Mission College – Cinema 3 Fall 2011 Prof. María Elena de las Carreras
Weekly Assignments
These weekly assignments should be completed before the beginning of each class. They should be typed, double-spaced, and properly presented. In the left-hand upper corner, please include your name, course, week number and date.
They will be turned in at the end of the semester. They are not individually graded, but the grade for participation in class will reflect the quality of the work handed in.
Week 2 – September 8, 2011
Utilizing the textbook or any reference work available through the college library databases, write one paragraph about the importance of D.W. Griffith in the history of cinema. Cite your source in a scholarly manner.
Week 3 – September 15, 2011
Utilizing the textbook or any reference work available in the library, describe the narrative structure of “Intolerance” (1916), directed by D.W.Griffith. Write no more than two paragraphs.
Come to class prepared to discuss the importance of Sergei Eisenstein in film history. You can write a paragraph, or outline what you have researched. In both cases, make a note of the source.
Week 4 – September 22, 2011
Find a definition of German Expressionism, in any online or print encyclopedia.
Bring to class a printout of the article on M (1931, Fritz Lang) available through the online version of the International Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers, one of the databases of the Gale Virtual Reference Library, from the Mission College Library. Check with a librarian if you cannot find it on your own.
Week 5 – September 29, 2011
Using a dictionary, print or online, define ‘gag’ and ‘slapstick’.
1 Bring to class a printout of the article on either Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton or Harold Lloyd available through the online version of the International Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers, a source you should have become acquainted with last week.
Week 7 – October 13, 2011
1. In no more than two pages, outline chapter four of the textbook (the studio system, the coming of sound and the Depression).
2. Come to class prepared to respond to the following questions: 1. How did the studio system cope with the technology of sound? 2. To fend off federal and state intervention, what did the studios do? 3. How did the Depression affect Hollywood?
Week 8 – October 20, 2011
1. Re-read chapter four and come to class prepared to discuss how the studio system responded to the war effort between 1939 and 1945.
2. Find an article on Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941) using the Gale Virtual Reference Library. Read it, underline what you consider to be the key points and bring it to class.
3. Look up in any reference book – print or online – the definition of ‘continuity editing’ and bring it to class. Avoid using Wikipedia.
4. Use Proquest Newspapers – a database available through the Mission College library – and download or print out a review of You’ve Got Mail (1998, dir. Nora Ephron).
Week 9 – October 27, 2011
1. Using chapter 4 of the textbook and the history of cinema posted in the class website (if necessary), list the eight key studios of the classic era. Find at least five filmmakers who worked in each of them, and list five films produced by those studios.
2. Using the Gale Virtual Reference Library, find a biography of Orson Welles, read it and bring it to class – electronically or in a hard copy. Be prepared to discuss the importance of Orson Welles in the history of cinema as well as the most notable technical aspects of Citizen Kane.
3. Using the class textbook, make an outline of chapter 6, but only in reference to Italian Neorealism.
2 Week 11 – November 10, 2011
1. List the key filmmakers and films of the French New Wave, discussed in chapter eight, pp.239-255.
2. In no more than one page, outline the main characteristics of the French New Wave.
Week 12 – November 17, 2011
1. Come to class prepared to discuss the origins and impact of the Hollywood Blacklist in the 1950s. Locate the topic in the course textbook and outline the content.
2. Using Proquest Newspapers, available through the college library, find an article discussing the 50th anniversary of A bout de souffle (Breathless), directed by Jean-Luc Godard in 1959. Come to class prepared to discuss the importance of this film according to the article you found.
3. Using the Gale Virtual Reference Library database, print out an article discussing Rashomon (1950, Japan), directed by Akira Kurosawa.
Week 14 – December 1, 2011
Using the Gale Virtual Reference Library database, print out an article on Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel. Read it, and make a list of ten key points regarding his style and recurrent themes.
Week 15 – December 8, 2011
1. Make an outline of chapter 10, “The New Hollywood”, including key directors and films.
2. Read Sam Adam’s article on Woody Allen and his legacy, published in the Los Angeles Times on December 1, 2011, “After ‘Midnight’”. Bring the article to class (a printout or the article itself).
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