Focus on Film History and Theory 2

Display Schedule

Subject guarantor

Petra DOMINKOVÁ

Name of lecturer(s)

Petra DOMINKOVÁ

Department

The subject provides FAMU International

Contents

Course Contents: The main aim of the course is to prepare the CDM students to their state exam from film history and theory, therefore its content overlaps with the state exam questions. During the spring term, the following themes (and questions) will be covered:

1. Classical Hollywood Cinema and the stabilization of genres
2. New Hollywood: its historical context and consequences
3. Types of Montage (Eisenstein typology; Christian Metz; continuity vs. discontinuity editing)
4. Sound: types and functions
5. The concept of avant-garde cinema: past, present, and future
6. Various modes of production and distribution in history and nowadays
7. Television, its development, and formats

Schedule:

Feb-28 (Georgy Bagdasarov )

1. Types of Montage (Eisenstein typology; Christian Metz; continuity vs. discontinuity editing)

Mar-28 (Petra Dominkova)

1. The concept of avant-garde cinema: past, present, and future

Apr-4 (Jakub Kudláč)

1. Sound: types and functions

Apr-11 (Petra Dominkova)

1. Classical Hollywood Cinema and the stabilization of genres
2. New Hollywood: its historical context and consequences
3. Various modes of production and distribution in history and nowadays (production part)

May-9 (Ondřej Zach)

1. Various modes of production and distribution in history and nowadays (distribution part)
2. Television, its development, and formats

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will:

• Define certain trends in the history of the documentary and explain the “modes” as defined by Bill Nichols.
• Define avant-garde cinema and explain the various “types” of experimental filmmaking.
• Analyse sound and editing of any film and explain its peculiarities.
• Understand the vocabulary connected with the sound and editing.
• Explain various modes of production.
• Discuss the realistic trends in the history and nowadays.
• Discuss TV and its development.

Prerequisites and other requirements

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Literature

BAZIN, André. What Is Cinema? Montreal: Caboose, 2009. Print.

BERNARD, Sheila Curran. Documentary Storytelling. New York: Routledge, 2015.

BORDWELL, David, THOMPSON, Kristin. Film Art: An Introduction. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2010. Print.

BORDWELL, David, THOMPSON, Kristin. Film History: An Introduction. The McGraw Hill Higher Education, International Edition, 2003. Print.

BORDWELL, David. On the history of film style. 2nd printing. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999. x, 322 s.

CALDWELL, John Thornton. Production Culture. Industrial Reflexivity and Critical Practice in Film and Television. Duke University Press Books, 2008.

COOK, David A. A History of Narrative Film. New York: W. W. Norton, 2016. Print.

DANCYGER, Ken. The Technique of Film and Video Editing. Routledge, 2010.

HAYWARD, Susan. Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print.

CHION, Michel. Audio-vision : sound on screen. New York: Columbia University, 1994. 239 s.

KOZLOFF, Sarah. Invisible Storytellers: Voice-Over Narration in American Fiction Film. University of California Press, 1989. Print.

KOZLOFF, Sarah. Overhearing Film Dialogue. Ewing, NJ: University of California Press, 2000. Print.

LEGRICE, Malcolm. Abstract Film and Beyond. London: MIT Press, 1977.

Movies and Methods. Ed. NICHOLS, Bill. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1976 (vol. 1 + vol. 2). Print.

NICHOLS, Bill. Introduction to Documentary. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2001.

PETERSON, James. Dreams of Chaos, Visions of Order: Understanding the American Avant-Garde Cinema. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1994.

REISZ, Karel. The Technique of Film Editing. New York: Routledge, 2009.

SONNENSCHEIN, David. Sound design: the expressive power of music, voice, and sound effects in cinema. Studio City: Michael Wiese Production, 2001. 243 s. ISBN 97-8-0941188-26-5

SITNEY, P. Adams. Visionary Film. The American Avant-Garde, 1943 – 2000. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

VERTOV, Dziga. Kino-Eye: The Writings of Dziga Vertov. University of California Press, 1984. Print.

Evaluation methods and criteria

Class Attendance: The students are expected to attend all classes. If a student is sick or has another duty (e.g. needs to be present on the shooting), s/he needs to apologize to the professor ahead, otherwise, the absence is treated as unexcused. 75% presence on the class is required and a student may not pass the class if the absences (whether excused or unexcused) exceed 25%.

Class Participation: Participation in the class discussion will be significantly taken into account in the final grade. Participation means a meaningful contribution in the classroom, utilizing the resources and materials presented to students as part of the course. Students are required to actively, meaningfully and thoughtfully contribute to class discussions and all types of in-class activities throughout the duration of the class. Meaningful contribution requires students to be prepared, as directed, in advance of each class session. Particularly, students will read the text(s) required for each lesson. All students will be ready to discuss the readings in the class. Lively discussion is expected. Students are expected to ask clarification questions if they cannot follow the instructor’s or other students’ line of thought or argumentation.

The professors may ask students to fulfill the partial assignment.

Note

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Schedule for winter semester 2024/2025:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

Schedule for summer semester 2024/2025:

• Week view
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The subject is a part of the following study plans

• Cinema and Digital Media - Directing (Required subjects with the possibility of repeat registration)