Film studies
|
course description
Film Studies is an introductory Film course that is offered through Snow Hill High School’s English department, and is designed as an upper level class for 11th and 12th graders. The course focuses on teaching movies as visual narratives, but students analyze and study all the language systems of film (e.g. photography, editing, sound, acting, story, writing, ideology, etc.) . In studying these valuable tools the filmmaker use, students better understand how movies are constructed and appreciate the criteria necessary to make a film. The course is both a film history class, and a genre study course, for students study important film movements as well as the conventions of a genre.
|
course overview
The course will begin with a survey of historically important films that trace the evolution of the medium over the last one hundred years; during this period students will view parts or whole silent classics like Way Down East (Griffith), Ben Hur( MGM studios), Sunrise(Murnau), and City Lights(Chaplin). The course will proceed chronologically and thematically into units such as The Introduction of Sound/The Musical, Comedy, The Studio System/The Western, Propaganda, Film Noir, Suspense and Horror, Directors, and The Modern Blockbuster. Through a careful analysis of film history, its evolution and its technical composition, this course seeks to prepare its students to see the world around them from an informed and critical perspective.