Nearing the end of the semester: many things wrapped in one.

The semester ends next week. I'm already thinking about what to change for summer -- what went well this semester, and what needs to change.

Intro to Film
This week we are watching Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator. Our discussions are going to lean toward how film as a medium can make historical change, and how film changes through the lens of history.

Next week are final projects. I've tried something new this semester: open ended final projects. Students were given full reign over their assignments, including how they were graded. My only major requirement was that their project somehow demonstrates their understanding of film. I am looking forward to seeing what my students have come up with.

Film and Culture
Last week we watched Murderball and discussed how American culture treats people with disabilities. This week is the last week for this class (Friday classes meet one week less than others) so we are doing final presentations. Students are doing a similar presentation to my Intro class where they need to demonstrate their understanding of diversity.

Next Semester Prep
I'm teaching two sections of Intro to Film over the summer. I'm considering going from a point-based grading system to giving letter grades for assignments. The upside would be quick grading without having to figure out the math. The downside would be less nuanced grading for assignments.

I've also got to pare down 15 weeks of material to fit 8 weeks. This is not as challenging as it seems - I just figure out what the major understandings I want them to have are and get rid of anything that doesn't fit that.

Film and Culture: The Field Trip

In our course schedule, this is the week where my Film and Culture class takes a break from the classroom and goes out to something that's a first-run film in a movie theater.

We've spent the semester talking about race, class, and gender so far, and this is an opportunity to apply our cultural criticism skills on something that is very current.

We'll watch the film, then have a discussion about it in the lobby of the theater. I'm on my toes as well, because I don't know what we are going to go see. We will determine that in class through a (somewhat) democratic process.

Intro: Blade Runner

I'm working this thing backwards.

Blade Runner is one of my all-time favorite films, and one that influenced me heavily as a teenager. There is something compelling about the story of someone killing inhuman creatures that themselves speak so heavily of humanity.

Then there is Ridley Scott's visuals. If you want to talk about a completely thought out universe to live in that isn't entirely explained or handed to you - this is the film. Dystopian future, yep. Incredibly densely layered mise-en-scene. And so on.

I wanted to approach the topic from what I described in the syllabus as a "film criticism" section of the course. I think we flip that on it's head, though. Normally the game is new idea, then film, then analyze, but I think in this case, because of the nature of the film, we start with the film. Then give them the opportunity to analyze in a casual assignment.

This is going to be a synthesis of what they've learned in terms of formal criticism, but also a look at new ways to think about films and their social impact.

 We've got this film and then some film history, final projects, then all done. Film criticism was kind of an afterthought, one that I'm glad to include, but I don't want to beat them upside the head with it.

The shot above of Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten...

...is impossible.

Anyone know why, and how it was done?

Film and Culture: Feminism and Joss Whedon

We're looking this week at how women are treated in film. This is an extremely complex subject, and one that I have a tendency in this course to reduce to basic elements for clarity's sake.

Our text, Benshoff and Griffin's America On Film spends one chapter on women in classical Hollywood filmmaking, and then another on how women are framed visually in film. This week's film, Serenity, is a useful tool for talking about how women are treated in modern filmmaking and how action-adventure and science fiction films frame women.

First off, we look at what gender actually is. This is the basic gender studies lecture about how sex and gender are separate. Usually the part about there being more than two possible genetic sexes and more than two genders causes some heads to explode. I use the genderbread person to help explain rudimentary ideas about gender and it's construction.

Then we talk about women in film specifically, using the other selections from this semester and using the Bechdel test to talk about how roles for men and women are treated differently both by Hollywood filmmakers and the viewing audience.

We then talk about Joss Whedon and his self identification as a feminist. What does it mean to have a popular cisgendered heterosexual white male self-define as a feminist filmmaker, and in looking at his work, does this idea pan out?

Then Serenity, which for the filmmaking crowd in the class is a treat visually. I often show the continuous shot inside the ship near the start of the film in my Intro classes as a demonstration of a long tracking shot that works well.

Then discussion, which in this class often goes to where it needs to. I am lucky to have a very diverse class this semester where students are quick to voice their opinions about the films and the subjects that we discuss. I am hoping to push the discussion towards analyzing female characters in the film as well as how Whedon frames/depicts women.

Intro: Moulin Rouge

Lets put things in context of the semester. We're about to come back from spring break. Major assignments are getting handed back (I am working on the pile of grading inbetween breaks to prep). I'm making lists of things to talk to students about regarding their essay writing. We've done a good chunk of work on the technical aspects of film and how they relate to the viewing experience.

Now, musicals. I've structured the course in the past to be roughly along the lines of Barsam and Monahan's textbook Looking at Movies, but this semester I've added some things in that I really want to talk about but don't ever get to. We're going to look at musicals and musical theater (this course is crosslisted as theater...), then academic and popular criticism, then some film history at the end.

We're going to look at a bit of Turandot first. We're going to talk about the connections between opera and musical theater - the difference between high art, low art, and even lower art (film). My copy of Turandot was filmed in the Forbidden City of Beijing, and is a fantastic look at the intersection of art, history, and performance.

Why musicals? Why do some people hate them so much? What can you do in a musical that doesn't make sense in a straight film? What's with Baz Lurhman? Does his cinematography help or hinder the telling of the story? Are jukebox musicals effective?

How does the music tell the story?

Alex

The basic method...

I follow a method in teaching film that has worked for me and seems to get students engaged and talking to each other. It is simple, straightforward, and can be adapted for any level of students. It is also not anything new, educators have been talking about this kind of method for years. Some call it Understanding by Design, some are using plan-do-review, some call it something else -- to me, it's all the same thing.

Step one: New knowledge. This happens in many different ways. Sometimes it's a reading followed by discussion, sometimes lecture, sometimes descriptive clips. Somehow, we introduce the new concept.

Step two: The Film. Sometimes this is integrated with step one (usually in Film and Culture, almost never in Intro...) but is often separate. We watch the film together (I think the communal nature of film viewing is very important) and look for the applications of the new knowledge in the film.

Step three: Class discussion. First, the opportunity to get gut-level reactions out there. "I liked it" / "I hated it" sort of stuff. Then go a bit deeper -- where did you see the new idea? How does the new idea explain this week's concept?

Step four: Online discussion. Now, a slightly more formal prompt. Extend the floor of the classroom. This is a particularly important step for purposes of differentiating instruction - some students aren't comfortable speaking in class but they are more comfortable posting online.

Step five: Formal application. There is usually some sort of essay assignment or formal assessment that students have to use their new knowledge and apply it in some sort of thoughtful way. They usually have a choice in new ideas to work with (depending on the semester, three to four ideas) and a choice in films. Hopefully the structure of the assignment keeps plagiarism at bay - there is always a component of how the viewer responds to the film, which is often personal and easy to catch when it isn't.