Landscape and City in the Czech Cinema

Course unit code:

311LCC

Course unit title:

Mode of delivery:

zkouška

Range:

2/T

Type of course unit:

Study plan Cinema and Digital Media - Cinematography – compulsory subject
Study plan Cinema and Digital Media - Screenwriting – compulsory subject
Study plan Cinema and Digital Media - Directing – compulsory subject

Level of course unit:

Year of study

Study plan Cinema and Digital Media - Cinematography – 1st year
Study plan Cinema and Digital Media - Screenwriting – 1st year
Study plan Cinema and Digital Media - Directing – 1st year

Semester when the course unit is delivered

letní

Number of ECTS credits allocated:

Garant předmětu:

Petra DOMINKOVÁ

Name of lecturer(s):

Petra DOMINKOVÁ

Study Objectives:

By the end of the course the student will be able to:

- define the most common settings in the Czech Cinema

- explain which significance they have

- analyze a film of interest based on the reading from the variety of the subjects

Mode of delivery:

Seminar

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

None

Recommended optional programme components

Course contents:

The aim of the course is to discuss the setting of the Czech cinema - particularly the landscape and the city - and to explain how applying the studies from the various subjects (architecture, environmentalism, philosophy etc.) might be helpful for understanding the role that settings fulfills. Students will discuss Czech and Slovak films from different epochs (since 1930s) and examine the meaning of city/country/nature that those films present.

Study materials:

REQUIRED READING:

All readings will be delivered in PDF or DOC files

Bachelard, Gaston. The Poetics of Space. Boston: Beacon Press, 1994, 3-37.

(Will be dicussed with Ecstasy February 17)

Rolston, Holmes. ?Aesthetic Experience in Forests? Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 56, no. 2 (1998): 157-166. + Pollio, Howard R.; Anderson, John; Levasseur, Priscilla; Thweatt, Michael. ?Cultural meanings of nature: an analysis of contemporary motion pictures?, The Journal of Psychology 137, no. 2 (March 2003): 117-132.

(Will be dicussed with Couch to Vienna)

Foucault, Michel. ?Of Other Spaces?, Diacritics 16, no. 1. (Spring 1986): 22-27.

(Will be dicussed with Garden)

Wilson, Edward O., ?Biophilia and the Conservation Ethic? In The Biophilia Hypothesis, edited by S. R. Kellert, E. . Wilson. 31-41. Washington D.C., Covelo (California): Island Press, 1993. + Ulrich, Roger S., ?Biophilia, Biophobia, and Natural Landscapes?. In The Biophilia Hypothesis edited by S. R. Kellert, E. . Wilson. 73-137. (Extracts). Washington D.C., Covelo (California): Island Press, 1993..

(Will be dicussed with Sunshine in the Net)

Grosz, Elizabeth, ?Bodies-Cities?. In Places through the body, edited by Heidi Nast, Steve Pile, 31-38. Routledge, 1998.

(Will be dicussed with Girlie)

Webb, Michael. ?The City in Film?, Design Quarterly 136 (1987): 1-32.

(Will be dicussed with Gnome)

Vidler, Anthony, ?The Explosion of Space: Architecture and the Filmic Imaginary? In Film Architecture: From Metropols to Blade Runner, edited by Dietrich Neumann, 13-25. Munich, London, New York: Prestell Verlag, 1999.

(Will be dicussed with Prefabstory)

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Assessment methods and criteria

Course Requirements:

Class Attendance and Participation: I expect students to attend all classes. Students will read the texts required for each lesson and discuss them in the class. Lively discussion is expected. Students should ask anything that is not clear enough, bring their own ideas, and participate actively in the program of the course. Participation and contribution to class discussion will be taken significantly into account in the final grade. Excessive unexcused absences result in lowering of the final grade!

Three short papers 1: Each student will turn in three short papers (each will have 2 pages, i.e. 700 words) that will analyse the assigned film AND the reading. It is up to the student himself/herself which films and readings s/he will write about: there will be always 2-3 films/readins to choose from. Due: Mar 10/Apr 07/May 05

Presentation: A presentation based on the film/reading: Each student will take turns leading the discussion about each second class about the film we watched. This involves bringing a handout for each student (plus me) and creating discussion questions for the group. The goal is to get us talking about how the film depits urban/rural/natural life.

Final essay (4 pages minimum, i.e. 1.400 words): On a chosen topic that corresponds to the material covered in the course; the usage of one obligatory reading is expected; the presentation (Apr-28) of a final project creates 10% of the final essay grade. The topic of the paper must be different than topics of three short papers, however, the student may write about the film s/he presented on. Due: May 12

Grading Table available on request (or in syllabus)

Assessment and final grade:

The course grade will be calculated as follows:

Participation in discussions (20%) = 200 points

Short papers (each 10%) = 300 points: 100 points for each paper (according the scale above)

Presentation (20%) = 200 points (all students will participate in the assessment of the presentation based on a film)

Final essay (30%) = 300 points (according the scale above)

altogether: 100% = 1000 points

Language of instruction:

English

Work placement(s):

Pracovní stáž není u tohoto předmětu zavedena.

Course web page:

Note:

Weekly schedule for sprin 2011:

Week 1 [Thu, Feb-10]

Theme: Introduction + basic terms

- terms: space, place, landscape etc.

- phenomenology of space

- house vs. home

Week 2 [Thu, Feb-17]

Discussion: Ecstasy (Extáze, Gustav Machatý, 1932, 87?, b&w)

Reading: Bachelard, Gaston. The Poetics of Space. Boston: Beacon Press, 1994, 3-37.

Week 3 [Thu, Feb-24]

Theme: Natural environment

Reading: Rolston, Holmes. ?Aesthetic Experience in Forests,? Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 56, no. 2 (1998): 157-166. + Pollio, Howard R.; Anderson, John; Levasseur, Priscilla; Thweatt, Michael. ?Cultural meanings of nature: an analysis of contemporary motion pictures,? The Journal of Psychology 137, no. 2 (March 2003): 117-132.

- workshop: the natural locations and its significance

- What does forest 1 connotate?

Week 4 [Thu, Mar-03]

Discussion: Couch to Vienna (Kočár do Vídně, Karel Kachyňa, 1966, 85?, b&w)

Week 5 [Thu, Mar-10]

Theme: Rural environment

Reading: Foucault, Michel. ?Of Other Spaces,? Diacritics 16, no. 1. (Spring 1986): 22-27.

- garden and its meaning

- countryside

- heterotopias

Week 6 [Thu, Mar-17]

Discussion: Garden (Záhrada, Martin Šulík, 1995, 99?, color)

Week 7 [Thu, Mar-24]

Theme: Rural vs. urban environment

Reading: Wilson, Edward O., ?Biophilia and the Conservation Ethic.? In The Biophilia Hypothesis, edited by S. R. Kellert, E. . Wilson. 31-41. Washington D.C., Covelo (California): Island Press, 1993. + Ulrich, Roger S., ?Biophilia, Biophobia, and Natural Landscapes?. In The Biophilia Hypothesis edited by S. R. Kellert, E. . Wilson. 73-137. (Extracts). Washington D.C., Covelo (California): Island Press, 1993.

- differences between countryside and city

Week 8 [Thu, Mar-31]

Discussion: Sunshine in the Net (Slnkol v sieti, Štefan Uher, 1962, 90?, b&w)

Week 9 [Thu, Apr-07]

Theme: City

Reading: Grosz, Elizabeth, ?Bodies-Cities.? In Places through the body, edited by Heidi Nast, Steve Pile, 31-38. Routledge, 1998.

- cinematic city

- bodies in the cities: the mutual inspiration

Week 10 [Thu, Apr-14]

Discussion: Girlie (Děvčátko, Benjamin Tuček, 2002, 83?, color)

Week 11 [Thu, Apr-21]

Discussion: Gnome (Skřítek, Tomáš Vorel, 2005, 90?, color)

Reading: Webb, Michael. ?The City in Film,? Design Quarterly 136 (1987): 1-32.

Week 12 [Thu, Apr-28]

Discussion: Prefabstory (Panelstory, Věra Chytilová, 1979, 96?, color)

Reading: Vidler, Anthony, ?The Explosion of Space: Architecture and the Filmic Imaginary.? In Film Architecture: From Metropols to Blade Runner, edited by Dietrich Neumann, 13-25. Munich, London, New York: Prestell Verlag, 1999.

Week 13 [Thu, May-05]

Theme: Class discussion about the final papers

Week 14 [Thu, May-12]

Theme: Final Discussion

- what did (not) we learn

Schedule for winter semester 2010/2011:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

Schedule for summer semester 2010/2011:

	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
Tue
Fri
Thu
Fri

The subject is a part of the following study plans:

Cinema and Digital Media - Cinematography (qualification subject)
Cinema and Digital Media - Screenwriting (qualification subject)
Cinema and Digital Media - Directing (qualification subject)