SYLLABUS

Film Analysis

Course Description: This course focuses on film analysis, or the sustained close reading of cinematic texts. Successful students will demonstrate not only an understanding of film form, but also the rhetorical skills necessary to advance a clear and cogent film analysis. Successful students will likewise demonstrate strong critical thinking skills; they will develop questions for research and/or critical inquiry, evaluate external sources pertinent to the work under investigation, and situate their own critique within the context of relevant scholarship.

Who: Prof Jay McRoy

When: W 4:00 - 5:30

Where: CART 228

Where Else: www.thejaymcroy.com

Email: mcroy@uwp.edu

Required Texts:

• Writing about Movies - Karen Gocsik, Dave Monahan, and Richard Barsam
• 10/40/70: Constraint as Liberation in the Era of Digital Film Scholarship - Nicholas Rombes

Grading:

1. Class Participation & In-Class Presentations - 25%. 
2. Essay #1: Formal Analysis (5 pages - not counting images) - 25%
3. Essay #2: 10/40/70 Essay (5 pages - not counting images) - 25%
4. Essay #3: Film Analysis Essay (7-10 pages - not counting images) - 25%

Essay #1: Formal Analysis (5 pages - not counting images) - 25%. Analyze the formal components of a single scene or sequence, ultimately explaining how these details not only impact the scene's or sequence's effectiveness, but also how they inform the film's larger thematics/aesthetics. You can choose any scene from any film.

Essay #2: 10/40/70 Essay (5 pages - not counting images) - 25%. Using Nicholas Rhombes' 10/40/70 exercise from 10/40/70: Constraint as Liberation in the Era of Digital Film Scholarship as a model, craft your own 10/40/70 essay. Here, too, you may focus upon any film you wish. As this critical strategy presents a unique set of challenges, you will want to select a film that best works for you.

Essay #3: Film Analysis Essay (10 pages - not counting images) - 25%. Write a formal or cultural (or both formal and cultural) analysis of a film of your choice. As you write, engage critically with the film, exploring at least one scene or sequence through a "close reading" of its formal qualities. 

Plagiarism Warning: The English Department at the University of Wisconsin - Parkside has a very explicit Plagiarism Policy. This policy can be found HERE. It is every student's responsibility to become familiar with the policy. Ignorance, though regrettable, is not an excuse. Of course, if you are unsure whether something you wrote constitutes plagiarism, please speak with me BEFORE (or even AS) you hand in your work.

Week-by-Week Breakdown:

2/4: Introduction

2/11: Festen (Thomas Winterberg, 1998)
For Class: Read Chapter 1 - 3 in Writing About Movies

2/18: Existenz (David Cronenberg, 1999)

2/25: Lost Highway (David Lynch, 1997)

3/3: Gerry (Gus Van Sant, 2002)

3/10: In-Class Presentations

**Formal Analysis Essay Due**
For Class: Read 10/40/70: Constraint as Liberation in the Era of Digital Film Scholarship

3/17:  In-Class Presentations (cont.)

For Class: Read Chapter 4 in Writing About Movies

3/24: NO CLASS - SPRING BREAK

3/31: In-Class Presentations (10/40/70)

**10/40/70 Essay Due**

4/7: In-Class Presentations (cont.)

4/14: Parasite (Bong Joon Ho, 2019)

4/21: In-Class Workshopping of Film Analysis Essay
First Draft of Essay #3 - Film Analysis Essay Due

4/28: In-Class Presentations

**Film Analysis Essay Due**

5/5: Last Class

In-Class Presentations (cont.)