REQUIREMENTS

Text Book

Gianetti, Louis, 2005 Understanding Movies Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

Papers and Exams

The will be two quizzes, a final and two papers

Papers

Papers are to be submitted as hard copies – no electronically transmitted papers are accepted. Papers are due on the assigned date. The paper should have on it your name, the course number and the term in which you are taking the course. Late papers (any paper which arrives after the due date) will be given a grade with no comments and there will be no discussion about the paper. Papers which arrive later than the next class meeting will lose one letter grade for each week they are late.

The paper is to be analytical not movie reviews. I am not interested in whether or not you liked the film or whether or not “in my opinion” the film is the best/worst/wonderful etc film ever. Papers are written to discuss the ways in which the film makers used visual techniques to produce an effect. You should avoid such phrases as “I feel that…” “It seems that…” etc. You should also avoid phrases such as “The walls were blue and blue is a cool color” unless you are going to be more analytical that that. Statements which are obvious are also irrelevant (“Sunny days make most people feel happy”)

Papers are to be written in an academic style. Avoid the use of slang and colloquialism. The papers basically ask you to analyze a film or some aspect of a film. This involves discussing the ways in which the film maker used the medium of film to tell the story. If you don’t understand academic style you probably don’t belong in a college. Your papers should have the same “feel” in terms of your writing as your text book has. Avoid slang, chatty styles and direct addresses to the reader (especially by name or title). The style of your writing affects your grade.

Although the papers required for the course are not technically “research papers”, some students feel compelled to quote from published sources. All such quotes must be referenced and must appear in a bibliography. While there are different stylistic ways of doing this, all ultimately give the same information. The simplest form I know follows.

If you state the author’s name in the text, then you need not repeat it in the parenthetical reference:
Doane states that “The silent film is certainly understood, at least retrospectively and even (it is arguable) in its time, as incomplete, as lacking speech” (1999 p. 363).

If the author’s name does not appear in the text, then it needs to appear in the parenthetical reference.

“The silent film is certainly understood, at least retrospectively and even (it is arguable) in its time, as incomplete, as lacking speech” (Doane, 1999 p. 363).

In either case there MUST be a bibliography in which the work cited appears. Again, there are stylistic differences possible. The simplest I know would be:
Doane, Mary Ann 1999 “The Voice in the Cinema: The Articulation of Body and Space” in Braudy, Leo and Marshall Cohen 2005 Film Theory and Criticism 6th Edition Oxford University Press, NY

Note: Titles of books, films, works of art etc. are either italicized or underlined. Shorter works (articles and the like) are put in quotation marks. Notice in the bibliographic reference given above the article is in quotation marks and the title of the book in which the article appears is italicized.

Plagiarism

Any material which comes from an outside MUST be cited. Failure to do so is plagiarism and will result in a failing grade for the paper and possible the course. See the college Bulletin for rules about plagiarism.

Rewrites

You may rewrite your paper, after it has been returned to you, but it does not affect the grade. Rewriting the paper to get a better grade is the equivalent of asking to do the same math problem over because you might get it right the next time. All that happens is that you incorporate idea which you didn’t have into the paper. Do it right the first time. You can re-write it as many times as you like before you turn it in. If you want to discuss the paper before you turn it it I will be happy to meet with you and discuss it WITHOUT you showing me a “rough draft”. The paper should be YOUR work from YOUR ideas, not mine.

Papers which are turned in late MUST be accompanied by a major functioning internal organ. This specifically excludes tonsils and appendix and in many cases the brain which is not a functining organ or you wouldn't be worrying about late papers. You may in place of an internal organ submit the skin (which is more or less external) - as long as I get all of it.

Quizzes and Exams

There will be two quizzes (15 minutes) which will be in a short answer format (fill ins, true false multiple choice, identify)

The FINAL EXAM: THURSDAY DEC. 18th 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.. It will contain both essays and short answers. STUDENTS ARRIVING MORE THAN 5 MINUTES LATE WILL NOT BE ADMITTED TO THE FINAL

The final and paper will count 40% of the grade each and each quiz will be 10%.

The primary goal of the course is to discover the techniques by which films send messages. Film is a photographic medium and as such students need to understand the visual language used by film makers to tell the story. There is no doubt that text (whether in the form of intertitles or sound dialog is important, the basic focus is on film (visual) techniques. These basically fall into two categories – those which have to do with the organization of the material in the frame (the equivalent of a painting or snapshot) and those which have to do with time – that is to say those techniques which occur because a film has a temporal dimension to it. These techniques include such things as camera movement (panning, dollies etc.), changes in focal lengths (zooming), and editing,

E-mails

If you contact me by e-mail put your full name and course number on the e-mail. Do NOT e-mail me asking me questions that are answered in the syllabus or the schedule of classes (e.g. "When is the final?")

Attendance and Lateness

Departmental policy allows you two absences a term. Since classes meet only once a week, each absence means you have missed more than three hours of class time. Students who miss more than two classes for whatever reason will fail the course. Students are considered absent if they come more than 15 minutes late.

Cell Phones

If you have one, turn the damn thing off! If the phone goes off during class it is an automatic “F” in the course, plus expulsion from the college and a slow painful death. Your cell phone will also be destroyed. No joke.