Improvization in the Cinema

Subject guarantor:

Name of lecturer(s):

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

Introduction to various types of improvisation (in) film from historical and analytical perspectives. This should expand the student's history knowledge of the given issues and practice them in manners of film analysis.

Mode of study:

Lectures supplemented by screenings of some films and film examples. Lectures will last 2 instruction hours. Film screenings may last as long as 3 instruction hours therefore the course schedule is written to span 3 hours.

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

Some screened films or film samples will be with English subtitles (The majority with Czech subtitles.).

Recommended optional programme components:

No elective requirements.

Course contents:

Improvisation, not previously prepared (more or less) creativity in an artistic work at the given moment before our eyes, is a technique used in various arts. Primarily in music, dance and theatre. Improvisation in film is not as frequent. However, in cinema we do find its very diverse use. Considering the complexity of the creation of a film, improvisation occurs in very divers measures and at different levels of a work. The screenplay, acting, camerawork, or overall directing can be improvise to a greater or lesser measure. In the lectures there is an introduction to the history and theory of this creative technique and a detailed analysis of the creations of several filmmakers who systematically use or have used improvisation in film (ex: John Cassavetes, Mike Leigh, Robert Altman, Claire Denis, Jonas Mekas, Christopher Guest). Improvised film demonstrates how ths specific method of working brings specific aesthetic results (in this case, primarily, other types of acting and narration than we know from „Classic“ previously prepared, formalized cinema.

Course curriculum

1+2 Introduction + history of improvisation (and its discourse) in the arts (comedia dell' arte, Dadaism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Bebop, Neo-Dadaism Flux, etc.).

3) Screening of Robert Reiner's „This is Spinal Tap“ (1984)

4) Acting improvisation in comedy and drama (improvisation in theatre from Spolin and Johnson and more. Improvised TV programs and Serials.

5+6) Screening of John Casavetes „Faces“ (1968) + analysis of its creation

7+8) Screening of Abbas Kiarostami's „Ten“ (2002) + analysis of its creation

9+10) Screening of Werner Herzog's „Strozsek“ (1977) + analysis of its creation

Recommended or required reading:

Study material:

AUMONT, Jacques. Les théories des cinéastes. Armand Colin, 2005.

BELGRAD, Daniel. The Culture of Spontaneity: Improvisation and the Arts in Postwar America. University of Chicago Press, 1999.

BOGDANOVICH, Peter. Who the Hell´s in It. Conversation with Hollywood Legendary Actors. Ballantine Books : New York, 2005.

BRENEZ, Nicole. De la figure en général et du corps en particulier. L' invention figurative au cinéma. De Boeck, 1998.

BRENEZOVÁ, Nicole. Dopis Tagu Gallagharovi. Úvod do figurální analýzy filmu. Iluminace 2005, č. 1.

CASSAVETES, John. Cassavetes o Cassavetesovi. Iluminace 2005, č. 1.

CRONIN, Paul (ed.). Herzog on Herzog. Faber and Faber: London, 2002.

DEAN, Roger, SMITH, Hazel. Improvisation Hypermedia and the Arts since 1945. Routledge, 1997.

ELENA, Alberto. The Cinema of Abbas Kiarostami. SAQI: London, 2005.

FROST, Anthony, YARROW, Ralph. Improvisation in Drama. St. Martins Press, 1989.

GOFFMAN, Erving. Všichni hrajeme divadlo. Praha 1999.

GOODMAN, Katie. Improvisation for the Spirit. Sourcebooks: Naperville, 2008.

HIGGINS, Hannah. Fluxus Experience. University of California Press: London, Berkeley, 2002.

JOHNSTONE, Keith. Impro: Improvisation and Theatre. Routledge, 2007.

JOHNSTONE, Keith. Impro for Storytellers. Theatresports and the Art of Making Things Happen. Faber and Faber: London, 1999.

KING, Homey. Free Indirect Affects in Cassavates´ Opening Night and Faces. Camera Obscura 2004, č. 2.

KUČERA, Jakub. Těla a tváře (ve) filmu: poznámky k teorii a praxi divácké identifikace na příkladu tvorby Johna Cassavetese. Iluminace 2005, č. 1.

KUČERA, Jakub. Figurace. Cinepur 2004, č. 36 (listopad). Viz též http://www.cinepur.cz/article.php?article=691.

LEEP, Jeanne. Theatrical Improvisation. Short Form, Long Form and Sketch-Based Improb. Palgrave MacMillen: New York, 2008.

MADAN, Anuja. The Language of emotion in Godard´s Films. CinéAction 2010, č. 80.

MISTRÍK, Miloš. Herecké techniky 20. storočia. Bratislava 2003.

NACACHE, Jacqueline. L´acteur de cinéma. Nathan, Paris 2005.

NANCY, Jean-Luc. The Evidence of Film. Abbas Kiarostami. Yves Gevaert Publisher: Bruxelles, 2001.

NAREMORE, James. Acting in the cinema. University of California Press, 1988.

MURPHY, J.J. No room for the fun stuff: the question of the screeplay in American indie cinema. Journal of Screenwriting, 2010, roč. 1, č. 1.

NACHMANOVITCH, Stephen. Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art. Tarcher, 1991.

PALETZ, Gabriel M., PALETZ, David L. Mike Leigh´s ?Naked? Truth. Film criticism 1994-95, č. 2.

PETERS, Gary. The Philosophy of Improvisation. University of Chicago Press, 2009.

RICHARDSON, Michael; FIJALKOWSKI, Krzysztof. Surrealism against the Current. Pluto Press: London, 2001.

RICHARDSON, Michael. Surrealism and Cinema. Berg: Oxford, New York, 2006.

SALINSKY, Tom, FRANCES-WHITE, Deborah. The Improv Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Improvising in Comedy, Theatre and beyond. Contiuum, 2008.

SJÖBERG, Johannes. Ethnofiction and Beyond: The Legacy of Projective Improvisation in Ethnographic Filmmaking. http://www.comite-film-ethno.net/colloque-jean-rouch/textes-colloque-JR/Sjoberg.pdf.

TRÖHLEROVÁ, Margrit; TAYLOR, Henry M. Několik faset lidské postavy v hraném filmu. Iluminace 2005, č. 1.

WRIGHT WEXMAN, Virginia. The Rhetoric of cinema improvisation. Cinema Journal 20, 1980, č. 1 (Autumn). Available at https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/58853/original/Wexman%2B-%2BThe%2BRhetoric%2Bof%2BCinematic%2BImprovisation.pdf .

Planned learning activities and teaching methods:

Lecture and cca. five screenings of feature-length films.

Assessment methods and criteria:

The lecture will be concluded with an exam, which will tel how much the student during the semester has been acquainted with the history and theory (not only in film) of improvisation and is able to independently critically analyse improvisized works screened during the lectures.

Course web page:

Note:

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Further information:

No schedule has been prepared for this course

The subject is a part of the following study plans:

• Animation - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Documentary Film - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Documentary Film - Bachelor (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Animation - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Scriptwriting and Dramaturgy - Bachelor (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Scriptwriting and Dramaturgy - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Film Directing - Bachelor (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Film Directing - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Cinematography - Bachelor (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Cinematography - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Production - Bachelor (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Production - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Audiovisual Studies - Bachelor (qualification subject, faculty subject, optional subject)
• Editing - Bachelor (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Editing - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Sound Design - Bachelor (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Sound Design - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Photography CZ - Bachelor (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Photography CZ - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Audiovisual Studies - Master (qualification subject, faculty subject, optional subject)
• Restoring of Photogrphy (faculty subject, optional subject)