ENG 1100 Syllabus

ENG 1100* – Introduction to Film

 

* This is the current syllabus for the course formerly numbered FIL 1000

 Arnold Wood, Jr.

T-265 (office)

646-2341 (phone) and 616-5429 (personal cell phone)

awood@fccj.edu (office e mail); awoodfccj@yahoo.com (personal for classes)

Posted for day classes; 5:00-6:00 pm (office hours) for night class—held in the classroom
for your convenience one hour before class starts on Tuesday evening

 Text: Gianetti, Louis. Understanding Movies, 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ,
Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2008. ISBN 0132336995.

 Description: See current college catalog

 Objective: As a result of your reading, writing, and class discussions, you will increase and
improve your appreciation and understanding of as well as viewing skills with movies. You will
pay attention not only to the words that the characters say and the actions that they take, but also
to the way they are made up, dressed, lit, shot, etc. You will know that the shot, scene, and
indeed, the entire movie, is an aggregate of all the choices that the director and his/her staff
(cinematographer, costume designers, scriptwriter, composer, editor, etc.) make and carry out to
produce the finished film. You will become aware of how the many movie elements combine to
create both emotional impact and intellectual meaning.

 Let me say as well here, that what you learn in this class, you will find in all the world around
you. Everything is a “movie set” and there are “dramas”—love stories, sci-fi tales, westerns, war
stories, spy flicks, mysteries, horror tales, etc.—occurring daily in which, if you really watch
them, you will see all the techniques of story telling and movie making in operation.

 Movie makers—indeed, storytellers in general (excepting special effects for the moment)—
imitate or model their tales after the world they find around them. It is often true, as well, that the
world then remakes itself after the images and tales that fill it.
 Readings:  8chapters from the text, specific readings and dates to be announced in class as
the term progresses. These chapters are listed at the end of the syllabus.

Quizzes: You will do eight (8) take-home, open-book quizzes on these chapters; you may work
with one another outside of class on these quizzes (objective in nature). Each quiz covers a
chapter in the Gianetti text. You will post your answers to these quizzes at the Blackboard shell
for this course (through Artemis) at the “tests” link. Please note that the last test item differs
slightly from the print form…it’s a challenge to you.

In-class movies: Movies will be shown in every class to demonstrate the points we have
discussed in class as well as what each movie offers us emotionally, intellectually, and
imaginatively. Most of the movies will be current or at least contemporary, but they will cross
several genres. However, I reserve the right to show movies, especially black & white ones
considered classics, in class, too. As I am able to, I will announce the movie to be shown the
week/class before. You will write and/or be quizzed on some of these.

Especially note this: You will then answer questions on Discussion Board of Blackboard as they
relate to what you have been learning in class. You will need to have a Blockbuster or Netflix
dvd club membership (you might be able to get them at local rental stories or even the public
library, but this last is really iffy if the movie is fairly current and popular) to enable you to rent
the movies for the weeks when I begin showing them in class. The movie list, in order as I will
show them, is posted at Course Documents on Blackboard.

Out-of-class movies: You should also watch movies out of class frequently, at least, say, once a
week. Theatrical releases, HBO/Cinemax, AMC (movie classics), and video rentals of various
feature-length movies all qualify. You will write “movie responses” on some of these (see after
“attendance” below).

Attendance: You are permitted two unexcused absences during the term. With the third
absence and any that follow (unless you have communicated—by e mail and/or voice mail—
with me in advance), your final grade will suffer a 2 pt. deduction for each absence. I assume
you enjoy movies and want to know more about them. Given this assumption, I expect you to
“suit up and show up” for class, staying until you are dismissed. Of course, you may choose not
to attend or choose to leave early—these are very bad choices.

Movie Response: 1 movie response--will be done as two brief writing assignments--

consisting of several parts to be demonstrated in class (with one additional new section to be
announced and discussed in class). The first substantial part will be a plot summary of a movie of
your choice. The second substantial part will be a techniques analysis of the same movie, to
include, at the end, a brief paragraph identifying the type of movie, how much you liked it (or
not), and the idea that you saw developed in the movie (remember that there is more than one
idea). A movie response will be due on assigned dates (see attached calendar) throughout the
term. Each part of the overall movie response will provide at least 750-1000 words of sound
prose (between three to five pages). Your response must be typed, double spaced. You may e
mail them to me anytime during the term if you want to get ahead…but make you summary and
technique responses in- depth as well as well written.
Models of movie responses are available to you at Bb at Course Information. Review them
closely.

Grading Scale:

A 900-1000

B 800-899

C 700-799

NF 0-699

I am a fair grader, but I expect you to write grammatically sound prose fundamentally in your
response sections. I also expect you to follow format guidelines for the responses and the like
exactly as I demonstrate them to you in class. If you attend closely to the internal and external
structural elements, then you can concentrate on developing good content which I can then
evaluate readily and effectively. If you know you don’t write very well, you need to visit the
campus writing lab to have your work checked, remembering that you need to fix the errors and
improve the prose for yourself, not the staff of the lab; lab staff may point out errors and suggest
words to employ (as editors do for writers), but you are responsible.

Topics: see chapter readings below

Final Grade Source:

80% Quizzes (each quiz indicated on the calendar handout)

20% Movie Response (each briefer assignment is worth 10%...both must be done)

100% Final Grade 

Honor Code: See the 2009-2010 college catalog for information concerning academic dishonesty
and its consequences....do your own work.

Text Readings:

    Chapter 8 – Story (week 1 & 2)

    Chapter 1 – Photography (week 3 & 4)

    Chapter 2 – Mise en Scene (week 5 & 6)

    Chapter 3 – Movement (week 6 & 8)

    Chapter 4 – Editing (week 9 & 10)

    Chapter 5 – Sound (week 11 & 12)

    Chapter 6 – Acting (week 13 & 14)

    Chapter 7 – Drama (Week 15 & 16)

Welcome!

Enjoy! Have a great term!

home page