Film Studies Daily Log

Thursday, January 10

We briefly discussed students' reactions to the beginning of Breathless, then watched more of the film.


Wednesday, January 9

Mr. Potratz introduced the nature of the final exam, to be given Tuesday, January 22. Students will be shown several clips from films (some of which we have seen, some of which we haven't), and students will be required to analyze each with reference to specific techniques or film elements, such as camera movement and angles, lighting, mise en scene, editing, etc.

We watched several minutes of The Cutting Edge, the documentary on film editing, including sections on Breathless and Bonnie and Clyde. Afterwards, we watched the first twenty or so minutes of Breathless, a French New Wave film directed by Jean-Luc Godard.


Tuesday, January 8

In a weather-shortened period of one half hour we briefly traced the early history of the Hollywood crime movie, watching clips of Jimmy Cagney from The Public Enemy, of Edward G. Robinson from Little Caesar, and of Humphrey Bogart from The Big Sleep.