ENGL 204(S) The Feature Film

An introduction to film narrative. The major emphasis will be on the formal properties of film as a medium for shaping the meanings of stories, but considerable attention will also be given to theoretical accounts of the nature of cinema and of the viewer's relation to it, to genre and other sorts of cinematic convention, and to significant developments in the history of cinema. Students will view films by such directors as Keaton, Eisenstein, Hawks, Welles, Renoir, Kurosawa, Hitchcock, Spielberg, and Lynch. A team-taught course, combining lectures and required discussion sections. Short critical readings will be assigned. Requirements: two papers, a midterm exam, and a final exam. No prerequisites. Enrollment limited to 120, with preference to students as follows: 1) English majors; 2) Sophomores; 3) Junior non-majors; 4) Senior non-majors; 5) First-year students.

Hour:  ROSENHEIN and TIFFT