday: Part 1 of the Final Exam (in Class)

Day 1

Watch Before Monday’s Class: Cleo from 5 to 7  (Agnès Varda, 1962) (90 min.) (The Notes Portfolio is already turned in, so you no longer MUST take notes, but maybe you should get down your thoughts, to prep for class participation and have some notes to review for the final. The same goes for all our remaining films.)

In Class: Cleo / Varda Discussion

Monday Night Screening

Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2006)

Day 2

Lost in Translation / S. Coppola Discussion

Due: Any (Optional!) Revised Close Readings (See Revision Guidelines) (5:00 PM)

Day 3 

Final Exam, Part I: In Class Writing

Week 13 (May. 13 + Final, Part 2)

  • Thursday: Final Exam

Day 1: TBA / Catch Up / Final “Part 2” Prep

Day 1: Brilliantly well-informed class discussion of what it takes to be a super-sharp reader of cinema. Exam prep.

Final/Exam 2: Thursday, December 16, 3:30-5:30 pm

Final Exam (Part 2): Thursday, Dec. 16, 3:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Filmmakers We’re Thinking About, an Overview

(In Rough Order of Appearance in the Course)

(This resource is… not complete!)

  • Georges Melies
  • The Lumiere Brothers (August and Louis)
  • Cecil Hepworth
  • Thomas Edison / WKL Dickson
  • Edwin S. Porter
  • Buster Keaton
  • Charles Chaplin
  • Pawil Pawlikowski (Ida, 2013, 82 min.)
  • Spike Lee (Crooklyn, 1994, 115 min.)
  • Edwin S. Porter (The Great Train Robbery, 1903, 11 Min.)
  • D.W. Griffith (Way Down East, 1920, 107 Min.; The Birth of a Nation, 1915, 192 Min.)
  • Sergei Eisenstein (Battleship Potemkin, 1925, 65 Min.)
  • Edgar Wright (Baby Driver, 2017, 113 min.)
  • René Clair (Entr’acte, 1924, 20. min.)
  • Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly (Singin’ in the Rain, 1952, 103 min.)
  • George Stevens (w/Fred Astaire, scenes from Swing Time , 1936)
  • Ben Burtt (Sound Designer, including for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Steven Spielberg, 1981, and Star Wars: A New Hope, George Lucas, 1977)
  • Sergio Leone (Opening scene of Once Upon a Time in the West, 1968)
  • Howard Hawks (Opening scene of His Girl Friday, 1940)
  • Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, 2001, 110 min.)
  • Carl Franklin (Devil in a Blue Dress, 1995, 102 min.)
  • Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, 1972, 175 min.)
  • And more…