Intro to Film Spring Movies

One of the great pleasures of my job is having the opportunity to teach an Introduction to Film course. I approach it with much the same philosophy I approach my literature classes: I want them to think critically, to open their minds more to what they think is "good," and to have a better toolbox for finding and interpreting meaning. In other words, I want them to see that being a scholar--and a thoughtful human--is about wanting to be more than just "entertained." I don't expect them to all come out loving Shakespeare, or black-and-white movies, or what have you, but I don't want them to think, "There's more to this than I expected. I would try that again."

So when I sit down to decide what films we'll watch as a class, I have a few goals in mind:
1) I want to find films that exemplify the principles I'll be teaching--whether that be narrative, cinematography, or critical analysis.
2) I want to select films that are meaningful and seem to stand the test of time and/or present a unique point of view.
3) I want to choose films I think the students will connect to on some level.
4) I want to teach films I think are good/important/worth watching.

So this year I've come up with the following selections.

Week 1 - Film History A Trip to the Moon, The Great Train Robbery, Sherlock Jr.
The film history lessons I give are always a hard sell for the kids, mostly because they are conditioned to think "old = boring." I try to lay the groundwork by showing a few Edison and Lumiere shorts, talking about the technical limitations of early film, and then jump forward to Melies and Porter in 1902 and 1903. I think it is worth understanding where film comes from and seeing how from early on guys like Melies were pushing the envelope and pioneering special effects and story telling devices. Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr is one I picked up last fall as a great way to introduce silent movie comedy, and it works because it is actually funny. They still struggle with the pacing (slow, compared to films today), but there are still some amazing slapstick gags in the movie and it opens up some meta-film questions about the purpose of movies that we'll deal with later in the semester.

Week 2 - Form and Narrative (Traditional Structure: The Natural
There are a lot of films I could show here that deal with a pretty straightforward three-act structure. Jaws, and Rocky are two other easy choices. This year I went with The Natural because I've got a student who struggles and is a huge baseball fan, so it seemed like an easy choice he could connect with. Plus, Roy Hobbes, Wonderboy, the shattered lights? Who doesn't like this movie?

Week 3 - Form and Narrative (Nonlinear Films): Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
In the past I've shown Christopher Nolan's The Prestige, an easy crowd pleaser that directly comments on structure, form, and linear confusion in some really wonderful ways. This semester, however, I have at least two in a very small class who have already seen the film, and the movie works much better when students don't know what's coming. (Try telling teenagers to keep a twist secret . . . it rarely works.) I thought Eternal Sunshine would also work well to spark discussion about why a filmmaker might want to disrupt the viewer's expectations. I realize Memento is probably the best example of this, but it is still a high school class, and that level of language is not something I'm confident I could justify. Plus, this movie still has some great performances, interesting cinematography, and unexpected comedy, so I think it will still be a good choice.

Week 4 - Mise-En-Scene (Setting and Decor): Twelve Monkeys
I have to admit, I'm a bit ambivalent about this choice. In my opening survey of the class there was a lot of interest in sci-fi, and the film does feature some great sets, both artificial and "real," so I think it will be solid. But this is another new one that I'm not sure of. Positioned here I thought that, in addition to an exploration of setting and decor, the film would provide a good counterpoint to Eternal Sunshine in that Twelve Monkeys seems non-linear but is actually fairly linear in the life of the protagonist. Plus, there are a few sets--the future world, of course, and the insane asylum--that really will provide some grounds for fertile discussion. I remember loving this as a freshman in college, though it might be the least "significant" film on the list. I'm hoping I'll have a chance to watch the blu-ray extras before I show the film to find some details from Gilliam. I do know that there was a lawsuit about one of the sets (the pictured chair) from an artist the set design was stolen from. So that's interesting.

Week 5 - Mise-En-Scene (Subjects and Composition): Moonrise Kingdom
Originally I had planned on using this week to look at method acting--something with DeNiro or Daniel Day Lewis or someone similar--but I decided that composition was the perfect place to bring in a Wes Anderson film, and Moonrise Kingdom is PG-13, recent, and very entertaining. This is one I hope surprises some of the kids, because Anderson is so specifically stylized that I can see them being put off, but there is so much heart and cuteness in the film that I think even my class of predominantly male students will be won over. I hope so anyway. I have toyed around with including The Royal Tenenbaums in years past, but it has a brief shot of full frontal nudity (granted, it's on a poster, but teenagers don't really make distinctions like that). I think Moonrise will get the idea across in a more youth-friendly fashion. And I really loved it the first time I saw it. I'm excited to see how this one goes.

Week 6 - Cinematography (The Camera and Lighting): Citizen Kane
There's a natural bridge between mise-en-scene and cinematography, and I don't think you can teach this class without Citizen Kane, so its fortunate Orson Welles is so good at both. I know that many of them won't like it; it took me a few viewings before I began to appreciate it. But Welles did so much so well, and innovated in so many interesting ways, that I don't think I could face myself if I didn't include the movie. Another nonlinear film, Welles figured out how angles, and camera movement, and deep focus could create meaning in ways we still use (and mimic) today. I mean, the cameras are placed practically at characters' feet, for crying out loud, and it has different meanings in different scenes, from epic potential, to misguided egotism. There are few films as effective, in my mind, in using the visual space of the screen to create meaning, such as the scene when old Kane signs his newspaper away. When he is in the foreground the windows look normal size, and then he walks back to them and they tower over him, his head barely reaching the bottom of the pane. It's a great visual symbol, and a great use of deep focus. I love talking about this movie, so maybe I've got my own misguided egotism, but I think it fits here well.

Week 7 - Student Presentations
No film this week.

Week 8 - Cinematography (Light and Color): House of Flying Daggers
Last semester I replaced Daggers, which I've used several times in the past, with a movie that I think is much better: Amelie. Both movies allow me to talk about color, saturation, visual symbolism, etc. in striking ways, and both provide some exposure to foreign films--for the first time, for many students, and one of my goals for the class. Shockingly, only about two people in the class liked Amelie. I think it might have just been the class dynamic, but I didn't want them to poison the well with this semester's class, so I thought I'd switch back to Daggers. It's still a beautiful film, and though I don't think it's as rich as Amelie, it also provides some interesting moments. It will work.

Week 9 - Editing I: The Graduate
There are a few great montages in The Graduate that are great to use for editing discussions about how motions, lines, cuts, and music can all work together. I also like spending some time talking about the final shot to illustrate how when a director cuts away (or doesn't) can change meaning. Not only that, but using the chapel scene as a jumping off point for discussions of parody and homage usually works well, since they often recognize it from The Simpsons or Wayne's World or something similar. The film itself is just outrageous enough--even 32 years later--that the kids still get wrapped in the story, and Dustin Hoffman is hilarious. It's always a film that none of the kids expect to enjoy and then find themselves talking about the rest of the semester.

Week 10 - Editing II: Moulin Rouge
I think next year I might find another movie for editing and use Les Miserables as my musical of the semester--maybe even for editing, since there are a number of scenes, like The Graduate, where the impact is strengthened because the director does NOT cut away, but I like Moulin Rouge mostly for contrast with something like The Graduate. I think it's a great film to use as an example of a certain brand of modern editing, in which fast cuts equal action, and the kids often get a lot of mileage out of noting the way current audiences seem to have shorter attention spans. So it's not my favorite to show, but it has been effective in the right contrast.

Week 11 - Sound I: Rear Window
I really like using this film to start our unit on sound in part because Hitchcock is doing so many unexpected things with the sound design. On an obvious level you have the way in which he characterizes the neighbors with only limited sound, since they're supposed to be across the courtyard and thus harder to hear. Then there is the effective way he uses silence (though I understand The Birds is best for that, I haven't watched it in years) during some of the more intense scenes. Finally, the musical motif that works as a counterpoint to Jeff and Lisa's relationship is one of those elements that most of them don't notice at first but instantly understand once they dissect it a little more. On a non-sound level, I enjoy discussing the movie as a metaphor for the viewer's experience of watching a movie and the fun of talking about how the "single room set" impacts the tension in the film. I think I could also sub in Psycho or Vertigo here to equal effect, but Rear Window works for me.

Week 12 - Sound II: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
I've shown this film in the past during various units, but this semester I thought I'd try it during the sound unit for a couple of reasons. First, obviously sound itself plays a key role in the movie, with the well-known musical phrase as a form of communication. Second, Spielberg plays with silence and sound effects throughout the movie in some unexpected ways. I recently found a short video online that dissects the sound in the film as well, so I think I might use that this year. There are also a few fun stories about how the film came together (such as how Spielberg worked with the child actor in the movie) that I think make the movie-making process come alive a bit for the students. The sound unit and the editing unit are the ones I have the hardest time teaching well, so with the exception of Rear Window these four films are often different from semester to semester.

Week 13 - Film Analysis I: Cinema Paradiso
Though this is one of my wife's favorites, I have to admit this movie didn't do much for me the first time around. It's a shot in the dark this year, the first time I'll be showing it, but I had two main reasons for selecting it. First, it's foreign and I think on its way to being viewed as a classic, so I think that provides more good exposure for the students. Second, our final major unit in the class (save one) is all about putting the various pieces together to analyze film meaning, and since this (like Sherlock Jr) is also a meta-commentary on the nature of film as art, it seemed like a good way to kick off the unit. Despite my cool response to the movie, it definitely has plenty of other elements to recommend it, such as a great soundtrack, the incredible montage at the end, and a pretty engaging story. Even just thinking about it makes me like it more, so I'm confident it will be a good addition to the class.

Week 14 - Film Analysis II: There Will Be Blood
As evidenced by the title of this blog, I love this movie. And I love showing it to my film classes. It's unexpectedly engaging for the students, and it makes them unsure about how to react (and I mean that in a good way). From the lack of dialogue for the first 15 minutes, to the black comedy, to the gorgeous cinematography, to the unsettling score, to Daniel Day Lewis's riveting performance, to the bigger themes of religion, capitalism, and family, there is just so much to talk about with this movie that I ought to devote more than a week to it. The students start out really liking Daniel Plainview's take-charge, determined attitude and they want him to emerge victorious over Eli Sunday, but by the end of the film that initial reaction has been set on its head, as bigger questions about Daniel's own morality, choices, and intentions start to overshadow their dislike of Eli. It's such a rich movie, I feel like I want to show this to pretty much every one I know just to see what kind of discussion we could have afterward. One of my favorites of the course.

Week 15 - Film Analysis III: The Shawshank Redemption
I mean, obviously this is a great movie, but I do feel a little cheap showing it in this class. This is a first for me this year, but it was one of the students' most requested from the list I gave them to choose from, so I thought I would include it. This movie does a lot well, and it's an easy crowd pleaser, so I think it will be successful, I just don't think it's as rich as something like There Will Be Blood. I haven't spent too much time yet thinking about what aspects of the film I want to analyze and emphasize, so rewatching it will be on my to-do list in the next fourteen weeks.

Week 16 - Student Presentations
My class size has been fluctuating, so I'm not sure if these presentations will take the full week. If they do not, I will show the documentary The King of Kong, which the kids get really wrapped up in every time. It opens the door for good discussions about "how real is real life" as presented by the media, because though the film does such a great job setting up Billy Mitchell as the antagonist, as in all docs there's more to the story. I won't be heartbroken if there's not time, but if there is I think it's worth showing.

Week 17-18 - Student Selected Genre Study
The last two weeks I allow the students to select a genre of their choice and then we look at a classic film and a modern film of that genre. Last semester chose horror (we watched Psycho and The Woman in Black, because it's hard to find school-appropriate horror films). I'm not sure what the kids will select this year. We'll choose around week 13 so that I can do a little research if they choose something besides horror or comedy.

And that's it. I may show a few films after school as extra credit. Fight Club was a big request that I didn't think necessarily fit anyplace well. I also wanted to show Cool Hand Luke but couldn't find a good spot for it. And Do the Right Thing is still one of the most unexpected and thought-provoking films I've watched of the last few years, but it has way too much swearing to work during the school day. I'm thinking along those lines, however, for a few extra credit films.

All in all, it's not a perfect course, and it's probably a little more contemporary than I'm really happy with, but as I said, I'm aiming for a balance between significant, enjoyable, and accessible. (And of course given the time constraints of a high school class it's hard to show films that are are more than about 150 minutes.) So that's the semester in a nutshell. I'm hoping it will be successful.