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Course information: When: W 2:00-5:00 Where: NC 236 Course webpage: http://www.english.ccsu.edu/hegglund/386 |
How to reach me: |
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Course Prerequisite:
English 110 is a prerequisite for all literature (and film!) courses in the English department.
Course Description:
English 386, The Language of Film, is an introduction to formal techniques, narrative structures, and critical theories of the art of cinema. The goal of the course is to help you become informed, critical, engaged viewers of film; at the end of the semester, you should be able to move beyond the "thumbs up, thumbs down" school of reviewing to offer more complex evaluations of what you see on the screen. The course will be organized into three major parts. After a brief introduction to the technological developments which led to narrative cinema as we now know it, we will spend several weeks examining the basic formal elements of film, including mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and sound. The next part of the course will look at how these formal aspects shape our understanding of narrative conventions in both mainstream and avant-garde filmmaking. In the final weeks of the course, we will look at one cinematic genre—film noir—as a test case for several different theoretical perspectives on film, including genre criticism, feminist theory, and psychoanalysis.
Note: Although this course treats a medium generally associated with leisure and entertainment, it will require serious time and effort on your part. You will have weekly reading assignments, and you will be responsible for these readings as well as any films and film clips that are shown in class. While I sincerely hope that you enjoy all of the films we watch in class, there’s a very good chance that you may find some of the films not to your particular taste. That’s fine. All I ask is that you respond to every film in a critical way. Use what you learn in the course to figure out what specific aspects of the film provoke your reaction, be it exhilaration, awe, disgust, confusion, indifference, or any combination thereof.
Required Texts:
Assignments, Dates, and Grade Percentages:
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Midterm Exam |
10 October |
30% |
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Analytical Paper (5-7 pp.) |
14 November |
30% |
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Final Exam |
17 December |
30% |
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Class Participation |
every week! |
10% |
Course Requirements:
As indicated above, there will be a midterm, a 5-7 page analytical paper, and a final exam. The exams will ask you to identify and illustrate key film terms, answer short questions, analyze film clips or short films that you will see on the day of the exam, and apply theoretical readings to your interpretation of film. Your paper will require you to offer an extended analysis of one of the films we will see during the course. Late papers will be marked down 1/3 of a letter grade for each day past the due date. 10% of your grade depends upon your participation in the class. While much of class time will be taken up with screenings and lectures, we will also discuss what we have seen in the context of the week’s readings. You will thus receive full credit for participation if you come to class every week, you have done the reading carefully, and you are prepared to explain what you understand and ask questions about what you don’t.
Attendance:
Attendance in this class is required. You will be responsible for all material covered in lecture, including the identification and explanation of any films or film clips shown in class. Because this class meets only once a week, every missed class will hurt your performance in the course. If you miss more than three classes, you will not pass the course. If you do miss a class, it is your responsibility to find out what you have missed and view any videos or clips that were screened. You should always seek this information out from a classmate before you ask me.
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SPECIAL NOTE ON PLAGIARISM AND ACADEMIC DISHONESTY If you pass off the ideas or words of someone else as your original work, whether intentionally or unintentionally, you are guilty of plagiarism. This can happen whether the ideas or words come from a published source, a spoken source (such as class lecture or discussion), or another student's paper. It can happen whether the ideas or words that you take are substantial or merely bits and pieces that you believe are unimportant. Since responsibility for one's own (and respect for one another’s) intellectual work is the very foundation for an academic community, plagiarism is considered an extremely serious offense. If you plagiarize, you will fail the course and be subject to further disciplinary action. We will discuss ways to cite sources properly in order to avoid plagiarism. If you have questions, please see me. |
Course Schedule:
(screenings and clips subject to change)9/5 – Film Technology and the Emergence of Narrative Form
9/12 – The Shot: Mise-en-Scene and Composition
9/19 – The Shot: Cinematography and Camera Work
9/26 – The Relation of Shot to Shot: Editing
10/3 – Sound and Image
10/10 – MIDTERM EXAM
10/17 – Narrative Structure: Story and Discourse
10/24 – Narrative and Time
10/31 – Narrative and Space
11/7 – Alternative Narrative Forms: Avant-Garde Film
11/14 – Film Genres: Backgrounds of Noir
11/21 – NO CLASS – THANKSGIVING
11/28 – Film Noir: Gender, The Gaze, and Visual Pleasure
12/5 – Film Noir: Psychoanalytic Theory and Masculine Crisis
12/12 – The End . . . ?
12/17 – FINAL EXAM, 2 PM
page last updated 09.03.01