FM 201 Introduction to Film Studies

Transcription

1 FM 201 Introduction to Film Studies Seminar Leader: Matthias Hurst Course Times: Monday, / Tuesday, (film screening) / Thursday, m.hurst@berlin.bard.edu Office Hours: Monday, , Friday, Course Description Film is a language. Like any other language it has diverse elements of organisation, different accents and different levels of meaning, and it underwent structural and lexical development since its invention in the late 19 th century. Understanding the language of film implies the awareness of film history and aesthetics, of similarities between film and other narrative media and deviations of visual representation from traditional literary forms, and consequently the ability to recognize and analyze structures of filmic narration. This course is an introduction to Film Studies and provides an insight into the basic knowledge of film history and theory, film aesthetics and cinematic language. Central topics are modes and styles of filmic presentation, film analysis and different approaches to film interpretation, classical films, popular film genres and film directors. We explore and discuss the meaning of film as an art form, the elements of narration in fiction film and the representative function of film in our (post-)modern world and society, i.e. the ability of film to address important social and/or philosophical issues. The course consists of both lectures/seminars and film screenings. Requirements No prerequisites. Attendance is mandatory for all seminars and film screenings. Students are expected to come to seminars and film screenings punctually and prepared and to participate actively in the class discussions. They should also take advantage of the office hours to discuss any questions or concerns related to the class or their academic work. Attendance Attendance is mandatory for all seminars and film screenings. Absences will significantly affect the grade for the course. Absences are registered in all classes, and lateness is registered as absence. Students should notify the instructor if they are unable to attend class. Illness leading to inability to attend classes, or submit work, must be reported to the College Registrar; a medical certificate should be submitted to the Registrar in such a case. Bard College Berlin cannot offer credit for any course in which a student has missed more than 30% of classes, whether the absences are on documented medical grounds or not. Writing Assignments Students write two screening reports ( words each) in the first half of the semester and a final essay ( words) due in week 15 (Monday, December 14, 2015, 18.00); the topic of this final essay will be a film interpretation. A list of film titles will be provided from which students choose one for an interpretation.students will also do a test/quiz in week 14.

2 Policy on Late Submission of Papers All assignments and written work must be submitted electronically and on time. Essays that are up to 24 hours late will be downgraded one full grade (from B+ to C+, for example). Instructors are not obliged to accept essays that are more than 24 hours late. Where an instructor agrees to accept a late essay, it must be submitted within four weeks of the deadline and cannot receive a grade of higher than C. Thereafter, the student will receive a failing grade for the assignment. Grade Breakdown Participation: 25 % Screening Reports: 25 % Quiz: 25 % Final Essay: 25 % Schedule WEEK 1: What is cinema? Film as a cultural and anthropological phenomenon (Suggested) Jean-Louis Baudry: The Apparatus: Metapsychological Approaches to the Impression of Reality in the Cinema. In: Philip Rosen (ed.): Narrative, Apparatus, Ideology. A Film Theory Reader. New York: Columbia University Press, 1986, pp Walter Benjamin: "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." In: Gerald Mast / Marshall Cohen (eds.): Film Theory and Criticism. Introductory Readings. New York, London, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1974, pp Searle Kochberg: "Cinema as Institution." In: Jill Nelmes (ed.): An Introduction to Film Studies. 3 rd edition. London/New York: Routledge, 2003, pp Siegfried Kracauer: Theory of Film. The Redemption of Physical Reality. [1960] Princeton/Oxford: Princeton University Press, Marshall McLuhan: Understanding Media. The Extensions of Man. Cambridge, MA/London: MIT Press, Hugo Muensterberg: The Photoplay. A Psychological Study. [1916] Excerpt in: Gerald Mast / Marshall Cohen (eds.): Film Theory and Criticism. Introductory Readings. New York, London, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1974, pp Erwin Panofsky: Style and Medium in the Motion Pictures. In: Gerald Mast / Marshall Cohen (eds.): Film Theory and Criticism. Introductory Readings. New York, London, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1974, pp WEEK 2: Real life vs. reel life Different styles of filmic presentation, different styles of film language, mise-en-scène and montage (film narration from the late 19th century to the postmodern age) Primitive Mode of Representation (PMR), Cinema of attractions

3 Noël Burch: "A Primitive Mode of Representation?" In: Thomas Elsaesser (ed.): Early Cinema: Space, Frame, Narrative. London: BFI 1990, pp Tom Gunning: "The Cinema of Attractions. Early Film, Its Spectator and the Avant-Garde." [1986] In: Thomas Elsaesser (ed.): Early Cinema: Space, Frame, Narrative. London: BFI 1990, pp Allan Rowe / Paul Wells: "Film Form and Narrative." In: Jill Nelmes (ed.): An Introduction to Film Studies. 3 rd edition. London/New York: Routledge, 2003, pp Kristin Thompson / David Bordwell: Film History. An Introduction. 2 nd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill (Higher Education), WEEK 3: Different styles of filmic presentation, different styles of film language, mise-en-scène and montage (film narration from the late 19th century to the postmodern age) Institutional Mode of Representation (IMR), Cinema of narrative integration Descriptive montage, montage of attractions, intellectual montage David Bordwell: "Classical Hollywood Cinema: Narrational Principles and Procedures." In: Philip Rosen (ed.): Narrative, Apparatus, Ideology. A Film Theory Reader. New York: Columbia University Press, 1986, pp WEEK 4: Descriptive montage, montage of attractions, intellectual montage Sound, Color, Widescreen Postmodern Cinema David Bordwell: The Cinema of Eisenstein. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, Ian Christie / Richard Taylor (eds.): Eisenstein Rediscovered. London/New York: Routledge, Mark Joyce: "The Soviet Montage Cinema of the 1920s." In: Jill Nelmes (ed.): An Introduction to Film Studies. 3 rd edition. London/New York: Routledge, 2003, pp Al LaValley / Barry P. Scherr (eds.): Eisenstein at 100. A Reconsideration. New Brunswick/New Jersey/London: Rutgers University Press, Herbert Marshall (ed.): Sergei Eisenstein s The Battleship Potemkin. New York: Avon, Anne Nesbet: Savage Junctures. Sergei Eisenstein and the Shape of Thinking. London/New York: I. B. Tauris, Richard Taylor: The Battleship Potemkin. The Film Companion. (KINOfiles Film Companion 1) London/New York: I. B. Tauris, WEEK 5: Film semiotics: Signs and codes; denotation and connotation of signs; paradigmatic and syntagmatic connotations John Gibbs: Mise-en-Scène. Film Style and Interpretation. London/New York: Wallflower Press Christian Metz: Film Language. A Semiotics of the Cinema. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, WEEK 6: Film analysis: Basic model Structural analysis: The means and elements of filmic storytelling

4 David Bordwell: Narration in the Fiction Film. London/New York: Routledge, Thomas Elsaesser / Warren Buckland: Studying Contemporary American Film. A Guide to Movie Analysis. London: Arnold Publishers, John Gibbs: Mise-en-Scène. Film Style and Interpretation. London/New York: Wallflower Press James Monaco: How To Read a Film. Movies, Media, Multimedia. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, WEEK 7: Biographical interpretation; auteur theory, cinéma des auteurs John Caughie (ed.): Theories of Authorship. A Reader. London/New York: British Film Institute/Routledge, Jim Hillier (ed.): Cahiers du cinéma 1: The 1950s. Neo-realism, Hollywood, The New Wave. London: British Film Institute/Routledge, Fall Break: October WEEK 8: Sociological/socio-historical interpretation; film as manifestation of society or of societal/cultural/historical issues WEEK 9: Film as part of genre tradition Rick Altman: Film/Genre. London: British Film Institute, André Bazin: "The Western: Or the American Film Par Excellence." In: What is Cinema? Vol. II. University of California Press 1971, pp Jim Kitses: Horizons West. Directing the Western from John Ford to Clint Eastwood. New Edition. London: British Film Institute, Nick Lacey: Narrative and Genre. London: Macmillan, Stephen Neale: Genre and Hollywood. London/New York: Routledge Robert Warshow: "Movie Chronicle: The Westerner." In: Gerald Mast / Marshall Cohen (eds.): Film Theory and Criticism. Introductory Readings. New York, London, Toronto: Oxford University Press 1974, pp Will Wright: Sixguns and Society. A Structural Study of the Western. Berkeley: University of California Press, WEEK 10: Film as reference to (history of) literature, adaptations of literature: Brian McFarlane: Novel to Film. An Introduction to the Theory of Adaptation. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press/Clarendon Press, 1996, pp

5 WEEK 11: Psychoanalytical interpretation; film as dream Jean-Louis Baudry: The Apparatus: Metapsychological Approaches to the Impression of Reality in the Cinema. In: Philip Rosen (ed.): Narrative, Apparatus, Ideology. A Film Theory Reader. New York: Columbia University Press, 1986, pp Luke Hockley: Cinematic Projections. The Analytic Psychology of C.G. Jung and Film Theory. Luton: University of Luton Press, William Indick: Movies and the Mind. Theories of the Great Psychoanalysts Applied to Film. Jefferson/NC: McFarland & Company, Vicky Lebeau: Psychoanalysis and Cinema. The Play of Shadows. London: Wallflower Press, WEEK 12: Psychoanalytical interpretation: Feminist film theory Laura Mulvey: Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. In Philip Rosen (ed.) Narrative, Apparatus, Ideology. A Film Theory Reader. New York: Columbia University Press, 1986, pp WEEK 13: Conceptional approach; film as philosophy Daniel Frampton: Filmosophy. London: Wallflower Press, Mary M. Litch: Philosophy Through Film. New York/London: Routledge, Burton F. Porter: Philosophy Through Fiction and Film. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education/Prentice Hall, Rupert Read / Jerry Goodenough (eds.): Film as Philosophy. Essays in Cinema after Wittgenstein and Cavell. Houndmills Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, Murray Smith / Thomas E. Wartenberg (eds.): Thinking Through Cinema. Film as Philosophy. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, Thomas E. Wartenberg / Angela Curran (eds.): The Philosophy of Film. Introductory Text and Readings. Oxford / Malden: Blackwell, WEEK 14: Final discussion, quiz, essay preparation WEEK 15: Completion week Final essay due Monday, December 14, Suggested Reading / Selection: Allen, Richard / Murray Smith (eds.): Film Theory and Philosophy. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, Altman, Rick: Film/Genre. London: British Film Institute, 2004.

6 Baudry, Jean-Louis: The Apparatus: Metapsychological Approaches to the Impression of Reality in the Cinema. In: Philip Rosen (ed.): Narrative, Apparatus, Ideology. A Film Theory Reader. New York: Columbia University Press, 1986, pp Bazin, André: What is Cinema?, Blandford, Steve / Barry K. Grant / Jim Hillier: The Film Studies Dictionary. London/New York: Arnold, Oxford University Press, Bordwell, David: "Classical Hollywood Cinema: Narrational Principles and Procedures." In: Philip Rosen (ed.): Narrative, Apparatus, Ideology. A Film Theory Reader. New York: Columbia University Press, 1986, pp Bordwell, David: Narration in the Fiction Film. London/New York: Routledge, Braudy, Leo / Marshall Cohen (eds.): Film Theory and Criticism. Introductory Readings. Seventh Edition. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, Elsaesser, Thomas / Warren Buckland: Studying Contemporary American Film. A Guide to Movie Analysis. London: Arnold Publishers, Frampton, Daniel: Filmosophy. London: Wallflower Press, Gibbs, John: Mise-en-Scène. Film Style and Interpretation. London/New York: Wallflower Press Hayward, Susan: Cinema Studies. The Key Concepts. Third Edition. London/New York: Routledge, Hill, John / Pamela Church Gibson (eds.): The Oxford Guide to Film Studies. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, Hillier, Jim (ed.): Cahiers du cinéma 1: The 1950s. Neo-realism, Hollywood, The New Wave. London: British Film Institute/Routledge, Kracauer, Siegfried: Theory of Film. The Redemption of Physical Reality. [1960] Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press, Litch, Mary M.: Philosophy Through Film. New York/London: Routledge, Mast, Gerald / Marshall Cohen (eds.): Film Theory and Criticism. Introductory Readings. New York/Oxford/London: Oxford University Press, McLuhan, Marshall: Understanding Media. The Extensions of Man. Cambridge, MA/London: MIT Press, Metz, Christian: Film Language. A Semiotics of the Cinema. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Monaco, James: How To Read a Film. Movies, Media, Multimedia. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, Neale, Stephen: Genre and Hollywood. London/New York: Routledge Nelmes, Jill (ed.): An Introduction to Film Studies. 3 rd edition. London/New York: Routledge, Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey (ed.): The Oxford History of World Cinema. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, Porter, Burton F.: Philosophy Through Fiction and Film. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education/Prentice Hall, 2004.

7 Read, Rupert / Jerry Goodenough (eds.): Film as Philosophy. Essays in Cinema after Wittgenstein and Cavell. Houndmills Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, Rosen, Philip (ed.): Narrative, Apparatus, Ideology. A Film Theory Reader. New York: Columbia University Press, Smith, Murray / Thomas E. Wartenberg (eds.): Thinking Through Cinema. Film as Philosophy. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, Thompson, Kristin / David Bordwell: Film History. An Introduction. 2 nd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill (Higher Education), Wartenberg, Thomas E. / Angela Curran (eds.): The Philosophy of Film. Introductory Text and Readings. Oxford/Malden: Blackwell, 2005.