Film history - theory and appreciation

Course Content:
The course will comprise of lectures, film clips and class discussion, which takes you through the basics of filmmaking. You will learn how to shoot better quality footage, how to light scenes, how to edit and above all how to tell a story that your audience wants to watch. You can be working with drama, documentary or news. The methodology is largely the same.

Week 1 Plato’s Cave
The beginning of film. Early movies, audiences, developing a language and film theory. A world cinema. The major elements of film production. Lights, camera, action & editing.

Week 2 Film & Propaganda
A new language, Hollywood vs USSR. Montage v Continuity editing. Kulashov, Eisenstein, Vertov & Propaganda.
Mixing it up, modern-mash up propaganda (cassetteboy)

Week 3 Sound!
How the introduction of recorded sound altered film.
The further evolution of sound and its future.

Week 4 Art & Avante-Garde Cinema
Duchamp & Bunuel - the cinema of the surreal.
Modern avante garde, John Smith - Girl chewing gum.
Avant-garde now - the pop video.

Week 5 Hitchcock and Psychology
An exploration of his major cinematic work & themes.

Week 6 Prelude to war - European displacement and a new film style
The influx to Hollywood, Film Noir and its influences.
Powell and Pressberger their legacy.

Week 7 The French Nouvelle Vague
‘Cahiers du Cinema’ Truffaut and their effect on Hollywood
Auteur theory in film & Hitchcock as Patron Saint.

Week 8 Deconstructing Image & Narrative
Ways of seeing. Walter Benjamin’s theory.
Understanding the viewpoint of a film through it’s narrative and other constructed elements

Week 9 Advertising and Hollywood
The British are coming! How advertising changed the look of the Hollywood film in the 80’s

Week 10 The Future of film
How the digital revolution has changed the industry.