27104 - Film Analysis

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student: - knows the history of the film analysis and the different methodologies it uses; - can analyse the film as a system and the different components of the text; - can interpret films in analytical terms.

Course contents

By means of exemplary texts taken from the history of cinema, this course provides the essential elements for the segmentation, analysis and interpretation of films and film narrative. It also gives insights about the history of film analysis as a discipline and about the contribution given by human sciences and textual analysis methods to its development. Also, this course focuses on the practice of the sceneggiatura desunta (the flm transcript) as a tool for analysing and articulating interpretative hypotheses over films.

Readings/Bibliography

For attending students:
Paolo Bertetto (a cura di), Metodologie di analisi del film, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2006.
David Bruni, Il cinema trascritto. Strumenti per l'analisi del film, Bulzoni, Roma 2006.
Antioco Floris, Banditi a Orgosolo, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli (CZ) 2019.
Gianni Rondolino e Dario Tomasi, Manuale del film. Linguaggio, racconto, analisi (terza edizione), UTET, Torino 2018.

For non-attending students:
Paolo Bertetto (a cura di), Metodologie di analisi del film, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2006.
David Bruni, Il cinema trascritto. Strumenti per l'analisi del film, Bulzoni, Roma 2006.
Antioco Floris, Banditi a Orgosolo, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli (CZ) 2019.
Gianni Rondolino e Dario Tomasi, Manuale del film. Linguaggio, racconto, analisi (terza edizione), UTET, Torino 2018.
Leonardo Quaresima (a cura di), Cinema tedesco: i film, Mimesis, Udine 2019 (only pp. 1-162).

Filmography (for all the students):
Nosferatu (Friedrich W. Murnau, 1922)
October (Sergej M. Ėjzenštejn, 1928)
Un Chien Andalou (Luis Luis Buñuel e Salvador Dalì, 1929)
Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)
Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)
Sunday in August (Luciano Emmer, 1950)
East of Eden (Elia Kazan, 1955)
Banditi a Orgosolo (Vittorio De Seta, 1960)
La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1960)
Before the Revolution (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1964)
Two or Three Things I Know About Her (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967)
Once upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968)
The Conversation (Francis F. Coppola, 1974)
The Killer (John Woo, 1989)
Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino, 1998)
Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2002)

Teaching methods

Lectures with projection of film extracts. Story and screenplay analysis. Students are invited to discuss collectively the topics of the lectures and the teaching materials presented. Attending students will be considered those registered to the teachers/students list and able to demonstrate attendance to the lectures.

Assessment methods

Online oral exam.
Attending students will take a written test in progress, in the middle of the course, through the platform Virtuale. The taking (not the passing) of this test will be binding for the access to the exam dedicated to the attending students and the result will be used to define the final assessment. The in itinere test will be used to verify the knowledge of the basic notions related to the analysis of the film and the history of analysis. The oral exam will verify the ability to apply the analytical tools acquired during the course, through the study of texts and the viewing of films.
Non-attending students will be able to register for the other exams without any restrictions. The exam for non-attending students will consist of a series of questions aimed at verifying the knowledge of the basics of film analysis and the history of the discipline, as well as the ability to apply the analytical tools acquired during the course, through the study of texts and the viewing of films.


It will be assessed as excellent the performance of those students achieving an organic vision of the course contents, the use of a proper specific language, the originality of the reflection as well as the familiarity with the tolls for analysing films.
It will be assessed as discrete the performance of those students showing mostly mechanical or mnemonic knowledge of the subject, not articulated synthesis and analysis capabilities, a correct but not always appropriate language, as well as a scholastic study of the discipline. It will be assessed as barely sufficient the performance of those students showing learning gaps, inappropriate language, lack of knowledge of the discipline. It will be assessed as insufficient the performance of those students showing learning gaps, inappropriate language, no orientation within the recommended bibliography and inability to analyse the subject.

Office hours

See the website of Paolo Noto