On the index card, please write:
 Your name
 What grade you are in
 Describe your summer in one word
 3 of your “likes”
 3 of your “dislikes”
 What you are excited about this school year
All about Mme Suarez
 B.A. in French and European Studies from CSU (GO
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RAMS!)
M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction from UMKC
Taught kindergarten for 3 years at a French immersion
school, second year at SVA
Married, has a cat named Oreo
Vices: Diet Coke and the Real Housewives
Likes: Barenaked Ladies, dance (any type), anything
scary, Halloween, going to the movies, Mexican food,
trivia, being organized
Dislikes: spiders, soggy bread, loud eaters, singing in
front of others
Syllabus
Kate Suarez
ksuarez@skyviewacademy.k12.co.us
**** 303-471-8439 ext. 246
Personal webpage found in the “Foreign Language” section of the High School page on SkyView
website.
Emails detailing the upcoming themes/subjects for the week will be sent out on Fridays by 6:00pm
Grading Scale:
A
90 – 100
B
80 – 89
C
70 – 79
D
60 – 69
F
below 60
Supply List:
college ruled spiral notebook
folder
pens/pencils (every course – blue or black ink only)
****Late Policy: Late assignments will be accepted up to 5 days after the due date with a deduction of
10% per day up to 5 days. After 5 days, the assignment is entered as a “0.”
Syllabus cont.
Expectations:
As a general rule, you should always come to class on-time
and prepared. This course is heavily discussion-based, so you
are expected to participate, have an open mind, and be
respectful of your peers and teacher. Some of the films we
watch this semester may contain strong language and and/or
mature situations, and we may not be covering films in which
you are particularly interested. As young adults, I expect you
to handle these situations in a mature manner and trust that
these films were carefully selected and all serve a purpose
beyond entertainment or “shock” value. You may discover an
appreciation for films you didn’t enjoy in the past! I
encourage open discussion, flexibility, and a positive attitude
– our primary goal is to learn and evaluate – the relaxing filmwatching is a bonus!
Syllabus cont.
Class Overview:
This course has two focal points that work together to bridge the gap between literature and film.
The first is to examine film as a visual medium and explore how screenwriting and filmmaking
are thought-provoking contributions to the arts. The second purpose is to examine films for
their literary devices and analyze these elements just as we would with written works. Some of
the topics covered this semester include symbolism, the Hero’s Journey, creating conflict and
relatable characters, irony, genre study, and screenwriting. Students will participate in
thoughtful and critical discussions, and learn to evaluate film beyond entertainment value. As a
final project, students will write their own short screenplay using the elements we study
throughout the semester.
Clips from several films will be shown, along with some films in their entirety. Some films
covered include:
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The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Princess Bride (1987)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Warm Bodies (2013)
Inception (2010)
SVA’s Big 5
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
No food or drink in the classroom
Cell phones are not to be seen or heard in the
classroom
All hands, feet, and objects should be kept to
yourself
Be where you are supposed to be at all times
No backpacks in the classroom
SVA’s Consequences for
Misbehavior
1.
2.
3.
4.
Warning
Call/email home
Detention & call/email home
Office Referral
* Severe offences: automatically #4
Activity
 On each of the three slips of paper on your desk, write
down one of your favorite movies of all time. Don’t
show anyone! Then fold them up and put them in the
hat up front.
 Note: These don’t have to be critically acclaimed,
famous, or classic films – just your favorites! 
“Talking Pictures”
 Film is a visual medium. It’s called “talking pictures”
because that’s what it is: a string of moving images
throughout which characters engage in occasional
conversations that will supplement the visuals. Movies
are driven by action.
A Brief History of Film
 The history of film began in the late 1880s with the
invention of the first movie camera. Motion pictures were
initially exhibited as a carnival novelty. Most films before
1930 were silent.
 The movie theatre was considered a cheaper, simpler way
to provide entertainment to the masses. Movies became
the most popular visual art form of the late Victorian age. It
was simpler because before the cinema people would have
to travel long distances to see major dioramas or
amusement parks. With the advent of the cinema this
changed. During the first decade of the cinema's existence,
inventors worked to improve the machines for making and
showing films.
Eadweard Muybridge
On June 15, 1878, under the
sponsorship of Leland Stanford,
Eadweard Muybridge successfully
photographed a horse named
"Sallie Gardner" in fast motion
using a series of 24 stereoscopic
cameras. The experiment took
place on June 15 at the Palo Alto
farm in California with the press
present. The exercise was meant
to determine whether a running
horse ever had all four legs lifted
off the ground at once. The
cameras were arranged along a
track parallel to the horse's, and
each camera shutter was
controlled by a trip wire which
was triggered by the horse's
hooves. They were 21 inches apart
to cover the 20 feet taken by the
horse stride, taking pictures at
one thousandth of a second.
William Dickson and Thomas Edison
William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, chief
engineer with the Edison Laboratories, is
credited with the invention of a practicable
form of a celluloid strip containing a
sequence of images, the basis of a method
of photographing and projecting moving
images. Celluloid blocks were thinly sliced,
then removed with heated pressure plates.
After this, they were coated with a
photosensitive gelatin emulsion. In 1893 at
the Chicago World's Fair, Thomas Edison
introduced to the public two pioneering
inventions based on this innovation; the
Kinetograph – the first practical moving
picture camera – and the Kinetoscope. The
latter was a cabinet in which a continuous
loop of Dickson's celluloid film (powered
by an electric motor) was back lit by an
incandescent lamp and seen through a
magnifying lens.
The Lumière Brothers
At about the same time, in Lyon, France,
Auguste and Louis Lumière invented the
cinematograph, a portable camera, printer,
and projector. In late 1895 in Paris, father
Antoine Lumière began exhibitions of
projected films before the paying public,
beginning the general conversion of the
medium to projection. They quickly became
Europe's main producers with their actualités
like Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory and
comic vignettes like The Sprinkler Sprinkled
(both 1895). Even Edison, initially dismissive
of projection, joined the trend with the
Vitascope, a modified Jenkins' Phantoscope,
within less than six months. The first public
motion-picture film presentation in the
world, though, belongs to Max and Emil
Skladanowsky of Berlin, who projected with
their apparatus "Bioscop", a flickerfree duplex
construction, November 1 through 31, 1895.
The Silent Film Era
Initially, there were technical difficulties in
synchronizing images with sound. It was
clear that Edison originally intended to
create a sound film system, which would
not gain worldwide recognition until the
release of "The Jazz Singer" in 1927.
However, there was still significant interest
in motion pictures for films to be produced
without sound. This is referred to as the
silent era of film. However, to enhance the
viewers' experience, silent films were
commonly accompanied by live musicians
and sometimes sound effects and even
commentary spoken by the showman or
projectionist. In most countries, intertitles
came to be used to provide dialogue and
narration for the film.
Transitions
From primitive roots,
filmmaking has greatly evolved
over the years. The first
experimental films were simply
filming everyday occurrences as
well as artistic shorts to awe
and amaze audiences. Early
filmmakers like Georges Méliès
dreamed of making actual
stories come to life on screen.
Thus the tradition of telling
stories on film was born, and
film became one of the most
popular visual mediums in the
world.
Books vs. Film
 A book is an interpretive medium. A hundred people
can read the same novel and not only get a hundred
different messages out of it, but also envision
completely different people in the various roles. Books
and short stories are driven by imagination.
Plays vs. Film
 A play – which is driven by dialogue – is a combination
of both of the concepts of film and books. It provides
a lot of moving parts but concurrently calls upon the
audience to “fill in the blanks” of a setting that is
essentially a cutaway view into the characters’
immediate environment.
Pros and cons
Pros
Cons
Film
Can transcend time and space
Hard to get into characters’
heads
Books
Can conjure any realm, era, or
enormous cast at a far less cost
Requires a longer commitment
of time (reading) to enjoy it
Great longevity as a
performance piece
Physical limitations
Plays
Film: original or adaptation?
 An original screenplay is based on a new idea
 An adaptation is based on already-published material.
How close an adaptation is to the published material
varies.
Film adaptations
 A number of movies have been successfully adapted
from novels and stage plays. Just as many more,
however, have not been enthusiastically embraced by
audiences. Why?
 Too many liberties taken with the plot
 Too much commercialization
 Prefer the original source
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Adaptations
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Novels (Life of Pi, The Hunger Games, The Great Gatsby, World War Z)
Short Story (3:10 to Yuma, Brokeback Mountain, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Poetry (Troy, Beowulf, Howl, O Brother, Where Art Thou?)
Biography/Autobiography (127 Hours, Into the Wild, Girl, Interrupted)
Scripture (Clash of the Titans, Hercules, The Passion of the Christ)
Plays (Shakespearean plays, stories based on Shakespearean plays, Casablanca, My Fair
Lady, The Sound of Music)
Television (Mission: Impossible, The X-Files, Saturday Night Live films, Star Trek)
Radio (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Lone Ranger)
Comic Book (Spider-man, The Avengers, X-Men, The Walking Dead)
Video Game (Tron, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Mortal Kombat)
Lecture (An Inconvenient Truth)
 Films based on other sources
 Historical events
 Toys (G.I. Joe, Transformers, Battleship)
 Pictures (The Girl With the Pearl Earring, Pretty Baby)
 Journal Articles/Documented Experiences (The Amityville Horror, The Conjuring, The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
Journal
 Choose any book or play you have read that has
subsequently been made into a film you have seen. Which
version do you think was better? Why?
 Some ideas:
 Romeo & Juliet
 Twilight Saga
 Harry Potter et al.
 Lord of the Rings et al.
 300
 Diary of a Wimpy Kid
 Chronicles of Narnia et al.
Journal
 What is the best book you have ever read? Could it be
successfully adapted to a movie? Why or why not?
Could it be successfully adapted to a stage play? Why
or why not?