ANALYZE THIS! - Syllabus (sem. 2 – 2019-2020)
I. (31 January) – INTRO AND “PRIMITIVE” CINEMA
II. (07 February) – SILENT CINEMA / EARLY MONTAGE FILMS SCREENED: Selection of Lumières and Meliès films (1895 –1902) Sherlock Jr. (1924) – Buster Keaton
Optional viewing: Chess Fever (1925) – A. Pudovkin
READING: FILM ART: Framing: pp. 177-178 Traditions and Movements in Film History: pp. 455-463 Soviet Montage: pp. 470-473
Optional reading: W. Benjamin: "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”
III. (14 February) – MISE EN SCENE FILMS SCREENED: Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) – Vincente Minnelli Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) – Wes Anderson
Optional viewing: The Shining (1980) – Stanley Kubrick All that Heaven Allows (1955) – Douglas Sirk La ronde (1950) – Max Ophüls
READING: FA: Mise-en-Scène pp. 112-131, 140-141, 143-149 “Meet Me in St. Louis” p. 441-446
IV. (28 February) – CAMERA FILMS SCREENED: All the President’s Men (1976) – Alan J. Pakula Visions of Light (1992) – Todd McCarthy, Arnold Glassman
Optional viewing: 8 ½ (1963) – Federico Fellini Days of Heaven (1978) – Terrence Malick Les amours imaginaires (2010) – Xavier Dolan
READING: FA: 159 to mid-164 (165 optional – for all fans of the Lord of the Rings movies), 168-178, 181-194
V. (06 March) – MONTAGE FILMS SCREENED: Raging Bull (1980) – Martin Scorsese Ivan’s Childhood (1962) – Andrei Tarkovsky
Optional viewing: Man with a Movie Camera (1929) – Dziga Vertov I Am Cuba (1964) – Mikhail Kalatozov
READING: FA: TBD
VI. (13 March) – SOUND (Shot-by-shot analysis DUE) FILMS SCREENED: The Conversation (1974) – Francis Ford Coppola The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) – Paul Greengrass
Optional viewing: Blow Out (1981) – Brian de Palma M (1931) – Fritz Lang
READING: FA: Chapter 7 (263-302) The Conversations (Murch, Ondaatje): TBD
VII. (20 March) – SCRIPT / GENRE / NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES FILMS SCREENED: Psycho (1960) – Alfred Hitchcock The Searchers (1956) – John Ford
Optional viewing: Pulp Fiction (1997) – Q. Tarantino The Player (1992) – Robert Altman The Dark Night (2008) – Christopher Nolan
READING: FA: 72-110 The Art of Filmmaking (McKendrick): TBD
VIII. (27 March) – NON-NARRATIVE FILMS (AVANT-GARDE / DOCUMENTARY) FILMS SCREENED: Las hurdes (1933) – Luis Buñuel Triumph of the Will (excerpt) (1935) – Leni Riefenstahl The Thin Blue Line (1998) – Errol Morris Dots / Loops (1940) – Norman McLaren Free Radicals (1958) – Len Lye Mothlight (1963) – Stan Brakhage
Optional viewing: Gray Gardens (1975) – Maysles Brothers
READING: FA: TBD
IX. (03 April) – NOUVELLE VAGUE FILMS SCREENED: Les 400 Coups (1959) – François Truffaut À bout de souffle (1960) – Jean-Luc Godard
Optional viewing: Une femme est une femme (1961) – Jean-Luc Godard Antoine et Colette (1962) – François Truffaut La boulangère de Monceau (1962) – Eric Rohmer
READING: FA: 418-420
X. (10 April) – WOMEN IN CINEMA: FILMS SCREENED: Adam’s Rib (1949) – George Cukor Jackie Brown (1997) – Quentin Tarantino
Optional viewing: The Philadelphia Story (1940) – George Cukor Ms. 45 (1981) – Abel Ferrara
READING: “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” by Laura Mulvey
XI. (17 April) – MAKE YOUR OWN FILMS FILMS SCREENED: Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991) – Eleanor Coppola, George Hickenlooper Singin’ in the Rain (1952) – Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen
XII. (24 April) – PROJECTION & PRESENTATIONS (Written film analysis DUE) Screening: in-class
Breakdown of marks: 20% participation (point every time you speak in class) 30% Shot-by-shot analysis 15% presentation of readings 15% presentation of own film 20% written film analysis