Department of Film and Television
Options in Film Studies 2014/15
FI101 Autumn Term
INTRODUCTION TO FILM STUDIES
Day Module
Module Tutors :
Louis Bayman (Rm A0.15 Millburn House)
Owen Weetch
MODULE DESCRIPTION
SEE ALSO: Film and Television Studies Options Handbook (Online)
FIRST MEETING: Week 1 Autumn Term 2014/15,
Tuesday 30 Sep at 12.00 in A0.28
AIMS OF THE MODULE
1. This module aims to introduce you to the close analysis of film texts.
2. It will also ask you to consider a number of key developments in film history
and some of the different examples of film internationally.
3. You will explore some of the main critical debates that have shaped Film
Studies as an academic discipline.
4. It aims to progress from examining the formal properties of film to
considering its cultural importance and artistic relevance. It will introduce
questions regarding the political and social functions of cinema and the
intellectual frameworks that have been used to explain it.
OUTCOMES
By the end of the module:
1) You will be required to show you are able to analyse and critically discuss a
range of contemporary and older films according to its formal properties,
and how they construct emotion and meaning in films.
2) You will be expected to be able to demonstrate an informed understanding
of and engagement with the critical and historical debates that are the focus
of the module.
3) And (very importantly) you will be able to demonstrate that, having attended
the required screenings, lectures and seminars, you have developed your
own independent reading, viewing and critical research beyond the basic
starting points provided by the module.
In Term 1, we will begin with the analysis of film form and concentrate on the basic
question of how film texts work, of how to analyse a film according to its formal
properties ----- how moving images and sound combine to make meanings, guide our
expectations/trigger our responses and create the experience we have of the films
we watch.
We will focus first on the workings of the feature film, analysing the various formal
properties of film to examine various ways they have been used in cinematic
storytelling for over a century. In the second half of the term we will consider how
different kinds of film negotiate the relationship between storytelling (or narrative)
and spectacle. To conclude this first block of work, we will consider different ways in
which cinema can address questions of art and entertainment, and with what results
for the viewer, with examples from classical and contemporary Hollywood, musical
cinema and Iranian art cinema.
In Term 2, the module will continue to explore the ways in which cinema creates
meanings and appeals to the senses with respect to a range of film texts and
theoretical approaches to film history such as genre, gender, psychology and
postcolonialism. Underlying the course will be an examination of ways of
understanding film’s relationship to reality, from the basis of cinema in a
photographic record of reality, to questions of fantasy, documentary, parody, art and
political cinema. It will seek to strengthen your understanding of the development of
film styles and movements and of the global dimensions of film history, and will
include examples of German Expressionism, Italian neorealism, Third Cinema and
American independent cinema. In addition to understanding cinema’s social function
it will address the various ways these aspects impact on our understanding of and
engagement with cinema at a sensory and emotional level.
In the opening weeks of Term 3, we will review the work we have done for the
module.
TIMETABLE
The module is taught in the Autumn and Spring terms and there will be a short
period of teaching and revision in the Summer Term.
You are required to attend the lecture, one seminar and at least ONE (out of the
three) film screenings each week. In planning your work load, you should take
account of the fact it is important you know the films for our seminar discussions
and have seen them screened on a large screen.
*** NOTE : The Film and Television Studies Department has penalties for nonattendance at seminars without good reason. This involves a marks penalty plus
extra written work. You should check the Options Handbook (online) to make sure
you are aware of the Department’s attendance regulations.
Monday
9-12
Film Screening 1
A1.25 Millburn House
Tuesday
12-1
1-3
Lecture
Film Screening 2
A0.28 Millburn House
A0.28 Millburn House
Wednesday
11-12
Seminars
12-1.
(Attend ONE)
1-2
2-3
Evening (see below*)
A1.24/A1.28 Millburn House
*If you are unable to attend the lecture or seminars there is the possibility of running
an Evening Lecture and Seminar on Wednesdays at 6-8 pm. Please let us know by
week 3 if you would like to attend.
NOTE (Week 1):
a) Seminar groups will be organised during the Introductory Session in Week 1.
The question of whether ALL 4 seminars listed above will run will be decided
at that point on the basis of numbers.
b) The Monday morning screening and the seminars will not run in Week
1. Instead I will be available to answer questions after Tuesday’s lecture,
before the screening.
ASSESSMENT (for the year)
Two Essays of 1500 words each
(10% of the total mark each)
One essay of 3000 words
Summer Examination (2 hours unseen/2 Questions)
(20% of the total mark)
(60% of the total mark)
ESSAY DEADLINES
Each of the essays MUST be handed in by the time/date specified below to Anne
Birchall in the Film and Television Studies Office (Room A0.12 Millburn House). In
preparing your essay you should refer to the Department of Film and Television
Studies online Handbook (Options) to make sure you are aware of the conventions
of essay presentation (referencing etc) required by the Department.
PLEASE NOTE : Extensions can only be granted by the Chair of Film Studies
(Catherine Constable) and will normally only be given on production of a medical
certificate. According to university regulations, when an essay is submitted late
without a formal extension having been granted, there will be a penalty of a 5%
reduction of the mark per day.
DUE DATES:
Autumn Term First short essay (Sequence analysis/1500 words)
(Week 7)
To be submitted with:
1. Your Screening Notes on ONE film screened
In Weeks 1-5
2. Your Notes on ONE Lecture from Weeks 1-5
Hand in to the Film Studies Office (latest) before 12.00 on
Monday November 10 2014
Spring Term
(Week 2)
Second short essay (1500 words)
Hand in by 12.00, Monday January 12 2015
Summer Term Long Essay (3000 words)
(Week 1)
Hand in by 12.00, Monday April 20 2015
TUTOR CONTACTS
:
L.D.Bayman@warwick.ac.uk
o.b.weetch@warwick.ac.uk
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
WORK FOR AUTUMN TERM 2014/15
READING
PLEASE NOTE:
The module requires you to attend the screenings, lectures
and seminars and do some critical reading each week (usually a single book chapter
or article) in preparation for the weekly seminar. This is NOT an option. Obviously,
keeping up with the screenings and readings will help you personally to get the most
out of the seminars. Importantly too, it will put you in a position to contribute
actively and in an informed way to seminar discussions.
Online Seminar Readings: All of the main weekly readings can be accessed
online through the Main Library system. So long as you are registered for this
module, you should be able to reach the website using the following link:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/main/electronicresources/extracts/fi/fi
101
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS ON READING
You will help yourself if you start reading around as quickly as possible to develop
your awareness of the film history and Film Studies critical debates we will cover.
The Main Library is particularly well stocked for Film Studies in terms of books,
DVDs/videos and journals. In addition, you (really) should make yourself aware of
the very extensive online film resources by exploring the online facilities available to
you through the Main Library Catalogue ---- that gives you direct access to journals
like Film Index International and International Film Archive as well Screen, Wide
Angle, Cineaste and a host of others.
The Department of Film and Television Studies web site also provides you with easy
access to a mass of information, journals and a range of links. It is very well worth
looking at immediately. The All Movie Database and Internet Movie Database links
for example (if you do not know them already) are a simple source of basic film
information.
You will also help yourself if you make yourself familiar with the Film section in the
Library as soon as possible (PN3220-3279) and also film making/photography (TR151045).
Obviously remember that many of the books you will need will be in heavy demand
so organise your work and reading accordingly. Make reservations early and return
books and articles quickly.
Key Books
There are a few key books for you to track down and look at regularly. A number of
the weekly required readings are taken from them and you will find copies in the
Short Loan Collection as well as in the Stacks.
They are:
Pam Cook ed.
The Cinema Book (London: BFI 1985 and 1999)
***David Bordwell and
***Film Art: An Introduction (New York: McGraw
Kristin Thompson
Hill, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2003 etc.)
Richard Maltby
Hollywood Cinema: An Introduction (Oxford:
Blackwell, 1995)
John Hill and
Pamela Church Gibson
The Oxford Guide to Film Studies (Oxford: OUP,
1998)
NOTE (For TERM 1)
1) *** Bordwell and Thompson's Film Art is the book you most need to focus on
at the beginning of Term 1. There are 10 editions of it. Use the most recent or
2007, 2004, 2001 editions if you can. Check the page numbers for the required
readings in the programme below in relation to the edition you use. There are a
large number of copies in the Library.
2)
Look out for the recent editions of Pam Cook’s The Cinema Book.
TERM 1: WEEK BY WEEK PROGRAMME
As noted above, the main Screenings are required viewing. The "Further Viewings"
listed below are suggestions only ---- to help your work. See the Library Catalogue
and SLC in the Main Library for copies of the seminar films.
IMPORTANT: ONLINE SEMINAR READINGS. The listed required weekly readings
have been scanned into the main library system so they can be accessed online. So
long as you are registered for this module, the following link should give you
access to the website:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/main/electronicresources/extracts/fi
/fi101
The required seminar readings are marked ** in the programme below and are
available online. Items marked * are also available online.
Weeks 1-5
Film Form: The basic procedures and
descriptive language of film analysis
Week 1
Introduction and Mise-en-scène
Screening
Lecture
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Dir: Frank Oz; USA 1988)
Introductory remarks and understanding mise-en-scène
***REMEMBER: there is no 2nd screening or seminar this week***
**Film Art (10th Ed) Chap 4 (“The Shot: Mise en Scene”)
Reading
Additional reading Victor Perkins *“Moments of Choice” from Movie Vol 5 No. 58
(1981)
Further viewing Lo sceicco bianco/The White Sheik (Dir: Federico Fellini; Italy, 1952)
Meet me in St. Louis (Dir: Vincente Minelli; USA, 1944)
A Taste of Honey (Dir: Tony Richardson; UK, 1961)
WEEK 2
Editing
Screening
Lecture
Rashomon (Dir: Akira Kurosawa; Japan 1950)
Editing and continuity: Telling stories and the relation of shot to shot
Reading
Film Art (10th Ed) Chap 6 (“The Relation of Shot to Shot: Editing”)
Additional reading *Valerie Orpen Film Editing pp. 1-16; and Sergej Eisenstein, "A
Dialectic Approach to Film Form," in Film Form (Harcourt Brace, 1977), 45-63
Further viewing
Scarlet Street (Dir: Fritz Lang; USA, 1945)
Chelovek s Kinoapparatum/Man with a Movie Camera (Dir:
Dziga Vertov, USSR, 1929)
WEEK 3
The camera
Screening
La passion de Jeanne d’Arc/The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dir: Carl
Theodor Dreyer; France 1928)
Lecture
Composition, camera movement and lighting
Reading
Film Art (10th Ed) Chap 5 (“The Shot: Cinematography”)
Additional Reading David Bordwell, ‘La passion de Jeanne d’Arc’ in The Films of
Carl-Theodore Dreyer, (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1981),
66-93
Pipolo, ‘Metaphoric Structures in La passion de Jeanne d’Arc’,
Millennium Film Journal 19 (winter 1987-88)
Further Viewing
Die letzte Mann/The Last Laugh (Dir: F.W. Murnau; Ger, 1924)
Pather Panchali (Dir: Satyajit Ray; India, 1955)
Madame De…/The Earrings of Madame De… (Dir: Max Ophüls;
Ita/Fr, 1954)
WEEK 4
Sound
Screening
Lecture
Reading
Sexy Beast (Dir: Jonathan Glazer; UK 2000)
Sound: Music, voice and soundscape
Film Art (10th Ed.) Chap 7 (“Sound in the Cinema”)
Additional Reading Claudia Gorbman, ‘Narratological Perspectives on Film Music’ in
Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music (BFI, London, 1987) 11-31
Michel Chion ‘The Audiovisual Scene’ in Audio-vision: Sound on Screen trans Claudia
Gorbman Columbia University Press, New York, 1994, 66-95
Further Viewing
WEEK 5
Casablanca (Dir: Michael Curtiz; USA, 1941)
Mean Streets (Dir: Martin Scorsese; USA, 1973)
Berberian Sound Studio (Dir: Peter Strickland; UK, 2012)
Style and tone in film
Screening
Ostre sledované vlaky/Closely Observed Trains (Dir: Jirí Menzel;
Czechoslovakia 1966)
Lecture
Review of work so far: Making the invisible visible.
Reading
For Tone : **Douglas Pye “Movies and Tone” in Close Up No. 2 (2007)
pp. 5-31
For Style: Film Art (10th Ed.) Chap 8 (“Summary: Style and Film Form”)
On the film: **Peter Hames ‘Jirí Menzel’ in The Czechoslovak New
Wave 2nd edition Wallflower, London 2005 151-59
Additional Reading
Jonathan L. Owen ‘Jirí Menzel’s Closely Observed Trains (1966): Hrabal
and the Heterogeneous’ in Avant-garde to New Wave: Czechoslovak
Cinema, Surrealism and the Sixties Berghahn Books New York 2011,
72-99
Further Viewing
The Deer Hunter (Dir: Michael Cimino; USA/UK, 1978)
WEEK 6
READING WEEK
Weeks 7-10 Critical Debates and questions about the
relation of "Narrative" to "Spectacle" in film (history)
WEEK 7
Classical Hollywood cinema
Screening
Lecture
Reading:
The Bad and the Beautiful (Dir: Vincente Minelli; USA 1952)
The conventions of Classical Hollywood
**Richard Maltby Hollywood Cinema Chapter 15
Additional David Bordwell, Janet Staiger and Kristin Thompson, The Classical
Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960 (Routledge, London,
1985), 1-50
WEEK 8
Entertainment and the musical film
Screening
1959)
Lecture
Reading
Orfeu negro/Black Orpheus (Dir: Marcel Camus; Brazil, France, Italy
Music in cinema: Spectacle and performance
**Richard Dyer, ‘Introduction’ to In the Space of a Song: the Uses of
Song in Film Routledge, Abingdon, 2012 1-33
**Robert Stam, ‘The Favela: From Rio 40 Graus to Black Orpheus,
1954-1959’ in Tropical Multiculturalism: a comparative history of race
in Brazilian cinema and culture Durham, Duke University Press, 1997,
166-177
Additional
Kristin Thompson ‘The concept of cinematic excess’ in In Philip Rosen
(ed.), Narrative, Apparatus, Ideology: A Film Theory Reader (Columbia University
Press, 1986) 130-42
Further Viewing
Golddiggers of 1933 (Dir: Mervyn LeRoy; USA, 1933)
Casa Ricordi (Dir: Carmine Gallone; Italy/France, 1954)
Mother India (Dir: Mehboob Khan; India, 1957)
WEEK 9 A special case: New Iranian cinema
Screening
Lecture
Reading
Roozi ke zan shodam/The Day I Became a Woman (Dir: Marzieh
Meshkini; Iran, 2000)
International art cinema, censorship and the case of Iranian cinema
**Michelle Langford ‘Allegory and the Aesthetics of BecomingWoman in Marziyeh Meshkini’s The Day I Became a Woman’ in
Camera Obscura (2007), 22 (1 64): 1-41
Additional
Shohini Chaudhuri and Howard Finn ‘The Open Image: Poetic Realism
and the New Iranian Cinema’ in Screen (2003), 44 (1): 38-57
Azadeh Farahmand ‘Perspectives on Recent (International Acclaim
for) Iranian Cinema’ in Richard Tapper (ed.) The New Iranian Cinema:
Politics, Representation and Identity (IB Tauris, London, 2002) 86-109
Hamid Naficy, ‘Veiled Vision/Powerful Presences: women in postrevolutionary Iranian cinema’ in In the Eye of the Storm: Women in
Post-revolutionary Iran Mahnaz Afkhami and Erika Friedl (eds) IB
Tauris London 1994 131-151
Further Viewing Gaav/The Cow (Dir: Dariush Mehrjui; Iran, 1969)
Khane-ye doust kodjast?/Where Is my Friend’s House? (Dir: Abbas
Kiarostami; Iran, 1987)
WEEK 10 Blockbusters and contemporary Hollywood style
Screening
Lecture
Reading
Additional
Inception (Dir: Christopher Nolan; USA, UK 2010)
Blockbusters, attractions and intensified continuity
**Jose Arroyo Action Spectacle (p. vii-xv)
**David Bordwell “Intensified Continuity : Visual Style in
Contemporary American Film” in Film Quarterly Vol 55 No. 3 Spring
2002 pp. 16-28
Mark Fisher ‘The Lost Unconscious: Delusions and Dreams in
Inception’ in Film Quarterly 44 (3), Spring 2011, 37-45
Tom Gunning, "The Cinema of Attractions: Early Cinema, Its Spectator
and the Avant-Garde," in Film and Theory: An Anthology (Blackwell,
2000) pp 862-877
Further Viewing
The Bourne Supremacy (Dir: Paul Greengrass; USA/Ger, 2004)
Gravity (Dir: Alfonso Cuarón; USA/UK, 2013)