Film Style and Form 2

Display Schedule

Subject guarantor

Petra DOMINKOVÁ

Name of lecturer(s)

Petra DOMINKOVÁ

Learning outcomes of the course unit

By the end of the course students will:

-describe the means of film style and form and how they present themselves

-interpret possible meanings of films or short extracts seen during the lectures

Mode of study

lecture

Prerequisites and co-requisites

Preferably Film Style and Form 1, however it is not a condition of attending nr. 2.

Course contents

The spring term will focus 1/ on sound, the often neglected aspect of film style, and 2/ on narration. The students will watch films in their entirety on their own and short extracts illustrating particular topics in the class. The discussion is an important part of each lesson. Mutual exchange of ideas and artistic experiences enables the students to gain as much inspiration as possible. Students should ask anything that is not clear enough, bring their own ideas and participate actively in the whole course. (The course partially covers the topics for CDM final exam.)

Recommended or required reading

Recommended Reading:

Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson. Film Art. An Introduction. McGraw-Hill, 2010. 78-101, 269-298.

Bordwell, David. ”Mutual Friends and Chronologies of Chance.” Poetics of Cinema. New York and London: Routledge, 2008. 189-250.

Branigan, Edward. “The Point of View Shot.” Movies and Methods, vol. II. Ed. by Bill Nichols. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1985. 672-691.

Brickman, Barbara Jane. “Coming of Age in the 1970s: Revision, Fantasy, and Rage in the Teen-Girl Badlands.” Camera Obscura 22:66 (September 2007), 24-59.

Browne, Nick. “The Spectator-in-the-Text: The Rhetoric of Stagecoach.” Film Quarterly 29.2 (Winter 1975-76): 26-38. (see http://faculty.washington.edu/cbehler/glossary/browneSpec.html)

Coyle, Rebecca. “Point of Audition. Sound and Music in Cloverfield.” Science Fiction Film and Television 3:2 (2010), 217-238.

Hexel, Vasco. “The use of dance music and the synergy of narrative vehicles in Run Lola Run.” The Soundtrack 3.2, 83-96.

Koizumi, Kyoko. “Creative Soundtrack Expression. Tôru Takemitsu’s Score for Kwaidan.” Genre, Music, and Sound: Terror Tracks: Music, Sound, and Horror Cinema. Ed. by Philip Hayward. London: Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2009. 88-100.

Kozloff, Sarah. Invisible Storytellers: Voice-Over Narration in American Fiction Film. University of California Press, 1989. 41-102.

Kozloff, Sarah. Overhearing Film Dialogue. Ewing, NJ: University of California Press, 2000. 33-63, 235-266.

Nardelli, Matilde. “Some reflections on Antonioni, sound, and the silence of La Notte.” The Soundtrack 3:1 (2010), 11-23.

Assessment methods and criteria

The final grade will be calculated as follows: Class attendance and participation (33,33%); presentation (33,33%); final test (33,33%)

Class Attendance/Participation: I expect students to attend all classes. If a student is sick or has another duty (e.g. needs to be present on the shooting), s/he needs to apologize to the professor ahead, otherwise, the absence is treated as unexcused. A student with the extensive absences, i.e. five and more (whether excused or unexcused) may fail the course.

Participation in class discussions is an important part of assessment (50%). Participation means a meaningful contribution in the classroom, utilizing the resources and materials presented to students as part of the course. Students are required to actively, meaningfully and thoughtfully contribute to class discussions and all types of in-class activities throughout the duration of the class. Meaningful contribution requires students to be prepared, as directed, in advance of each class session. Particularly, students will read the text(s) required for each lesson and will come to the class prepared with an excerpt from the text and comments how it refers to the film seen. All students will be ready to discuss the readings in the class. Lively discussion is expected.

Students are expected to ask clarification questions if they cannot follow the instructor’s or other students’ line of thought or argumentation.

Participation also means filing out all of the additional assignments that the students will receive during the class, beyond watching the films and reading the texts assigned.

Presentation: Around half of the class time (i.e. approximately 45 minutes) will be devoted to discussion. We will discuss the film and the reading(s) that are assigned for that very day. While all the students will be familiar with the film and the reading(s), one student (or more) will have a special task to be a “leader of discussion”. S/he will prepare presentation will include the close analysis of the film based on the reading (not exclusively, the student may add whatever else s/he will find important for understanding the film) using Powerpoint, Prezi , Google Slides, or any other tools). The handout/presentation will include AT LEAST 5 questions for class. Those questions should be rather complicated, can be even controversial, encouraging the students to think about the film more intensively (not “Did you like the film?). Since everybody in class will be prepared, the “leader” will encourage all students to talk. The student's presentation will last around 45 minutes.

The presentation should NOT include the factual information as are the names of the cast and crew (with exception of director and DP when relevant), the number of awards and prices the film got, the names of the production/distribution companies associated with the film, the titles of the director’s other films etc, unless it is particularly relevant. You should instead focus on YOUR OWN analysis and/or interpretation of the film (with the help of readings assigned) and perhaps also on the additional reviews/analysis of that film available at the Internet. The goal is to get us talking about the certain traits of film style and how it demonstrates itself in the particular film.

Send me the presentation at least 24 hours before the class begins, that is until Sunday evening!

Final test: Test on the material covered in the course, 6 questions, each for 55,55 points.

Will be written: May 16

Note

1. (February 14)

Sound: Introduction

2.(February 21)

The Functions of Dialogue in Narrative Film

Reading: Bordwell, Thompson, 269-298 + Kozloff (2000), 33-63.

Discussion: MONEY (L’Argent, Robert Bresson, France, 1983, 85’)

3.(February 28)

Dialogue in Melodrama and other genres

Reading: Kozloff (2000), 235-266.

Discussion: STELLA DALLAS (King Vidor, USA, 1937, 106’)

4.(March 7)

Music in Film I: Dance Music

Reading: Hexel.

Discussion: RUN, LOLA, RUN (Lola rennt, Tom Tykwer, Germany, 1998, 81’)

5.(March 14)

Music in Film II: Musique concrète

Reading: Koizumi.

Discussion: WOMAN IN THE DUNES (Suna no onna, Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japan, 1964, 147’)

1. (March 21)

Noise and silence

Reading: Nardelli

Discussion: THE NIGHT (La Notte, Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy, 1961)

7.(March 28)

Point of Audition

Reading: Coyle

Discussion: CLOVERFIELD (Matt Reeves, USA, 2008, 85’)

8.(April 4)

Narration: Introduction

Reading: Bordwell, Thompson, 78-101.

Discussion: THE INVISIBLE GUEST (Contratiempo, Oriol Paulo, Spain, 2016, 106’)

1. (April 11)

Point of View

Reading: Branigan

Discussion: REAR WINDOW (Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 1954, 112’)

1. (April 18)

NO CLASS (Easter)

1. (April 25)

Spectator in the Text

Reading: Browne

Discussion: STAGECOACH (John Ford, USA, 1939, 96’)

1. (May 2)

Network Narratives

Reading: Bordwell (2008)

Discussion: DISCONNECT (Henry-Alex Rubin, USA, 2012, 115’)

1. (May 9)

Voice-over narration: First-person narrator + Third-person narrator

Preparation for the final test

Reading: Kozloff (1989), 41-82 + Brickman.

Discussion: BADLANDS (Terrence Malick, USA, 1973, 94’)

1. (May 16)

Theme: Final Test / Feedback

Further information

This course is an elective for all students of this school

Schedule for winter semester 2021/2022:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

Schedule for summer semester 2021/2022:

• Week view
• List

The subject is a part of the following study plans

• Montage-1920 (optional subject)
• Montage_2020 (optional subject)
• Photography EN - Bachelor - 2022 (optional subject)
• Photography EN - Master - 2022 (optional subject)
• Cinema and Digital Media - Directing_1920 (required optional subject)
• Cinema and Digital Media - Directing 2020 (required optional subject)