European Film Analysis

Subject guarantor:

Marek BOUDA

Name of lecturer(s):

Marek BOUDA

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

The course will push students to realize that the present ordinary and often awarded cinema lacks numerous aesthetic values and narrative possibilities that these directors have formulated in their use of cinematic language.

Mode of study:

screening, discussion

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

No

Recommended optional programme components:

No

Course contents:

The central task of this class is to understand the fundamental values of European directors who created milestone films in the history of cinema. These works constitute what we can call a „narration of solitaries“ - meaning a very specific, unorthodox and sophisticated approach to a film, its language and theme. We will appreciate the kind of cinema which is not just entertainment but so called ?art??the art which is nearly forgotten and unfortunately, often difficult for the present spectator to understand. In decoding these works we will point to the transcendental qualities of such art.

The course will consist of screenings from the works of Godard, Antonioni, Bresson, Tarkovsky, ... I will then discuss the works based on an analysis of language, narration, theme, form, poetics, aesthetics etc of the representative films. I will also mention the personal approaches of these filmmakers to direction and art in general. I will not hide that my taste is subjective, and the subjective approach of the student will be welcomed as well.

Recommended or required reading:

Peter Hames: The Czechoslovak New Wave

www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/bergman.html

www.ingmarbergman.se

www.bergmanorama.com/home.htm

- P. & K.French: Wild Strawberries

BFI, London 1995

- William Arrowsmith, Ted Perry (Editor)

Antonioni: The Poet of Images

Oxford University Press, 1995

- Peter Brunette, Ray Carney

The Films of Michelangelo Antonioni (Cambridge Film Classics)

Cambridge University Press, 1998

- Seymour Benjamin Chatman

Antonioni, or, the Surface of the World

University of California Press, 1985

- Seymour Chatman, Paul Duncan

Michelangelo Antonioni

Taschen, 2004

- Michelangelo Antonioni Interviews, University Press of Mississippi, 2008

- Michelangelo Antonioni The Architecture of Vision ? writins and interviews on cinema, University of Chicago Press, 2007

- David Sterritt

The Films of Jean-Luc Godard

Cambridge University Press 1999

- W.W. Dixon

The Films of Jean-Luc Godard

State University of New York 1997

- David Sterritt (editor)

Jean-Luc Godard - Interviews

University Press of Mississippi

- Godard on Godard

Da Capo Press 1972

- Richard Roud

Jean-Luc Godard

Thames and Hudson 1970

- Bruce F. Kawin

Mindscreen ? Bergman, Godard, and First-Person Film

Princeton University Press 1978

- Robert Bresson

Notes on the Cinematographer

Green Integer Books 1997

- Joseph Cunneen

Robert Bresson ? A Spiritual Style in Film

Continuum 2003

- Keith Reader

Robert Bresson

Manchester University Press 2000

- James Quandt (editor)

Robert Bresson

Toronto, Cinematheque Ontario 1998

- Natasha Synessios

Mirror

I. B. Tauris, London - New York 2001

-Andrei Tarkovsky (Pocket Essentials)

by Sean Martin

- Sculpting in Time: Reflections on the Cinema by Andrey A. Tarkovsky and

Kitty Hunter Blair

Faber&Faber London 1989

- The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky: A Visual Fugue by Vida T. Johnson and

Graham Petrie

Indiana University Press 1994

- Time Within Time: Diaries, 1970-86 by Andrei Tarkovsky

Verso 1993

- Andrei Tarkovsky: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers) by Andrei

Arsen'evich Tarkovskii and John Gianvito

University Press of Mississippi

- The Cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky (British Film Institute) by Mark Le Fanu

Planned learning activities and teaching methods:

No

Assessment methods and criteria:

Successful essay analysis (at least three/four pages) of any film that I discussed. Additionally an interview may be needed in some cases.

Do not copy from internet! Any quotations must be marked and original sources mentioned.

Course web page:

Note:

No

Schedule for winter semester 2013/2014:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

Schedule for summer semester 2013/2014:

	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	místnost 207 Učebna 2 (Lažanský palác) BOUDA M. 14:00–15:35 (paralelka 1)
Fri
Thu
Fri

Date	Day	Time	Tutor	Location	Notes	No. of paralel
	Tue	14:00–15:35	BOUDA M.	Učebna 2 Lažanský palác		paralelka 1

The subject is a part of the following study plans:

• Photography EN - Bachelor (optional subject)
• Photography EN - Master (optional subject)
• Erasmus (optional subject)
• Cinema and Digital Media - Cinematography (optional subject)
• Cinema and Digital Media - Screenwriting (optional subject)
• Cinema and Digital Media - Directing (optional subject)