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* Fall 2007 * Spring 2003. Mon. 6-9 pm. Film as Drama (old) For help with the Basic Aesthetics, go to 200X Files, for specifics of Filmmaking -- to Film Direction; for acting for the screen -- Method Acting. This course the FILM ANALYSIS class (understand and use of film language in art/film and culture/movies).
NB. We do not watch the entire movie (or film), I use only a segments (you have to watch the whole thing on your own -- homework).
Please use film terms and your home reading in advanced. The Platonic Academy faces you can see on theory pages will be a methodology part of the class (philosophical schools to help us to develop the principles of anaysis).
I use the same thematic approach like in THR413 Playscript Analysis in order to compare different directors, styles, periods.
Film Art: an Introduction (7th ed.) David Bordwell & Kristin Thompson 2003 McGraw Hill
I. Film Production, Distribution, and Exhibition
II. Film Form
III. Types of Films
IV. Film Style
V. Critical Analysis of Films
VI. Film History
[ 2007 textbook ]
I was hired to teach and direct theatre, the film minor and concentration I developed at UAF, because it didn't exist and because I graduated from Moscow Film Institute -- therefore most attention on my webpages are given to theatre, not film. The 200X Aesthetics: Arts Through Film is a core class and the "film" angle is mine take on it. The "Film & Movies" course was developed by me to bridge theatre and film studies (originally named as "Film and Drama"... and the Film & Video Directing, wich was added to our theatre BA with focus on directing.
Since I started film studies at UAF, the three Theatre UAF film classes are related, but I do not teach much "200X" and "Film & Movies" anymore. One I see as an intro class, the second is for advanced study in film theory. Both are supposed to support "Film Directing" class.
When I came to UAF, the place has no Film Studies and this class was to help build a film minor, at least.
The title "Film and Drama" -- because the theatre department was the originator of the film studies ("Drama program" at the time). Theatre UAF is still a coordinator of "film minor" and we have BA with the emphasis in video directing.
Now this course has the name "Film and Movies" and, if you read my webpage, you understand why? Films are the movies which advance the language of cinema... and this is what we study in this class.
Language of Film (Films) and the use of it (Movies); the difference. [ Students, you will see references and links to Film600 amd POV ebooks, both are not required for THR334 class! ]
[ the pages will be updated when I teach the class! ]
Questions
Where is the "Film Study" directory? Film Theory @ Film-North (Film600).
Homework
Write your own list of your favorite films and movies. Post and bring it in class. Use 200x eGroup! [ old = archives ]
As you can see from the links, I use this class/directory for several purposes: for Film Directing class and for 200X Aesthetics (basic theory).
[ I better not to lose the goal of my webpages -- notes for myself. Not a portal or a textbook, but the support. Not to repeat what could be found on the web or library. ]
• View films and read screenplays
• Lectures on fundamental concepts
• Analysis and discussion of films and screenplays
Sight, Sound, Motion: Applied Media Aesthetics Developed at San Francisco State University, this textbook isolates the five fundamental image elements of television and film--light and color, 2D space, 3D space, time/motion, and sound--examines their aesthetic characteristics and potentials, and structures them in their respective aesthetic fields. The fourth edition adds sections on inductive shot sequences, electronic cinema, and alternative storytelling techniques. ***
[ I suspect it will take a long while before I can change the arrangements of film analysis pages to thematic analysis; most likely only when I finish the Film600 directory! ]
Film Study: Methods (part 5. Film Theory: Forms and Function).
How to READ a Film (not only Film Speaks, but also "acts" -- must explain it right away).
The Classics and the Movies (compare with written and oral traditions of language).
[ 2003 Titles: "Citizen Kane" (as a showcase). Compare with the techniques in "The Pianist" and "Schindler's List" (to make it a class project for the final? ]
2005: the list of movies is different, the films are the same...
This directory was built to support Film & Drama course, which is renamed now into "Movies and Films" -- and serves as an intro-class for Film Theory under "Film Studies" at UAF. Also, the pages are used for several other classes: 200X Aesthetics and THR470 Film Directing. I try to link the class pages (see Classes Directory).I do not know, when I will teach this class again and therefore the updates will be only on the pages related to other classes I teach.
Of course, I talk more about films (motion pictures that develop the language of cinema) and not movies (use of the language). I might say that films are poetry, or "art" as we used to call them now.
This is upper division, writing intersive, course and requires some knowledge of cinema (intro to film or film history).
The course should be redesigned the way I did the Playscript Analysis; thematically. Or topically. One way is to follow the evolution of forms: montage, for example. Or genres. This is a formal (forms) approach. How to connect it with the themes: love, death and etc.?
Compare the use of CU in different national cinemas (and historically). Something of the structural school. Or even the evolution of the CU in Kurosawa? Not sure that I will have the time.
Looking through the "Film Art" again (right table). And again -- questions. Good intro textbook, but why to start with "Film Production"? Should it be "Film Forms"? or "Types of Films"?
And of course, "Citizen Kane" and "L.A. Confidential" are in the same backet. Mixing films and movies -- good and bad?
Well, how should it be organized?
"Types of Films" -- Chapter Four. Film Genres, next -- Chapter Five. "Documentary, Experimental and Animated Films"! What a classification!
James Monaco (JM) -- Language, History, Theory
But the subtitle for "How to Read a Film" is "The World of the Movies, Media, and Multimedia"!
The only solution to conceptual problems with film textbook is to read a lot of books about films. I keep adding new titles in biblio mini-page, making more amazon links and reworking books page. And this is on the top of my main filmplus.org/books directory!
You will be watching movies anyway, why not to make reading film books into life-long commitment? Make yourself a long list -- and keep reading.
Actually, the first class assignment is to write the titles of the film book you know. Write down the film classes you took -- and your favorites (films and movies).
There are good and bad movies, and there are films...
Most of the movies we see are bad. Some are very bad. Very few are very good. And some is almost films...
Is possible to be a film and a movie? Chaplin?
We will be talking about it three mounths. And thinking about it for the rest of our life.
Read my webpages too, but in support of the textbook! To understand the problems (and my problems with problems).
Why did we start using this word "Media" (Film is "Medium"?) Isn't film Multimedia too?..
Analysis of Landmark Cinema = Critical analyses of classic foreign and independent cinema: Strictly Film School is a dynamic, evolving personal homage journal dedicated to the analysis of landmark world cinema from an academic perspective: universal themes, symbols and imagery, historic context and artistic genres.
The website contains a collection of short essays featuring the respective filmmaker's notable films. Film criticism, arranged by director or film, are accessible through the directors & films page.
I am using Tarkovsky (left) as the last of the filmmakers... It takes time to get use to his (anti-Eisenstein) style. I recommend to see a few masters on our FILMS list several times. The list could be longer, but we have no time with only one class a week.
... I wouldn't mind to spend a whole semester on Fillini alone!
Or on Kurosawa!
Or on some decent movie -- but in depth!
Well, you have to do it at home!
Homework!
Read and watch what we about to discuss before the class!
200 words after each film/movie: When writing a short analysis, do not repeat the plot line, concentrate on a certain aspect or limited number of interconnected aspects:
1. Camera techniques (angles; shots; filters; lenses)/mise en
4. General message/how the film addresses political and social issues
5. Acting/role characterization
Seek to relate the film to other films as a form of comparison and contrast. Discuss how and why these aspects stand out in the film and why they succeed or do not. [ see 200w list of points ]
Anatomy of Film Fifth Edition,
Bernard F. Dick (Fairleigh Dickinson U.) 2005 Paperbound 400 pp. ISBN 0–312–41516–8 Bedford/St. Martin's
*** This course introduces you to different approaches to film analysis by focusing on a small number of directors and their works. We will look at different film-making modes, traditions and movements within the context of key critical debates of film studies. This will include an introduction to notions of authorship, modes of film practice and international cinema.
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