course policies

Books

Cook, David. A History of Narrative Film (required)
Corrigan, Timothy. A Short Guide to Writing about Film (recommended)

In addition to these two books, your reading for the course includes weekly handouts on the film/s being featured. These handouts provide brief contextual information on the movie and include questions designed to structure class discussion. Each Sunday, by 5:00 p.m., they will be available for downloading from the online schedule; you are responsible for getting and reading them by the Monday evening screenings.

Course Description

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 Objectives

• To provide you with a historical overview of cinema (particularly American cinema) from its inception in 1896 to roughly 1950
• To introduce you to the basics of film language
• To examine a range of film genres, including the gangster film, the musical, and film noir, with an eye toward the general question of how film genres operate
• To provide a historical, narrative, and stylistic look at one film genre in particular: film noir
• To introduce you to various film styles, including German Expressionism and Italian Neorealism, and to see how those styles developed in dialogue with each other
• To give you the tools so that you can watch films actively, paying close attention to what happens in the frame
• To teach you how to write about film

Course Mechanics

Because English 1810 is a large class, we ask you to cooperate with the following guidelines:

Attendance
We take attendance Tuesdays in the large lecture classes and Thursdays in the discussion classes. Anyone missing more than four classes will have his or her grade reduced; anyone missing more than six classes may be dropped from the course at the discretion of the section instructor. Please note that this attendance policy applies regardless of the reasons for missing a film showing or discussion class. Students who miss film showings on Monday evenings must make arrangements on their own to see the films they’ve missed. All films are available at the following locations: Ellis Library (on reserve at the Circulation Desk), Academic Support, and 9th Street Video. Please note that I have reserved the films at Ellis library for an overnight checkout. If you do not have access to a VCR or DVD player, you may watch the films in the Recorded Sound Collection at Ellis library (4th floor, east). Academic Support requires that you view the films in their screening rooms; checkouts are allowed only at the cost of 10.00 per night. Students who miss discussion classes are responsible for the material covered in those classes.

Monday screenings start promptly at 6:30 p.m and Tuesday lectures begin promptly at 12:30. The appearance of the lecturer at the front of the auditorium indicates the start of class and the desire for your attention. PLEASE ARRIVE ON TIME OR A FEW MINUTES EARLY.

Students arriving up to 20 minutes late will be considered tardy and will be given a tardy slip. Three tardy slips wll count as an absence. Students arriving more than 20 minutes late will be counted absent.

Auditorium Etiquette

1. Avoid the need to leave your seat during the film.
2. Keep snack noise to a minimum and take your trash away with you.
3. Turn off all phones, pagers, watches, and other sources of extraneous noise.
4. Stay seated quietly until the house lights come back on.

Conflicts with Other Classes
According to the regulations of the College of Arts and Science, attendance at regularly scheduled classes takes absolute precedence over any other exams or activities. If a professor in another course schedules an exam during one of our Monday evening film screenings, that instructor is required to give you a makeup exam. If there is any problem with this policy, please see your dean. It is your obligation to make sure that your other class meetings and exams do not conflict with any of those for English 1810. You should check the complete schedules of all your classes at once, and if you have a conflict, you should drop one of the courses.

Course Assignments

There will be a midterm and a final examination in this course. The midterm, timed for no more than one hour, will contain two parts. Part One is an objective section comprised of multiple choice and identification questions based on the readings and films from the first half of the course. Part Two is a short answer section that requires you to analyze a shot or shot sequence from one of the films studied during the first half of the course. Like the midterm, the final exam will be comprised of two parts, the first part an objective section covering the readings and films from the second half of the course. Part Two, however, will require you to do two scene analyses from films viewed during the second half of this semester. A study guide for both exams will be posted on the website two weeks prior to the date of the exam in question.

In addition to these exams, you will be required to keep a weblog for this course where you write a total of TEN original responses to the readings and/or films and FIVE peer responses. The  original responses need to be posted by Wednesdays, 5:00 p.m.; the peer responses are due by Sundays, 5:00 p.m. An extended description of both these assignments may also be found on the blog page and discussed in class.

Grade Distribution

Weekly Blogs 50%
Midterm Exam: 15%
Final Exam: 20%
Weekly Attendance/Participation: 15%

Grades and attendance records will be posted on Blackboard.

Note on Academic Dishonesty

The faculty and administration of the University of Missouri-Columbia recognize the necessity of encouraging procedures which assure to the extent possible an academic environment in which each student has an opportunity to be evaluated fairly on the basis of their own performance. The maintenance of such an environment requires that both faculty and students have access to these regulations regarding academic dishonesty and that early in each term the instructor provide the class any expectations unique to that course.

Any formal report of academic dishonesty will be made in writing to the department chairperson and the office of Provost. The report, which will be prepared without delay, will contain a detailed account of the incident, supporting evidence (if appropriate), and any disposition taken by the instructor.

Notice of violations and action(s) taken will be handled in accordance with Section 6.01 of the Collected Rules and Regulations of the University as published in the MBook. When disposition of a case of academic dishonesty is made, a report is to be submitted to the instructor and the Dean of the school or college in which the student accused of academic dishonesty is enrolled. Academic Integrity is expected of all students in a University community. A charge of academic dishonesty is a serious one and can have serious consequences if guilt is established. Discipline ranges from a warning to expulsion from the University. In addition, the instructor may award a failing grade in the assignment, a failing grade in the course, or may adjust the grade as deemed appropriate.

Note to Students with Disabilities

The information in this syllabus is available in alternative forms upon request. If you have a disability and need accommodations, please notify your instructor. You may also contact the Access Office, A048 Brady Commons, 882–4696.