Realm of Montage

Display Schedule

Code Completion Credits Range Language Instruction Semester
311REM exam 3 3 hours (45 min) of instruction per week, 48 to 63 hours of self-study English winter

Subject guarantor

Name of lecturer(s)

Bára KOPECKÁ

Contents

“Film is like a battlefield: love, hate, action, violence, death... in one word – emotion,” says Samuel Fuller playing himself in Godard’s Pierrot le fou.

We will study excerpts from well-known films and analyze how a particular montage style creates not only the esthetics but also emotional impact, certain philosophy and even a moral statement.

  1. love – E. g. L’ meprise, Pierrot le fou, In The Mood For Love, Damnation
  2. openings - E. g. We Need To Talk About Kevin, The Ecclipse, Death in Venice, 5th Rider Is Fear, Werckmeister Harmonies
  3. suicide – E. g. Muchette, Satan’s tango, Distant Journey, Solaris, A Zed And Two Noughts
  4. passion - E. g. Woman Of The Dunes, Last Tango In Paris, Arabian Nights, Fish Tank
  5. violence - E. g. Straw Dogs, L'argent, Throne of Blood, The Gospel According to St. Matthew
  6. use of architecture - E. g. L’avventura, Red Desert, The Belly of an Architect, L’ ecclise, Lost Highway
  7. the subconscious - E. g. Wild strawberries, Eraserhead. And use of voice over - E. g. La jetée, The Windows, H is for House, India Song
  8. rape - E. g. Dogville, The Accusation, A Clockwork Orange, Irreversible, Lilya 4 ever, Who’s That Knocking at My Door
  9. falling in love - E. g. 3-iron, Green Ray, Ida, Unrelated
  10. personification of Death: E. g. Seventh seal, All that jazz, The Cremator
  11. art of transcendence - E. g. Limits of control, Hana-Bi, La belle captive
  12. the metaphysical - E. g. Antichrist vs. Mirror Tarkovskij, Elisa vida mia

Learning outcomes

Deeper understanding of film language as it is expressed in remarkable montage sequences. A particular style of montage creates a specific language of emotions, and to be able to „speak it“ means to be able to make better films.

Prerequisites and other requirements

Open only to degree students.

Literature

Kovács, András Bálint. Screening modernism: European art cinema, 1950-1980 [online]. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ©2007. Cinema and modernity [cit. 2019-09-18].

Evaluation methods and criteria

Students will choose one typical emotional situation (fight, sex, death, falling in love, loneliness), and shoot and edit the same scene using two different editing methods. Since the students will be knowledgable about specific styles by the end of the semester, they should be able to pick two opposing strategies - E. g. Dogma 95 vs Bela Tarr, and use the assingment as a thoughtful study of various principles of editing with various impact on the audience.

The result will be two short sequences expressing the same emotion, each up to three minutes long and each done in a different cinema style.

It can be shot on an iPhone, technical quality is not important. What matters is the idea.

Note

Email: kopecka.bara@gmail.com

The subject is not taught every year. The subject is taught at least once every three academic years.

Further information

This course is an elective for all AMU students

Schedule for winter semester 2023/2024:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

Schedule for summer semester 2023/2024:

06:00–08:0008:00–10:0010:00–12:0012:00–14:0014:00–16:0016:00–18:0018:00–20:0020:00–22:0022:00–24:00
Mon
room 107
Room No. 1
(Lažanský palác)
KOPECKÁ B.
14:50–17:15
(lecture parallel1)
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Date Day Time Tutor Location Notes No. of paralel
Mon 14:50–17:15 Bára KOPECKÁ Room No. 1
Lažanský palác		 lecture parallel1

The subject is a part of the following study plans