Honors HU1540 From Real to Reel & Script to Bits — An Introduction to Film
Course Description
This class is designed as a survey of the international development of film from the early and silent periods to the present. It examines films and directors from various nations, periods, movements, and genres, including German Expressionism, Soviet Montage, film noir, French New Wave, as well as both the Classical Hollywood System and American Independent Film. Our focus will be on the history and methods of (classic) narrative film, including the development of film technology, and on the modern viewer's expected skill in "reading" film, typically in only one sitting or viewing. Overall, the course is intended to provide students with a broad introduction to film analysis and to the field of film studies. Welcome and enjoy!
The larger, subject-specific aims (a.k.a. expected learning outcomes) of the course are:
- to develop a critical vocabulary for the analysis and discussion of film
- to enable students to evaluate films, both from esthetic perspectives and as social/political documents
- to be able to assess critically a film in terms of narrative, genre, authorship, camera work, mise-en-scène, music and editing
- last but not least, to appreciate (holistically, that is, both cerebrally and sensorily) the most widely influential medium (of both entertainment and politics) of the past century.
In terms of the General Education Learning Outcomes for Humanities courses as defined by the PPM, you will be able (and expected) to:
- practice your oral, written, or graphic communication skills
- approach issues from multiple perspectives
- gain knowledge and understanding of key themes and principles in the study of film
- gain knowledge and (a beginning) understanding of film history and theory
- identify broad themes and issue in the humanities
- recognize relationships between film and other (narrative-based) disciplines
Jeffrey Geiger and R. L. Rutsky, eds. Film Analysis, A Norton Reader