Announcements+Fall+2011

//Final Exam//
(12/8/2011) The study guide for the final exam is now ready.

//Tokyo Story//
(11/28/2011) media type="custom" key="11489488"

Reading for Tuesday
(11/10/2011) [|"Wild in the Streets: Juvenile Delinquency" (pdf)]

Celluloid Closet
(11/10/2011)

Here is the first section of [|The Celluloid Closet] (1995). If you watch at least the first 5-6 minutes, you can get a sense of why some viewers would read Plato as a gay character.

If you are interested, the entire movie is on youtube.

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Here is the section of the movie on //Rebel without a Cause//. Is Plato gay? Does it change your interpretation of the movie if he is? media type="youtube" key="yG5XPJ0OED4" height="315" width="420"

"Claptrap"
(11/4/2011) I've collected excerpts from some contemporary reviews of //Bonnie and Clyde// in the following powerpoint: [|Bonnie and Clyde Reviews]. Note that the negative reviews are from very prominent publications: //Time//, //Newsweek//, and //The New York Times//.

Tarantino on Gangster Movies
(11/2/2011) media type="youtube" key="lNXKfSzp9-k" height="315" width="420"

Presentation update
(10/30/2011) I've updated the description of the Group Presentation assignment.

//Man with a Movie Camera//
(10/27/2011) The following excerpt is from the 1929 Soviet film //Man with a Movie Camera//, directed by Dziga Vertov. It is one of the earliest examples of reflexive documentary, showing the process by which the film was made (filming and editing).

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A criticism of //Grizzly Man//
(10/26/2011) A [|criticism of the film by Charlie Russell], who also studies bears and is the subject of a BBC documentary, //Bear Man of Kamchatka//.

Observational documentary
(10/25/2011) Here is an [|excellent overview of observational documentary] (of which //High School// is an example). It provides some historical context and gives a short profile of Frederick Wiseman (director of //High School//) at the end.

The first mockumentary?
(10/25/2011) [|News on the March]

Lumiere Brothers' Actualities
(10/25/2011) [|Actualities video] The first films ever made were in a sense documentaries--recordings of scenes from everyday life. [|The Lumiere brothers] called these films actualities. (The term "documentary" would not be coined until the 1920s.) The scene captured below was obviously staged. Is this a document or a fiction?

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Essay due Tuesday, 10/25
(10/19/2011) The deadline for the sequence analysis essay is looming. If you would like to meet with me to talk about your progress or to get feedback on a draft, I would be happy to do so. On Thursday, I am available from 9 am to 2 pm (except during class, of course); on Friday and Monday, I am available in the morning until 1:00 and in the afternoon after 2:00. Just shoot me an email to set up a time. Also, my office hours are MWF from 10:00 - 11:00. You can drop by RB 276 without an appointment during that time.

Ebert on //Walkabout//
(10/14/2011) The film critic [|Roger Ebert on why Walkabout is a "great movie."] This is the complete review that Michael mentioned in class on Thursday. If you like Ebert's writing, you might be interested in his appraisals of some other movies on our schedule this semester (all from his three books on The Great Movies. Here is the[| complete list.]) Note: these are not reviews, so they contain spoilers.
 * [|Bonnie and Clyde]
 * [|Citizen Kane]
 * [|Days of Heaven]
 * [|The Night of the Hunter]
 * [|Notorious]
 * [|Pan's Labyrinth]
 * [|Rebel without a Cause]
 * [|Stagecoach]
 * [|Tokyo Story]

Schedule Change
(10/13/2011) I've made a slight change to the schedule for the coming weeks, swapping the unit on genre with the unit on documentary. Since editing is very important to documentary, //High School// will make a good follow-up to this week's discussion. And genre will allow us to discuss some cultural issues that will help segue into our final unit on film and culture. None of the due dates have changed.

That mean's when we come back from Fall Break, we'll be watching //High School.//

Not [|this one]. [|This one].

Music in //Walkabout//
(10/13/2011) What are those weird sounds at the beginning of //Walkabout//? The movie begins with an excerpt from [|Karlheinz Stockhausen's Hymnen] then transitions to a [|didgeridoo] solo. A didgeridoo is a wind instrument indigenous to northern Australia.

Examples from youtube
 * [|Hymnen]
 * [|Didgeridoo]

New Powerpoints
(10/11/2011) I've updated the list of powerpoints to include the presentations on cinematography, sound, and editing.

Hitchcock explains the Kuleshov Effect
(10/10/2011) media type="youtube" key="TNVf1N34-io" height="315" width="420"

Foley Sounds
(10/7/2011) media type="youtube" key="Dp7aJ6zoLXY" height="315" width="420"

Sound Design
(107/2011) media type="custom" key="10774966"

More resources on sound design:
 * [|Making dinosaur sounds for Jurassic Park]
 * [|Sound design in Avatar]
 * [|Sound design in Apocalypse Now,] one of the first movies to give a credit for sound design
 * [|An interview with Walter Murch on sound design for Apocalypse Now]
 * [|A good article on sound in recent movies (including The Social Nework)>]

Martin Scorsese on Citizen Kane
(10/5/2011) media type="youtube" key="f8Uh0fkrwIE" height="315" width="420"

Prospectus for Sequence Analysis Essay
(10/4/2011) A [|prospectus] for your sequence analysis essay is due Oct. 11. A description of the assignment is here.

Answering Essay Questions
(9/22/2011) I've written some tips on how to approach the essay/short answer questions on the exam.

Great Stunts
(9/20/2011) //Stagecoach// makes this [|top 10 list of the riskiest and most innovative movie stunts of all time].

Midterm Exam
(9/19/2011) Our first exam is Tuesday, 9/27. I have updated the exam study guide.

Updates to Presentations
(9/16/2011) I've updated the presentation on narrative structure to (hopefully) clarify the explanation of 3 and 4-part structure. I've also uploaded the slides from yesterday on mise-en-scene. Presentations and handouts are available here.

What's True (and Not True) in //The Social Network//
(9/14/2011) Claudia shared this link to an article on [|"What's True in the Facebook Movie."] Check it out.

Questions for //Pan's Labyrinth//
(9/13/2011) Do you notice any parallels or patterns? What do you notice about character goals and turning points? How restricted or unrestricted is the narration? Do we ever experience a character's point of view? In terms of design (mise en scene), //Pan's Labyrinth// creates two worlds, a fantasy world and a real world. What do you notice about the design of each, in terms of setting, art direction, lighting, and character/costume design? How does design create a sense of realism or fantasy? How does the design of each world affect you emotionally? How does design contribute to theme? (Consider that Guillermo del Toro says this movie is a fairy tale about choice and disobedience.)

Responses to Responses
(9/9/2011) In case you didn't notice, I wanted to point out that I responded to your //Night of the Hunter// responses last week. Just click on the Discussion button on your page to read it. I won't be able to respond to every response every week throughout the semester, but I will respond to some every week (different ones every time). I want to assure you that I do read your responses, that they aren't just busy work. I think they have made our class discussions more productive.

How to Play Indians
(9/8/2011) Today in class we focused on analysis of narrative form. But if we were to do a cultural analysis, we would probably want to consider the representation of Native Americans. Here are some tips on how to act like a "movie Indian" from Unberto Eco. For example:


 * Before Attacking**
 * 1) Never attack immediately: make yourself visible at a distance a few days ahead of time, producing easily observed smoke signals, thus giving the stagecoach or the fort ample time to send word to the Seventh Cavalry.
 * 2) If possible, appear prominently in small groups on the surrounding hills. Set up sentinels on totally isolated peaks.

[|Read more (including "Attacking a Stagecoach")]

Night of the Hunter riverboat scene
(9/1/2011) [|Screen captures for analysis (on slideshare)]

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Face Replacement
(8/28/2011) Find out how [|special effects] allowed one actor to play both Winklevoss twins in //The Social Network.//

Reading for Monday
(8/28/2011) This [|Scene Analysis of The Big Heat (pdf)] is part of the reading assignment for Tuesday. Bring a copy with you to class.

Site Updates
(8/28/2011) I've added dates for the midterm exams and the essay assignment to the schedule.

Textbook Website
(8/24/2011) For those of you who haven't bought the book yet, the [|Screening Guides] are available online at the [|Looking at Movies] website. You can use the guide as a prompt for your response.

Old Room for Wednesday Screening!
(8/24/2011) Oops.

New Room for Wednesday Screening
(8/23/2011) On Wednesdays, beginning 8/24, we will be meeting in WB 139 instead of in RB.

My Favorite Movie
(8/22/2011) My favorite movie changes all the time, but right now my favorite is Billy Wilder's [|The Apartment] from 1960, with the great Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Other favorites are //Annie Hall//, //Dazed and Confused//, //Moonstruck//, //McCabe and Mrs. Miller,// and //Rear Window//.