Date

Tentative Film(s)

Subject

What's Due Next Week

Super Size Me (2004)

Syllabus, schedule, and other details of the course

Why is there no textbook?

Film resources on the Internet

Discuss assignments — readings and film terms

What do we want in this course?

Documentaries and social issue films

Read the syllabus!

Read:

• Ken Burns on IMDb.com
• Michael Moore on IMDb.com
• Morgan Spurlock bio on TED.com
• About TED

Be aware of:

• Top documentary films on IMDb
• Academy Award winners and nominees for Best Documentary

Study:

• Film Terms 1 - General
• Film Terms 5 - Genre
• Film Terms 8 - Documentary & Misc.

Genre: Foreign language film

City of God (2002)

Listed #7 on "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" from Empire magazine

Listed #4 on "As chosen by you ... the greatest foreign films of all time" from The Guardian (UK)

"City of God: No 6 best action and war film of all time" from The Guardian (UK)

Film reviews:

• Los Angeles Times
• New York Times
• BFI Sight & Sound (UK)
• The Guardian (UK)
• BBC (UK)
• American Movie Channel's filmcritic.com

Film review compilations:

• Metacritic
• Movie Review Query Engine

Film is a worldwide technology

Film structure chart

Writing about film: What's important?

• Film Titles, Film Titles, or FILM TITLES?
• General review outline
  • Summary including principal actors. What's the difference between a character and an actor? (Be consistent.)
  • Discussion including director and key creative people (e.g., cinematographer, composer, production designer, etc.)
  • Conclusion: Should the film be seen? Does the film have an importance beyond today?
• What's important in a review?
  • Economy and readability
  • Use details and specifics
  • In referring to anyone associated with a film or a film reviewer, always use the LAST name after introducing them with both their first and last name
  • And finally ... definitely is spelled "definitely", not "defiantly", which has another meaning altogether.

Check out earlycinema.com.

Read:

• "Film History Before 1920"
• Charlie Chaplin
• Buster Keaton
• D. W. Griffith
• "Film History of the 1920s"

Study:

• Film Terms 6 - Hollywood & Beyond

Selections from: Landmarks of early film Vol. 1, including:

• "L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat"
• "Repas de bébé"
• "Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory"
• "Voyage to the Moon"

• Video review: New York Times
• Original New York Times review
• Original Variety review
• Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times (1972)
• Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times (1997)

Camera and lighting

Where we came from: Early film and silent films

Questions to consider:

1. Early technology ... Was it standardized?
2. Early film subjects ... What were they? Did the first films tell stories?
3. Early film technique ... Lighting? Camera movement? Editing?
4. What was unique about George Méliès's Voyage to the Moon (1902)?
5. What was the importance of the Lumière Brothers?
6. What were some of the problems of early filmmaking?
7. What drove U.S. filmmaking from its New York origins to southern California (and other states)?

Notes and questions to consider:

1. Early films were not entirely an all-male pursuit. Early actresses included Louise Brooks, Clara Bow, Mary Pickford, Marion Davies, Lillian Gish, and Vilma Banky. Perhaps the most successful early female director was Lois Weber.
2. Did filmmakers add color to black-and-white films? If so, how did they do it?
3. Were silent films accompanied by sound? If so, where did it come from?
4. What was going on in other countries besides the U.S.?
5. Who was Sergei Eisenstein? What was he best known for? Answer: montage.
6. What important futuristic film did Fritz Lang make in Germany in 1927?

Study:

• Film Terms 2 - Camera and lighting

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

Notes and questions to consider:

1. Your instructor chooses Singin' in the Rain to show in nearly all his film classes for two primary reasons. What are they?
2. What were some of the problems in first adapting sound to motion pictures?
3. The Hollywood studio system of the '30s, '40s and '50s trained actors to be multi-talented. What skills were actors taught and why?
4. Why might actors be considered athletic in those days?
5. Singin' in the Rain had examples of both musical montage and tableau. What were they?
6. What sound recording, syncing and editing challenges might there have been in making Singin' in the Rain — or any musical, for that matter?

The transition to sound

Review for test

Sample Test - The sample test is only an example of the type of test I give. It doesn't reflect the films or the material we have covered in this class or this semester.

What the test will cover:

• Class rules according to the syllabus
• All films through 2/6
• Film terms 1, 2, 5. 6, 8
• All readings about film from its beginning to the end of the silent era
• All materials we've covered in class through 2/6

Read:

• "Film History of the 1930s"
• All about color motion pictures on Wikipedia

Study:

• Film Terms 4 - Sound

 Bring to class next week:

• full-size General Purpose Scantron answer sheet #4521
• pencil

Study for test

The Bonus Army: In the Shadow of the Capitol (2008) - Student produced documentary from Georgetown University

• About the Bonus Army from Wikipedia
• "The Bonus Army: How A Protest Led To The GI Bill" from NPR

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

Notes and questions to consider:

1. Despite the country being in the depths of the Depression, the 1930s are often considered the golden era of Hollywood. Why do you suppose that is so?
2. Along with the addition of sound, how did filmmaking change in other ways?

Test #1. Don't forget to bring your full-size General Purpose Scantron answer sheet #4521 and a pencil!

Films of the 1930s

Best films of the '30s:

• IMDb list
• Moviefone blog

Read:

• "Film History of the 1940s"
• Film Editing from Wikipedia

Study

• Film Terms 3 - Editing & Effects

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Notes and questions to consider:

1. How do the choices made in terms of selecting the material and filming the picture reflect the times in which it was produced?
2. Exposition of the backstory of the main characters is a key element. What choices did the writers make in getting this necessary information into the film?
3. How did the writers use foreshadowing to bring us up to key points in the film like introducing a major character or a major turning point?

Go over Test #1

• White test questions and answers are here.
• Gray test questions and answers are here.

Your favorite film so far: CITY OF GOD with SUPERSIZE ME a distant second.

Sound

Editing

The 1940s and film noir

Films of the '40s: IMDb list

Read:

• "Film History of the 1950s"

Study:

• Film Terms 7 - Players

Notes and questions to consider:

1. How does this compare to The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)?
2. How does it reflect the times?

The Hollywood system

The 1950s

Films of the '50s: IMDb list

The test will cover anything from the entire course so far, but specifically:

Read:

• "Film History of the 1960s"

Study

• Film Terms 9 - Story, Script, Direction, Production

Film TBA

Study for test

Best films of the '60s: IMDb list

Filmsite's greatest films of the 1960s

Laurence Station's Best Films of the 1960s

Film TBA

The 1960s — in like a lamb, out like a lion

Test #2. Don't forget to bring your full-size General Purpose Scantron answer sheet #4521 and a pencil!

Read:

• "Film History of the 1970s"
• "What's the best film of the 70s, Hollywood's last golden era?"

Study:

Best/worst Films of the '70s (IMDb list)

Best Films of the 1970s (The Take One critics poll)

Discuss Test #2

The 1970s

Read:

• "Film History of the 1980s"

Great beginnings in film:

• Act 1 of Inglourious Basterds (2009)
• An Andalusian Dog/Un chien andalou (1929)

Film TBA

The 1980s

Films of the '80s: IMDb list

Moviefone’s Top 40 Movies from the ’80s

100 Greatest Movies of the 1980s from digitaldreamdoor.com — While this is a commercial website, its film rankings are very much in agreement with authoritative film critics. Use this source as a general idea for the films that rated well in any given decade.

Read:

• "Women's cinema" from Wikipedia (note caveats at top of article)
• Top 10 Female Directors in Hollywood
• "Film History of the 1990s"

The 1990s

Films of the '90s: IMDb list • AboutFilm.com list • FilmHead.com list

View:

• "How DLP® technology works"
• digital light projection (DLP) demo video

Extra credit #1 due no later than April 25 is here.

The 2000s

Study for test

Film History of the 2000s — will be on Test #3!

So far in the 21st century:

• Votes by Decade: 2000-2009 from IMDb
• The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films Ranking (1-50) from They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?
• The 10 Best Movies of the Decade (2000-2009) from the California Literary Review

Film TBA

Test #3. Don't forget to bring your full-size General Purpose Scantron answer sheet #4521 and a pencil!

Class evaluation forms

The 2010s

Review for Test #4 (final exam). The final will cover the entire semester.

4/30

No film

Go over Test #3

Optional test #4 — the final! Don't forget to bring your full-size General Purpose Scantron answer sheet #4521 and a pencil!

Nothing.... You're done!