introduction to film: 1895-1950

This course covers the development of cinema as an institution and as an art form from the beginning of commercial exhibition in 1895 through the 1940s. Though the majority of films we will study were produced by American studios, we will, whenever possible, emphasize how these films developed in dialogue with other national cinemas.

The course’s emphasis is on film history rather than form, but we will study film language as closely as the perimeters of this course allow. You will learn, for example, about lighting, camera angles and shots, editing, mise-en-scene, soundtrack, dialogue, and narrative structure. We will supply you with the tools that you need to understand the basic trends in the development of cinema, but you are a major part of the equation in this course: Besides absorbing the information in the readings, lectures, and class discussions, you will need to be able to apply that information to films as you are watching them. You will need to learn to see films actively, to pay continual attention to what you are shown and to how you are shown it.

Course Coordinator: Dr. Nancy M. West
Associate Professor/Associate Chair, English Department
Office Hours: T, W, and Th., 10:00-11:00, and by appointment
Office Location: Tate 316G
WestN@missouri.edu

Instructors and Sections

section	meeting time	room #	instructor	office hours	email
1A	8:00-9:15, Thursday	Tate 102	Leigh Dillard	T 11:30-12:15; R 9:30-11:30 (Tate 105)	lgdillard@mizzou.edu
1B	12:30-1:45, Thursday	GCB 219	Ramsay Wise	M 3-6:00, best by appointment (Tate 6)	rbwx93@mizzou.edu
1C	9:30-10:45, Thursday	Agr 2-7	Tony Rafalowski	T 2-3:00 (Tate 6)	aer2pd@mizzou.edu
1E	11:00-12:15, Thursday	Mdlbh 209	Karen Laird	TR 9:30-11:00 (Tate 1)	kelf33@mizzou.edu