Friday, February 27

We continued our discussion of Shadow of a Doubt, focusing on what we learned from watching the Beyond Doubt documentary, and re-viewing and analyzing certain scenes, especially the scene in the library.

Thursday, February 26

We watched Beyond Doubt, a documentary about the making of Shadow of a Doubt, then discussed what we had gleaned from it.

Wednesday, February 25

We continued our analysis of motifs in Shadow of a Doubt, looking at and discussing examples in the three categories we established Tuesday: shadows, smoke and stairs.

We also digressed briefly to consider of two different (but complementary) ways of looking at film.

Tuesday, February 24

Mr. Potratz lectured on what is meant by "motifs" in architecture and design, in music, in literature and in filmn after which we discussed both musical and visual motifs in Shadow of a Doubt, watching the opening scene of the film yet one more time, and connecting details of shadows, smoke, and stairs with instances elsewhere in the film.

Monday, February 23

Students turned in the HW assignment. Due to the dismally low number of assignments submitted, Mr. Potratz kindly consented to give papers turned in today a small amount of extra credit and to accept papers tomorrow at full credit. This one-time dispensation does not imply a change in policy. Late work will still not be accepted without prior arrangement.

Mr. Potratz and the students who did submit work shared with the delinquents some tips about how to find the needed information for the assignment.

Following that, we watched the final brief scene of Shadow of a Doubt and discussed it and what it adds to (or subtracts from) the film's presentation of evil in the world.

For tomorrow: motifs of Shadows, Smoke, and Stairs in the film.

Friday, February 13

We (almost) finished watching Shadow of a Doubt.

HW due Monday, February 23 (the day we return from break):
As per the assignment sheet passed out today, students are to investigate selected categories for which Academy Awards will be given on Sunday the 22nd. For each category they are to (1) explain what the "job description" is -- that is what creative role the person nominated performs in the making of a motion picture, and (2) to list at two of the most famous practicioners of each "art" or "science" over the history of film, and to list at least one film that person worked on (for example: Director: Alfred Hitchcock, Shadow of a Doubt, Psycho; Orson Welles, Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil.)

Typed, double-spaced, in your own words (not copied and pasted).

Suggested resources:
www.imdb.com -- Glossary. On home page, scroll to bottom and select index, then in index select Glossary and look up terms (categories, job descriptions) alphabetically.

www.filmsite.org -- Glossary. At bottom of page select Site Map, then scroll way down till you find gossary & go to it.

www.filmreference.com -- Enclopedia has informative longer entries on some of the categories.

For famous practitioners, try going to www.oscars.com and looking up past recipients of the various awards.

Raw googling is of course another possibility.

Thursday, February 12

First we reviewed what we knew about the various characters from watching the beginning of Shadow of a Doubt; then we watched another half hour of it.

Wednesday, February 11

We listened to the first scene of Shadow of a Doubt without the image, then watched it without the soundtrack. We considered the different ways in which both components create the same effects and reinforce each other. We compared classic period Hollywood musical scores with Beethoven, and looked briefly at the career of Dmitri Tiomkin.

We then began our viewing of the film as a whole, starting once again from the beginning, and stopping fifteen minutes in.

Tuesday, February 10

Students took a twenty-minute "open packet" quiz over the Classical Hollywood Style handout.

We proceeded to begin discussing the packet by means of examining its analysis of the opening scene of Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt, and we watched the scene.

Monday, February 9

To trace the technical and expressive development of early cinema we watched first The Great Train Robbery (1903), then D.W. Griffith's The Girl and Her Trust (1912), commenting on the technical advancement in quick and fluid cutting, close-ups, and crosscutting, and its expressive advancement in the development of character.

HW due Tuesday:
Finish reading the Classical Hollywood Style packet and prepare to be quizzed on it.

Friday, Februaty 6

We watched the first famous science fiction film, Melies's A Trip to the Moon (1902), and agreed that it was stronger on special effects than narrative, as is reportedly true of Melies's films as a whole. The Hepworth Studio's Rescued by Rover (1905) was used as an example of the opposite, an early film where a suspensful story line is aided by skillful cutting. The technique of cross-cutting was examined hypothetically, leaving examples for next class period on Monday.

HW due Tuesday:
A handout on "Classic Hollywood Cinema: Style" was distributed. It covers many basics of cinematic technique, though it focuses on their use in American films of the classic period of the nineteen-thirties and -forties. Quiz on Tuesday over the packet.

Thursday, February 5

Students took the quiz over the early cinema packet, "open-packet," after which we graded them.

Next we watched the scandalous 1896 Edison film, :The Rice-May Kiss," followed by even more scandalous Eadweard Muybridge serial photos, and finally a few early "actualities."

Wednesday, February 4

We watched "La Reve d'Aladin," (The Dream of Aladdin" 1906), an early fantasy color film, and discussed it briefly. We talked about the technical similarity of motion pictures and animation, and then watched "Windsor McKay and his Moving Pictures," and finally "Onesieme, the Clockmaker."

HW due Thursday:
Read the early cinema packet and prepare for a quiz over it.

Tuesday, February 3

Mr. Potratz passed out a small packet of readings on aspects of early cinema.

We then watched early clips, including the Lumiere actualite, Arrival of a Train, as well as The Countryman and the Cinematograph, That Fatal Sneeze, How It Feels to Be Run Over, and one or two others, with an eye to both the realistic and the magical aspects of early films.

HW due Thursday:
Read the packet and prepare for a quiz on it.

Monday, February 2

Welcome and introduction to the class. Students read the syllabus and asked questions about it. Mr. Potratz went over some class expectations and procedures, then briefly introduced the early history of film.

HW: Bring back the release form signed by a parent or guardian saying that you are allowed to be in the class and watch all assigned movies.