Course Schedule

Week 1

Wednesday, 1/15- Course Introduction

Review Syllabus, Class Assignments, Readings, Viewings, Policies

In-Class Screening: from Fred Ott’s Sneeze (1894), Immigrants (1917), High Noon (1952), The Shining (1980), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Friday, 1/17- The History of Film/How to understand film

Why study the history of film? How do films “make” meanings?

Readings:

Mast & Kawin pp. 1-14

Kasden &Tavernetti pp. 1-13

In-Class Screening: from Stand by Me (1986)

Week 2

Monday, 1/20- No Class

Wednesday, 1/22- Pre-cinema, Early Cinema & Narrative

Screen on your own: Arrival of a Train (1895), The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (1895), & A Trip to the Moon (1902) (links on course website)

Readings:

Mast & Kawin pp. 15-41

Friday, 1/24- Visual theory & Elements of Meaning

Readings:

Kasden & Tavernetti pp. 15-30

In Class Screening: from The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Week 3

Monday, 1/27- Visual theory & The Camera Eye

Readings:

Kasden & Tavernetti pp. 31-56

In Class Screening: from Psycho (1960)

Assignments Due: Response Paper 1

Wednesday, 1/29- The Camera Eye cont…

Readings:

Kasdan & Tavernetti pp. 56-67

In Class Screening: from Psycho (1960)

Friday, 1/31- Mise-en-scéne & Narrative Structures

Readings:

Kasdan & Tavernetti pp. 69-81

Screen on your own: Touch of Evil (1958)

Week 4

Monday, 2/3- Mise-en-scéne & Narrative Structures cont…

Readings:

Kasdan & Tavernetti pp. 82-96

Assignment Due: Note-taking Exercise 1

  

Wednesday, 2/5 - Mise-en-scéne & Narrative Structures cont…

Screen on your own: The Great Train Robbery (1903) (link on course website)

Friday, 2/7- Classical Continuity & Editing

Readings:

Mast & Kawin pp. 42-62

Screen on your own: Birth of a Nation (1915) (link on course website: only selected time listed—Do NOT watch the entire film.)

Week 5

Monday, 2/10- Classical Continuity & Editing cont…

Readings:

Kasdan & Tavernetti pp.97-112

In-Class Screening: from Rear Window (1954)

Assignment Due: Note-taking Exercise 2 & Response 2

Wednesday, 2/12- Classical Continuity & Editing cont…
Readings: Review Kasdan & Tavernetti pp. 39-68
In-Class Screening: from Touch of Evil (1958)

Friday, 2/14- Touch of Evil (1958) cont...
Readings: Review Kasdan & Tavernetti pp. 69-112, Film Noir (link in "Readings" tab)
In-Class Screening: from Touch of Evil (1958)

Week 6

Monday, 2/17 - Silent Comedy, Chaplin

Readings: Mast & Kawin pp. 63-70

In-Class Screening: from Modern Times (1936) & The Tramp (1915)

Wednesday, 2/19-Silent Documentary

Readings: Mast & Kawin pp. 92-94, "Defining the Documentary Film" (link in the "Readings" tab.)

In-Class Screening: from Nanook of the North (1922)

Friday, 2/21- Expressionism

Readings: Mast & Kawin pp. 104-110, Expressionism, German Expressionism (links in "Readings" tab)

Screen on your own: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) (link available on course website)

Week 7

Monday, 2/24- Structuralism

Readings:

Mast & Kawin pp. 120-133, Structuralism (links in "Readings" tab)

In-Class Screening: from Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Wednesday, 2/26- Surrealism

Readings:

Mast & Kawin pp. 145-151, Surrealism (link in "Readings" tab)

View: The Persistance of Memory (1931), Salvador Dali and Broken Column (1944), Frida Khalo (links in "Images" tab)

In-Class Screening: from Un Chien Andalou (1929)
Assignment Due: Note-Taking Exercise 3 & Response 3

Friday, 2/28- Sound

Readings:

Mast & Kawin pp. 137-144

Screen on your own: The Skeleton Dance (1929) (link available on course website)

Week 8

Monday, 3/3- Sound Cont…

Readings:

Kasdan & Tavernetti pp. 113-128

In Class Screening: from Touch of Evil (1958)

End of Material for Mid-Term Exam

Wednesday, 3/5- The Studio & the Auteur, John Ford

Readings:

Mast & Kawin pp. 161-185

In-Class Screenings: from The Searchers (1956)

Friday 3/7- The Auteur, John Ford cont…

In-Class Screenings: from My Darling Clementine (1946)

Assignment Due: Note-taking Exercise 4 & Response 4

Week 9

Monday, 3/10-Hitchcock

Readings:

Mast & Kawin pp.186-189, 212-215

Screen on your own: Rear Window(1954)

Wednesday, 3/12-Hitchcock continued…

Readings: Review for Mid-Term

In-Class Screenings: from Rope (1948) & Vertigo (1958)

Assignment Due: Note-taking Exercise 5 & Response 5

Friday, 3/14- Mid-Term Exam

Week 10

Monday, 3/24- High Noon

 Readings:Mast & Kawin pp. 207-210

Screen on your own: High Noon (1952)

Wednesday, 3/26- High Noon continued…

Readings: The Western  (link on course website)

Assignment Due: Note-Taking Exercise 6 & Response 6

Friday, 3/28- High Noon continued...

Week 11

Monday, 3/31- High Noon continued...Thesis Workshop
Readings: Thesis Statements Purdue, Thesis Statements UNC, Arguments,Outlines Video, Introductions, Paragraphs

Wednesday, 4/2- Nouvell Vague & Jean-Luc Godard

Readings: Mast & Kawin pp. 220-247

In-Class Screenings: from Contempt (1963) and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967)

Assignment Due: Note-Taking Exercise 7 & Response 7

Friday, 4/4- Hollywood Renaissance: 1964-1976, The Country

Readings:Mast & Kawin pp. 291-312

In-Class Screenings: from Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Week 12

Monday, 4/7- Hollywood Renaissance: 1964-1976, The City

In Class Screenings: from Taxi Driver (1976)
Assignment Due: First Draft of High Noon Analysis Essay

Wednesday 4/9- Kubrick

Readings: Mast & Kawin pp.296-307

In Class Screenings: from The Shining (1980)

Friday, 4/11- Lynch

Readings:Mast & Kawin pp.355-357

In-Class Screenings: from Mulholland Drive (2001)

Week 13

Monday, 4/14- The New Internationalism, Spain & Mexico

Readings: Mast & Kawin pp. 339-342

In-Class Screenings: Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) & Talk to Her (2002)

Wednesday 4/16-The Return of Myths…

Readings:

Mast & Kawin pp: 346-360, Campbell video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSWcIcOcDvU

Screen on your own: Star Wars (1977)

Assignment Due: Note-Taking Exercise 8 & Response 8

Friday 4/18-No Class (Peer Writing Groups)
English 2388-001 Peer Writing Groups
English 2388-002 Peer Writing Groups 

Week 14

Monday, 4/21- No Class

Wednesday, 4/23- Myths continued… Star Wars & Archetypes

Readings: Mast & Kawin pp. 360-372, Jung reading (on course website in "Readings" tab.)

Assignment Due: Note-Taking Exercise 9 & Response 9

Friday, 4/25: Native American Cinema
Screen on your own: Reel Injun (2009), Smoke Signals (1998)

Week 15

Monday, 4/28 Chicano/a Cinema

Readings: Gregory Nava Interview (on course website in "Readings" tab.)

Screen on your own: El Norte (1983)

Assignment Due: Note-Taking Exercise 10 & Response 10

Wednesday, 4/30 Post-Modernism, Quentin Tarantino

Screen on your own: Pulp Fiction (1994)

Friday, 5/2 Conglomerates, Video, and Cult Followings

Readings: 

Mast & Kawin pp. 373-389

In-Class Screenings: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) & Clerks (1994)

Week 16

Monday, 5/5 Digital Cinema

Readings:

Mast & Kawin pp. 390-415

In-Class Screenings: from Wall-E (2008)

Assignment Due: Final Draft of High Noon Analysis Essay

End of Material for Final Exam

Final Exam
2388-001: Thursday, May 8th, 7:30am-10:00am
2388-002: Monday, May 12th, 1:30pm-4:00pm