Catalog Description

An introduction to the study of the formal structures of visual storytelling, an exploration of the various media used to tell these stories, and a guide to the major modes of screen analysis and criticism.

Course Overview

In this course we study cinema through a formal, aesthetic lens, in order to ask a basic but crucial question what makes a film beautiful? This leads us to other important questions: what is art? is cinema an art form? what does cinema try to express? is cinema a language? who is the author of a film? what is cinema's relationship to reality? how does cinema get us to feel things that are fictional?

We'll read one book together called Aesthetics and Film, and we'll screen films that represent some of the major design aspects of cinema: framing and composition, editing, lighting, sound, color, and rhythm. There will be short quizzes throughout the semester to help keep everyone on the same page with their reading and viewing. The reading and viewing will all take place out of class. You are responsible to get the book and access to the films.

We will make use of a four-step process for observing films in which we Observe, Describe, Interpret, Evaluate. At the end of class, you'll show what you've learned by interpreting a short film clip with you narrating your "reading" of the scene as a voice over narration, as if you were creating a "commentary track."

You need the book immediately. And you need to figure out your access to the films. Some are free on Kanopy or YouTube. The rest are available on a number of streaming/digital platforms. DVD are also inexpensive, so you can order ahead of time.

• Aesthetics and Film by Katherine Thompson-Jones, Continuum (2008) 978-0826485236
• Rules of the Game (1939) by Jean Renoir (available on Kanopy)
• Selections of Triumph of the Will (1935) by Leni Riefenstahl (available on Kanopy & YouTube)
• Raging Bull (1980) by Martin Scorsese (edited by Thelma Schoonmaker)
• Barry Lyndon (1975) by Stanley Kubrick
• Amadeus (1984) by Milos Foreman
• In the Mood for Love (2000) by Wong-car Wai (available on Kanopy)

These learning outcomes are adapted from the National Association of Schools of Art and Design accreditation standards for film making degree programs.

LO 1 - Students will demonstrate a knowledge of cinema's artistic and technological evolution.

LO 2 - Students will demonstrate an understanding of basic aesthetic terminology and critical theory concepts.

LO 3 - Students will perceptively analyze films from both Western and non-Western cultures with a focus on time as an expressive design element.

LO 4 - Students will critically evaluate cinematic and critical works from both Western and non-Western cultures.

Major Assignment Overview

• What Kind of Viewer Are You? (LOs 1 & 2) - Record a short video of you talking about the kind of viewer you are. In this video cover, at least the kinds of things you watch on screens, what kind of screens you watch them on, and with whom do you watch? Also cover how you think and talk about the things you watch. End by discussing one film you consider to be beautiful. This is a complete/incomplete assignment.
• Reading and Viewing Quizzes (LOs 1 & 2) - For each of the assigned readings and films, you'll have short content-based quizzes to make sure everyone is doing the work and keeping it real. These assignments are traditionally graded.
• Anatomy of a Scene Script (LO 2) - This is an early draft of the argument you're going to make for your Anatomy of a Scene assignment. I'm looking to see if you have a clear thesis statement, and if your interpretation is clear. This is a complete/incomplete assignment. 
• Anatomy of a Scene Proposal (LO 3) - You'll pitch me a project for the Anatomy of a Scene assignment, giving me the title of the film, a short description of the scene you're hoping to work on, and a link to YouTube where I can view the clip. You'll talk about your intended thesis, ie what you're going to say about the scene. This is a complete/incomplete assignment.
• Anatomy of a Scene (LOs 2 & 4) - For this assignment you'll pick a scene from a film that you want to discuss as a way of discussing two topics discussed in class. One topic needs to come from the book, and one needs to come from the cinematic design elements we discussed: composition, framing, editing, sound, color, rhythm, etc. It must be just a single scene, not a sequence, and not a series of scenes edited together. After writing a short essay about the scene, you'll record yourself narrating your discussion in sync with the scene. No editing. Then you'll package up the video and audio together and submit. This assignment is traditionally graded with a rubric.
• What Kind of Viewer Have You Become? (LOs 3 & 4) - For this assignment I want you to record another short video where you talk about how your viewing habits and practices have changed over the course of the semester. Revisit the concept of thinking viewers and feeling viewers from your first video and talk about any changes you've noticed. This is a complete/incomplete assignment.

Course Schedule Overview

This brief schedule of discussions and activities is broken down by week, and is subject to change. More information on this will be given in class. As I mentioned in the course overview above, the content in this class isn't predetermined except in a general way. Instead it will come in response to your individual projects, looking for patterns of need, then I'll gather the content from there. Assignment due dates are attached to the assignments, but you can see them in the course summary below.

• Week One - Getting Started | What is aesthetics? | Why do artists need to study it? | How do we analyze and interpret things?
• Week Two - Preface & Chapter One "Film as an Art" | Is film an art form? | Art and tools and Benjamin's idea of mechanical reproduction. 
• Week Three - Rules of the Game | Staging, Composition, and Antimontage | Introduction to the idea of realism in cinema
• Week Four - Chapter Two "Realism" | What do photographs (still or moving) depict? | Two roads diverge in the history of cinema, fiction and non-fiction
• Week Five - Raging Bull | Editing | Who is the true author of a film? | What makes cinema cinema? The Shot or the Cut? | Continuity vs the Lyrical. Can a beautiful film be made about an ugly subject? | Break out to Triumph of the Will
• Week Six - Chapter Three "Authorship" | If film is an art, then there must be an artist, a guiding vision. Who was the author of Raging Bull?
• Week Seven - Barry Lyndon | Lighting and Production Design | Films always capture something, but what if the thing captured is staged | Cinema and the representation of history | Mise en Scene: what's put in front of the camera
• Week Eight - Chapter Four & Five "The Language of Film" "Narration in the Fiction Film" | Let's tackle the film as a language problem | Do films have narrators? Barry Lyndon did. Is that what the text is talking about. | What makes a cinematic moment "reliable"?
• Week Nine - Amadeus | Sound | We say film is a visual medium, but it's sounds and images working together and against each other | How does sound affect how we interpret an image? | Is sound the auditory equivalent of light?
• Week Ten - SPRING BREAK
• Week Eleven - Chapter Six & Seven "The Thinking Viewer" "The Feeling Viewer" | Thinking vs Feeling | Cinema somehow affects our emotions | The fiction/horror paradox and reality | How does everything—staging, composition, editing, lighting, production design, sound, color work to make us feel something in a more or less consistent way?
• Week Twelve - In the Mood for Love | Color and Rhythm | Let's apply all our lessons to one film and practice for the Anatomy of a Scene assignments coming up.
• Week Thirteen - Small Screen Aesthetics | Theatrical vs Home exhibition | The history of screen sizes 
• Week Fourteen - Digital and Streaming Aesthetics | How is the digital and streaming world changing visual storytelling | The cinematic, the televisual, the ludic, the second screen.
• Week Fifteen - Anatomy of a Scene Due | Peer review scripts | technical Q&A day | submission day

Attendance: I expect you to attend class. It's an important part of practicing for professional life. Each time you miss a class without first notifying me by email, you will lose 4% of your final grade. If you notify me before the class you're missing, it is possible to negotiate an excused absence, which will have no impact on your grade. I will offer no more than three excused absences for the semester.

This attendance policy will not apply to students with accommodations through the Disability Resources Center (DRC), who follow correct procedures as outlined in their accommodations. Official university absences, as defined by SUU policy 6.30, are also not part of this policy.

Responsibility for Missed Classes: If you miss any class, excused or not, it is your responsibility to reach out and connect with a classmate to get notes and other information that will allow you to class prepared.