Catlin Gabel

Film Studies

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Units

Unit	Essential Questions	Content	Skills and Processes	Assessment	Resources	Multicultural Dimension
Film Studies	How do we read a film? What conventions characterize the classic Hollywood cinema? How do those conventions compare with the characteristics of other national film traditions (Soviet Expressionism, French New Wave), as well as contemporary film making? What do classic American films teach us about the social and cultural representation of American life, possibilities, and values, as well as the technical possibilities of film narrative?	Development of American film from silent era to present through consideration of a variety of American (as well as two foreign) films Technical vocabulary of film grammar Analyze the way in which script, production, and directorial decisions contribute to film meaning Parallels between concerns of Hollywood, larger questions of identity, community, and values in American culture	Develop planning and presentation abilities Teach two classes per term Peer review Metacritical essays (All writing assignments are submitted for peer review and require a metacritical essay)	Student class presentations are debriefed in conference with the instructor All student writing assignments are reviewed in conference *Papers	Bordwell and Thompson's Film Art (6th ed.) Griffith's The Birth of a Nation Eisenstein's Strike Hawks' His Girl Friday Welles' Citizen Kane Capra's It's a Wonderful Life Hawks' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Ford's Stagecoach and The Searchers Houston's The Maltese Falcon Godard's Breathless Penn's Bonnie and Clyde Hitchcock's Rear Window and Vertigo Lynch's Blue Velvet Lee's Jungle Fever various class handouts, including both cast lists and critical articles	Examination of Griffith's The Birth of a Nation, Ford's Stagecoach and The Searchers, and Lee's Jungle Fever allow an examination of race and racism in classic Hollywood cinema. Questions of gender and class difference are foregrounded throughout the term.