The course is part of the mandatory classes for the Film and Media Studies program of the DAMS BA. If the program generally gives the historical and theoretical background to understand all audiovisual forms, the aim of this class (dedicated to first-year students) is to teach the main frameworks for the analysis and interpretation of film and audiovisual texts. The class opts for a historical perspective, which accounts for the different theories, aesthetics, and cultural models involved in the analysis of the various linguistic solutions, film styles and forms from different moments in film history (i.e., classical Hollywood cinema, modern art cinema, postmodernism, post-classic cinema). The course aims to give to its students the framework needed to understand by themselves which modes of analysis are more effective in considering a specific audiovisual text. In conclusion, the class aims to explain how films and images produce their meaning.
Canali
teacher profile teaching materials
The final syllabus and program will be published at the beginning of the course.
Collection of essays edited by the teacher.
The final filmography will be published during the course; it can include the following films:
Bringing Up Baby, Howard Hawks, 1938
Written on the Wind, Douglas Sirk, 1958
La dolce vita, Federico Fellini, 1960
L’avventura, Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960
Prima della rivoluzione, Bernardo Bertolucci, 1964
Die Hard, John McTiernan, 1988
Twin Peaks, David Lynch e Mark Frost, ABC, 1990-1991 | Showtime, 2017
Mulholland Drive, David Lynch, 2001
Babel, Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2006
Programme
The course addresses film narrative and stylistic forms, from classic Hollywood to contemporary cinema. Through the analysis of specific sequences and films, the course addresses classic cinema from the 1930s, the melodramatic style from the 1950s, film modernity (in particular Italian art film from the 1960s), postmodern cinema, postclassic films, mind-game films, and "global films". The last part of the course is dedicated to complex and vast narratives, especially television series. The film analysis will be conducted through various methods and approaches. Among them: structuralism and semiotics, formal analysis and style, psychoanalysis, feminist film theory. Cultural studies and approaches will be considered in order to address modernity, postmodernism, and contemporary mediascapes.The final syllabus and program will be published at the beginning of the course.
Core Documentation
Veronica Pravadelli, Dal classico al postmoderno al global. Teoria e analisi delle forme filmiche, Marsilio, Venezia 2019.Collection of essays edited by the teacher.
The final filmography will be published during the course; it can include the following films:
Bringing Up Baby, Howard Hawks, 1938
Written on the Wind, Douglas Sirk, 1958
La dolce vita, Federico Fellini, 1960
L’avventura, Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960
Prima della rivoluzione, Bernardo Bertolucci, 1964
Die Hard, John McTiernan, 1988
Twin Peaks, David Lynch e Mark Frost, ABC, 1990-1991 | Showtime, 2017
Mulholland Drive, David Lynch, 2001
Babel, Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2006
Reference Bibliography
The teacher can give other bibliographic references during classes.Type of delivery of the course
42 hours of frontal lessonsAttendance
The course will be held in presence; attendance is not mandatory.Type of evaluation
The exam is written and composed by a few open questions. The questions will focus on the main analytic frames described during class and will ask for visual examples from the case studies proposed by the filmography, as well as for explaining the main theoretical issues addressed during the lessons and in the bibliography. teacher profile teaching materials
2) Antologia di saggi a cura della docente reperibile presso la Copisteria CLP di Via G. Rocco 11 (tel. 06 5759751):
● Raymond Bellour, “L’evidenza e il codice”, in L'analisi del film, Kaplan, Torino 2005, pp. 100-106.
● Sigmund Freud, “Alcune conseguenze psichiche della differenza anatomica tra i sessi” (1925) e “La femminilità” (1932), in Scritti sulla sessualità femminile, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 1969, pp. 23-35 e 61-88.
● Veronica Pravadelli, “Introduzione”, in La grande Hollywood. Stili di vita e di regia nel cinema classico americano, Marsilio, Venezia 2007, pp. 9-16.
● Christian Metz, “Il cinema moderno e la narratività” in Semiologia del cinema, Garzanti, Milano 1972, pp. 245-272 (estratto).
● Gilles Deleuze, Cinema 2. L’immagine-tempo, Ubulibri, Milano 1989, pp. 11-24.
● Elena Pulcini, “La passione del moderno: l’amore di sé”, in Storia delle passioni, a cura di Silvia Vegetti Finzi, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1995, pp. 133-180.
● Frederic Jameson, Il postmoderno o la logica culturale del tardo capitalismo, Garzanti, Milano 1989, pp. 7-51.
● Ilaria A. De Pascalis, Il cinema europeo contemporaneo: scenari transnazionali, immaginari globali, Bulzoni, Roma 2015, pp. 221-242.
● Paolo Bertetto, “L’analisi interpretativa. Mulholland Drive”, in Metodologie di analisi del film, a cura di Id., Laterza, Roma-Bari 2006, pp. 223-255.
● Lorenzo Marmo, “Tornando a casa. Desiderio spettatoriale e dispersione narrativa in Twin Peaks: The Return di David Lynch”, in SigMa – Rivista di Letterature comparate, Teatro e Arti dello spettacolo, vol. 1, 2017, pp. 537-561.
3) Filmografia indicativa:
● Bringing Up Baby, Susanna, Howard Hawks, 1938
● Written on the Wind, Come le foglie al vento, Douglas Sirk, 1956
● La dolce vita, Federico Fellini, 1960
● L’avventura, Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960
● Prima della rivoluzione, Bernardo Bertolucci, 1964
● Die Hard, Trappola di cristallo, John McTiernan, 1988
● Twin Peaks, David Lynch e Mark Frost, ABC, 1990-1991 | Showtime, 2017: visione integrale dell’episodio 2 stagione 1 Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer
● Mulholland Drive, David Lynch, 2001
● Babel, Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2006
Programme
The course focuses on narrative modes and film style from classical cinema to contemporary cinema. We will consider: 1930s classical American cinema, 1950s American melodrama, modern cinema - in particular Italian 1960s auteur cinema - postmodern and post-classic cinema, as well as mind-game films and the "global film." To study these filmic forms we will employ a whole set of methodologies: structuralism and semiotics, formal and stylistic analysis, psychoanalysis and feminist theories. More generally, we will use cultural approaches to interpret modernity, postmodernity and contemporary scenarios.Core Documentation
1) Veronica Pravadelli, Dal classico al postmoderno al global. Teoria e analisi delle forme filmiche, Marsilio, Venezia 2019.2) Antologia di saggi a cura della docente reperibile presso la Copisteria CLP di Via G. Rocco 11 (tel. 06 5759751):
● Raymond Bellour, “L’evidenza e il codice”, in L'analisi del film, Kaplan, Torino 2005, pp. 100-106.
● Sigmund Freud, “Alcune conseguenze psichiche della differenza anatomica tra i sessi” (1925) e “La femminilità” (1932), in Scritti sulla sessualità femminile, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 1969, pp. 23-35 e 61-88.
● Veronica Pravadelli, “Introduzione”, in La grande Hollywood. Stili di vita e di regia nel cinema classico americano, Marsilio, Venezia 2007, pp. 9-16.
● Christian Metz, “Il cinema moderno e la narratività” in Semiologia del cinema, Garzanti, Milano 1972, pp. 245-272 (estratto).
● Gilles Deleuze, Cinema 2. L’immagine-tempo, Ubulibri, Milano 1989, pp. 11-24.
● Elena Pulcini, “La passione del moderno: l’amore di sé”, in Storia delle passioni, a cura di Silvia Vegetti Finzi, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1995, pp. 133-180.
● Frederic Jameson, Il postmoderno o la logica culturale del tardo capitalismo, Garzanti, Milano 1989, pp. 7-51.
● Ilaria A. De Pascalis, Il cinema europeo contemporaneo: scenari transnazionali, immaginari globali, Bulzoni, Roma 2015, pp. 221-242.
● Paolo Bertetto, “L’analisi interpretativa. Mulholland Drive”, in Metodologie di analisi del film, a cura di Id., Laterza, Roma-Bari 2006, pp. 223-255.
● Lorenzo Marmo, “Tornando a casa. Desiderio spettatoriale e dispersione narrativa in Twin Peaks: The Return di David Lynch”, in SigMa – Rivista di Letterature comparate, Teatro e Arti dello spettacolo, vol. 1, 2017, pp. 537-561.
3) Filmografia indicativa:
● Bringing Up Baby, Susanna, Howard Hawks, 1938
● Written on the Wind, Come le foglie al vento, Douglas Sirk, 1956
● La dolce vita, Federico Fellini, 1960
● L’avventura, Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960
● Prima della rivoluzione, Bernardo Bertolucci, 1964
● Die Hard, Trappola di cristallo, John McTiernan, 1988
● Twin Peaks, David Lynch e Mark Frost, ABC, 1990-1991 | Showtime, 2017: visione integrale dell’episodio 2 stagione 1 Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer
● Mulholland Drive, David Lynch, 2001
● Babel, Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2006
Type of delivery of the course
Lecture class with powerpoint and video. From remote as well if Rome Tre and the department so decide.Type of evaluation
Written exam with essay questions, including analysis of specific sequences.