DEPARTMENT OF FILM AND

AUDIOVISUAL COMMUNICATION

College of Mass Communication

University of the Philippines

Diliman, Quezon City

SYLLABUS FOR FILM 10

 

Course Number: Film 10 (AH)

Course Title: Sining Sine

Course Description: Film as art and social practice

Prerequisite: None

Course Credit: 3 u.

 

Course Objectives:

By the end of the course, the students should be able to:
  1. use appropriate film terminology in describing film form and their experience of viewing films;
  2. identify the aesthetic tradition from which a film product emerges; and
  3. develop a critical openness to a wider variety of film products beyond the standard Hollywood model.

 

Course Outline:
  1. Overview of the course (4 weeks)
    1. Film as art, film as commodity
    2. Film movements
    1. Early cinema and the birth of narrative
    2. Classical Hollywood narrative cinema
    3. Alternatives to Hollywood dominance
  1. Elements of film (5 weeks)

A. Basic film terminology

B. Film techniques

    1. Visual elements – mise-en-scène and cinematography
    2. Editing
    3. Sound and music
    4. Performance

C. Film form

1 Narrative modes

2 Non-narrative modes

3 Genres and their permutations
  1. Social practice (5 weeks)

    2. A. Industrial modes of production

    1 Studio systems (including state production)

    2 Independent systems

    3 Collective systems

    B. Spectatorship

    1 Icons, auteurs, star texts

    2 Fan cultures – buffs, specialists, cultists

    C. Institutions and issues

    1 Censorship and the state

    2 Critics and ratings bodies

    3 Film education

    4 New technologies

  2. Group video exercises on the production process

(2 weeks)

A. Conceptualization and storyboarding

B. Shooting (in-camera editing) of a 3-min. project

C. Screening of completed projects

Requirements:

  1. Midterm and final exams (1 hr. each)
  2. Weekly film journals (1-page double-spaced reactions)
  3. Assigned and in-class screenings
  4. Final paper (8-10 pp.)

References:

Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. 1979. 6th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2001.

Cinepad. Website. <http://cinepad.com/awards>.

David, Joel. Fields of Vision: Critical Applications in Recent Philippine Cinema. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila Univ. Press, 1995.

Internet Movie Database. Website. <http://us.imdb.com/list>.

Neale, Steve and Murray Smith, eds. Contemporary Hollywood Cinema. London: Routledge, 1998.

New York Times Movie Review Archive. Website requiring registration including email address (no fees). <http://www.nytimes.com/ref/movies/archive_a.html>.

Pendergast, Tom and Sara Pendergast, eds. International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. 4 vols. 1987. 4th ed. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000.

Pines, Jim, and Paul Willemen, eds. Questions of Third Cinema. London: British Film Institute, 1989.

Prince, Stephen. Movies and Meaning: An Introduction to Film. 1997. 2nd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001.

Sobchack, Thomas and Vivian C. Sobchack. An Introduction to Film. 1980. 2nd ed. Boston: Little, Brown, 1987.

Tiongson, Nicanor G., ed. Philippine Film. Vol. 8 of the CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art. 9 vols. + index. Manila: Cultural Center of the Philippines, 1994.

Turner, Graeme. Film as Social Practice. 1988. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge, 1999.

 

Required Film Viewings (in class):

Brocka, Lino, dir. Maynila: Sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag (Manila: In the Talons of Light). Clodualdo del Mundo, Jr.. Filipino. 125 mins. Philippines, 1975.

Buñuel, Luis, dir. Un chien Andalou (The Andalusian Dog). Screenwriters Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali. Silent with music track & Eng. title cards. 16 mins. France, 1929.

De Sica, Vittorio, dir. Ladri di biciclette (The Bicycle Thief). Screenwriters Cesare Zavattini, Oreste Biancoli, Suso Cecchi d’Amico, Vittorio de Sica, Adolfo Franci, and Gherardo Gherardi. Italian (Eng. subtitles). 93 mins. Italy, 1948.

Eisenstein, Sergei, dir. Bronenosets Potyomkin (Battleship Potemkin). Screenwriters Nina Agadzhanova and Sergei Eisenstein. Silent with music track & Eng. title cards. 66 mins. USSR, 1925.

Mizoguchi, Kenji, dir. Ugetsu Monogatari (The Ugetsu Story). Screenwriters Matsutaro Kawaguchi and Yoshikata Yoda. Japanese (Eng. subtitles). 94 mins. Japan, 1953.

Penn, Arthur, dir. Bonnie and Clyde. Screenwriters David Newman and Robert Benton with Robert Towne (uncredited). English. 111 mins. US, 1967.

Sirk, Douglas, dir. Written on the Wind. Screenwriter George Zuckerman. English. 99 mins. US, 1956.

Truffaut, François, dir. La nuit Américaine (Day for Night). Screenwriters François Truffaut, Jean-Louis Richard, Suzanne Schiffman. French (Eng. subtitles). 115 mins. France, 1973.

Various dirs. and screenwriters. Instructional videos on film aesthetics, history, and analysis. English. 15-30 mins. each. US, 1980s-90s.

Welles, Orson, dir. Citizen Kane. Screenwriters Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles, with John Houseman (uncredited). English. 119 mins. US, 1941.

Wiene, Robert, dir. Das Kabinett des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari). Screenwriters Hans Janowitz and Carl Meyer. Silent with music track & Eng. title cards. 71 mins. Germany, 1920.

 

Required Film Viewings (outside assignments):

Benegal, Shyam, dir. Bhumika (The Role). Screenwriters Shyam Benegal, Satyadev Dubey, Girish Karnad. Hindi (Eng. subtitles). 142 mins. India, 1976.

Diegues, Carlos, dir. Bye Bye Brasil (Bye Bye Brazil). Screenwriters Carlos Diegues and Leopoldo Serran. Portuguese (Eng. subtitles). 100 mins. Brazil-Argentina-France, 1979.

Forbes, Bryan, dir. The Stepford Wives. Screenwriter William Goldman. English. 115 mins. US, 1975.

Griffith, D. W., dir. Birth of a Nation. Screenwriters D. W. Griffith, Frank E. Woods, and Thomas F. Dixon, Jr. Silent with music track & Eng. title cards. 190 mins. US, 1915.

Hitchcock, Alfred, dir. Vertigo. Screenwriters Samuel A. Taylor and Alec Coppel. English. 128 mins. US, 1958.

Manchevski, Milcho, dir. and screenwriter. Pred dozhdot (Before the Rain). Macedonian, Albanian, English. 113 mins. Macedonia, 1994.

Park Chan-wook, dir. Gong dong Gyung bee Koo yuck/Jei Ess Aei (Joint Security Area/JSA). Screenwriters Kim Hyun-sook, Lee Moo-young, Jung Seong-san, and Park Chan-wook. Korean (Eng. subtitles). 110 mins. South Korea, 2000.

Riefenstahl, Leni, dir. Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will). Screenwriters Leni Riefenstahl and Walter Ruttmann. German (Eng. subtitles). 114 mins. Germany, 1934.

Wachowski, Andy and Larry Wachowski, dirs. and screenwriters. The Matrix. English. 136 mins. US, 1999.

Verhoeven, Paul, dir. Basic Instinct. Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas. English. 128 mins. US, 1992.

Zhuangzhuang Tian, dir. Lan fen zheng (The Blue Kite). Screenwriter Xiao Mao. Mandarin (Eng. subtitles). 138 mins. China, 1993.