HISTORY OF FILM

 

MR.  CRAWFORD

 

INTRODUCTION

 

This course has two basic aims.  The first is to give students a chronological history of American film from the silent shorts of George Melies and Edwin Porter to the present innovations of directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Richard Linklater; the second is to consider the major genres of cinema such as comedy, epic, film noir, musical, western, and documentary.  This history-genre combination will be used with a strong emphasis on the historical and social background of the times, and each film will be evaluated for innovations in technique as well as reflections of the period in which they were made.

 

Textbook:  A SHORT HISTORY OF THE MOVIES, Gerald Mast and Bruce Kawin, 1992.

 

REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION

 

-There will be NO extra credit; students will be graded solely on the basis of quizzes, tests, oral presentations, journals, class participation and the final examination.

 

I.          QUIZZES

  Approximately once a week the class will be given a quiz concerning points brought up in lectures, discussions, reading assignments, or films.

 

The quiz average for each six weeks will be counted as one-half a test grade.  The total quiz average for the Trimester will count as one test grade.

 

II.        TESTS

There will be one test approximately every two weeks.  Each Unit Test will be given on MONDAY.  In the case of a Monday holiday, the Unit Test will be given on Thursday.  If you are absent (excused) on a scheduled Unit Test day you will be expected to make up that test BEFORE the next Unit Test is given.  Each Unit test will consist of 30-40 Multiple Choice questions.

 

There will be a grand total of FIVE Unit Tests.

 

III.       CLASS PARTICIPATION

Students will be expected to participate in class discussions concerning films and readings.  Attendance at lectures, film presentations and discussions is MANDATORY.  An unexcused absence will result in a 2 hour work detail, and the student’s final average will be lowered by one percentage point.  A student with an excused absence who misses a film or part of a film will be held responsible for the entire film.  Students will not be allowed to take any film home; these films are the property of Pine Crest School and cannot be loaned out on an individual basis.

 

ALL FILMS WILL START AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SCHEDULED CLASS PERIOD; STUDENTS WILL BE EXPECTED TO ARRIVE ON TIME AND PREPARED.  HABITUAL TARDINESS WILL BE REFLECTED IN THE STUDENT’S FINAL GRADE.

 

IV.       ORAL PRESENTATIONS

 

Students will be required to review two newly released movies this trimester.  Reviews will be both written, and presented to the class for discussion.  Reviews must be between 1 and 3 pages in length, and, whether typed or written by hand (in blue or black ink only), ALL REVIEWS MUST BE LEGIBLE.  For presentation purposes, students will be partnered with another critic/student in “Siskel/Ebert” pairs.  “Siskel/Ebert” partners who intend to present a review must schedule a presentation date with the instructor at least ONE WEEK in advance.

 

V.        FINAL EXAM

Yes, there will be a cumulative final exam--with the exception of SENIORS who pass the exemption qualifications as listed in the student handbook.  The final exam will consist of 80-100 multiple choice questions.

 

The final examination will count as two tests.

 

SCHEDULE

 

            I.          Introduction to Film

                                    Film Flubs - Bill Givens

 

Assignment:  Pay attention!

 

            II.        First Flickers 1895-1908

                                    A Trip to the Moon - George Melies

                                    The Great Train Robbery - Edwin S. Porter

 

Assignment:  Questions on the historical development of the Motion Picture.

 

            III.       Expressionism and the Epic  1908-1915

                                    Birth of a Nation (Lillian Gish) - DW Griffith

                                    Metropolis (Alfred Abel) - Fritz Lang

 

Assignment:  Trace the development of film technique and distinguish between Montage and Mise-en-Scene.

 

            IV.       The Golden Age of Comedy  1915-1927

                                    Sherlock, Jr. (Buster Keaton) - Buster Keaton

                                    The Kid (Charlie Chaplin) - Charlie Chaplin

                                    Safety Last (Harold Lloyd) - Hal Roach

 

Assignment:  Note the similarities and differences in theme, character, style, and overall technique of the great comedians of the Twenties.

 

            V.        Developments in Sound 1927-1933

                                    Singin' in the Rain (Gene Kelly) - Stanley Donen.  102 min.

 

Assignment:  An overview of the problems inherent in the introduction of sound to Hollywood and the changes in the business of film production and distribution.

 

            VI.       America Goes to the Movies  1933-1941

                                    Bringing Up Baby (Katherine Hepburn) - Howard Hawks.  102 min.

 

Assignment:  Explain how the screwball comedy helped the nation forget about the Great Depression while strictly adhering to the Hollywood Production Code and the Studio Style Manual.

 

            VII.     The Height of the Studio System

                                    Casablanca (Humphrey Bogart) - Michael Curtiz.  103 min.

 

Assignment:  Analyze elements of the Film Noir while examining the greatest “collective production” of the Hollywood studio system.

 

            VIII.    The Return of the Auteur  1941-1952

                                    Citizen Kane (Orson Welles) - Orson Welles.  119 min

 

Assignment:  Analyze the innovations and experimentation in theme, character, style, plot, and camera technique of “the Best Motion Picture ever made” as an introduction to the auteur theory of film creation.

 

            IX.       Frontier Metaphors 1945-1960

                                    The Searchers (John Wayne) - John Ford.

 

Assignment:


 

FILM AS LITERATURE                  MR.  CRAWFORD

 

INTRODUCTION                                                                   

            Film can be used as a medium through which society's system of values is preserved and transferred from one age to another.  Concentrating on classic films and the way they have been transferred to the silver screen by their directors will enable students to develop critical ability in recognizing the basic elements that are traditionally found in fiction:  character, plot, theme, setting, and symbolism.  In addition, students will learn how these elements are translated into visual presentation by studying the influence of the many human and mechanical elements of film production, primarily through the efforts of the recognized AUTEUR or creative director.

 

Textbook:        FILM AS LITERATURE - Luke Grande and Ellen Grasso, 1981.

 

REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION

-There will be NO extra credit; students will be graded solely on the basis of quizzes, tests, oral presentations, class participation and the final examination.

 

I.          QUIZZES

            Approximately once a week the class will be given a quiz concerning points brought up in lectures, discussions, reading assignments, or films.

            The quiz average for each six weeks will be counted as one-half of a test.  The total quiz average for the Trimester will count as one test.

 

II.        TESTS

            There will be one test approximately every two weeks.  Each Unit Test will be given on MONDAY.  In the case of a Monday holiday, the Unit Test will be given on Thursday.  If you are absent (excused) on a scheduled Unit Test day you will be expected to make up that test BEFORE the next Unit Test is given.  Each Unit test will consist of 30-40 Multiple Choice questions.

            There will be a grand total of FOUR Unit Tests.

 

III.       CLASS PARTICIPATION

            Students will be expected to participate in class discussions concerning films and readings.  Attendance at lectures, film presentations and discussions is MANDATORY.  An unexcused absence will result in a 2 hour work detail, and the student’s final average will be lowered by one percentage point.  A student with an excused absence who misses a film or part of a film will be held responsible for the entire film.  Students will not be allowed to take any film home; these films are the property of Pine Crest School and cannot be loaned out on an individual basis.

            ALL FILMS WILL START AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SCHEDULED CLASS PERIOD; STUDENTS WILL BE EXPECTED TO ARRIVE ON TIME AND PREPARED.  HABITUAL TARDINESS WILL BE REFLECTED IN THE STUDENT’S FINAL GRADE.

 

IV.       ORAL PRESENTATIONS

            Students will be required to review two movies this trimester.  Students will choose films to review from among the additional productions of the auteurs studied in this course.  Reviews will be both written, and presented to the class for discussion.  Reviews must be between 1 and 3 pages in length, and, whether typed or written by hand (in blue or black ink only), ALL REVIEWS MUST BE LEGIBLE.  For presentation purposes, students will be partnered with another critic/student in “Siskel/Ebert” pairs.  “Siskel/Ebert” partners who intend to present a review must schedule a presentation date with the instructor at least ONE WEEK in advance.  No more than THREE presentations will be given in a single week, and there will be NO presentations during the final TWO weeks of class.

            Reviews will count as one-half a test grade.

 

V.        FINAL EXAM

            Yes, there will be a cumulative final exam--with the exception of SENIORS who pass the exemption qualifications as listed in the student handbook.  The final exam will consist of 80-100 multiple choice questions.

            The final examination will count as two tests.

Tentative Schedule

 

            I.          Same Script, Different Styles

                                    Terror at 20,000 Feet (William Shatner) - Rod Serling

                                    Terror at 20,000 Feet (John Lithgow) - Joe Dante

 

            II.        Alfred Hitchcock

 

                                    Rear Window (Grace Kelly) - 112 min.

 

                                    Vertigo (Jimmy Stewart) - 128 min.

 

            III.       Stanley Kubrick and Robert Altman

 

                                    Dr. Strangelove (Peter Sellers) - 93 min.

 

                        Excerpt:  Full Metal Jacket (Matthew Modine) - 20 min.

 

                                    MASH (Donald Sutherland) - 116 min.

 

                        Excerpt:  McCabe and Mrs.Miller (Warren Beatty) - 20 min.

 

            IV.       Steven Spielberg

 

                                    Jaws (Richard Dreyfus) - 124 min.

 

                                    Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Richard Dreyfus) - 127 min.

 

                        Excerpt:  Jurrasic Park (Laura Dern) - 27 min.

 

            V.        Oliver Stone

 

                                                Platoon (Charlie Sheen) - 126 min.

 

                                                Wall Street (Charlie Sheen) - 113 min.


 

FILM AS ART                       MR.  CRAWFORD

 

INTRODUCTION

            This course will concentrate on the study of film as the "liveliest art."  Students will learn to recognize the function and importance of the director, producer, actors and support personnel in conjunction with some of the mechanical production devices used in making movies.  Students will be responsible for scripting, budgeting, casting, storyboarding, location scouting, filming, and editing of one 10-15 minute film during the course of the trimester:  one narrative film or one documentary film.  Primary emphasis will be on the presentation and evaluation of these student film projects at a Film Festival to be held at Pine Crest at the end of the year under the direction of Mr. Bruce Williams.  These films will be considered for possible inclusion in the Pine Crest Video Yearbook, and will also be made available for use on the Pine Crest television network, PCTV.  All film projects may be presented in either a film or video format, but the final cut must be duplicated on high grade VHS videotape for placement in the Pine Crest video library.  The final edit of all projects will be due no later than May 26, 1996.  The film class advisers--Mr. Crawford and Mr. Williams- -and the Pine Crest administration will have final approval on all scripts and films.

            Student filmmakers will be responsible for turning in a timetable for the film projects.  Deadlines will be set for each stage of these projects and grading will be based on  technical skill, style, originality, and punctuality.  All evaluations will be final.

 

 

Textbook:  BEGINNING FILMMAKERS GUIDE TO DIRECTING - Wm Harmon, 1993.

 

The following deadlines will be set by the instructor:

            concept

            pitch

            script

            sequences

            segmentation

            storyboards

            continuity (casting and location)

            filming

            rough cut

Final edit of all films will be due no later than May 26, 1996.