Film Criticism Syllabus
I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with students in the film criticism class this school year. This elective course will expose students to film and cinematography. Students will become active, critical viewers of various film genre by discussing and critiquing acting, directing and production techniques. Students will be required to write various compositions related to the films and complete outside viewing assignments. This course does not take the place of any required English course; however, all activities are correlated with the South Carolina Career and College Ready Standards due to the media literacy elements of this course. No Restricted (rated-R) or higher rated films will be not be shown in this class, and a list of films being shown with ratings of PG/PG-13 will be sent home or posted on my website in advance. If you have concerns about a film shown in this class, please contact me as this arises.
This elective course will expose students to film and cinematography. Students will become active, critical viewers of various film genres by discussing and critiquing acting, directing and production techniques. Students will be required to write various compositions related to the films. This course does not take the place of any required English course. The films and schedule below is TENTATIVE and the dates may be altered due to unplanned school activities.
Unit 1 Film History - Citizen Kane, Casablanca, On the Waterfront
Unit 2 Western Genre- High Noon, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, True Grit (1969), True Grit (2010)
Unit 3 Alfred Hitchcock and the Auteur Theory- Rear Window, North by Northwest, Dial M for Murder, The Birds, Psycho
Unit 4 Horror Genre - Sixth Sense, A Quiet Place I, A Quiet Place II, Jaws, Young Frankenstein
Unit 5 Science Fiction Genre - ET, Super 8, Star Wars IV: A New Hope, Star Wars V: Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi
Unit 6 Comedy Genre - Some Like it Hot, Tootsie, Raising Arizona, Groundhog Day
Unit 7 The Oscars - Dances with Wolves, Black Panther, Wakanda Forever
Unit 8 Animation - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Coco, Inside Out, Encanto, Osmosis Jones
Unit 9 Musicals - The Greatest Showman, Singing in the Rain, Hairspray, Grease