EXAM questions (This exam will be due by midnight 5/1):

1. Explain Jean Epstein's concept of photogénie.

2. Site three ways in which a French Impressionist Film(s) (viewed during class) expressed a character's subjective experience. Be descriptive in your answer and make sure you are describing filmic devices specific to French Impressionist Film. Make sure to include the film's (or films') title, date, and director.

3. Site three ways in which a French Surrealist Film(s) (viewed during class) used expectations built upon classical narrative film language to create shock through challenging these expectations. Make sure to include the film's (or films') title, date, and director. To do this, use at least two the following terms, define them, and describe how a surrealist film confounded your expectations based on these definitions. Explain what sort of reaction this created in you as a viewer:
establishing shot
screen direction
match on action
cut-in
crosscutting
eyeline match
shot/reverse shot
mise-en-scene

4. What did Alexandre Astruc mean to gain for cinema by his use of the metaphor la caméra stylo?

Cléo from 5 to 7, Agnés Varda, 1962

Jules and Jim, François Truffault, 1962

recommended reading:

François Truffaut: The Anarchist Imagination, by Judith Shatnoff

(available on JSTOR)

Tuesday, March 27th

La Jetee, Chris Marker, 1962, 27 min.

Pierrot le fou, Jean Luc Godard, 1965, 110 min.

Reading for Tuesday, April 3rd

André Bazin: The Ontology of the Photographic Image
http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/Bazin-Ontology-Photographic-Image.pdf
(also on JSTOR)

Alexandre Astruc: The birth of a new avant garde: la caméra stylo
http://www.fadedrequiem.com/zoetrope/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/alexandre_astruc_birth_of_new_avante_garde.pdf

Yet Another REVISION to LOGISTICS! (from the old softy)

There will be one electronic (take home on your laptop) exam. This exam will be emailed to you next week. This exam will be due 5/1

Research paper will be due 4/24
choice between two possible plans of attack:

1. 2400 words, minimum 6 images: a research paper on any artist or director whose films we have watched in class
with specific attention to the film or films from class
2. 2000 words, minimum 6 images: a close reading of any film from class from before 1950 in comparison to another film in class from before or after 1950

La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc
Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928

Reading:

PLEASE READ CHAPTERS 3 - 5 for Tuesday, March 27th