INTRO TO FILM -- Class Assignment Schedule  -- Spring 2008

 

WEEK DATE

FILM SCREENING
(“Lab” on Tuesdays)

READING ASSIGNMENTS and DISCUSSION TOPICS
(for Wed-Thur small group class lecture/discussion)

Jan 8-9-10

Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen

Ch. 1a  - What is a Movie? Appendix pp 345-371 - Hollywood Production Systems – ONLINE READING: Night at the Movies

Jan 14-15-16

Film history anthology

(1870s-1920s)

Ch. 1b – history & experimental

– ONLINE READINGS: Development of Cinema and D. W. Griffith

Jan 22-23-34

American Movie (1999) Chris Smith

Ch. 1c  - documentary & genre

– ONLINE READING: Hollywood Production Code

Jan 29-30-31

Stagecoach (1939) John Ford

Ch. 2a – narrative; genres, the Western

start to read Gocsik & Barsam’s “Writing About Movies” booklet,

especially p. 12 and pp 21-53.

Feb 5-6-7

The General (1926)  Buster Keaton;

plus Easy Street (1917) Charles Chaplin

and Never Weaken (1921) Harold Lloyd

Ch. 2b – narrative; genres, silent comedy

Feb 12-13-14

Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944)

Preston Sturges

Ch. 1d & 2c – narrative & writers, genres, screwball comedy 

FIRST UNIT TEST

(narrative form, film history, genre, production & distribution)

Feb 19-20-21

Girl With a Pearl Earring (2003)

Peter Webber

Ch. 3 - mise en scene

Feb 26-27-28

Touch of Evil (1958) Orson Welles

Ch. 4a – cinematography, film noir 

     -- FIRST PAPER DUE Tuesday, February 26th!--

March 1-9

S P R I N G    B R E A K

EXTRA CREDIT: Attend Fargo Film Festival March 5-8

Mar 11-12-13

Contempt (1963)

Jean-Luc Godard

Ch. 4b – cinematography; French new wave

   (No Lecture-Discussion sections this week!)

Mar 18-19-20

Citizen Kane (1941) Orson Welles

Ch. 5 – acting, Citizen Kane

Mar 25-26-27

Bicycle Thieves (1948) Vittorio DeSica

SECOND UNIT TEST

(mise en scene and cinematography, acting; filmmaking styles)

Apr 1-2-3

Rear Window (1954) Alfred Hitchcock

Ch. 6 – editing

Apr 8-9-10

Run Lola Run (1999)  Tom Tykwer;

plus Success Through Violence (2003) & other shorts

Ch. 6-7 – editing and sound

Apr 15-16-17

Walkabout (1971) Nicholas Roeg

Ch. 7 – sound & style 

     -- SECOND PAPER DUE Tuesday, April 15th!--

Apr 22-23-24

Blue Velvet  (1986) David Lynch

Ch. 8 – theory and analysis

Apr 29-30-May 1

The Player (1992) Robert Altman

LAST UNIT TEST

(editing, sound, film theory & analysis)

FINALS WEEK

View final movie projects

Student movie projects will be screened at the time normally scheduled for a final exam