Final Exam

After our exam we will screen student films.

• Mismatch Made in Heaven (COFA films)

Top 100 Films (revisited); Film Project; Study for Film Exam

Today, please take a moment to review the top 100 films of all time.  Please look through the list and comment on the following in the comments section below:

A. I asked you to look at this list at the beginning of the course. You may have written your response as to how many movies on the top 100 list you were familiar with. Check that list now. How many of the top 100 films have you NOW seen compared to the beginning of the course?
B. Do you feel you have a better understanding of film and film history from taking this course?
C. What was your favorite film that we watched or studied this semester? 

Before the end of class, please put your comment in the COMMENT section below in this post for participation credit.

Please work on your film projects. These are due by next class--we are screening what you have then. Please upload your film to YOUTUBE between today and next class and send me the URL link for your film project. Please keep your film PUBLIC until you have screened it.

With any time remaining, please study for your final exam Friday.

Film Exam Review

Exam review

Our final exam covers a lot here. Please study and use your notes you took in class (there was a reason you should have taken notes) to study from. Look back at the blog posts and read or view the clips/articles that were linked. You will be responsible for anything that is posted there--including:
The Movies Learn to Speak (article)
The Jazz Singer (1927) & Don Juan (1926), Al Jolson, Vitaphone, etc.
The Benefits and Problems concerning SOUND IN FILM
1930's Golden Age of Film: (blog post)
Hal Roach, Laurel & Hardy, "The Music Box" (1931), The Little Rascals
Universal Horror films and stars
Screwball comedies & style
Frank Capra films
Genre films: Gangster, War, Westerns, Musicals, Animation, Adventure
Famous actors/personalities in 1930's & 1940's films
RKO, King Kong (1933), Fay Wray--the scream queen, Max Steiner, Ray Harryhausen
The Marx Brothers: Duck Soup (1933)
Influence of the Great Depression on film, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart
Narratology, style of film, narrative techniques, avant garde films
Technicolor (Walt Disney article) and color in film
Walt Disney, Snow White (1937) (article & blog posts)
Warner Brothers Looney Tunes (animation in 1930-1970)
How to write a treatment, 3-act structure; how to write a script
John Huston, dir.; Humphrey Bogart: The Maltese Falcon
Film Noir (article "Murder, Greed, & Betrayal: The Dark Streets of Film Noir")
The characteristics of Film Noir, how German Expressionism influenced Film Noir, etc.
The Wizard of Oz & Gone With the Wind (1939, color in film)
Citizen Kane (1941) & Orson Welles and his influence on film (Orson Welles Comes to Town article)
Mise-en-scene & deep focus shots, auteur, diegetic & non diegetic sound, styles of film, mise-en-shot, montage, continuity editing, editing, producing, etc. (various posts)
Angles, shot types, 180 degree rule, how to direct, produce, and write a film, etc.
World War II and its affect on film
Alfred Hitchcock, Rope (1947), Psycho (1960); the MacGuffin
The Emergence of Television (article)
Samuel Goldwyn (MGM), influence of television on the film industry ("The Emergence of Television" article)
HUAC and the Communist Witch Hunt, McCarthy Era, Fatty Arbuckle scandal, Ring Lardner, blacklisting (HUAC article)
Drive-in Theaters
AIP & Samuel Z. Arkoff (American International Pictures: A Blueprint for Success" article)
Ed Wood & Roger Corman
William Castle
1950's Science Fiction films, The Cold War & its influence on film
MPPA relaxing its restrictions (article)
Jack Valenti, Mike Nichols, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1966) ("Relaxing Restrictions: MPAA Ratings System article)
Ratings system: G, M, R, X and what the letter stands for--later G, PG, R, NC17
How to direct, how to edit, how to write a film script
1960's film trends
The New Hollywood: America's New Wave (article)
Dennis Hopper, Easy Rider (American New Wave)
Steven Spielberg & George Lucas; Star Wars (1977): blockbusters & their influence in film
Blaxploitation (article)
CGI, Toy Story (1995) (article)
Producers, directors, writers, foley artist, grip, cinematographers, and film occupations
1970's-1980's film trends
Francis Ford Coppola
Roman Polanski
Martin Scorsese
Ridley Scott
Spike Lee
1990's-2000's film trends
Quentin Tarantino films
Will Smith (actor)
Hayao Miyazaki
Peter Jackson


Blog posts from April 1 through June 6.

1990's Film Trends

Please read the following article on 1990's film trends. Take notes on the graphic organizer. When completed, take a look at some of these 1990's - 2000's clips.

1990's Films (samplings):

• Ghost (1990)
• Home Alone (1990)
• Goodfellas (1990)
• Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• Boyz in the Hood (1991)
• Jungle Fever (1991)
• The Crying Game (1992)
• Malcolm X (1992)
• Jurassic Park (1993)
• Schindler's List (1993)
• Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
• Forest Gump (1994)
• The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
• Braveheart (1995)
• Seven (1995)
• Scream (1996)
• Fargo (1996)
• Don't Be a Menace (1996)
• Titanic (1997)
• L.A. Confidential (1997)
• Armistad (1997)
• Saving Private Ryan (1998)
• The Big Lebowski (1998)
• Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
• The Matrix (1999)
• American Beauty (1999)
• Fight Club (1999)
• The Sixth Sense (1999)
• The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Quentin Tarantino (director) Films:

• Reservoir Dogs (1992)
• Pulp Fiction (1994)
• Natural Born Killers (1994)
• From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
• Jackie Brown (1997)

Will Smith: (popular actor)

• Six Degrees of Separation (1993)
• Made in America (1993)
• Bad Boys (1996)
• Independence Day (1996)
• Men in Black (1997)
• Enemy of the State (1998)
• Wild, Wild West (1999)
• Ali (2001)

Animated Films:

• Little Mermaid (1989)
• Beauty and the Beast (1991)
• Aladdin (1992)
• The Lion King (1994)
• Toy Story (1995)
• Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
• Princess Mononoke (1997)
• Mulan (1998) 
• A Bug's Life (1998)
• South Park, the Movie (1999)
• Antz (1999)
• Tarzan (1999)
• Chicken Run (2000)
• Shrek (2001)
• Ice Age (2002)
• Spirited Away (2002)

Other films from the 90's (90 samples...)

Most Memorable Movies from the 2000's

HOMEWORK: Take a look at some of these 1990's and 2000's films. The rest of your film education is up to you now. 

1970's-1980's Film Trends/Directors; Film Project

Please continue to work on your film project. Edit, edit, edit. Look at the tips from the post below on editing. Leave your editor to work and complete your homework.

HOMEWORK: Please read the packet on these directors and watch their film clips/trailers. Take note of popular styles and trends in the 1970's and 1980's. Use the graphic organizer to collect your notes. Anything here is fair game for the final exam next week.

Francis Ford Coppola

• Godfather (1972)
• Godfather, Part II (1974)
• Apocalypse Now (1979)

Roman Polanski

• Rosemary's Baby (1968)
• Chinatown (1974)
• Frantic (1988)
• The Pianist (2002)

Martin Scorsese

• The Taxi Driver (1976)
• Raging Bull (1980)
• Goodfellas (1990)
• Gangs of New York (2002)
• The Departed (2006)

Ridley Scott

• Alien (1979)
• Blade Runner (1982)
• Thelma & Louise (1991)
• Gladiator (2000)
• The Martian (2015)

Spike Lee 

• Do The Right Thing  (1989)
• Jungle Fever (1991)
• Malcolm X (1992)
• Inside Man (2006)
• Selma (2014)

Trends:
The sequel became standard fare in the 1980's. So, too, with the cult popularity of Dungeons & Dragons RPG, fantasy films became popular as well. Science fiction epics, inspired by the success of Star Wars, spewed out hundreds of imitations. The relaxation from the MPAA, the popularity of Hitchcock's films, as well as the drive-in B-horror films, grindhouse films, and exploitation films cut a path for slasher films. A revisit from the 1950's and 60's teen films inspired a new generation of filmmakers and moviegoers. Here are a sample:

Slasher Films
Friday the 13th  (1980)
Friday the 13th, part 2 (1981)
Friday the 13th, part 3 in 3d (1982)
Halloween (1978)
Halloween, part 2 (1981)
Terror Train (1980)
My Bloody Valentine (1981)
Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
The Shining (1980) Stanley Kubrick

Fantasy & Sci-Fi Epics
Star Wars (1977) George Lucas, dir.
Lord of the Rings (1977) Ralph Bakshi, dir.
Wizards (1977) Ralph Bakshi, dir.
Startrek (1979)
Superman (1979)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980), George Lucas, dir.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Steven Spielberg, dir.
Excalibur (1981) John Boorman, dir.
Dragonslayer (1981)
Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Beastmaster (1982)
The Dark Crystal (1982), Jim Henson, dir.
ET (1982), Steven Spielberg, dir.
Krull (1983)
Legend (1985) Ridley Scott, dir.
Labyrinth (1986) Jim Henson, George Lucas, dir.
The Princess Bride (1987) Rob Reiner, dir.
Beetlejuice (1988), Tim Burton, dir.
Willow (1988), George Lucas, dir.

Teenage Films
Sixteen Candles (1984) John Hughes, dir.
The Breakfast Club (1985) John Hughes, dir.
Pretty in Pink (1986) John Hughes, dir.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) John Hughes, dir.
Teen Wolf (1985)
Back to the Future (1985) Robert Zemekis, dir.
Back to the Future, 2 (1989)
Heathers (1989)