Tuesday, March 31
Students submitted their single-scene analysis essays. Essays submitted tomorrow will lose 10%; essays submitted Thursday will lose 20% (last day for submission).
We returned to Man With a Movie Camera and listen to what Yuri Tsivian had to say about the last sequence we watched and discussed on Monday. We then returned to Battleship Potemkin and did some of the same sort of analysis of montage juxtapositions for that film, looking at the sequence leading up to the mutiny and parts of the mutiny itself.
Mr. Potratz distributed another handout on montage in Eisenstein.
HW due Wednesday:
Read the new handout.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 30
We watched sequences from Man With a Movie Camera and analyzed the juxtaposition of images. What meanings are conveyed by the combination of cuts? Is this montage of association (visual metaphor) or montage of contrast? We discussed these questions with regard to part of the industrial section of the film, then replayed it with Yuri Tsivian's commentary to see how he viewed the sequence. Then we watched an earlier part of the same section with juxtapositions of the beauty parlor and other worksites and attempted to answer the same questions about it.
HW due Tuesday:
Single-scene analysis essay. It will be worth 80 pts.
We watched sequences from Man With a Movie Camera and analyzed the juxtaposition of images. What meanings are conveyed by the combination of cuts? Is this montage of association (visual metaphor) or montage of contrast? We discussed these questions with regard to part of the industrial section of the film, then replayed it with Yuri Tsivian's commentary to see how he viewed the sequence. Then we watched an earlier part of the same section with juxtapositions of the beauty parlor and other worksites and attempted to answer the same questions about it.
HW due Tuesday:
Single-scene analysis essay. It will be worth 80 pts.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Friday, March 27
We discussed Man With a Movie Camera as an example of Russian Constructivism and looked at projected examples of Constructivist art and architecture. We also put Constructivism into the context of modern art (i.e., early 1900's) more generally, looking at sample cubist and futurist reproductions, and at photos of the Bauhaus and Bauhaus designs.
HW due Tuesday:
Single-scene analysis.
We discussed Man With a Movie Camera as an example of Russian Constructivism and looked at projected examples of Constructivist art and architecture. We also put Constructivism into the context of modern art (i.e., early 1900's) more generally, looking at sample cubist and futurist reproductions, and at photos of the Bauhaus and Bauhaus designs.
HW due Tuesday:
Single-scene analysis.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Thursday, March 26
We watched the remaining few minutes of Man With a Movie Camera, then talked about it briefly. Afterwards, we started over at the beginning and watched the first several minutes, this time with a voice-over commentary by Russian film historian Yuri Tsivian.
HW due Tuesday (March 31):
Single-scene analysis essay.
Wednesday, March 25
Mr. Potratz was absent. Students watched most of Dziga Vertov's Man With a Movie Camera.
We watched the remaining few minutes of Man With a Movie Camera, then talked about it briefly. Afterwards, we started over at the beginning and watched the first several minutes, this time with a voice-over commentary by Russian film historian Yuri Tsivian.
HW due Tuesday (March 31):
Single-scene analysis essay.
Wednesday, March 25
Mr. Potratz was absent. Students watched most of Dziga Vertov's Man With a Movie Camera.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Tuesday, March 24
Class was diverted from a detailed discussion of montage techniques in Battleship Potemkin to a repetitious but intermittently enlightening debate between Mr. Potratz and certain members of the class over whether Eisenstein's editing in the Odessa Steps scene is or is not "realistic," and what that means. Both sides expressed their frustration over the inability of the other side to perceive the obvious truth of what they were saying.
At the end of class, Mr. Potratz (perhaps unwisely) consented to postpone the due date for the single-scene analysis from Friday to next Tuesday, March 31, and he counseled students to get their posteriors into gear.
Class was diverted from a detailed discussion of montage techniques in Battleship Potemkin to a repetitious but intermittently enlightening debate between Mr. Potratz and certain members of the class over whether Eisenstein's editing in the Odessa Steps scene is or is not "realistic," and what that means. Both sides expressed their frustration over the inability of the other side to perceive the obvious truth of what they were saying.
At the end of class, Mr. Potratz (perhaps unwisely) consented to postpone the due date for the single-scene analysis from Friday to next Tuesday, March 31, and he counseled students to get their posteriors into gear.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Monday, March 23
We reviewed handouts on montage which were passed out Friday, identifying several different types of montage as practised by Sergei Eisenstein in Battleship Potemkin. We re-viewed the Odessa Steps sequence from the film, making notes as we did so of examples of each type of montage in the scene.
HW due Friday:
Single-scene analysis essays.
We reviewed handouts on montage which were passed out Friday, identifying several different types of montage as practised by Sergei Eisenstein in Battleship Potemkin. We re-viewed the Odessa Steps sequence from the film, making notes as we did so of examples of each type of montage in the scene.
HW due Friday:
Single-scene analysis essays.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Friday, March 20
We discussed the excerpt from the Eisenstein essay about Charles Dickens and D.W. Griffith, and students examined a printout from Cinemetrics.com with statistics on the number and duration of shots in different sections of the film (handout). (Students received two other handouts on montage as well, but we did not get as far as discussing them.)
Near the end of the period we began to list some similarities and differences between Birth of a Nation and Battleship Potemkin.
HW due in one week (Friday, March 27):
Final draft of the Single Scene Analysis essay (see Documents page).
We discussed the excerpt from the Eisenstein essay about Charles Dickens and D.W. Griffith, and students examined a printout from Cinemetrics.com with statistics on the number and duration of shots in different sections of the film (handout). (Students received two other handouts on montage as well, but we did not get as far as discussing them.)
Near the end of the period we began to list some similarities and differences between Birth of a Nation and Battleship Potemkin.
HW due in one week (Friday, March 27):
Final draft of the Single Scene Analysis essay (see Documents page).
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Monday, March 16
Students received the assignment sheet for the first Outside Viewing assignment, due Friday, March 27, and borrowed films to analyze. The assignment is to closely analyze a single scene from the film, explaining how it uses techniques such as camera movement, lighting, film editing, mise en scene, pictorial composition and sound editing to express atheme or create an effect.
Students then took notes while Mr. Potratz lectured on how Birth of a Nation influenced (A) American history and (B) the subsequent development of film and especially Sergei Eisenstein and other early Russian (Soviet) filmmakers. We reviewed what we learned from The Cutting Edge about Soviet Montage, Kuleshov's famous experiment, and the like. We also looked at several of the photomontage stills of the German artist John Heartfield.
Students received a handout with an excerpt from Eisenstein's essay "Dickens, Griffith, and Film Today," and we read the very beginning of it together.
HW due Wednesday:
Read the Eisenstein handout and come to class prepared to answer questions about it.
Also, begin work on the outside viewing essay.
Students received the assignment sheet for the first Outside Viewing assignment, due Friday, March 27, and borrowed films to analyze. The assignment is to closely analyze a single scene from the film, explaining how it uses techniques such as camera movement, lighting, film editing, mise en scene, pictorial composition and sound editing to express atheme or create an effect.
Students then took notes while Mr. Potratz lectured on how Birth of a Nation influenced (A) American history and (B) the subsequent development of film and especially Sergei Eisenstein and other early Russian (Soviet) filmmakers. We reviewed what we learned from The Cutting Edge about Soviet Montage, Kuleshov's famous experiment, and the like. We also looked at several of the photomontage stills of the German artist John Heartfield.
Students received a handout with an excerpt from Eisenstein's essay "Dickens, Griffith, and Film Today," and we read the very beginning of it together.
HW due Wednesday:
Read the Eisenstein handout and come to class prepared to answer questions about it.
Also, begin work on the outside viewing essay.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Friday, March 13
We watched the exciting conclusion of Birth of a Nation, in which the Ku Klux Klan rescues Elsie, the town, and the people in the cabin from the "crazed negroes"; North and South (white edition) are reunited in the form of a double Yankee-Dixie wedding, and the Prince of Peace sings "The Star-Spangled Banner."
After our heartbeats subsided we discussed the film and compared it to the Reconstruction documentary we watched part of on Wednesday, outlining their similar facts and their opposing viewpoints.
The class concluded with a moving rendition of Stephen Foster's "Old Black Joe."
Thursday, March 12
Mr. Potratz was absent. Students took a short quiz over Birth of a Nation background and then watched more of the film.
We watched the exciting conclusion of Birth of a Nation, in which the Ku Klux Klan rescues Elsie, the town, and the people in the cabin from the "crazed negroes"; North and South (white edition) are reunited in the form of a double Yankee-Dixie wedding, and the Prince of Peace sings "The Star-Spangled Banner."
After our heartbeats subsided we discussed the film and compared it to the Reconstruction documentary we watched part of on Wednesday, outlining their similar facts and their opposing viewpoints.
The class concluded with a moving rendition of Stephen Foster's "Old Black Joe."
Thursday, March 12
Mr. Potratz was absent. Students took a short quiz over Birth of a Nation background and then watched more of the film.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Wednesday, March 11
Due to the Senior meeting which sent half the class away for much of the period, the quiz was postponed until Thursday, and instead of Birth of a Nation we watched part of Reconstruction: The Second Civil War, an American Experience documentary from PBS, which gives a very different perspective on the subject from the one in Griffith's film.
HW due Thursday:
Quiz, postponed from today, over the three handouts concerning Birth of a Nation.
Due to the Senior meeting which sent half the class away for much of the period, the quiz was postponed until Thursday, and instead of Birth of a Nation we watched part of Reconstruction: The Second Civil War, an American Experience documentary from PBS, which gives a very different perspective on the subject from the one in Griffith's film.
HW due Thursday:
Quiz, postponed from today, over the three handouts concerning Birth of a Nation.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Tuesday, March 10
We continued to watch Birth of a Nation, beginning with the assassination of Lincoln and ending with the Little Colonel's inspiration for the Ku Klux Klan.
Students turned in their completed checklists of techniques in the film.
HW due Wednesday:
Read and review the three handouts distributed Monday in preparation for a quiz over them.
We continued to watch Birth of a Nation, beginning with the assassination of Lincoln and ending with the Little Colonel's inspiration for the Ku Klux Klan.
Students turned in their completed checklists of techniques in the film.
HW due Wednesday:
Read and review the three handouts distributed Monday in preparation for a quiz over them.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Monday, March 9
Students received three handouts about Birth of a Nation, and were told they would be quizzed over them on Wednesday.
Using a quotation (found in one of the handouts) from the time of the film's release, we examined how the photographic status of the film was linked to the idea that what the film depicted -- its Confederate, racist interpretation of American history -- was objectively true, that the audience was "beholding what actually happened."
In this connection we began to look at the "historical facsimile" of Lincoln's assassination at the end of Part I of the film.
HW due Tuesday: Read the three handouts. Quiz on Wednesday.
Students received three handouts about Birth of a Nation, and were told they would be quizzed over them on Wednesday.
Using a quotation (found in one of the handouts) from the time of the film's release, we examined how the photographic status of the film was linked to the idea that what the film depicted -- its Confederate, racist interpretation of American history -- was objectively true, that the audience was "beholding what actually happened."
In this connection we began to look at the "historical facsimile" of Lincoln's assassination at the end of Part I of the film.
HW due Tuesday: Read the three handouts. Quiz on Wednesday.
Monday, March 9
Students received three handouts: one with information about D.W. Griffith, one about the contemporary impact of Birth of a Nation, and one containing the Tim Dirks' treatment of the film from filmsite.org. Students were advised that there will be a quiz over these materials on Wednesday.
Using the second handout, we examined the way in which the supposedly objective and historially accurate nature of the images in Birth as photographs is advanced as proof that the film's pro-Confederate, racist interpretation of American history is true, that the audience of the film is "beholding what actually happened." In this connection, we began to look at the "historical facsimile" of Lincoln's assassination at the end of Part I of the film.
Students received three handouts: one with information about D.W. Griffith, one about the contemporary impact of Birth of a Nation, and one containing the Tim Dirks' treatment of the film from filmsite.org. Students were advised that there will be a quiz over these materials on Wednesday.
Using the second handout, we examined the way in which the supposedly objective and historially accurate nature of the images in Birth as photographs is advanced as proof that the film's pro-Confederate, racist interpretation of American history is true, that the audience of the film is "beholding what actually happened." In this connection, we began to look at the "historical facsimile" of Lincoln's assassination at the end of Part I of the film.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Friday, March 6
We reviewed some of the notes from students' checklists, then resumed watching Birth of a Nation, fast-forwarding through some parts and stopping at other parts to remark upon techniques.
Extra Credit Opportunity:
Up to 10 pts. extra credit for answering the following questions about Tolo.
(1) What does the word mean?
(2) What language is it from?
(3) When and where was the first Tolo dance?
We reviewed some of the notes from students' checklists, then resumed watching Birth of a Nation, fast-forwarding through some parts and stopping at other parts to remark upon techniques.
Extra Credit Opportunity:
Up to 10 pts. extra credit for answering the following questions about Tolo.
(1) What does the word mean?
(2) What language is it from?
(3) When and where was the first Tolo dance?
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Thursday, March 5
Students were given a checklist of techniques pioneered by D.W. Griffith which are used in Birth of a Nation, and we reviewed it briefly. Then we began watching the film and students recorded examples of techniques while they watched. Mr. Potratz provided some commentary with the film.
Students were given a checklist of techniques pioneered by D.W. Griffith which are used in Birth of a Nation, and we reviewed it briefly. Then we began watching the film and students recorded examples of techniques while they watched. Mr. Potratz provided some commentary with the film.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Wednesday, March 4
We continued our discussion of The Cutting Edge, with all students contributing comments from their notes. Then Colby described the recent film Memento, which uses radically discontinuous editing to reflect the mental state of its central character and we contrasted the film as described with the classic (a la D.W. Griffith) editing goal of seamless continuity.
We briefly reviewed the concept of parallel editing, also known as cross-cutting, and watched the famous chase over the ice floes from Griffith's Way Down East as an example.
Tomorrow: Birth of a Nation.
We continued our discussion of The Cutting Edge, with all students contributing comments from their notes. Then Colby described the recent film Memento, which uses radically discontinuous editing to reflect the mental state of its central character and we contrasted the film as described with the classic (a la D.W. Griffith) editing goal of seamless continuity.
We briefly reviewed the concept of parallel editing, also known as cross-cutting, and watched the famous chase over the ice floes from Griffith's Way Down East as an example.
Tomorrow: Birth of a Nation.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Tuesday, March 3
We watched the first half hour of The Cutting Edge, a documentary about film editing, and students took notes on what they deemed the most significant points made by the film.
Afterwards, we began to share notes, with every student requested to contribute at least one item. Students kept their notes, and we will resume the discussion on Wednesday.
We watched the first half hour of The Cutting Edge, a documentary about film editing, and students took notes on what they deemed the most significant points made by the film.
Afterwards, we began to share notes, with every student requested to contribute at least one item. Students kept their notes, and we will resume the discussion on Wednesday.
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