ENG 2300-0380: Film Analysis
Summer A 2011
Instructor: Allison Rittmayer
Office: 4367 Turlington
Office Hours: Monday 12:30 1:30 and by appointment
Class Meetings:
Monday-Friday
Period 3 (11:00-12:15)
Turlington 2350
Film Screenings:
Monday and Wednesday
Periods 6-7 (3:30-6:15)
Rolfs 115
Anna Karina in Jean-Luc Godard’s Le petit soldat (1960)
Required Texts (available at UF Bookstore):
Film Theory and Criticism. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen eds. 7th ed. Oxford UP: New York, 2009.
A Short Guide to Writing about Film. Timothy Corrigan. 7th ed. Longman: New York, 2010.
Optional Text (available at UF Bookstore and as an eBook through the UF Library):
Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts. Susan Hayward. 3rd ed. Routledge: New York, 2006.
Course Overview
As an introduction to film analysis, ENG 2300 will provide students with a working knowledge of film
vocabulary. However, as opposed to the “film appreciation” model, ENG 2300 develops these
analytical tools in the context of film history and film theory. Thus the course involves films and essays
that have proved central to subsequent ways of thinking about cinema. Having completed this
course, students will have a sense of both film history’s general outline and film theory’s most
important issues. This course can satisfy the UF General Education requirement for the Humanities or
Composition. For more information, see:
http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/policies/advisinggened.html.
To graduate, University of Florida students must complete several courses that involve substantial
writing for a total of 24,000 words. This course can satisfy the UF requirement for Writing—coursework
with at least 6,000 words. For more information, see:
http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/policies/advisinggordon.html
Goals/Objectives
The student learning outcomes for this course are as detailed in the Undergraduate Catalog at:
http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/policies/advisinggened.html#requirements
ENG 2300-0380 Summer A 2011
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Attendance
I do not take absences lightly. Each screening counts as a class as well. You may miss a maximum of
three classes/screenings without a penalty. Each additional absence lowers your final grade by one
degree (from + to letter or from letter to -). Missing more than seven classes/screenings means
automatic failure for the course. I do not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences. If
you do need to miss class, you should remember that you are responsible for contacting a classmate
(not me) to find out if any changes were made to the syllabus, if work was assigned, and what we
discussed in class. You must submit assigned work on the specified due date even if you are absent.
You must be present for quizzes and in-class writings to receive credit for them; you cannot make
them up. If you participate in a university-sponsored event, you must let me know about your
absences in advance. Similarly, you should inform me in advance if you will miss class to observe a
religious holiday.
Punctuality
The first few minutes of class are often the time when we will discuss classroom maintenance issues,
project information, etc.; missing those first crucial moments can seriously impair your ability to
succeed in this course. After two latenesses, the third and each one after will count as ONE absence.
Please remember that if you enter the classroom late, I have probably taken roll; thus, you are
responsible for reminding me after class that you were indeed present.
Statement on Academic Honesty
All students are required to abide by the Student Honor Code. For more information about
academic honesty, including definitions of plagiarism and unauthorized collaboration, see:
http://www.dso.ufl.edu/sccr/honorcodes/honorcode.php.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious violation of the Student Honor Code. The Honor Code prohibits and defines
plagiarism as follows:
Plagiarism—a student shall not represent as the student’s own work all or any portion of the work
of another. Plagiarism includes (but is not limited to):
a. Quoting oral or written materials, whether published or unpublished, without proper attribution.
b. Submitting a document or assignment which in whole or in part is identical or substantially
identical to a document or assignment not authored by the student. (The Dean of Students
Office. Student Honor Code. U Florida, 7 Nov. 2008. Web. 27 July 2010.
<http://www.dso.ufl.edu/judicial/honorcode.php>.)
Plagiarism will not be tolerated in this course, and if you are caught plagiarizing an assignment, you
will receive a failing grade.
Technology Use in Class
All cell phones and other hand-held devices must be turned off during class. I understand that you
might forget to turn off your ringer from time to time, but if your cell phone use, including texting,
becomes disruptive to class I will deduct points from your grade. Laptops are not necessary for class
participation, so they will not be allowed in class.
Communication with Your Instructor
The best way to contact me is via email. Please allow at least 24 hours for me to respond to all
requests/questions/inquiries by email. If you would like to meet face-to-face, you can visit me during
office hours or contact me to schedule an appointment time that works for both of us.
ENG 2300-0380 Summer A 2011
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Statement of Student Disability Services
The University of Florida complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Students requesting
accommodation should contact the Students with Disabilities Office, Peabody 202. That office will
provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor
when requesting accommodation. The Disability Resource Center in the Dean of Students Office
provides students and faculty with information and support regarding accommodations for students
with disabilities in the classroom. For more information, see: http://www.dso.ufl.edu/drc/
Statement on Harassment
UF provides an educational and working environment for its students, faculty, and staff that is free
from sex discrimination and sexual harassment. For more about UF policies regarding harassment,
see: http://www.dso.ufl.edu/studentguide/studentconductcode.php#s4041
Classroom Behavior
Please keep in mind that students come from diverse cultural, economic, and ethnic backgrounds.
Some of the films and texts we will discuss and write about engage controversial topics and opinions.
Diverse student backgrounds combined with provocative texts require that you demonstrate respect
for ideas that may differ from your own.
Statement on Grade Point Equivalencies
UF has recently instituted minus grades. As a result, letter grades now have different grade point
equivalencies. For more information see:
http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/policies/regulationgrades.html
You must receive a C or better to receive Composition or Humanities credit.
Final Grade Appeals:
In 1000- and 2000- level courses, students may appeal a final grade by filling out a form available
from Carla Blount, Program Assistant. Grade appeals may result in a higher, unchanged, or lower final
grade.
Screening Notes
You must take notes at the screenings, and you must do so in a notebook that I can collect
periodically and without notice to ensure your attention to the films. You will be expected to take
more rigorous notes on these films as the semester progresses and your knowledge of film terminology
increases. Be aware that you cannot blame “bad notes” on foreign language films. For this course
the images are more important than the dialogue.
Assignment Format, Submission, and Record Keeping
All journals and essays must include the word count on the last page of text (i.e. before your works
cited page). Word count does not include your name and class information, essay titles, or the works
cited page. If assignments do not meet the length requirement, they will not receive a passing
grade. All assignments must be in MLA format, typed in Times New Roman 12-point font, and double
spaced. Papers must be submitted to me via email by midnight of the due date. Journals are due
by email before class. Students are responsible for maintaining duplicate copies of all work
submitted in this course and retaining all returned, graded work until the semester is over. Should the
need arise for a re-submission of papers or a review of graded assignments, it is the student’s
responsibility to have and make this material available.
ENG 2300-0380 Summer A 2011
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Assignments
Blog posts (2 @ 700 words each): 15%
Students must sign up for a Word Press account and join the class blog at
https://filmsummer2011.wordpress.com/. Each blog post will include a detailed description of the
first scene of that week’s film (posted for review in Sakai), and an analysis of one technique you
think is important or used differently in the film. You should also comment on the relation of the
film to that week’s reading. The class will be split into four posting groups and each group’s posts
are due by 10:00 am as noted on the course schedule. Be prepared to discuss your posts in class.
Blog responses (2 @ 500 words each): 10%
The day after blogs are posted, a different group will respond. Responses should include what
you found interesting in the blogs, if you agree or disagree with any particular post, build off of our
class discussion, and include any remaining questions you have about the film or readings.
Essay prospectuses (one paragraph): 5%
A topic proposal, to be submitted for approval at least two weeks before the midterm and final
essays are due. Prospectus must include which films, scenes, and techniques are being discussed,
and which theoretical readings may be used to supplement your argument.
Midterm essay (1500 words minimum—about five pages): 15%
This essay will require you to compose a detailed, argumentative analysis of one scene from a film
that we have viewed in class. You must use the film terminology and concepts that we have
discussed in class. The essay should include a brief synopsis of the film and your own analysis of
the elements at work within the scene you choose to examine. You should discuss your topic in
relation to the theoretical readings we have discussed in class.
Annotated bibliography (1000 words minimum—about four pages): 10%
Document your research for your final paper by writing annotations for ten (10) sources, seven (7)
of which must be from outside class. Include an MLA formatted citation for each source. At the
end of each summary, articulate how this source will be useful to you in your essay. How will you
use this source? What does this source provide that no other sources have provided? Is this author
a particularly important one in the field? Or is this source, finally, not as useful as you thought it
would be? (If so, be sure to tell the reader why.)
Final essay (2500 words minimum—about eight pages): 25%
This essay will require you to compose a detailed, argumentative analysis of one or two scenes
from a single film, or a comparative analysis of one scene each from two films that we have
viewed in class. You must use the film terminology and concepts that we have discussed in class.
The essay should include a brief synopsis of the film and your own analysis of the elements at work
within the scene(s) you choose to examine. You should discuss your topic in relation to the
theoretical readings we have discussed in class, in addition to citing at least three sources.
Participation: 20%
You are expected to actively participate in class discussion and take screening notes.
Grading Scale (Letter Grades):
A 100-95
A- 94-90
B+ 89-87
B
BC+
86-84
83-80
79-77
C
CD+
76-74
73-70
69-67
D
DE
66-65
64-63
62-0
ENG 2300-0380 Summer A 2011
Tentative Course Schedule
(subject to change)
Film Theory and Criticism = FTC
MONDAY
05/09
Course
introduction
TUESDAY
05/10
Screening: The
Man with the
Movie Camera
(1929) 68 min.
and La jetée
(1962) 28 min.
05/16
SHOT
DESCRIPTIONS
DUE
A Short Guide to Writing about Film = SG
FTC: Pudovkin
“On Editing” p. 7,
Eisenstein
“Beyond Shot” p.
13, and “The
Dramaturgy of
Film Form” p. 24
WEDNESDAY
05/11
Screening:
Sunset Blvd.
(1950) 110 min.
ILLUSTRATING VOCAB
DUE
Sakai: Lopate “In
Search of the
Centaur: The EssayFilm”
FRIDAY
05/13
SG: pp. 51-81
05/20
Response Group D
SG: Chapter 2
05/17
Blog Group A
05/18
ARES: Yoshimoto
“Rashomon”
Response Group C
05/19
FTC: Benjamin “The
Work of Art in the
Age of Mechanical
Reproduction” p.
665
Blog Group B
MIDTERM PROSPECTUS
DUE
ARES: DeAngelis
“Authorship and
New Queer
Cinema”
Benjamin, continued.
Screening: I’m Not
There (2007) 135
min.
Screening:
Rashomon
(1950) 88 min.
FTC: Schrader
“Notes on Film
Noir” p. 581
05/12
Screening: Sans
Soleil (1983) 100
min.
SG: pp. 13-15,
96-97, 114-132
05/23
THURSDAY
05/24
Blog Group C
05/25
Response Group B
FTC: Levinson “Film
Music and Narrative
Agency” p. 402
Screening: Vertigo
(1958) 128 min.
05/26
Blog Group D
FTC: Mulvey “Visual
Pleasure and
Narrative Cinema”
p.711
05/27
Response Group A
MIDTERM DUE
Mulvey,
continued.
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ENG 2300-0380 Summer A 2011
05/30
05/31
MEMORIAL
DAY
NO CLASS
06/06
FTC: Deleuze
“The Origin of
the Crisis: Italian
Neo-Realism &
the French New
Wave” p. 218
06/07
ARES: King
“Dimensions and
Definitions of
New Hollywood”
Thomson “The
Decade When
Movies
Mattered”
Blog Group C
06/01
06/08
FTC: Wood
“Ideology,
Genre, Auteur”
p. 592
FINAL DUE
Response Group D
FTC: Sarris “Notes on
the Auteur Theory in
1962” p. 451,
Wollen “The Auteur
Theory” p. 455
Blog Group A
FINAL PROSPECTUS
DUE
06/03
Response Group B
06/10
Response Group A
ARES: Bryan-Wilson
“Some Kind of
Grace: An
Interview with
Miranda July”
ARES: Murphy
“Dream Logic and
Mulholland Dr.”
Screening:
Mulholland Dr.
(2001) 147 min.
SG: pp. 133-155
06/09
Blog Group B
ANNOTATED
BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE
Screening: Me and
You and Everyone
We Know (2005) 91
min.
Screening:
Pierrot le fou
(1965) 110 min.
06/13
06/02
06/14
Blog Group D
06/15
Response Group C
06/16
06/17
Wrap up
FTC: Stam and
Spence
“Colonialism,
Racism, and
Representation”
p. 751
FTC: Diawara “Black
Spectatorship”
p. 767
Screening:
Battle of Algiers
(1966) 121 min.
Screening: Do the
Right Thing (1989)
120 min.
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