About
This course is an introduction to serious consideration of cinema as an art form. The course will introduce the student to the analysis of form in film, genres, narrative structure and the relationship of film to culture. The goal is to develop visual literacy—sharpening powers of observation, developing skills and habits of perceptive watching and discovering complex elements of film art. The theory of film will be taught in context of the history of cinema. Students will be introduced to films from the early silents through contemporary movies. Special attention will be given to the great auteur directors and international cinema. Students will typically view about 15 full-length films during the course. The class is available to students who will be juniors and seniors in the fall. There is no prerequisite. History & Theory of Film does not fulfill the graduation requirement for Fine Arts.
Films
Films are drawn from this list or similar work.
The Battleship Potemkin, Sergei Eisenstein
Birth of a Nation, D.W. Griffith
City Lights, Charles Chaplin
42nd Street, Busby Berkeley
The Grand Illusion, Jean Renoir
Stagecoach, John Ford
Citizen Kane, Orson Welles
The Bicycle Thieves, Vittorio DeSica
On the Waterfront, Elia Kazan
The Red Shoes, Powell and Pressburger
The 400 Blows, Francois Truffaut
Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock
Seven Samurai, Akira Kurosawa
The Seventh Seal, Ingmar Bergman
2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick
Do the Right Thing, Spike Lee
Breathless, Jean-Luc Godard
Bonnie and Clyd, Arthur Penn
Hoop Dreams, Steve James
Hugo, Martin Scorsese
Productions
One-Minute Film Festival
Chicagoland High School Film Festival