Course Syllabus

FILM 2332.501: UNDERSTANDING FILM

Spring 2008
7:00-9:45 p.m. Tuesday
JO 2.604 (Performance Hall)

Instructor: Kelly Kretschmar

Phone: 972-883-2170, 940-484-5805
Email: kretschmar@utdallas.edu
Email communication is encouraged
Office Hours: Tuesdays before class in JO 5.712
Teaching Assistant: Kimberly Greenough-Hodges (kag041000@utdallas.edu)

Course Description and Format

This course is designed to familiarize students with the history of film as a medium of
artistic and ideological expression and help them develop a vocabulary for discussing and
analyzing film texts in an informed, sophisticated, and meaningful way. Roughly six
weeks will be spent outlining the formal and stylistic elements of film as an art and
commercial mass medium (mise-en-scene, cinematography, narrative, editing, and
sound). The remainder of the course will be spent exploring the ways filmmakers
working in both Hollywood and international cinemas have employed these formal and
stylistic elements; this will involve an analysis of the meaning and theoretical basis of
film genre, documentary, European modes of production (including Italian Neo-Realism
and the French New Wave), and avant-garde and experimental filmmaking. Each class
session will consist of lecture, screenings of relevant clips, and discussion of weekly
readings and screenings. Students’ achievement of the learning objectives will be
assessed through three examinations that utilize multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank and/or
short answer responses.

Student Learning Objectives

To increase students’ understanding of how film is made, to help students develop visual
literacy and a vocabulary for analyzing films in terms of form and style, and to increase
students’ awareness of film as an art, mass medium, and cultural artifact.

Course Policies

Students are expected to attend all classes, to be punctual, attentive, and considerate, and
to keep up with the assignments listed on the syllabus. All required readings and full-
length screenings are to be completed outside of class before the regular class session.
For example, the readings and screenings listed for Week 2 should be completed before
the class meets for that session. Students who must miss a class remain responsible for

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all course material covered in that class; there are no make-up classes, and each class
will only be taught once. Each class period represents one week’s worth of work, so
there will be a sign-in sheet for every class.

Cell phones should be turned off upon entering class. Use of laptops is permitted, but
with the warning that the display must be completely darkened or closed during
screenings of clips. Because clips will be shown intermittently throughout each class (i.e.
not all at the beginning or end), students may find it more convenient to take notes in a
notebook rather than on a laptop. If the use of laptops becomes disruptive to the
classroom environment, they will no longer be permitted.

Required Textbooks, Readings, and Screenings

David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction, 8th edition (New
York: McGraw-Hill, 2008)

There will be a few additional reserve readings (RR) that will also be considered
required texts for the course. These readings are available as electronic reserves through
the library website. You will need to search by instructor name (Kretschmar) and enter
the password to access these readings. Write the password here: __________________

The full-length screenings to be completed outside of class are required texts. All are on
reserve at the McDermott Library, but are available in a number of other venues as well.

Grading Policy

Grades for this course will be calculated on the following basis:

Attendance 10%
Exam 1 30%
Exam 2 30%
Final Exam 30%

NOTE: There will be no incompletes given in the course, all course requirements must be
met (including attendance; if a student misses more than five classes, he/she will generate
an automatic failing grade for the course), all exams must be completed, and make-up
exams will be permitted only in the most serious circumstances (family emergency or
illness) which must be documented to my satisfaction.

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 COURSE CALENDAR

Week 1 (January 8) Course Mechanics and Introduction

Week 2 (January 15) Modes of Production and Reception

READING: Ch. 1, Ch. 2, 440-447, and 304-309
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: Ed Wood (Tim Burton,
1994; 127 min.)

Week 3 (January 22) Visual Design (Mise-en-Scene)

READING: Chapter 4 (112-153 only) and 392-396
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: Do the Right Thing
(Spike Lee, 1989; 120 min.)

Week 4 (January 29) Cinematography

READING: Chapter 5 and 309-315
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: Citizen Kane (Orson
Welles, 1941; 119 min.)

Week 5 (February 5) Narrative

READING: Chapter 3 and 388-392
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: North by Northwest
(Alfred Hitchcock, 1959; 136 min.)

Week 6 (February 12) EXAM 1

Week 7 (February 19) Editing (Montage)

READING: Chapter 6 and 453-456
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: The Graduate (Mike
Nichols, 1967; 105 min.)

Week 8 (February 26) Sound and Sound Design

READING: Chapter 7 and 456-459
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: Singin’ in the Rain
(Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952; 103 min.)

Week 9 (March 4) Film Genres and Genre Criticism

READING: Chapter 9 RR Thomas Schatz “Film Genres
and Genre Films”
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: Night of the Living Dead
(George Romero, 1968; 97 min.)

Spring Break (March 11) No class

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Week 10 (March 18) Documentary
READING: Chapter 10 (338-355 only) and 410-419
RR Bill Nichols “What Types of Documentary are There?”
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: The Life and Times of
Rosie the Riveter (Connie Field, 1980; 65 min.)

Week 11 (March 25) EXAM 2

Week 12 (April 1) Beyond Hollywood: International Film Movements

READING: Chapter 12 (447-456 and 459-463 only) and
397-401
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: The Bicycle Thief
(Vittorio De Sica, 1948; 90 min.) or The 400 Blows
(Francois Truffaut, 1959; 97 min.)

Week 13 (April 8) Beyond Hollywood: Avant-Garde and Experimental

Filmmaking
READING: Chapter 10 (355-370 only) RR Maya Deren
“An Anagram of Ideas on Art, Form and Film” (sections
1C, 2C, and 3C only)
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: Koyaanisqatsi (Godfrey
Reggio, 1983; 87 min)

Week 14 (April 15) New Hollywood

READING: Chapter 12 (463-468 only) RR Thomas Schatz
“The New Hollywood”
OUT-OF-CLASS SCREENING: MASH (Robert Altman,
1970; 116 min.)

FINAL EXAM Tuesday, April 22 (regular class time)

Syllabus subject to change, but not without notice

Please note that the Rules on Student Services and Activities of the University of Texas
System will be strictly adhered to. For information on the administration’s rules and
policies regarding student conduct and discipline, academic integrity, e-mail use,
withdrawal from class, student grievance procedures, incomplete grade policies,
disability services, and religious holy days, consult the material, generated by the
administration, available in the university catalogue.

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