FILM 5 1999
DEVELOPMENT OF THE MOTION PICTURE I
TTH (8:00-9:15 a.m.) LAFYE 207
W (3:35-6:05) FLEMING 101
Prof. Manchel
TEXTBOOKS
  • Bordwell, David FILM ART: AN INTRODUCTION, FIFTH EDITION
  • Cook, David A. A HISTORY OF NARRATIVE FILM, THIRD EDITION
  • Rosa and Eschholz THE WRITER'S BRIEF HANDBOOK, THIRD EDITION


    • ON RESERVE

    DATE FILM ASSIGNMENT
    August 31 FILM BEFORE FILM
    September 1 EDWEARD MUYBRIDGE 
    THE LUMIERE BROTHERS    		 Cook 1-13
    2  THE MAGIC OF MELIES Cook 13-19
    7  BEFORE THE NICKELODEON
    THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY    		  Cook 20-31
     Bordwell 3-33
    8 THE MOVIES BEGIN: THE EUROPEAN PIONEERS
    & EXPERIMENTATION AND DISCOVERY    		 Cook 32-58
    9 *D.W. GRIFFITH DOC.I  Cook 59-75
    Bordwell 42-62
    14  *D.W. GRIFFITH DOC. II  Cook 75-101
    Bordwell 64-73
    15 INTOLERANCE Bordwell 73-88
    16 LES VAMPIRES  QUIZ #1 
    Cook 49-52CC
    21  *UNKNOWN CHAPLIN I 
    EASY STREET 
    22  Lecture on The Classical Hollywood Cinema
    THE CHEAT    		  Bordwell 101-110
    Cook 217-218
    23 B. Keaton Documentary  Cook 205-212
    28 OUR HOSPITALITY   Bordwell 199-210
    29  HOLLYWOOD AND THE JEWS Manchel II, 1455-1508
    30 H. Lloyd Documentary   Cook 212-214
    October 5 *THE STRONG MAN Cook 221-225
    6 NANOOK OF THE NORTH Bordwell 128-130
    7  CINEMA EUROPE: SCANDINAVIA QUIZ #2
    Cook 102-106
    12  Lecture on the German Cinema
    CINEMA EUROPE: GERMANY    		 Cook 106-109
    13 THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI  Cook 109-113
    14 *NOSFERATU  Cook 113-115
    19 *THE LAST LAUGH Cook 115-129
    20 Lecture on the Soviet Cinema 
    CINEMA EUROPE: SOVIET UNION    		 Cook 130-140
    21  *BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN Cook 140-181
    26  *MOTHER  Cook 181-195
    27 MIDTERM
    28 CINEMA EUROPE: FRANCE   Cook 362-365
    November 2 THE SMILING MADAME
    BEUDET; BALLET MECHANIQUE UN CHIEN ANDALOU    		 Cook 369-372
     Bordwell 146-155
    3 Lecture on Film Censorship 
    THE TEN COMMANDMENTS    		 Cook 214-218
    4 *KING VIDOR DOCUMENTARY
    9 *THE BIG PARADE
    10 NAPOLEON
    QUIZ #3     		  Cook 365-369
    11 *THE GENERAL
    16 THE PASSION OF JEANNE D'ARC Cook 372-374
    17 MIDNIGHT RAMBLE
    18 THE GOLD RUSH ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHIES DUE
    23  NO CLASS
    THANKSGIVING BREAK
    30  *THE VANISHING AMERICAN
    December 1  GREED Cook 225-238
    2 *THE WIND Cook 218-221
    7  *THE CIRCUS
    8  SUNRISE
    14  FINAL (4:00 PM) ONLY TIME GIVEN--NO EXCEPTIONS

    * Indicates we begin class at 7:45 am, because film runs longer than seventy-five minutes.


    GRADES:

    The following is how your grade will be determined in the course:


    Anyone missing more than three classes (without permission) will be penalized with a drop in grade. Anyone arriving more than a half hour late or leaving a half hour early will not get credit for that class.

    CLASSES AND READINGS:

    Classes will consist of lectures and discussions. All assigned readings should be completed PRIOR to the appropriate class so that you can understand the lectures as well as participate in the discussions.

    ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY (DUE November 18):

    Each student is required to turn in one annotated bibliography on five articles from academic journals, or a combination of book chapters and articles ( published after 1996), related to a significant actor in silent film history. Each article/chapter read must be a minimum of ten pages. The readings must be. No more than two book chapters may be used in the project. Suggestions for your topics are listed PRIMARILY in Film Study: An Analytical Bibliography II and IV. Many film periodicals are available in Bailey Howe Library. Use the SAGE databases to find journal articles on your actor. The SAGE web site is http://sageunix.uvm.edu/collections/

    The format for your annotated bibliography is as follows: 1) book annotations begin with listing at top of page. Start with last name, first name of author(s). Next, give the title of the chapter in quotation marks, with comma inside quotation marks. Next, give title of the book, in italics or underlined, followed by period. Next, give city, colon, publisher, comma, date, period. Finally, indicate page numbers. For example, Manchel, Frank. "In the Early Days," Terrors of the Screen. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1970. 1-15. Articles are listed with last name, first name period. The title of the article goes in quotation marks, with period enclosed. The title of the periodical is in italics or underlined. Next comes the volume number, colon, issue number. Next, in parentheses, the date, end of parentheses, colon, the page numbers, period. For example, Berger, Spencer M. "The Career of John Barrymore." Films in Review 3:10 (December 1952):481-99. 2) After you've completed your five annotations, arrange them in alphabetical order. 3) The annotated bibliography should have a cover sheet, indicating your topic, date of submission, and your name. 4) The bibliography needs to be typed, double-spaced, and proofread before being submitted for a grade. ALL WRITTEN WORK MUST DEMONSTRATE BASIC SKILLS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TO RECEIVE A PASSING GRADE. Since there are many different style manuals, the one used for this course will be The Writer’s Brief Handbook, Third edition. . Please consult Rosa and Eschholz for the rules on documentation and plagiarism. You should consult with me about the topic for your individual paper. I encourage you to discuss with me work in progress.

    No late papers will be accepted. No articles or chapters published before 1996 will be accepted after noon on November 18, 1999. Please do not come to me on November 18 with the excuse that your computer malfunctioned. Work should be done the week of November 10, so that there will be ample time for proofreading.

    CLASSROOM PROTOCOL*

    1. Students are expected to attend and be prepared for all regularly scheduled classes.

    2. Students are expected to arrive on time and stay in class until the class period ends. If a student knows in advance that he or she will need to leave early, he or she should notify my assistant or me before the class period begins.

    3. Students are expected to treat faculty and fellow students with respect. For example, students must not disrupt class by leaving and reentering during class, must not distract class by making noise, and must be attentive to comments being made by me and by peers.

    4. Assignments must be submitted in person and on time.

    5. Makeup exams or paper extensions will not be given save for documented illness or similar appropriate reasons and must be requested in advance. Non-submission of an exam or paper will be recorded as a zero, not merely an F.

    6. I reserve the right to quiz you whenever the lack of class discussion reveals lack of reading.

    7. This syllabus is subject to change as announced in class. You are responsible for any such changes whether or not you are in class on the days they are announced.

    *Abridged from School of Business Classroom Protocol and Professor Mark Stoler’s syllabi.

    SAMPLE ANNOTATION

    Ehrenstein, David. "David Lean." American Film 15.6 (1990): 20-7.

    David Ehrenstein interviews David Lean in depth about his career in film and why he is such a success.
    While much of the article deals with Lean's life in general, we get a peek into the mind of one of the
    greatest directors of all time for techniques he used to make his films a hit. He discusses his important
    relationships with his cameramen, how to make an impact on the audience with visual tricks, and how he
    plays with long shots and close-ups to get a certain reaction from his audience. This interview with Lean
    reveals a very modest, yet confident, film director.

    Lean says in this interview that one of his favorite techniques using the camera is playing with the focal
    length of the lenses. He begins with a fairly wide angle, with everything very much in focus, and then he
    gradually ups the focal length so that he'll end on a close-up of somebody in which everything is a blur
    except the eyes of the face (24). He uses this to control what the audience sees. In order to make an impact
    with color, Lean will make the scene preceding the colorful scene dull and grey so that the color will then
    jump out at you. Lean uses this technique in Dr. Zhivago. Also, when he is shooting on location he makes
    an effort to keep the performers in the foreground except when he wants the scenery to take over. This
    also leaves a powerful impact. Tricks of the trade from a man who seems to make a powerful impact with
    whatever he does.

    I enjoyed this article mostly because it was David Lean talking about himself rather than other people
    talking about him. He sounds like a simple man and makes his accomplishments in film appear to be trivial.
    This definitely reveals a modest side to Lean, yet we sense his confidence in producing great work.

    Professor Manchel's office and office hours: 301 Old Mill 656-4039
    1:00-3:00 p.m. Wed. and by appointment
    Email address: fmanchel@zoo.uvm.edu