SAD BUT TRUE
HOLLYWOOD SNOOPS has come to a close. Our 16 week course was formally completed in Feb 2009.This webpage will remain in place for the foreseeable future…in the meantime, all strength and wisdom to departing students…
Welcome to HOLLYWOOD SNOOPS, Alan Taylor`s Autumn 2008 – Winter 2009 16 week BA Advanced lecture/seminar programme at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, Freie University of Berlin.
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Hollywood Snoops: Welles, Fuller, Hitchcock, and Morris (BA Vertiefungsmodul A, Vertiefungsseminar) (im Grundstudium Magister ist dies ein PS, 2 SWS, 7 credits) ; Mo 12.00-14.00 – ZI JFKI Lansstr. 7-9, 319 (Seminarraum) | (13.10.) | Alan Taylor |
| Since its inception the Hollywood studio system has been noted for its mass market, genre-driven product that largely concurs, by market necessity, with conventional Realist principles in both film form and narrative structure.Occasionally, rebel elements have flourished within the system, some (Hitchcock) lasting longer and more successfully than others (Welles).Their playful, ironic, deconstructionist tendencies, ie, `Rear Window` (1954), Vertigo (1958), Citizen Kane (1941), F for Fake (1975) amounts to an unrelenting refutation and challenge to the given Realist aesthetic which, for Hitchcock, was “mere photography” yet upon which `Hollywood` aesthetic is founded.Hollywood Snoops is intended to align the work of Hitchcock and Welles with that of former newspaper journalist and rogue director Samuel Fuller (`Shock Corridor`, 1963) and the recent visual enquiries of former private eye – and now celebrated documentary Oscar winner – Errol Morris (`The Thin Blue Line`, `Fog of War`). His `Standard Operating Procedure` of 2008 won the Silver Bear/ Grand Jury Prize at that year’s Berlinale.Irony, paradox, self-reflexive enquiry: as such, the course is intended for BA Advanced students with a familiar grounding in Hollywood histories and who, like the four directors under study, wish to advance their own level of critical questioning of American culture by exploring, analysing, and writing on those who have and continue to challenge its most popular art form. | |||
Research Paper opportunities are designed to attract the professional interest and intellectual ambitions of students of American Culture, Film Theory, American Cinema.
Course Link: http://www.fu-berlin.de/vorlesungsverzeichnis/ws0809/jfki/013003002001001001.html
Thus, the link here should be of general interest: http://www.uiowa.edu/commstud/resources/visual.html
Course Description, Relevant Links & Weekly Schedule
WEEK ONE:
A basic introduction covering expectations, working practices, based on this 2-page document: at-snoops-jfk-i-intro-0809
We had 12 students today, some familair faces and news new ones – all making up a a rich mix of Europeans (France, Denmark, Spain, Iceland). On the question of skills and competences, all students should be mindful of this: http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/instruments/cv//step6.do
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Here is a PDF of our schedule: 08-09 snoops-schedule
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The outline below will be supplemented by links as the course proceeds, so bookmarking is advised.
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Useful reccommended oracle source for Film Studies: http://www.intute.ac.uk/artsandhumanities/film/
WEEK TWO
- Alan lead on film analysis: application of film terms to sequence viewings.
- Students to update background reading/viewing on these websites. These will help inform our discussions in the weeks ahead.
- http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/
- http://www.filmsite.org/filmterms1.html
- We analysed two shoot-outs: this sequence from Fuller`s Forty Guns – here is the widescreen version, but on a smaller screen! – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7Ao1CdmZoM&feature=related
- And from Welles`s The Lady from Shanghai: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0ciJ0k7Jos
WEEK THREE
- Viewing, analysis and discussion of first film: `Citizen Kane` (Welles, 1941).
- Prep reading: http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/45/kane.htm
ESSAY GUIDANCE: snoops-essay-guidance
ESSAY ONE: Employing relevant narrative and technical terms as appropriate, students can either:-
1. Write a descriptive analysis of this scene: http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=yX-EJ8BCCTU
2. Discuss how Citizen Kane, whose “…complex and pessimistic theme of a spiritually-failed man is told from several, unreliable perspectives and points-of-view”, runs contrary to Hollywood mainstream practices.
WEEK FOUR
- Viewing, analysis and discussion of first film: `Citizen Kane` (Welles, 1941).
- Excellent overview on America and Film Criticism from Douglas Kellner: http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/courses/ed253a/MCkellner/HOLSOC.html
WEEK FIVE
- Alan lead on Auteur Theory with reference to `F-For Fake` (Welles, 1973).
- The Powerpoint presentation is here:snoops-08-auteur-etc
- Background reference here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auteur_theory
- And here: http://www.filmlinc.com/fcm/5-6-2005/sarris.htm
- As requested, please note excellent research Berlin source on International/European film: http://www.filmmuseum-berlin.de
WEEK SIX
- Essay 1 due in.
- Round table review and discussion based on student`s own Research Reader.
- Students will share/discuss relevant aspects of their research so far and hand in the essay – which is expected to cover 900 words over two sides of A4 – with Research Reader.
WEEK SEVEN
Essay 2: “Let´s start from the beginning again, Jeff. Tell me everything you saw – and what you think it means.” With close reference to the RW film script (below) discuss:
1. How Hitchcock`s`Rear Window` (1958) has anticipated the `surveillance society`of 21st century America. Or, 2. How and why `Rear Window` has become so central in film study discourse since the 1970s.
- Viewing, analysis and discussion of 2nd film:`Rear Window` (Hitchcock, 1954).
- The John Michael Hayes filmscript is here: http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/rearwindow.pdf
- Hitchcock & Stewart, 1950s: http://jacobeanvisions.edublogs.org/hitchcock/
- Background reading: http://labyrinth.net.au/~muffin/rear_window_c.html
- Surveillance Society: http://www.surveillance-and-society.org/
In preparation for our work on Fuller and Errol Morris, please read Bonet, Pons & Eglisias:-
WEEK EIGHT
- Viewing, analysis and discussion of 2nd film: `Rear Window` (Hitchcock, 1954).
- In preparation for: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_film_theory
- In the spirited discussion that followed, we covered: 1, Foucault/The Panopticon, touched on 2, Feminist Film Theory and had a go at the 3, Heisenberg Principle of Uncertainty:
- 1, http://www.zuviel.org/magister/node44.html
- 2, Laura Mulvey`s seminal essay: https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/Visual+Pleasure+and+Narrative+Cinema
- 3, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle
And on the question of surveillance & urban space, an interesting article that also makes reference to Copenhagen and contemporary Berlin: http://www.surveillance-and-society.org/articles1(3)/camera.pdf
WEEK NINE
- Alan lead on film theory/histories, 1970s: structuralism.
- Background reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structuralist_film_theory
- And prep for next essay due in next week, details under week 7 above.
WEEK TEN
- Essay 2 due in…same expectations as number 1!!!!
- 2 sides, around 900 words, full bibliography, etc, cover page, all pages numbered, with block text…
- Essay 3? Students must start thinking of their own titles, to be discussed….see below….
- Round table review and discussion based on student`s own Research Reader, which should now include bibliographic reference page, sample material, subject divisions…a building portfolio based around our essay titles and background reading….
WEEK ELEVEN
- Viewing, analysis and discussion of 3rd film: `Shock Corridor` (Sam Fuller, 1963).
- Prep reading: http://www.fathom.com/feature/122257/index.html
- Prep viewing, Robbins, Tarantino & Scorsese on Fuller, an extension of our discussions on Auteur Theory: http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=40bNBZI7Ymc
WEEK TWELVE
In preparation for our work on Fuller, students can snoop here:-http://www.searchme.com/#/&q=Samuel%20Fuller/&pi=8/
Viewing, analysis and discussion of 3rd film: `Shock Corridor` (Sam Fuller, 1963).
Of interest: Journalists at large: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/books/review/Grigoriadis-t.html?_r=2&ref=books
Update: We are also considering how well our four directors would match up to the 2008 EU Framework of 8 Career Competences: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/publ/pdf/ll-learning/keycomp_en.pdf
Update: Essay titles advice. It is perhaps best if students consider starting with a researched quote as a hook and then see how well it applies to their chosen film/director. ie, “I practice Surrealism quite religiously” (Hitchcock). How true would this be of Hitchcock`s `Rear Window`(1955)?”
WEEK THIRTEEN
- Alan lead on film theory/histories, 1980s-90s: post-structuralism.
- We will be seeing the first 15 min of `F for Fake` (1983, W elles).
- Background reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_film_theory
WEEK FOURTEEN
Viewing, analysis and discussion of 4th film: `SOP` (Errol Morris, 2007).
- See also: http://prod.takepart.com/social_network/action/sop/movieconversation.html
- And his own website: http://www.errolmorris.com/
The Interrotron
- And his entrepreneurial/scientific skills: THE INTERROTRON, courtesy of Steve Hardie, Art Director, SOP http://www.whiterabbitdesigncompany.com/Miscellaneous/images/Interrotron.html
WEEK FIFTEEN
- Viewing, analysis and discussion of our 4th film: `SOP` (Errol Morris, 2007)
- And the interviewer being interviewed: http://www.film.com/movies/story/interview-errol-morris-director-standard/20838579
- UPDATE: And details of actual production: http://www.whiterabbitdesigncompany.com/film/movies/SOP.html
FEB 9th, WEEK SIXTEEN / FINAL SESSION !
- Summary overview round table discussion, analysis, Alan & group.
- Auteur Teams on Skills & Competences as applicable to our four directors:
- If possible: return to Kellner: 20th Century USA & Film Culture, http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/courses/ed253a/MCkellner/HOLSOC.html
- AND! Jan 31st Latest: PLEASE NOTE:-
- Essay Number 3 due in on Monday Feb 23rd as originally planned. This will be an e-mail submission.
