ENG 1100 Syllabus
Arnold Wood,
Jr.
T-265
(office)
646-2341
(phone)
awood@fccj.edu
(office e mail)
Posted for day classes; 5:00-6:00 pm (office
hours) for night class—held in the classroom for your convenience
Text: (Don't buy until class meets and you get instructions) Gianetti, Louis. Understanding Movies, 11th ed.
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: 8 chapters 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 take-home, open-book quizzes on these chapters; you may work with one another
outside of class on these quizzes (objective in nature).
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 b/w 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.
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 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 Responses:
1 movie response--will be done a 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).
A movie response will be due on assigned dates (see attached calendar)
throughout the term. Each movie response will provide at least 1000 words
of sound prose (about four or five pages). Your response must be typed,
double spaced.
Grading Scale:
A 900-1000
B 800-899
C 700-799
NF 0-699
I am a tough, but fair grader. I expect you to write grammatically
sound prose. I also expect you to follow format guidelines for 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)
10%
“Participation”
100%
Final Grade
Honor Code: See the 2007-2008 college catalog for information concerning academic dishonesty and its consequences....do your own work.
Text Readings:
Chapter 8 - Story
Chapter 1 - Photography
Chapter 2 - Mise en Scene
Chapter 3 - Movement
Chapter 4 - Editing
Chapter 5 - Sound
Chapter 6 - Acting
Chapter 7 - Drama
Welcome!
Work hard! Enjoy! Have a great term!