Film Style and Form 1

Display Schedule

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

Seminar, film samples, lecture

Prerequisites and co-requisites

No

Course contents

The course will focus on the film style and form - mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing - 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 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.

„Film Style and Form“ will be open also in Spring term, 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.

Stuart Cunningham, ?The Magnificient Ambersons, deep space, the long take and psychological representation,? Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media & Culture

5, no. 2 (1992). Available at: http://wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/readingroom/5.2/Cunningham.html

Rebecca J. DeRoo, ?Unhappily ever after: visual irony and feminist strategy in Agns Varda's Le Bonheur ,? Studies in French Cinema 8, no. 3 (September 2008), pp. 189-209.

Shahla Haeri, Sacred Canopy: Love and Sex under the Veil. Iranian Studies 42, no. 1, 2009, pp. 113-126.

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.

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.

Assessment methods and criteria

Mid-term essay: 1 000 words

Students will receive recommended topics for the paper two weeks before it is due. Papers may be delivered to the professor by email (petra.dominkova@gmail.com). 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 the 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.

Presentation: 15 ? 30 minutes

A presentation based on the film and reading. Each student will lead the discussion about the film we watched. This involves preparing a handout for each student (plus me) and creating discussion questions for the group (Send me the handout at least 24 hours before the class begins!). The goal is to get us talking about the certain trait of film style and how it demonstrates itself in the particular film.

Grading will be based on four aspects:

Presentation: 25% / Midterm Essay: 25% / Final Essay: 25% / Participation in discussion: 25%

Note

None

Further information

This course is an elective for all students of this school

Schedule for winter semester 2018/2019:

• Week view
• List

Schedule for summer semester 2018/2019:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

The subject is a part of the following study plans

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