Classical Film Theory

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Film 351

Classical Film Theory

Professor: Scott Higgins

Email:

Office: 156 Center for Film Studies

Phone/Voicemail: 3176

Office Hours: Tues. 1:00 – 3:00

Description:

Classical Film Theory encompasses attempts by critics and filmmakers to come to terms with cinema as an art form during the first half of the 20th century. These authors asked fundamental questions about the nature of film, questions that should be of interest to any student of cinema. Classical theorists sought to explain film’s essential properties, come to grips with how it affects spectators, and prescribe artistic uses of the medium. The study of Classical Theory can enhance our critical skills and point in new directions for the way that we approach film as educated viewers, scholars, and filmmakers. Theorists include: Jean Epstein, Rudolf Arnheim, André Bazin, Lev Kuleshov, Dziga Vertov, Sergei Eisenstein, V.F. Perkins, and Noel Burch. The films that we view will be, for the most part, contemporaneous with the theorists we study. This course presumes that you are already a major in Film Studies. This is a course for serious students of film.

Texts:

REQUIRED

Rudolf Arnheim, Film as Art (Book Store)

André Bazin, What is Cinema volumes I and II (Book Store) [WIC1 and WIC2]

V.F. Perkins, Film as Film (Book Store)

Richard Taylor, The Eisenstein Reader (Book Store)

Dziga Vertov, Kino Eye (Book Store)

Reading Packet (Pip Printing, 179 Main) [Pack]

Course Schedule:

[This schedule may be adjusted to meet the day to day needs of class]

Tues. Sept. 7Lecture: Introduction, Theories, Theory, Theorizing

Film: Menilmontant (Krisonoff, 1926), Autumn Mists (Krisonoff), and Excerpts TBA

Thurs. Sept. 9 Topic: French Impressionists and the Nature of Film

Reading: Pack: Selections by Jean Epstein

Tues. Sept. 14Topic: Introduction to Arnheim

Film: The Gold Rush (Chaplin, 1925)

Reading: Film as Art pp.1-134

Thurs. Sept. 16Topic: Arnheim and the Specifics of Film

Reading: Film as Art Finish through p. 160

Tues. Sept. 21Filmmakers Make Theory, Lev Kuleshov

Film: By The Law (Kuleshov, 1927), Chess Fever (Pudovkin,1925)

Reading: Kuleshov, Pack: “The Art of Cinema”

Thurs. Sept. 23Topic: Cinema Practicum, The Rules of Film Construction

Reading: Kuleshov, Pack: Finish “The Art of Cinema,” “Americanitis,” “Will, Tenacity, Eye,” “Our First Experiences,” “Principles of Montage”

Tues. Sept. 28Topic: Dziga Vertov, and the Kino Eye

Film: Man With a Movie Camera (Vertov, 1929)

Reading: Kino Eye: “We, Variant of a Manifesto,”

“Kinoks: A Revolution,” “On the Significance of the Newsreel,” “Kinopravda [1923],” “On the Significance of Nonacted Cinema,” “Kinoglaz,” “The Birth of Kino-Eye,” “On Kinopravda,” “The Essence of Kino-Eye,” “The Same Thing from Different Angles,” “The Factory of Facts,” “Kino Eye,” “On The Eleventh Year,” “The Man with a Movie Camera,” “From Kino Eye to Radio Eye,” “From The History of the Kinoks,” “Letter from Berlin,” “Replies to Questions,” “First Steps”

Thurs. Sept. 30Topic: Vertov, Montage and Actuality

Reading: Kino Eye: “The Man with a Movie Camera,” “Sound March,” “Enthusiasm”

Tues. Oct. 5Topic: Introduction to S.M. Eisenstein Film:Excerpts from Strike (Eisenstein, 1925) and TBA

Reading: Pack: “Montage of Attractions,” “Montage of Film Attractions,” “Beyond the Shot,” “An Unexpected Juncture”

Thurs. Oct. 7Topic: The Concept of Montage

Reading: Pack:“Eisenstein on Eisenstein, The Director of Potemkin,” “The Dramaturgy of Film Form,” “Fourth Dimension in Cinema” Part I

Tues. Oct. 12Topic: Eisenstein, Developments in the Late 1920s Film: October (Eisenstein, 1927) Reading: Pack: “The Fourth Dimension in Cinema” Part II;

“Help Yourself”

Thurs. Oct. 14Topic: Eisenstein’s New Theory, Montage and Consciousness

Reading: Pack:“Eh! On the Purity of Film Language,”

“Montage 38” “Speeches to the All-Union Creative Conference of Soviet Filmworkers”

FALL BREAK

Thurs. Oct. 21Topic: Catching up with Eisenstein, The Complexities of Form

Film: Ivan the Terrible II (Eisenstein, 1946) [excerpts]

Reading: Pack: “Vertical Montage”(excerpts), “Stalin, Molotov, and Zhdanov on Ivan the Terrible, Part Two,” “From Lectures on Music and Colour in Ivan the Terrible”

HOMECOMING WEEKEND

Tues. Oct. 26Topic: Introducing André Bazin

Film: Kon Tiki (Thor Heyerdahl, 1950)

Reading: WIC1: “Ontology of the Photographic Image,” “The Myth of Total Cinema,” “Cinema and Exploration”

Thurs. Oct. 28Topic: Bazin and the Ontology/Psychology of Cinema

Reading: WIC1 “Virtues and Limitations of Montage”

*****Paper One Due in Class Today, Oct. 28*****

Tues. Nov. 2Topic: Bazin, Realism and Neorealism

Film: Umberto D (DeSica 1952)

Reading: WIC1: “In Defense of Mixed Cinema,” “Theater and Cinema: Parts I&II,” “Painting and Cinema,”

Thurs. Nov. 4Topic: Realism and Neorealism

Reading: WIC2: “An Aesthetic of Reality,” “La Terra Trema,” “Bicycle Thief,” “De Sica: Metteur en Scene,” “Umberto

D: A Great Work,” “In Defense of Rossellini”

Tues. Nov. 9Topic: Bazin’s Theory of History

Film: The Best Years of Our Lives (Wyler, 1946)

Reading: WIC1: “Evolution of the Language of Cinema,”

Thurs. Nov. 11Topic: The Evolution of Film Language and William Wyler

Reading: Pack: “William Wyler, or the Jansenist of Mise-en- Scene”

Tues. Nov. 16Topic: Bazin and Renoir

Film: Rules of the Game (Renoir, 1939) Reading: Pack: “The French Renoir”; “Masterpiece: The River”

Thurs. Nov. 18Topic: Wrapping up Bazin

Reading: Complete all Bazin reading, start Film as Film

Tues. Nov. 23Topic: V.F. Perkins’ Response to Classical Theory

Film: Rope (Hitchcock, 1948) Reading: Film as Film

Thurs. Nov. 25 THANKSGIVING RECESS

Tues. Nov. 30Topic: V.F. Perkins’ Theory of Film

Film: Pickpocket (Bresson, 1959)

Reading: finish Film as Film, start Burch, Pack: “Basic Elements”

Thurs. Dec. 2Topic: Noel Burch’s Theory of Film

Reading: Burch, Pack: “Basic Elements”

Tues. Dec. 7Topic: Cinematic Modernism and Noel Burch

Film: Play Time (Tati, 1967)

Reading: Burch, Pack: “Dialectics”

Thurs. Dec. 9Topic: Dialectics of Film Form\Assessing Classical Theory

Reading: Complete any Unfinished Reading

*****Paper Two Due in Class Today, December 9*****

Take-Home Final Exam Due on Thurs., December 16 at 3:30 PM

ASSESSMENT

Papers

Two Assigned Papers of Eight to Ten Pages – Details of the paper assignments will be handed out in class. Each paper is worth 25%

Paper One is due on Thursday, October 28

Paper Two is due on Thursday, December 9

Reading Reports

Throughout the semester I will assign brief questions on the reading. Answers of One to Two Pages are due at the start of the following class. You must turn in your report before our discussion. There will be a minimum of five reports this semester. All together, they are worth 20%

Final Exam

A cumulative take-home final exam worth 15% of your final grade will be due in my office on Thursday December 16, by 3:30 PM.

Discussion

As much as possible, this class will be conducted as a seminar rather than as a lecture. Take notes on readings, and note issues that you would like to pursue in our meetings. Your preparation for discussion and your willingness to participate are vital to the course.

For this reason, participation is worth 15% of your final grade.

POLICIES

I do not accept reading reports after the start of class. I will not offer “makeup” reading reports.

I will mark Late Papers down at the rate of one full grade per day.

On-Time class attendance is expected. Absences and lateness, explained or not, will lower your Discussion grade.

Students must complete all assignments in order to pass this course.