Unit One: Film History
Focus of the unit: The beginning and development of the film industry from Méliès to JJ Abrams.
Major terms/material to be covered: Frames per second (FPS), visual storytelling, studio system, auteur theory.
Skill(s) students will be developing/mastering:
Proper terminology and reference in relation to film history.
Knowledge base and foundation in film history.
Thorough understanding of the different stages of film development including, but not limited to: the silent era, introduction of sound, WW2, advent of television, studio system, rise of the auteur
Assessments/Evaluations/Projects:
Assessment on terminology, development of the industry
Essay on the impact of the film industry as it adapts to current technology.
Unit Two: The Auteurs: Curtiz, Hitchcock, Spielberg
Focus of the unit: How three directors changed the course of film by breaking from the rules of the studio system and created films with specific styles, themes and tones.
Major terms/material to be covered: Auteur, visual style, thematic elements, dolly zoom
Skill(s) students will be developing/mastering: Identifying different work based on nuanced elements such as: visual style, story structure, camera technique, score, ect
Assessments/Evaluations/Projects: Quizzes, graded roundtable discussions and essays.
Unit Three: Film Genre Theory
Focus of the unit: Students will look at several film genres (Westerns, horror, comedy, drama) and identify rules that help us classify film.
Major terms/material to be covered: Genre rules, the ‘cowboy’
Skill(s) students will be developing/mastering: Students will to identify and classify films into genres and explore how those genres are developed, deconstructed and renewed.
Assessments/Evaluations/Projects: Quizzes, graded roundtable discussions and a comparative essay.
Unit Four: History of Television
Focus of the unit: This unit covers the advent of television and how it affected several aspects of American culture.
Major terms/material to be covered: television, commercial, episodic, serial
Skill(s) students will be developing/mastering: Understand how one piece of technology has the ability to affect so many areas of a culture (entertainment, politics, social awareness)
Assessments/Evaluations/Projects: Quizzes, graded roundtable discussions and essays.
Unit Five: TV Genre Theory
Focus of the unit: How does the nature of commercial vs non-commercial television affect genres in visual story telling.
Major terms/material to be covered: sitcom, procedural, mini series
Skill(s) students will be developing/mastering: Identify and evaluate different story telling structures and styles.
Assessments/Evaluations/Projects
Unit Six: Texas On Screen
Focus of the unit: We’ll look at how the mythical Texas is represented on screen across movies and television (Giant and Lonesome Dove.)
Major terms/material to be covered: Oil boom, cattle drive, ranger,
Skill(s) students will be developing/mastering: Separating truth from legend as we look at the representation of Texas.
Assessments/Evaluations/Projects: Final essay.
FINAL SEMESTER PROJECT: In lieu of a final exam, we will have a final project presentation. You will all research a film made BEFORE 1990. You will report on:
Director
Lead actors
How much did the movie make?
Critical reception
Why It’s an ‘important’ film
On set BTS stories
Show a trailer or school appropriate clip