Film 100A-1: Introduction to the Moving Image Brandeis University Spring 2019 Instructor: Linda Liu, Ph.D. Email: laliu@brandeis.edu Teaching Assistant: Drew Flanagan, Ph.D. Email: dflanaga@brandeis.edu Class Meetings: T/Th 2-3:20 Location: Mandel G03 Office Hours: T 3:30-5:00, and by appointment / Office: Olin Sang 219 Course Description An interdisciplinary course surveying the history of moving image media from 1895 to the present, from the earliest silent cinema to the age of the internet and digital media. Open to all undergraduates as an elective, it is the introductory course for the major and minor in film, television and interactive media. This course introduces basic concepts of film analysis, which are discussed through examples from different national cinemas over cinema s history, through various genres and modes of production and exhibition. While emphasis is put on questions of film form and style, the course will also offer an introduction to critical approaches and theories related to the study of international cinema. Required Texts David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction (11 th edition, McGraw-Hill, 2016) [marked FA on schedule below] Essays on LATTE [marked L on schedule below] Course Expectations, Requirements/Regulations, and Objectives Lectures, screenings, readings, and discussions are essential components of the course. Students should come to class having completed in advance all of the readings and screenings listed for that class day. Screening materials will be available on Latte unless otherwise noted. Regular attendance, as well as thoughtful, civil, well-prepared, and regular participation in class activities is expected. Three scene analyses (short written assignments focused on the close analysis of a particular scene) will be given throughout the semester. These are to be completed during class on dates that will be announced. There are no make-ups for these scene analyses except for absences due to documented illness or emergencies. In addition to the scene analyses, there will be a short paper and a final paper, all of which will focus on terminology, film analysis, film history, and the broader questions covered each week in the course.
Course Grade Breakdown Attendance/Participation: 10% Scene analyses: 35% Short paper: 25% Final paper: 30% Regulations Over three unexcused absences will lower a student s grade by one half-grade per additional class missed. Students are responsible for making up any material missed during an absence. Grades for late papers will be lowered one half-grade per day they are late (e.g., from A-to B+). With at least 24 hours notice, extensions may be granted at the discretion of the professor. Laptops and digital tablets can be used in class for taking notes and referring to reading. No mobile phones, email checking, or web browsing unrelated to class material is allowed. You are expected to account for your own attention and to focus on class activities. Be respectful of others and mute your sound features. Signs of chronic inattention due to inappropriate digital device use during class sessions will result in you being marked absent and your participation grade being negatively impacted. Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act offers guidelines for curriculum modifications and adaptations for students with documented disabilities. If applicable, students may obtain adaptation recommendations if they provide appropriate documentation. Incompletes are granted only under exceptional circumstances. The basic requirements for an incomplete are: 1) you must be passing the course; 2) there must be only one significant assignment outstanding; and 3) you must have an insurmountable problem that prevents you from completing the course. If you believe this describes your case, you must request an incomplete from me. *A note on plagiarism and academic dishonesty: Do your own work in all instances, cite all your sources, and do not recycle work from other courses or contexts. All cases of academic dishonesty will incur a failing grade and may be reported to the appropriate academic offices and the department. Do not hesitate to see me if you have other questions about what constitutes appropriate research or citation practices. Objectives In taking this course, students will: Learn to analyze a cinematic text Develop the ability to recognize and interpret visual information and patterns Become familiar with the standard vocabulary for discussing cinematic texts Gain an introduction to the critical stances one might take toward a film Demonstrate an understanding of the ways in which films derive from and/or interact with their various historical, ideological, technological, economic, and/or aesthetic contexts Write essays that employ well-considered arguments, provide excellent textual support for those arguments, and pay attention to the structure and efficacy of those arguments Become more comfortable and practiced in discussing cinematic texts among their peers 2
SCHEDULE This syllabus is subject to change, based on class needs and priorities. Please keep informed of all course announcements for any unlisted assignments and changes. If you must miss a class, make sure to check whether there are any changes to the schedule of readings and deadlines. Week One: Key Concept: Introduction / Early cinema T 1/15 Introduction / review of syllabus Th 1/17 Screening: Lumière shorts; The Teddy Bears (Wallace McCutcheon and Edwin S. Porter, USA 1907); assorted early films Film Art (FA), section on early cinema (in Chap 12) Week Two: Key Concept: Early cinema (cont.) T 1/22 No CLASS / Brandeis Day Monday Schedule Th 1/24 Screening: The Teddy Bears (Wallace McCutcheon and Edwin S. Porter, USA 1907); assorted early films (cont.) The Cinema of Attraction: Early Film, Its Spectator, and the Avant- Garde (Tom Gunning, L) Week Three: Key Concept: Mise-en-scène T 1/29 Screening: Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, USA, 1927) FA, Chapter 4 Th 1/31 Excerpts from A Short Guide to Writing about Film (Timothy Corrigan, L) Week Four: Key Concept: Classical Hollywood Style Narrative Tu 2/5 Screening: Suspicion (Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 1941) FA, Chapter 3 Th 2/7 Happily Ever After, Part 2 (David Bordwell, L) 3
Week Five: Key Concept: Editing Tu 2/12 Screening: October (Sergei Eisenstein, Russia, 1927) FA, Chapter 6 Th 2/14 The Cinematographic Principle and the Ideogram (Sergei Eisenstein, L) Week Six: Tu 2/19 NO CLASS MIDTERM RECESS Th 2/21 NO CLASS MIDTERM RECESS Week Seven: Key Concept: Critical Approaches Style, Psychology, Nationality (German Expressionism) Tu 2/26 Screening: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, Germany, 1920) FA, Traditions and Movements in Film History and German Expressionism sections in Ch. 12 Th 2/28 DUE: SHORT PAPER Caligari (Siegfried Kracauer, L) Week Eight: Key Concept: Film Sound T 3/5 Screening: Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, USA, 1936) FA, Chapter 7 Th 3/7 Technology and Aesthetics of Film Sound (John Belton, L) Week Nine: Key Concept: Italian Neorealism T 3/12 Screening: The Bicycle Thief (Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1948) FA, section on Italian Neorealism in Ch. 12 Th 3/14 Neorealism and Pure Cinema: The Bicycle Thief (André Bazin, L) 4
Week Ten: Key Concept: Critical Approaches Feminist Film Theory, Subjectivity, and Ideology Tu 3/19 Screening: Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 1958) Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (Laura Mulvey, L) Th 3/21 Afterthoughts on Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (Mulvey, L) Week Eleven: Key Concept: Non-Fiction and Documentary T 3/26 Screening: Night and Fog (Alain Resnais, France/Germany, 1955) Isle of Flowers (Jorge Furtado, Brazil, 1989) FA, Section on Documentary in Ch. 10 Th 3/28 Material Remains: Night and Fog (Emma Wilson, L) Week Twelve: Key Concept: The New Hollywood T 4/2 Screening: Jaws (Steven Spielberg, USA, 1975) FA, section on The New Hollywood and Independent Filmmaking in Ch. 12 Th 4/4 Archetypal Landscapes and Jaws (Jonathan Lemkin, L) Week Thirteen: Key Concept: Contemporary World Cinema T 4/9 Screening: The Host (Bong Joon-Ho, South Korea, 2007); Th 4/11 Screening: Snowpiercer (Bong Joon-Ho, South Korea, 2013) A Snowpiercer Thinkpiece, Not to Be Taken Seriously, But for Very Serious Reasons (Aaron Bady, L) Week Fourteen: Key Concept: Cinema and New Technologies T 4/16 Screening: Time Code (Mike Figgis, USA, 2000) 5
The End of Cinema: Multimedia and Technological Change (Anne Friedberg, L) Th 4/18 Zooming Out: The End of Offscreen Space (Scott Bukatman, L) Week Fifteen: T 4/23 NO CLASS SPRING RECESS Th 4/25 NO CLASS SPRING RECESS Week Sixteen: T 4/30 LAST DAY OF CLASS - Review Th 5/2 NO CLASS BRANDEIS FRIDAY FINAL PAPER DUE TUESDAY MAY 7 6