Focus on Film Theory

Display Schedule

Code	Completion	Credits	Range	Language Instruction	Semester
311FOCT	Z	2	2h/W	English	summer

Subject guarantor

Ronald BERGAN

Name of lecturer(s)

Ronald BERGAN

Learning outcomes of the course unit

The course will be a follow up on Focus on Film History from last semester, expanding on the contextual and intertextual approach, while seeking out the specificity of cinema. Although it is true that film theory and film history run parallel and reflect each other, this course will concentrate more on the analytical than the anecdotal, while not ignoring the social and political aspects. It will also consider the role of film criticism over the years in shaping the aesthetics of the art form. Therefore, students will be required to learn how to ?read? films. The course will be

supplemented and illustrated by the use of clips from films to which the students will be expected to apply critical analyses. As the majority of students are concerned with practical filmmaking, they should also be able to make a connection between an academic approach to filmmaking and a practical one.

Mode of study

Lecture, seminar.

Prerequisites and co-requisites

„Focus on Film History“ fulfilment preferably.

Course contents

The course will cover the following subjects.

Film and the other arts
Film genres
Types of Montage
Sound types and functions
Aspects of Cinematography
Principals of narrative construction
Non-fiction cinema and its modes
Ideology
Form and content

10 Post-modern cinema

11 Avant-garde conceptions of cinema

Assessment methods and criteria

Attendance:

Students are allowed to have two absences. Barring unforeseen circumstances, students should notify the instructor in advance.

Exceptional circumstances will be considered, but additional work will be required.

Participation:

Students will be expected to contribute to in-class discussions. Each student needs to prepare a brief class topic report once per semester.

Completion policy: To complete the course, a student must comply with the attendance and participation requirements and write 2 to 3 pages on a course-related topic of their choice.

Hand in date: May 22, 2015

Note

Ronald Bergan (PhD English. Lit), film historian, critic and lecturer, is a regular contributor to The Guardian. He is President of FEDEORA (Federation of European and Mediterranean Critics), Artistic Director of MOFFEM (Montenegro Film Festival of the Mediterranean.) and a former Vice-President of Fipresci for which he has been president of the jury at numerous film festivals and has chaired and participated in many conferences on cinema all over the world. He has lectured on literature, theatre and film at the Sorbonne, the British Institute in Paris, the University of Lille and FAMU in Prague. He has held a Chair at the Florida International University in Miami where he taught Film History and Theory. Among the many books he has written are: Sergei Eisenstein: A Life in Conflict; Jean Renoir: Projections of Paradise; The Coen Brothers; Anthony

Perkins: A Haunted Life; Francis Coppola: The Making of His Movies; The Bloomsbury Foreign Film Guide; The United Artists Story, The Eyewitness Guide To Film (published in 8 languages ), Francois Truffaut Interviews, which he edited and Isms: Understanding Film.

Schedule for winter semester 2018/2019:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

	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	room 307 Room No. 6 (Lažanský palác) BERGAN R. 10:40–12:15 (lecture parallel1)
Wed
Thu
Fri

Date	Day	Time	Tutor	Location	Notes	No. of paralel
	Tue	10:40–12:15	Ronald BERGAN	Room No. 6 Lažanský palác		lecture parallel1

The subject is a part of the following study plans

Cinematography - 1819 (optional subject)
Montage-1819 (required optional subject)
Cinema and Digital Media - Directing-1819 (required subject, optional subject)
Cinema and Digital Media - Screenwriting-1819 (required subject, optional subject)
Erasmus (optional subject)