SCREEN THEORY (RTF 331K, UNIQUE # 08100) Fall 2012 University of Texas at Austin

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1 1 Instructor: Professor Lalitha Gopalan Office: CMA Telephone: SCREEN THEORY (RTF 331K, UNIQUE # 08100) Fall 2012 University of Texas at Austin CLASS: Monday and Wednesday: 3:30-5:00 PM CMA A3.112 SCREENING: Thursday 5-730PM CMA A3.120 Office hours: Monday 12-3 PM Course Description: The course explores how the screen in its many incarnations has been a source of fascination for both viewers and makers. Since such meditations on the screen are extensive including formulations on film s relationship to photography, television, new media, and pre-cinematic forms, the course will focus on how the cinematic screen has long provoked theoreticians to consider the reckoning of time, space, and movement. To understand the import of these ideas, the course will juxtapose film screenings (DVD projections to be precise) alongside a range of theoretical texts that grapple with different constituents of the screen. Requirements Books: The following required books are available at the University Bookstore: 1. David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art. (You may purchase any of the previous editions through other outlets). 2. Laura Mulvey, Citizen Kane. London: British Film Institute, Joshua Clover, Matrix. London: British Film Institute, Please note that a reading packet is also available for purchase at Jenn s Copy and Binding for approximately $ Attendance: You are expected to be on time for class sessions and screenings. If for some unexpected reason you are absent for a class, you are expected to inform me via telephone or . Please note that two or more absences will result in a lower final grade: B+ to B and so on. Class sessions: Please note that this course will be taught as a seminar class and not as a series of lectures. You are expected to bring the relevant texts to class and come fully prepared for class discussions. Please be prepared to respond to my questions on particular aspects of the readings and films in class as well as initiating your own

2 2 formulations on the texts. Be warned that you will be marked absent if you fail to bring the relevant texts to class. Grades Please note that this course has a substantial writing component and hence your final grade will be based on the following written assignments: 1. 40%: Based on two 4-page papers. You are expected to choose one film not assigned on the syllabus as your primary text for the entire semester. Please consult with me on your choice of films. Your first 2-page paper submission on this film (not graded) should offer a detailed segmenting of the entire film with a short bibliography. In subsequent papers you will focus on particular aspects of the film that will allow you to comment on the film s style: mise-en-scene, editing, cinematography etc. Dates for submission are as follows: September 20: 2-page segmenting and bibliography October 18: First 4-5-page paper December 6: Second 5-page paper 2. 20%: Class presentation of a theoretical essay. After the first two weeks of class, I expect you to sign up for a class presentation of one of the assigned essays in your syllabus. You will be allotted the entire class session to lead the discussion of an essay with ample help from the class. A draft version of your reading of the essay and film should be posted on Blackboard the next day before midnight and during the following class session we will collectively comment on your draft. A revised version (4-5 pages) is due the following Friday %: a series of pop quizzes %: A weekly journal that records your responses to the film screenings and on occasion, to the readings. I expect you to write for 5-10 minutes after each screening session on Monday. This is a designated quiet time that allows you to both respond and formulate your thoughts on the screening before launching into a more audible discussion of the projected images. I expect this writing assignment to be about a page for each session. Journal submission dates: September 20, October 25 and November 29 Papers are due in my mailbox by 5pm on the date of submission. Please be aware that your papers have to abide by the prevailing Honor Code of the university.

3 3 I strongly encourage you to familiarize yourself with the services of the Writing Center. Please be advised that readings and film screenings are subject to revision. Course Schedule August 29 Introduction and in class screening in class screening of Un Chien Andalou (1929) dir. Luis Bunuel; Lumiere Films, commentary by Tavernier; Edison and Porter (Recommended: Haroun Faroucki s short films on Lumiere) Mise-en-scene and Space Screening August 30: Citizen Kane (1941) dir. Orson Welles September 3: Labor Day Holiday, NO class, September 5 Film Art. Chapter on Narrative as Formal System Andre Bazin, The Evolution of the Language of Cinema READER Screening September 6: NO scheduled screening September 10 Film Art: Chapters on Mise-en-scene Laura Mulvey, Citizen Kane pp September 12 Laura Mulvey, Citizen Kane pp Screening September 13: Death by Hanging (1968) dir. Nagisa Oshima In class screening of Michael Snow s Wavelength September 17 Stephen Heath, Narrative Space. READER September 19 Stephen Heath, contd. Recommended Laura Mulvey, Repetition and Return: Textual Analysis and Douglas Sirk in the Twenty-First Century. READER Editing and Movement

4 4 Screening September 20: Battleship Potemkin (1925) dir. Sergei M. Eisenstein September 24 Vsevolod Pudovkin, On Editing. READER Sergei Eisenstein, Beyond the Shot and The Dramaturgy of Film Form [The Dialectical Approach to Film Form]. READER September 26 Lucy Fisher, Film Editing. A Companion to Film Theory READER Screening September 27: Man with the Movie Camera (1929) dir. Dziga Vertov October 1 Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. READER October 3 Benjamin contd. Screening October 4: Tokyo Story (1953) dir. Yasujiro Ozu October 8 David Desser, Introduction to Tokyo Story. READER October 10 Sumiko Higashi, Sunny skies. READER Film Art: Chapter on Editing Screening October 11: Marnie (1964) dir. Alfred Hitchcock October 15 Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. READER October 17 Mulvey contd. Camera and Movement Screening October 18: Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) dir. Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid Visions of Light (1992) dir. Arnold Glassman, Todd McCarthy and Stuart Samuels October 22 Film Art, Chapter on Cinematography READER Maya Deren, Cinematography: The Creative Use of Reality. READER

5 5 October 24 Brian Henderson, The Long Take. READER Screening October 25: Solaris (1972) dir. Andrei Tarkovsky October 29 Pier Pasolini, Observations on the Sequence Shot. READER October 31 Andrei Tarkovsky, Sculpting Time. Chapter 5, READER Sound: Technology and Aesthetics Screening November 1: Nashville (1975) Robert Altman November 5 Film Art, Chapter on Sound S.M. Eisenstein, V.I. Pudovkin, and G.V. Alexandrov, Statement. READER November 7 John Belton, Technology and Aesthetics of Film Sound. READER Charles Schreger, Altman, Dolby and the Second Sound Revolution. READER Screening November 8: Psycho (19??) dir. Alfred Hitchcock November 12 Michel Chion, November 14 Chion contd. Theories of the Apparatus and Spectatorship Screening November 15: Peeping Tom (1960) dir. Michael Powell November 19 Jean Louis Baudry, Ideological Effects of the Basic Cinematographic Apparatus. READER November 21 Baudry, Ideological Effects READER

6 6 Special Effects: Analog to Digital Screening November 22: Thanksgiving break. Recommended Jurassic Park (1993) dir. Steven Spielberg November 26 Michele Pierson, CGI Effects in Hollywood Science-Fiction Cinema : the Wonder Years READER November 28 Thomas Lamarre, From Animation to Anime: Drawing Movements and Moving Drawings READER Screening November 29: The Matrix (1999) dir. Andy Wachowski & Larry Wachowski December 3 Joshua Clover, The Matrix READER December 5 Clover contd. December 8 Final Papers due Conferences and events that pertain to our course: TBA