{"id":37558,"date":"2017-08-21T22:44:44","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T03:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/?p=37558"},"modified":"2018-08-13T17:19:10","modified_gmt":"2018-08-13T22:19:10","slug":"is-there-a-blog-in-this-class-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/2017\/08\/21\/is-there-a-blog-in-this-class-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Is there a blog in this class? 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"La<\/a><\/p>\n

Kristin here–<\/strong>
\nAs each fall semester looms, we provide you with a rundown of entries on our blog that might be useful to teachers and students. They also can be handy for other readers who want to check whether they have missed some entries that might interest them.<\/p>\n

We started this blog nearly eleven years ago partly with the idea of providing supplementary material that might be of use to teachers who assign our Film Art: An Introduction<\/em> textbook. But we don’t make any attempt to tie our entries to the textbook. Each year, however, we naturally deal with film techniques, formal strategies, stylistic choices, norms and transformations of them, and genre conventions, and some of these could be useful in teaching or preparing lectures for specific chapters of Film Art<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We haven’t listed every post, but you can find more by using the very efficient search engine or the many categories listed on the right-hand side. You can also see previous entries in this series here: 2007<\/a>, 2008<\/a>, 2009<\/a>, 2010<\/a>, 2011<\/a>, 2012<\/a>, 2013<\/a>, 2014<\/a>, 2015<\/a>, and 2016<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0Multiple chapters<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDUNKIRK Part 1: Straight to the good stuff<\/a>\u201d and \u201cDUNKIRK Part 2: The art film as event movie<\/a>.\u201d These two entries discuss aspects of Christopher Nolan’s film. The first talks about Dunkirk<\/em>\u2019s minimal exposition, which would be relevant to Chapter 3 (Narrative Form), and the color scheme, which would relate to chapters 4 and 5, on Mise-en-Scene and Cinematography. The second part deals with its genre, as a mixture of the war film and thriller (Chapter 9); it also looks at the film\u2019s temporal scrambling, which relates to Chapters 3 and 6 (Editing).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chapter 3\u00a0 Narrative Form
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cReplay it again, Clint: Sully and the simulations<\/a>\u201d considers\u00a0some\u00a0ways of creating complex story-plot relationships, particularly through flashbacks that replayt events. It concentrates on recent Clint Eastwood films and especially Sully<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In \u201cARRIVAL: When is now?<\/a>\u201d David looks at that rare phenomenon, the flashforward. He concentrates on Denis Villeneuve\u2019s science-fiction film and its challenges to the viewer.<\/p>\n

We have a sneaking suspicion that many teachers will be teaching La La Land<\/em>. It would work as an accompaniment to several of our chapters in Film Art<\/em> (narrative, sound, genre, etc.). We\u2019ve blogged about it three times this year. In \u201cHow LA LA LAND is made<\/a>,\u201d we analyze\u00a0the narrative structure and how the songs fit into it (as well as following the classic template of the Broadway musical).<\/p>\n

\u201cFantasy, flashbacks, and what-ifs: 2016 pays off the past<\/a>\u201d offers a study of depth of narration, particularly in films where our knowledge of the action is largely restricted to that of a single character\u2019s. In some cases there is presentation of the character\u2019s subjective thoughts and memories. Lots of recent films furnish examples.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnybody but Griffith<\/a>.\u201d This post also deals with staging, but specifically with a type of staging, often quite elaborate, that was used largely in the period from 1908 to 1920. It depended on sustained takes rather than editing and on the actors\u2019 precise gestures and shiftings of position. David has written quite a lot about it as the \u201ctableau\u201d style. Useful for advanced students or if you\u2019re teaching or studying silent cinema.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chapter 4\u00a0 The Shot: Mise-en-scene
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMy girl Friday, and his, and yours\u201d is about His Girl Friday<\/a>. <\/em>The first section examines the historical sources of the title phrase, while\u00a0the second part deals at some length with subtleties of staging, both in depth and across the frame.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chapter 5\u00a0 The Shot: Cinematography
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"QP<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWisconsin Film Festival: Sometimes a camera movement \u2026<\/a>\u201d offers a close study of a single long-take 360-degree panning movement in Terence Davies\u2019 A Quiet Passion<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chapter 6\u00a0 The Relation of Shot to Shot: Editing
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAction and essence: Kurosawa\u2019s SANSHIRO SUGATA on the Criterion Channel<\/a>\u201d examines the \u201caxial cut.\u201d It\u2019s an editing technique that cuts closer and closer to (or, rarely, further away from) its subject straight along the axis of the lens, without a change of angle. It may sound obscure, but it\u2019s actually commoner than you might think. Even The Simpsons<\/em> uses it occasionally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWisconsin Film Festival: Cutting to the chase, and away from it<\/a>\u201d examines crosscutting in some recent films.<\/p>\n

\u201cCamera connections: RED on FilmStruck: A guest post by Jeff Smith<\/a>\u201d looks at cinematographic style in Krszystof Kieslowski\u2019s Three Colors: Red<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chapter 7\u00a0 Sound in the Cinema
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSpies face the music: Jeff Smith on FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT<\/a>\u201d analyzes how the musical score of Hitchcock\u2019s film fits into the film\u2019s narrative progression.<\/p>\n

\u201cOscar\u2019s Siren song 3: a guest post by Jeff Smith<\/a>\u201d examines the wide variety of approaches used in the musical scores of the 2016 Oscar nominees for best score.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chapter 8\u00a0 Summary: Style and Film Form
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cGoing inside by staying outside: L\u2019AVVENTURA on the Criterion Channel<\/a>\u201d examines stylistic changes in Michelangelo Antonioni’s films, particularly relating to staging.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chapter 9\u00a0 Film Genres<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLA LA LAND: singin\u2019 in the sun<\/a>\u201d has three guest experts on musicals discussing the conventions and innovations of La La Land<\/em>.<\/p>\n

For those who teach film noir (and quite a few of you do) might want to look at \u201cFilm noir, a hundred years ago<\/a>.\u201d It gives numerous examples of \u201cfilm noir\u201d lighting in films of the 1910s. This could also be used for low-key lighting in Chapter 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrill me!<\/a>\u201d discusses the recent prevalence of the thriller movie, even among art-cinema directors.<\/p>\n

\u201cMONSIEUR VERDOUX: lethal lothario<\/a>\u201d treats Chaplin\u2019s film as belonging to the serial-killer genre.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chapter 12\u00a0 Historical Changes in Film Art: Conventions and Choices, Tradition and Trends<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMurnau before NOSFERATU<\/a>\u201d could be useful in teaching the silent-German section of this chapter or if you show any early Murnau film. There\u2019s nothing on Expressionism but quite a few examples from major German films of the late 1910s and early 1920s, primarily the restored Der Gang in der Nacht<\/em> (1921).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ten best films of \u2026 1926<\/a>\u201d is the latest in our annual attempt to call attention to the classics of the silent era, both famous and obscure. This year\u2019s list covers several countries\u2019 films, including Japan for the first time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Miscellaneous<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you supervise dissertations or are writing a book yourself, you might be interested in seeing how David went about researching his forthcoming book, Reinventing Hollywood<\/em><\/a>. Complete with exciting photos of boxes of file folders. See his \u201cOof! Out!<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

Every now and then we post a wrap-up of recent DVDs and Blu-rays. \u201cSilents nights: Stocking-stuffers for those long winter evenings, the sequel<\/a>\u201d concentrates on two releases, one a beautiful restoration of a well-known classic and one a rediscovery of a Native-American feature.<\/p>\n

\u201cOBSERVATIONS goes all FILMSTRUCK<\/a>.\u201d For those of you using the rich foreign and indie offerings of streaming service FilmStruck<\/a> for teaching, class preparation, or personal pleasure, we have an introduction to our contribution to the supplements thereon. Our series of introductions to films,<\/a> \u201cObservations on Film Art\u201d is, as its name suggests, a sort of extension of this blog. We do close analysis of a specific topic in one or two films, complete with more clips than we could possibly use in our entries here.<\/p>\n

Finally, if readers, teachers, and students are curious about how Film Art<\/em> came to be written, that comes up in our SCMS interview with Charlie Keil, linked in this blog entry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"egg-600\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Arrival<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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