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Course Syllabus

FILM 2332.501: UNDERSTANDING FILM


Fall 2007
7:00-9:45 p.m. Tuesday
JO 2.604 (Performance Hall)

Instructor: Kelly Kretschmar


Phone: 972-883-2170, 940-484-5805
Email: kretschmar@utdallas.edu
Email communication is encouraged
Office Hours: Tuesdays before class in JO 5.712
Teaching Assistant: Anne Healy (ahh051000@utdallas.edu)

Course Description and Format

This course is designed to familiarize students with the history of film as a medium of
artistic and ideological expression and help them develop a vocabulary for discussing and
analyzing film texts in an informed, sophisticated, and meaningful way. Roughly six
weeks will be spent outlining the formal and stylistic elements of film as an art and
commercial mass medium (mise-en-scene, cinematography, narrative, editing, and
sound). The remainder of the course will be spent exploring the ways filmmakers
working in both Hollywood and international cinemas have employed these formal and
stylistic elements; this will involve an analysis of the meaning and theoretical basis of
film genre, documentary, European modes of production (including Italian Neo-Realism
and the French New Wave), and avant-garde and experimental filmmaking. Each class
session will consist of lecture, screenings of relevant clips, and discussion of weekly
readings and screenings. Students’ achievement of the learning objectives will be
assessed through three examinations that utilize multiple-choice, matching and/or short
answer responses.

Student Learning Objectives

To increase students’ understanding of how film is made, to help students develop visual
literacy and a vocabulary for analyzing films in terms of form and style, and to increase
students’ awareness of film as an art, mass medium, and cultural artifact.

Course Policies

Students are expected to attend all classes, to be punctual, attentive, and considerate, and
to keep up with the assignments listed on the syllabus. All required readings and full-
length screenings are to be completed outside of class before the regular class session.
For example, the readings and screenings listed for Week 2 should be completed before
the class meets for that session. Students who must miss a class remain responsible for

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all course material covered in that class; there are no make-up classes, and each class
will only be taught once. Each class period represents one week’s worth of work, so
there will be a sign-in sheet for every class.

Cell phones should be turned off upon entering class. Use of laptops is permitted, but
with the warning that the display must be completely darkened or closed during
screenings of clips. Because clips will be shown intermittently throughout each class (i.e.
not all at the beginning or end), students may find it more convenient to take notes in a
notebook rather than on a laptop. If the use of laptops becomes disruptive to the
classroom environment, they will no longer be permitted.

Required Textbooks, Readings, and Screenings

David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction, 7th edition (New
York: McGraw-Hill, 2004)

There will be a few additional reserve readings (RR) that will also be considered
required texts for the course. These readings are available as electronic reserves through
the library website. Search by instructor name (Kretschmar) and enter the following
password to access these readings: genre

The full-length screenings to be completed outside of class are required texts. All are on
reserve at the McDermott Library, but are available in a number of other venues as well.

Grading Policy

Grades for this course will be calculated on the following basis:


Attendance 15%
Exam 1 25-30%
Exam 2 25-30%
Final Exam 30%

Exams 1 and 2 are weighted, with the highest score given the greater percentage in the
calculation of the overall course grade.

NOTE: There will be no incompletes given in the course, all course requirements must be
met (including attendance; if a student misses more than five classes, he/she will generate
an automatic failing grade for the course), all exams must be completed, and make-up
exams will be permitted only in the most serious circumstances (family emergency or
illness) which must be documented to my satisfaction.

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COURSE CALENDAR

Week 1 (August 21) Course Mechanics and Introduction

Week 2 (August 28) Modes of Production and Reception


READING: Ch. 1, Ch. 2, 464-471, 481-484, and 389-394
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: Ed Wood (Tim Burton,
1994; 127 min.)

Week 3 (September 4) Visual Design (Mise-en-Scene)


READING: Chapter 6 (176-220 only) and 423-428
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: Do the Right Thing
(Spike Lee, 1989; 120 min.)

Week 4 (September 11) Cinematography


READING: Chapter 7 and 394-401
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: Citizen Kane (Orson
Welles, 1941; 119 min.)

Week 5 (September 18) Narrative


READING: Chapter 3, 418-423
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: North by Northwest
(Alfred Hitchcock, 1959; 136 min.)

Week 6 (September 25) EXAM 1

Week 7 (October 2) Editing (Montage)


READING: Chapter 8, 478-481
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: The Graduate (Mike
Nichols, 1967; 105 min.)

Week 8 (October 9) Sound and Sound Design


READING: Chapter 9 (347-377 only)
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: Singin’ in the Rain
(Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952; 103 min.)

Week 9 (October 16) Film Genres and Genre Criticism


READING: Chapter 4 RR Thomas Schatz “Film Genres
and Genre Films”
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: Night of the Living Dead
(George Romero, 1968; 97 min.)

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Week 10 (October 23) Documentary
READING: Chapter 5 (128-134 and 140-146 only) and
443-452 RR Bill Nichols “What Types of Documentary
are There?”
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: The Life and Times of
Rosie the Riveter (Connie Field, 1980; 65 min.)

Week 11 (October 30) EXAM 2

Week 12 (November 6) Beyond Hollywood: International Film Movements


READING: 472-481, 485-489
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: The Bicycle Thief
(Vittorio De Sica, 1948; 90 min.) or The 400 Blows
(Francois Truffaut, 1959; 97 min.)

Week 13 (November 13) Beyond Hollywood: Avant-Garde and Experimental


Filmmaking
READING: 146-162, 407-412 RR Maya Deren “An
Anagram of Ideas on Art, Form and Film”
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: Koyaanisqatsi (Godfrey
Reggio, 1983; 87 min)

Week 14 (November 20) New Hollywood


READING: 457-462, 489-496 RR Thomas Schatz “The
New Hollywood”
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: MASH (Robert Altman,
1970; 116 min.)

FINAL EXAM Tuesday, November 27 (regular class time)

Syllabus subject to change, but not without notice

Please note that the Rules on Student Services and Activities of the University of Texas
System will be strictly adhered to. For information on the administration’s rules and
policies regarding student conduct and discipline, academic integrity, e-mail use,
withdrawal from class, student grievance procedures, incomplete grade policies,
disability services, and religious holy days, consult the material, generated by the
administration, available in the university catalogue.

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