INTRODUCTION TO FILM ANALYSIS SYLLABUS
Instructor Information
Instructor: Hannah Fritsch
Telephone: 715-758-4516
Email:
CLASS Information:
Course Description: Intro to Film Analysis is a high-level analysis course, which challenges students to critically evaluate the conceptualization of dramatic narrative in cinema. Students will explore a diverse range of film techniques such as mis-en-scene, camera work, lighting, costuming, and cinematography as well as various genres of film to analyze the meaning behind the images of our world.
Pre-requisites: Earn 80% or higher in Honors English II or earn 86% or higher in English II. At least one semester of English Composition is preferred.
Grade level eligibility: 12th grade
Rationale for a Film Analysis Course (adapted fromKaren Keller and Abbey Weis, Film Analysis professors at Yale University):Young people need to understand the techniques and artistry behind creating film in order for them to appreciate its place in history, culture, and society. Once students are able to critically analyze and artistically appreciate film, just as they should be able with literature, they will be able to apply these skills the media driven world that surrounds them. Viewing and analyzing film can also serve as a positive motivator for auditory and/or visual learners who have the opportunity to work with something other than text in an “English” class. With the pervasive amount of gaming and overall media interactions in the lives of teens, it only makes sense that more and more of them are functioning and communicating in image-based settings. Analyzing film can provide a dual space for varying intelligences: the audio/visual medium and some written forms of analysis, as in essays, blogs, etc.
Textbook:
Lewis, Jon. Essential Cinema: An Introduction to Film Analysis. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2014.
Objectives:
Through this course we will examine Hollywood cinema as an institution: its history, genres, and work as both a cultural form and an industry. In addition to gaining a broad historical understanding of film production, we will also focus on individual films, which we will analyze in much the same way you might analyze print-based texts, considering
1) the major textual elements of cinema (narrative, characterization, plot, symbolism),
2) the technical elements of cinema (mise en scene, cinematography, editing, sound), and
3) the major cultural elements of cinema (representations of race, class, gender).
Through course readings, class discussions, and analytical essays, you will develop a vocabulary and analytical skills that will allow you to discuss a film within these four contexts: historical, cultural, textual, and technical. Practicing your analytical skills through writing and talking about film will also help you to become a better writer and a stronger analyst of all texts.
Supplies Needed:
· 3-ring binder for storing handouts, assignments, and daily work
· Loose-leaf paper
· Binder dividers
· Writing utensils
· Suggested: planner to keep track of due dates and assignments
· Electronic storage device (flash/thumb drive)
RESPONSIBILITIES and Policies:
Academic Integrity Policy (Including: Plagiarism, Collusion, Cheating):
Students are expected to maintain personal and professional honesty in all of their actions. Students must do their own work and take steps to avoid plagiarism, collusion, or cheating. Student work includes tests, papers, projects, speeches or any other assigned work that will be evaluated for a grade.
Definitions:
Plagiarism is ―to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own …[to] present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source‖ (Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 898).
Collusion occurs when two or more students who are preparing individual assignments work together and submit similar work for assessment. Any student who allows another to use his or her materials is guilty of collusion. Collusion does not occur if students have been assigned group projects.
Cheating includes, but is not limited to, looking at, copying, or using the work of another for assignments or projects, sharing test questions, or by using unauthorized notes or materials on examinations.
Examples:
A student is guilty of dishonesty if the student does any of the following:
· Submits a paper, examination, computer program, project, speech or assignment as his or her own work if someone else prepared it.
· Copies verbatim (word-for-word) the written materials of others without putting such words in quotation marks and/or without documenting the source of those words.
· Paraphrases (puts into the student’s own words) the ideas of others without documenting the source of these ideas.
· Copies the artistic creations of others without documenting the source of those ideas.
· Copies a table, chart, diagram or any illustration without documenting the source.
· Uses terminology or concepts created by another without documenting the source.
· Presents false, fabricated, or altered information or data to support the thesis or main idea of the work.
· Submits the same assignment for more than one course without the permission of all of the instructors.
· Downloads and uses text or materials from the Internet, from a hard drive of any computer (on campus or elsewhere), or from a diskette, CD-ROM or other electronic storage device without documentation and the original author’s consent.
· Performs and/or accesses any work for another enrolled student, regardless of delivery mode.
Consequences:
If a student uses plagiarism, collusion or cheating, the instructor may choose to:
· Give the assigned work a zero or an F.
· Ask parents to attend a conference with the student and instructor
· Ask the student to create original work in a supervised setting.
· Drop the student from the course with an F.
· Record an event of cheating in the student’s record.
Grading Policy: Your grade is based primarily on your writing assignments. You will often have the opportunity to have drafts of your writing reviewed by your peers in class. In addition, you can always stop in to see me to discuss your assignment at any stage in the writing process. However, I will not edit your work.
Grading scale:
A+ = 99-100% B+ = 91-92% C+ = 84-85% D+ = 76-77%
A = 95-98% B = 88-90% C = 80-83% D = 72-75%
A- = 93-94% B- = 86-87% C- = 78-79% D- = 70-71%
Weighed Grade Categories:
30% - Essays
25% - Classwork
20% - Final exam
10% - Journals
10% - Quizzes
5% - Assignments completed on time
Late Assignments: In fairness to all, every student receives one “Life Happens pink slip” on the first day of the course. This slip allows a student to turn in a late assignment (major or minor) with the pass up to three days after the original due date and receive no penalties.
· All assignments are expected to be completed BY THE BEGINNING OF CLASS and turned in to Ms. Fritsch when expected.
· For larger writing pieces or projects: If you do not complete your work on time, I will take 10% off of your grade for each day that it is late. After 5 days, it will no longer be graded and you will receive a “0”.
· For smaller assignments: If you turn the assignment in to me the next day, it will be 50% off. After that, it will no longer be graded and you will receive a “0”.
Absenteeism
· If you know you will be absent, make up your work ahead of time.
· Excused absences have one full week to make up the work. After that it will be recorded as a zero. Any work due on the day you were absent should be turned in the day you return.
· Check Edmodo for the work you missed.
Extra Credit: In general, I don’t offer extra credit. Please focus your energy on the assignments given to you. Occasionally, I will announce opportunities to earn a few bonus points, but this is rare.
Syllabus Changes: As your instructor, I retain the right to make changes based on the timeline of the class, feedback from learners and/or logistical issues and will inform you as soon as a change is made.
Syllabus Confirmation: You will be signing a statement that indicates that you have read, understand, and agree to the course policies.