Welcome to Film Studies!

Welcome to Film Studies!

This course is designed to provide you with a wide foundation of Film History and Film Studies, while also giving you experience writing film scripts and film reviews/critiques (as such found in the field of Journalism). You can find the course syllabus on my teacher website. By its end, you will understand the art of film hopefully more than you do now, and will gain a better appreciation for the art of filmmaking. Some of you may like this course of study so much you will take film courses in college, major in film studies, or become professional filmmakers. Others will at least benefit from knowing (and appreciating) the art of film. Please note that you will need a notebook/journal and bring it to class every class period. You will use your journal/notebook when watching films, for brainstorming, and for various responses and exercises. I will be collecting your journal at the end of each quarter of this course and you may sometimes use it for tests/quizzes.

How to Take Cornell Notes (also see handout)
How to Take Notes When Watching Films (also see handout)

To start please read this article and complete the following task(s) in your journal/notebook (use Cornell Notes as practice) to turn in for participation credit during the marking period:

Film Studies Commentary by David Bordwell

#1. Essential question: What's the difference between the way a film reviewer (journalist), a film historian, a film scholar, and a film fan evaluate a film?
#2. List your top 10 favorite films of all time.
#3. Name your favorite genres of film. (i,e. what do you prefer to watch?) Why?

Please read the article above, and answer the questions just above in complete sentences by the end of first period (required - due today). We will then have a discussion about film.

THEN:

After our discussion in your JOURNAL/NOTEBOOK for film studies:

The TOP Films of All Time - A Personal Response by YOU!

For our class, this website by film historian Tim Dirks, will provide you with a lot of excellent information. We will be using the link throughout our course as a reliable source of information.
Please go to the link (on the right side of this post): Film History.

Other Resources:

• IMDB.com (this is the international movie data base, and can be very helpful to you in this course).
• Metacritic (a website where you can find all sorts of film reviews for models regarding how to write a film review--and for your own enjoyment)
• The Internet Script database. This site publishes many contemporary film scripts. It will be important to check your film script formatting and go here to read scripts. There is a link to this page to your right of this post.
• Youtube.com Many of the clips we will be watching in this class come from sites like youtube.com. You are probably already familiar with this website.

Today, I'd like you to spend some time reviewing the top 100 films of all time in the lab. Please read Dirk's information, take a look through the list and note the following (perhaps in 3 columns or sections):

A. Which films on this list have you personally seen? (jot down a few titles in your journal)
B. Which films on this list have you heard about, but never had the chance to see? (jot down a few titles)
C. If a movie looks interesting to you, please jot down its title in your journal.

At the last 5 minutes of class today, please get into groups of 3-4. No one in your group should be someone you sit directly next to. You will likely have to move and meet new people. Discuss your list with your group members. You may also spend any time remaining in class discussing films you love or hate. Why do you love or hate the film? Discuss.

HOMEWORK: Choose one of the films from the Internet Script Database and read a good portion of it for next class's discussion. Note the script format and be able to discuss the script you read with others. Complete the reading of this script by Monday, Feb. 5.

Final Exam

Please take 10 minutes to cram for your exam. Then it's off to next door to take that exam! Review and terms can be found below!

HOMEWORK: None.

Absurdism; Come & Go; Play; Waiting for Godot; and Samuel Beckett

Weather got you down? Feeling as if there's no point to life? Check out this style of writing...

Characteristics of Absurdism:

1. Characters are often threatened by an unknown outside force.
2. The world or diegesis of the play/film is unpredictable or lacks meaning which the characters must contend with.
3. There is often an element of horror or tragedy; characters are often in hopeless situations or trapped.
4. Dialogue is often playful, full of nonsense, repetition, or engages in silly wordplay or banter.
5. Plays are often funny, although theme is usually serious and symbolic. Absurdist theatre is often called "tragicomedy", having elements of broad humor and tragedy.
6. There is often a good deal of farce (mistaken identity, physical comedy, slapstick, sudden entrances and interruptions, etc.)
7. Theatre of the absurd often presents characters failing at something without suggesting a solution to the problem. Characters are often "losers" who cannot dig themselves out of the problems they find themselves in.
8. Characters are often unable to communicate with others (particularly about their feelings, desires, or needs).
9. Plot is often cyclical or repetitive.
10. Plots have a dreamlike or surreal quality to them, akin to nightmare. Plot events are often taken at face value; characters are unwilling or uninterested in examining "why?" something happens and instead react to "what" happens. Therefore plot is often lacking the cause. The effect is often stressed as being more important.

For no point in particular, let's go check out Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot.

Today in your journals/notebooks, please write 5 metaphors. While one half of the metaphor may be a grand human idea: freedom, love, justice, revenge, marriage, hope, wealth, etc. the metaphor you create should be fairly concrete: "hope is a thing with feathers", "love is a battlefield", "revenge is a dish best served cold". Come up with 5 metaphors. 

Now let's chat about absurdism.

Although various classical and important plays have toyed with absurd situations, it was the futility of WWII combined with the surreal and existential that birthed such a movement. When any moment we are threatened with total destruction, what else is there to do but sit stunned and blankly in misunderstanding, or weave a web of words that lack meaning?

Traditional theater often attempts to show a realistic portrayal of life. Situations and characters are firmly rooted in reality and the common human actions that result in drama. Most plays trust the word. Words we use carry meaning. But what occurs when, with the threat of nuclear annihilation, we are not able to use our human reason and the symbol of such reason (our words) to alter our own fate? If we remove the trust in language, reason, logic, and traditional conventions of story telling, we are left with something that has no inherent meaning, but in that shape is given meaning by its opposite. Modern life is futile, lacking a sensible God figure, in which the answer to the question "what is the meaning of life?" is a resounding blackness or emptiness. All is meaningless, particularly that which is supposed to bring the comfort of meaning (i.e., words). 

In the hands of playwrights like Samuel Beckett, the portrayal of a such meaningless absurdity becomes a metaphor for our own modern lives--filled as they are with anxiety, fear, hesitation, incompetence, misunderstanding, and the lack of fulfillment.

Today let's watch two short plays by Beckett: Come and Go and Play. "Play" with actor Alan Rickman.

After viewing the two plays, you will have two options. One is to read Samuel Beckett's play Waiting For Godot by yourself in the lab and to study for the final exam given next class. The other is to study for the exam and complete the following writing task as extra credit:

1. Choose one of your metaphors and twist it into a premise for a short 5-minute play. A 5-minute play is about half the length of a 10-minute play (so we're talking about 4-5 pages in script format). You will need to know what you want to say about the human condition. If you chose hope, for example, what is your opinion of hope for us humans in this crazy world? Philosophize. Make a point. Have an opinion. Once you have a premise (a one or two sentence concept for a play), move on to the next part of this exercise:

2. Brainstorm possible settings (remember that you want to rely on metaphor/symbol rather than common sense and logic), characters (characters are often allegorical, representing ideas), and infuse your props and costumes (also part of a setting) with meaning as we did last class with our brainstorming exercise.

3. After you have a setting, and a character or two, begin writing. Now. This is the trick...write. Don't worry about plot. Don't worry about meaning. Focus on your premise, yes, but don't worry about the lines. Let them flow from you quickly, without your brain getting in the way. Words in the absurdist sense are meaningless, so why worry about words? Yes, they should be real words (those which for humans have a meaning), but when spouted out one after the other like a water hose, they, too, cannot be relied on to convey any kind of truth.

Write for the rest of the period without stopping. Force your way through writer's block. At the end of class write a line that repeats or states your metaphor.

4. Take the script home with you and add details, dialogue, stage directions, and anything else that you can think of within the time limit of having the play draft done by next class. Don't judge your work. Just work with it.

HOMEWORK: Complete Waiting for Godot. Study for your final exam. The final exam will be given on Thursday, January 22. If you are absent for this exam you will have to attend next week's classes. Otherwise, next week you are able to choose whether or not you want to come to this class. The lab will be open during that time to complete any writing you need to complete. 

The Sea Gull: Acts 2-4

Please select a role to read this morning.

As we continue reading Chekhov's play, please identify the theatrical terms found in the play. Additionally, please look for subtext: what is not said in a character's line. Subtext is the subtle details or clues used by the actor to develop their character based on the writing.

Your analysis sheet/notes are due at the end of class today.

Romanticism: 1798-1832
Realists: 1850-1910
Naturalists: 1880-1930
Symbolists: 1870-1890
Aestheticism: 1835-1910
Modernism: 1890-1945

HOMEWORK: Please begin studying for your final exam. See post below.

Final Exam Review

The Final Exam for Playwriting may cover any or all of the following items, please review:

The plays & playwrights: 
Jane Martin: Talking With
Marcia Norman: 'Night Mother
John Leguzamo: Spic-o-Rama
Ntozake Shange: For Colored Girls...Enuf
Dael Orlandersmith: Monster
Paula Vogel: The Baltimore Waltz
Agatha Christie: The Mousetrap
Charles Busch: Vampire Lesbians of Sodom; Psycho Beach Party; Lady in Question; Red Scare on Sunset
Charles Ludlam: Mystery of Irma Vep
Peter Shaffer: Amadeus
William Shakespeare: Henry V
Steve Martin: Picasso At the Lapine Agile 
James Goldman: The Lion in Winter
Henrik Ibsen: Hedda Gabler
Anton Chekhov: The Seagull
Samuel Beckett: Waiting For Godot 

Proper script format
How to create characters/characterization
Techniques to motivate and gather ideas

Play Vocabulary:

• Premise: a deeply held belief by the playwright which shapes a script.
• Conflict
• Structural Unity: all parts of the plot (exposition, rising action, turning point, climax, resolution, etc.) should work and fit together.
• Inciting Incident: the point of attack, the inciting incident forces the protagonist into the action of the play's plot.
• Events
• Major Dramatic Question (MDQ): the hook that keeps an audience interested in a play; a dramatic question that a reader/viewer wants answered.
• Major decision: A decision a character makes in the plot that creates the turning point for their character.
• The three C's: Conflict, crisis, complication: obstacles characters must face for an interesting and dramatic plot.
• Rising Action
• The dark moment/crisis: the lowest moment of a character's struggle--when all the world seems lost, the fight unbeatable, the "darkest hour before dawn" -- a stunning reversal of fortune and sense of failure.
• Deus ex machina: a contrived ending. Often one in which the characters did not have a hand in solving. (It is more interesting to see a character deal with their own problems rather than an outside force solving it for them.) literally, a "god from a machine"
• Enlightenment: When the protagonist understands how to defeat the antagonist. A revelation that begins the movement toward a climax.
• Climax
• Catharsis
• Ten minute play format
• One act plays
• Full length plays (2, 3, 4, or 5 act)
• Monologues/Soliloquies
• Commedia d'ell Arte 
• Generating ideas for plays 
• Ridiculous Theater
• Absurdist Theater 
• Constantin Stanislavski
• Moscow Art Theatre
• Farce
• The Event: a uniquely significant moment in the character's lives
• Time lock: setting up a time limit or specific deadline characters have to meet in order to spur them into action (for example having a script project due...)
• French scenes
• Place & setting
• Theme
• Scenario: an outline for a writer to identify major/minor characters, plot, and setting used BEFORE writing a script
• Catalyst: the event in the play that causes a character to take action
• Character flaw
• Creating credible characters
• Protagonist
• Antagonist
• Subtext: what is not said in a character's line. The subtext are the subtle details or clues used by the actor to develop their character.
• Beat: a short exchange of dialogue
• Different types of beats: physical, behavioral, inner-life
• Backstory
• A Confidant: a character the protagonist or antagonist can talk with to reveal necessary backstory
• Verisimilitude: the semblance of truth in characters and setting. "a king should act like a king, not a foul-mouthed beggar."
• Dialogue (tips and advice) 
• Theatrical/literary periods: realism, modernism, absurdism, symbolism, comedy, naturalism, romanticism, Elizabethan, tragedy, comedy, etc. 
• Play development & workshopping a play 
• Writing and rewriting a script (advice)

Chekhov & The Seagull

After our short writing exercise, please take note of the following:

Russian Playwright and short story writer, Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull is the first of what are generally considered to be his four major plays (The Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard are the others). The Seagull was written in 1895 and produced in 1896. It dramatizes the romantic and artistic conflicts between four characters: the fading leading actress Irina Arkadina, her son the experimental playwright Constantine Treplieff, the ingénue Nina, and the author Trigorin.

Similar to Chekhov's other full-length plays, The Seagull relies upon an ensemble cast of fully-developed (and quirky) characters. In contrast to the melodrama of the mainstream theatre of the 19th century, actions (example: Constantin's suicide attempts) are not always shown onstage. Characters tend to speak in ways that skirt around issues rather than addressing them directly, a dramatic practice  known as subtext. In fact, it is this failure to communicate that creates much of the conflict in Chekhov’s work. The practice of subtext, although found in Shakespeare's plays, gained so much popularity in play writing, that no successful script today is without it.

The Seagull alludes to Shakespeare's Hamlet. Arkadina and Treplieff quote lines from Shakespeare's tragedy before the play-within-a-play (and even the play-within-a-play is a device used in Hamlet!) Treplieff seeks to win his mother’s favor back from Trigorin, much as Hamlet tries to win Gertrude (his mother) back from his uncle Claudius.

The opening night of the first production was a failure. “Vera Komissarzhevskaya, playing Nina, was so intimidated by the hostility of the audience that she lost her voice. Chekhov left the audience and spent the last two acts behind the scenes. When supporters wrote to him that the production later became a success, he assumed they were just trying to be kind.” When Constantin Stanislavski (a famous director and acting teacher) directed the Seagull in 1898 for the Moscow Art Theatre, the play was successful and well regarded. Stanislavski's production of The Seagull became "one of the greatest events in the history of Russian theatre and one of the greatest new developments in the history of world drama."

Here are a few clips of Chekhov's work:
Uncle Vanya (the entire production)
The Cherry Orchard

The Seagull (the play scene - Ballet)
The Seagull (action figure theatre)

IMPORTANT VOCABULARY CONCEPT:
Subtext: what is not said in a character's line. The subtext are the subtle details or clues used by the actor to develop his/her character.

HOMEWORK: 

Hedda Gabler; Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen and Naturalistic Theater

A major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet, Henrik Ibsen is often referred to as "the godfather" of modern drama and is one of the founders of Modernism in theatre. His works are naturalistic.

Naturalism (1865-1900) attempts to go further from realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment affects human behavior. Plots often revolve around social problems, characters are often drawn from lower classes and the poor, perhaps in an attempt to explain their behavior.


Hedda Gabler

First published in 1890 and produced in 1891 to negative reviews, Hedda Gabler has become one of Henrik Ibsen's most remembered plays apart from A Doll's House, An Enemy of the People, The Wild Duck, Ghosts, and the Master Builder. This is primarily due to the rigor of the acting role of Hedda Gabler. As a character, Hedda is at once a romantic feminist but also a manipulative, conniving villain. Hedda is neurotic, a child with a stormy ego. Her superego (represented by society and her married life) clashes with her id (her impulses and desires) in Freud's psychology. She is a tempest of a character, full of contradictions and subtext that makes playing her onstage a joy for any serious actress. In the play Hedda is the wife of Jorgen Tesman, but has had an earlier love affair with her husband's rival, Lovborg. In a gentler, simpler age this sort of behavior was considered shocking and inappropriate.

Other characters in the play include:

• Jørgen Tesman, the husband of Hedda; an academic
• Miss Juliane Tesman, Jørgen's aunt
• Mrs. Thea Elvsted, Jørgen's friend and Hedda's school rival
• Judge Brack, friend of the Tesmans; a judge
• Ejlert Løvborg, Jørgen's academic rival whom Hedda previously loved
• Berte, servant to the Tesmans and to Jørgen as a child

The setting takes place in the interior of a reception room (like a living room, it was meant to accommodate guests)

There are four acts: each act has only one scene. The set does not change, so it's just lights up and down to indicate time passing.

Dialogue Tips, Revision, Preparing for Hedda Gabler

Today in the lab:

1. Revise your workshopped play. Improve it, cut it, add to it, etc. Use the time in the lab to revise. Then when you think your play is perfect and ready for an audience, print a new version out and hand it in.
2. Read the dialogue tips and the background information about Ibsen today in the lab.

DIALOGUE TIPS

Dialogue isn't just talking. Dialogue HAPPENS. It happens when your characters' need to speak. It is also how they listen (or not listen), and the connotation, nuance, color and subtext of what they say, how they say it, and why they say it. Good dialogue is the result of well-defined characters in a well-structured plot. They may be compelled to speak (or not), but they should have a REASON for speaking.

Here are some tips to consider:

1. We usually talk because we want to communicate some need. If we want nothing, we say nothing, usually. We also speak when we want to: threaten, teach, explain, cajole, joke, murmur, pontificate, defend ourselves, apologize, seduce evade, pout, challenge, yell, scold, cry, etc.

2. Dialogue is action. It is an action taken to satisfy a want or desire. What a character wants or desires moves them to speak and act. This is part of characterization--and the best way to build your character.

3. When we don't get what we want (often immediately), humans tend to become shy, aggressive, or hide our agendas in our words. This is often our subtext (the meaning hidden in a line of dialogue; or saying one thing, but meaning another) and is very important to actors. It is often this subtext that a good actor will uncover in a performance.

4. Characters have to hear each other. Characters often do not listen the same way. Characters interpret what is being said, ask questions, ignore speech, get confused, miss a meaning and even read special meaning into something that has no meaning. Listening, therefore, will often help build the conflict and drama in your scene. A response reveals something important about the listener. How a character hears, then, is an important point to consider.

To prepare for Friday, please read the following, click on the link(s), and take note of what you are about to see Friday during class.

Henrick Ibsen and Naturalistic Theater

A major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet, Henrik Ibsen is often referred to as "the godfather" of modern drama and is one of the founders of Modernism in theatre. His works are naturalistic.

Naturalism (1865-1900) attempts to go further from realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment affects human behavior. Plots often revolve around social problems, characters are often drawn from lower classes and the poor, perhaps in an attempt to explain their behavior.


Hedda Gabler

First published in 1890 and produced in 1891 to negative reviews, Hedda Gabler has become one of Henrik Ibsen's most remembered plays apart from A Doll's House, An Enemy of the People, The Wild Duck, Ghosts, and the Master Builder. This is primarily due to the rigor of the acting role of Hedda Gabler. As a character, Hedda is at once a romantic feminist but also a manipulative, conniving villain. Hedda is neurotic, a child with a stormy ego. Her superego (represented by society and her married life) clashes with her id (her impulses and desires) in Freud's psychology. She is a tempest of a character, full of contradictions and subtext that makes playing her onstage a joy for any serious actress. In the play Hedda is the wife of Jorgen Tesman, but has had an earlier love affair with her husband's rival, Lovborg. In a gentler, simpler age this sort of behavior was considered shocking and inappropriate.

Other characters in the play include:

• Jørgen Tesman, the husband of Hedda; an academic
• Miss Juliane Tesman, Jørgen's aunt
• Mrs. Thea Elvsted, Jørgen's friend and Hedda's school rival
• Judge Brack, friend of the Tesmans; a judge
• Ejlert Løvborg, Jørgen's academic rival whom Hedda previously loved
• Berte, servant to the Tesmans and to Jørgen as a child

The setting takes place in the interior of a reception room (like a living room, it was meant to accommodate guests)

There are four acts: each act has only one scene. The set does not change, so it's just lights up and down to indicate time passing.

Play Workshop & Playwriting Tips

A NOTE ABOUT 10-MINUTE PLAYS:
A 10-minute play is short. It is a ONE-act in that there should only be one major action in the plot. Because they are short, you don't need to waste time with scenes that build up to the climax slowly. Begin at the beginning of the end of the story! Keep your canvas small. Not one of you is prolific enough to write a 50 page play, so keep your action tight.

A note about SETTING:
Don't change setting without a good reason. Setting can be used to comment on theme or character. An interior setting usually indicates that we are dealing with private issues. An exterior setting symbolizes society or the outside world. When a play takes place is important. Be specific. What season is the action taking place in? What time period or year? What time of day?

A note about THE UNITIES:
The unities of time, place, and action should keep your plays in a small amount of time. Plots should be short enough to take 1 or possibly 2 settings or locations at most. Think 1 setting for every 20 pages of script and you'll get the idea. Again, action should be started close to where you're setting your climax. Did I mention a 10-minute play is short? A 10-minute play is short.

Several NOTES ABOUT CHARACTER:
Remember that plays are essentially about characters. A character can drive a plot forward based on the needs and motivation of that character. A well written character is constructed to be believable (i.e., human) and so there are a few ways we can ensure this:

1. Characters are often aspects of the writer. Shatter your personality into fragments, with each fragment a part of YOU. Remember that there are opposites to your standard behavior and personality. If you are a quiet, shy person, perhaps your shadow-self is a loud-mouthed bully.

2. Make your characters make decisions. Conflict and plot are driven by decisions. You need characters who are willing to risk everything for what they want/need.

3. Characters have a function. Whether archetypical, stereotypical, as a foil, or as a protagonist or antagonist, characters serve a function and purpose in a play. Characters that do not, should be removed. If you can't be bothered to give a character a line or significant stage time, consider dropping this character from the play.

4. The better the author knows his/her character, the better he/she can develop the character through characterization. Characterization, as you know, is a character's description, a character's actions, a character's speech, and what other characters say ABOUT a character. The power of gossip is helpful when writing a scene.

5. Build your scenes. Add beats to develop your characters by providing backstory. Allow characters a chance to explain themselves (particularly after doing something that seems contrary to their personality or something that causes conflict for other characters).

6. Just like in poetry or fiction, what is the last image you are presenting to the audience? A last speech, line, or action in a play is a powerful thing. Does your play have an effective and memorable ending? What are you leaving your audience to think about?

Workshop:
Get into your workshop groups. Help your fellow writers. Writers ask questions about how you can IMPROVE your plays. Get some effective feedback (as you're about to revise these plays for your final grade). Complete the workshop sheet for your play and turn in for participation credit.

When you have completed your workshop, please travel to the lab and work on your revision. Revisions are due by end of next class. Chop-chop. Get re-writing!

HOMEWORK: Continue rewriting your script. Be prepared to complete your revision by next class.