Film Style and Form

Subject guarantor:

Petra DOMINKOVÁ

Name of lecturer(s):

Petra DOMINKOVÁ

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

Students adopt stylistic aspects of mise-en-scene in the history of world cinema.

Mode of study:

Lecture

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

No

Recommended optional programme components:

No

Course contents:

The course will focus on the film style and form (FALL 2012: mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing; SPRING 2013: sound, narration) partly based on the readings of the book Film Art: An Introduction by David Bordwell and Kritstin Thompson. We will discuss the means of film style and form and how they present themselves in a dozen of great films from various epochs and countries. Disclosure of possible meanings and interpretation of them is the aim of the course.

During the sessions students will watch the films in their entirety (English version or subtitled); short extracts illustrating particular topics will also be screened. The discussions in which we can exchange the ideas and experiences are important part of each lesson. Students should ask anything that is not clear enough, bring their own ideas and participate actively in the whole course.

NB „Film Form and Style“ will be open also during Spring 2013, however, the focus of Spring term will be on sound and narration, therefore the students may take the class both terms.

Recommended or required reading:

Readings:

David Bordwell - Kristin Thompson: Film Art. An Introduction. (International Edition.) McGraw-Hill, 2010.

Noel Burch: Theory of Film Practice. Princeton University Press 1981, pp. 17 - 31.

Charles H. Harpole, „Ideological and Technological Determinism in Deep Space Cinema Images: Issues in Ideology, Technological History and Aesthetics.“ Film Quarterly 33, no. 3 (Spring 1980), pp. 11-22.

Brian Henderson: Toward a non-bourgeois camera style. In Movies and Methods ed. by Bill Nichols. University of California Press 1976 (vol. 1), pp. 422 - 438.

Ruth Hottell, „Including Ourselves: The Role of Female Spectators in Agnes Varda´s Le Bonheur and L´Une Chante, l´autre pas.,“ Cinema Journal 38, no. 2 (Winter 1999), pp. 52 - 71.

Negar Mottahedeh: Displaced Allegories: Post-Revolutionary Iranian Cinema. Duke University 2008, pp- 157 - 168.

James Naremore: Acting in Cinema. University of California Press 1992, pp. 131 - 156.

Janey Place - Lowell Peterson: Some Visual Motifs of Film Noir. In Movies and Methods ed. by Bill Nichols. University of California Press 1976 (vol. 1), pp. 325 - 338.

Joan Ockman: Architecture in a mode of distraction: Eight takes on Jacques Tati´s Playtime. In Architecture and film, ed. by Mark Lamster, Princeton Architectural Press, 2000, pp. 171 - 196.

Mitchell Schwarzer: The consuming landscape: Architecture in the films of Michelangelo Antonioni. In Architecture and film, ed. by Mark Lamster, Princeton Architectural Press, 2000, pp. 197 - 215.

George Turner, „The Astonishing Images of I am Cuba,“ American Cinematographer July 1995, pp. 77 - 82.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods:

No

Assessment methods and criteria:

Quizzes: 10 questions

We will begin each lesson by short quiz containing one question that will test the understanding of the readings assigned and/or the familiarity with the subject discussed the previous lesson. When the student is absent s/he will get one more chance to fill out the quiz from the lesson s/he missed. There will be altogether 10 questions in the quizzes.

Mid-term essay: 1 000 words

Due date: 6 November 2012

Students will receive recommended topics for the paper two weeks before it is due. Papers may be delivered to the professor by email. Due date is not flexible. If a student must request an extension, s/he has to do it before the paper is due. All sources (films, books, articles, interviews, websites, etc.) have to be cited. Any time the student quotes or paraphrases someone else?s work s/he has to give her/him credit, otherwise it is consider plagiarism and will result in failing from this assignment and may also cause failing from the overall class.

Final essay: 1 to 3 pages

Students will write in class essay about the short film(s)/clip(s) that will be shown on the spot. That is, the film (or part thereof) will be shown and students will write a paper in the class, immediately after the screening.

Date: 18 December 2012.

Grading will be based on four aspects:

Quizees: 20%/ Midterm Essay: 20% / Final Essay: 30% /Participation in discussion: 30%

Course web page:

Note:

petra.dominkova@gmail.com

Detailed syllabus available upon request in FAMU International office.

Further information:

This course is an elective for all students of this school

Schedule for winter semester 2012/2013:

	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	místnost 207 Učebna 2 (Lažanský palác) DOMINKOVÁ P. 18:10–21:25 (přednášková par. 1)
Fri

Date	Day	Time	Tutor	Location	Notes	No. of paralel
	Thu	18:10–21:25	DOMINKOVÁ P.	Učebna 2 Lažanský palác		přednášková par. 1

Schedule for summer semester 2012/2013:

	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	místnost 241 Učebna 3 (Lažanský palác) DOMINKOVÁ P. 18:10–21:25 (přednášková par. 1)
Thu
Fri

Date	Day	Time	Tutor	Location	Notes	No. of paralel
	Fri	18:10–21:25	DOMINKOVÁ P.	Učebna 3 Lažanský palác		přednášková par. 1

The subject is a part of the following study plans:

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