Theory and Language of Cinema
Code: 100544 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500239 Art History | OB | 2 | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Maria Rosa Gutiérrez Herranz
- Email:
- MariaRosa.Gutierrez@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- spanish (spa)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- Yes
Prerequisites
No prerequisites are required
Objectives and Contextualisation
- Learn the basic vocabulary of cinematic language
- Apply this language to the analysis of film
- Know the main theoretical and methodological approaches in film historiography
Competences
- Applying the specific scientific methodologies of the discipline of Art History.
- Demonstrating they know the history of the artistic ideas and the main theoretical currents that inspired the reflection about art, cinema, its creators and its audience through history.
- Recognising the fundamental problems, vocabulary and concepts of the Theory of Art and Cinema.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
Learning Outcomes
- Analysing ideas about an artistic phenomenon in a given cultural context.
- Analysing ideas about an artistic phenomenon, and its creators and recipients in a given cultural context.
- Analysing the creators of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
- Analysing the recipients of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
- Applying the iconographic knowledge to the reading of artistic imagery.
- Critically analysing basic concepts of artistic and cinematographic theory and its evolution through history.
- Demonstrating the knowledge of scientific methodology, sources and Art Theory in the reading, criticism and formal, iconographic and symbolic interpretation of any artistic or cinematographic imagery.
- Differentiating artistic theories about an artistic phenomenon, its creators and recipients in a given cultural context.
- Engaging in debates about historical facts respecting the other participants' opinions.
- Interpreting and communicating the contents of a text about theory of art and cinema.
- Using knowledge about aesthetic ideas and art theory to analyse the cinematographic imagery.
Content
I. Film analysis and cinematic language
1. Description: film credits and context
2. Analysis:
2.1. Mise-en-scene analysis: visual codes, sound codes, pro-filmic elements, syntactic codes
2.2. Narrative structure analysis: diegesis and narrative, cinematic space and time, narrator and point of view.
2.3. Contents analysis
3. Interpretation: critical reception and conclusion
II. Theories, approaches and methodologies
1. Filmmakers' theory
2. Formalist aesthetics: Hugo Münsterberg, Rudolf Arnheim and Béla Balázs
3. Phenomenology: Siegfried Kracauer, André Bazin, Edgar Morin, Gilles Deleuze
4. From psychology to semiotics: Jean Mitry and Christian Metz
5. Psychoanalysis, apparatus theory and feminist theory
Methodology
- Theoretical and practical classes directed by the professor
- Viewing and commentiary of films
- Study, readings and personal work
Remark: The teaching methodology and the evaluation proposed in the guide may undergo some modification subject to the onsite teaching restrictions imposed by health authorities.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL CLASSES | 24 | 0.96 | 6, 3, 4, 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| VIEWING AND COMMENTARY OF FILMS | 58 | 2.32 | 5, 7, 10, 9, 11 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| READING AND PERSONAL WORK | 25 | 1 | 6, 3, 4, 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 11 |
| STUDY OF THE CONTENTS | 25 | 1 | 6, 3, 4, 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11 |
Assessment
- Oral presentation: film analysis (35%)
- Exam on film theory (35%)
- Viewing and commentary of films (30%)
Observations:
- Virtual teaching: In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.
- Review: On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.
- Recovery: To participate in recovery, students must have previously been evaluated in a set of activities whose weight equals a minimum of 2/3 of the total grade. The activity of viewing and commentary of films will not be recoverable.
- Not assessed/Not submitted: Students will obtain a “Not assessed/Not submitted” course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment items.
- Plagiarism: In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for thisactivity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EXAM ON FILM THEORY | 35% | 3 | 0.12 | 6, 3, 4, 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 10 |
| ORAL PRESENTATION: FILM ANALYSIS | 35% | 9 | 0.36 | 3, 4, 1, 5, 7, 10, 11 |
| VIEWING AND COMMENTARY OF FILMS | 30% | 6 | 0.24 | 3, 4, 1, 2, 5, 7, 10, 9, 11 |
Bibliography
Film history
- AA.VV., Historia General del Cine (12 vols.), Cátedra, Madrid, 1995-1998
- Gubern, Romà, Historia del cine (2 vols.), Lumen, Barcelona, 1971
Film analysis and cinematic language
- Aumont, Jacques; Marie, Michel, Análisis del film, Paidos, Barcelona, 1993
- Bordwell, David; Thompson, Kristin, El arte cinematográfico, Paidos, Barcelona, 2002
- Magny, Joël, Vocabularios del cine, Paidos, Barcelona, 2005
Film theory
- Arheim, Rudolf, El cine como arte, Paidos, Barcelona, 1996
- Aumont, Jacques, Las teorías de los cineastas, Paidos, Barcelona, 2004
- Bazin, André, ¿Qué es el cine?, RIALP, Madrid, 2004
- Casetti, Francesco, Teorías del cine, Cátedra, Madrid, 1994
- Deleuze, Gilles, La imagen-tiempo, Paidos, Barcelona, 1986
- Deleuze, Gilles, La imagen-movimiento, Paidos, Barcelona, 1984
- Kracauer, Siegfried, Teoría del cine, Paidos, Barcelona, 1999
- Metz, Christian, El significante imaginario, Paidos, Barcelona, 2001
- Mitry, Jean, Estética y psicología del cine, Siglo XXI, Madrid, 2002
- Morin, Edgar, El cine o el hombre imaginario, Paidos, Barcelona, 2001
- Mulvey, Laura, Placer visual y cine narrativo, Universidad de Valencia, Valencia, 1988
- Sorlin, Pierre, Sociología del cine, Fondo de Cultura Económica, México, 1992
- Stam, Robert, Teorías del cine, Paidos, Barcelona, 2001
Software
- Moodle
- Teams