Course Description

This course serves as an introduction to the basic concepts of film analysis. We will learn to closely watch, critically discuss, and persuasively interpret a diverse range of films, including films from different national, historical, political, technical, and philosophical contexts. This course will prepare students for further study in Cinema and Media Studies.

After an introduction to formal analysis, we will spend each week on a different element of film form, including mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, sound, narrative, special effects, documentary, and animation. Accompanying our seminar discussions, we will watch films that employ these elements, first in a weekly screening, and then more closely in class. We will also read two texts per week: for Tuesdays, our readings will introduce that week’s formal element; for Thursdays, we will read texts that interpret that week’s film in the context of our topic for the week.

To practice film analysis and incorporate our readings and screenings, students will frequently write about film. Each week, students will write two short Canvas discussion posts, one related to that week’s reading, and one related to the film. Students will also complete two longer written assignments. The first paper asks you to closely analyze one film sequence, attending to the formal elements in that sequence. The second paper scales up this analysis to a full feature film, asking you to make a persuasive argument about that film’s employment of one formal feature.

Filmmakers include Alfred Hitchcock, Sofia Coppola, Spike Lee, Akira Kurosawa, Fritz Lang, Emilio Fernández, William Greaves, Lilly and Lana Wachowski, Dave Fleischer, and Robert Zemeckis. In addition to readings from Film Art: An Introduction, we will read scholarly essays by Bill Nichols, Julie Turnock, Hannah Frank, and others.

Course Goals

1. Recognize the formal elements of film analysis, including cinematography, editing, mise-en-scène, sound, special effects, etc.
2. Observe and describe a diverse range of films and filmic elements in detail, including narrative films, experimental films, documentaries, and animated films.
3. Employ discipline-specific vocabulary to discuss and write about film form in detail, using terms related to specific styles, genres, periods, and geographical and historical contexts.
4. Mobilize observations and vocabulary to analyze and interpret a diverse range of films, drawing connections between isolated elements and larger stylistic and formal traits.