13703 - Film History Principles

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the students: - are familiar with a canon of cinema, based on a selection of representative works and auteurs; - know film history from its origins to the New Hollywood; - know key styles, trends and periods of film history; - understand the historical, economical, technological and social reasons that drove the development of cinema as an expressive form.

Course contents

 

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

Readings/Bibliography

MANDATORY BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR ATTENDING AND NON ATTENDING STUDENTS

- CHRISTIAN UVA, VITO ZAGARRIO (eds), Le storie del cinema, Roma, Carocci 2020 (or subsequent reprints).

- ELENA DAGRADA, La grande rapina al treno. The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, 1903) e la storia del cinema, Milano-Udine, Mimesis 2011 (or subsequent reprints).

-ELENA DAGRADA, “Piano-sequenza”, Enciclopedia del cinema Treccani, Volume IV, 2004, pp. 427-431, second updated edition, 2020, available on-line here:

http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/piano-sequenza_%28Enciclopedia-del-Cinema%29/

-JAMES NAREMORE, Orson Welles. Ovvero la magia del cinema, Venezia, Marsilio 1993 (or subsequent reprints).

- PETER BOGDANOVICH, Il cinema secondo Orson Welles, Milano, Il Saggiatore, 2016 (or subsequent reprints).

- ALBERTO ANILE, Orson Welles in Italia, 2nd enlarged edition, Milano, La Nave di Teseo, 2023.

 

Additional study material for non-attending students (available online):

- ELENA DAGRADA, Introduzione all’edizione italiana di Robert L. Carringer, Come Welles ha realizzato Citizen Kane, Milano, Il Castoro, 2000. Available on-line here:

https://www.academia.edu/5550666/Introduzione_alledizione_italiana_di_Come_Welles_ha_realizzato_Citizen_Kane_

-ELENA DAGRADA, “Conta di più una bella voce o un buon microfono? Orson Welles, il talento, la tecnica”, La Valle dell’Eden, n. 14, 2005, pp. 106-114. Available on-line here:

https://www.academia.edu/3728452/Conta_di_più_una_bella_voce_o_un_buon_microfono_Orson_Welles_il_talento_la_tecnica [https://www.academia.edu/3728452/Conta_di_pi%C3%B9_una_bella_voce_o_un_buon_microfono_Orson_Welles_il_talento_la_tecnica]

-ELENA DAGRADA, “Don Chisciotte secondo Orson Welles”, in Luoghi per il Don Chisciotte, a cura di Mariarosa Scaramuzza Vidoni, Quaderni di ACME, n. 79, 2006, pp. 191-207. Reprinted on-line in La furia umana, n. 4, 2010 ( www.lafuriaumana.it ). Available on-line here:

https://www.academia.edu/3728470/Don_Chisciotte_secondo_Orson_Welles

 

FILMOGRAPHY

-La nuit américaine (Effetto notte, François Truffaut, 1973)

-Sortie des usines/Repas de Bébé/Le jardinier et le petit espiègle/Arrivée des congressistes/Arrivée d’un train en gare/Pompiers à Lyon/Leaving Jerusalem by Train (Lumière)

-L’homme-Orchestre (Georges Méliès, 1900)

-The Ballet Master’s Dream [Le rêve du maître de ballet] (Georges Méliès, 1903)

-Démolition d’un mur (Lumière)

-The Countryman and the Cinematograph (R.W.Paul, 1901)

-Ladies Skirts Nailed to a Fence (Bamforth, c1900)

-The Big Swallow (Williamson, 1901)

-Let Me Dream Again (George Albert Smith, 1900)

-Grandma's Reading Glass (George Albert Smith, 1900)

-As Seen Through a Telescope (George Albert Smith, 1900)

-The Kiss in the Tunnel (George Albert Smith, 1900)

-Voyage dans la lune (Georges Méliès, 1902)

-Voyage à travers l’impossible (Georges Méliès, 1904)

-The Miller and the Sweep (George Albert Smith, 1898)

-That Fatal Sneeze (Hepworth, 1907)

-Rescued By Rover (Hepworth, 1905)

-Fire! (Williamson, 1901)

-The Life of an American Fireman (Edison - Edwin S.Porter, 1903)

-The Great Train Robbery (Edison - Edwin S.Porter, 1903)

-Histoire d’un crime (Pathé Frères - Ferdinand Zecca, 1901)

-The Drunkard’s Reformation (David Wark Griffith, 1909)

-The Lonely Villa (David Wark Griffith, 1909)

-The New York Hat (David Wark Griffith, 1912)

-Mary Jane’s Mishap (George Albert Smith, 1903)

-Lonesome (Paul Fejos, 1928)

-The Crowd (La folla, King Vidor, 1928)

-Show People (Maschere di celluloide, King Vidor, 1928)

-Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (Il gabinetto del Dr.Caligari, Robert Wiene, 1920)

-La Chute de la Maison Usher (La caduta della Casa Usher, Jean Epstein, 1928)

-Napoléon (Abel Gance, 1928)

-La corazzata Potëmkin (Sergej M. Ėjzenštejn, 1926)

-Ottobre (Sergej M. Ėjzenštejn, 1928)

-The Cameraman (Edward Sedgwick-Buster Keaton, 1928)

-The Jazz Singer (Il cantante di Jazz, Alan Crosland, 1927)

-Le Mépris (Il disprezzo, Jean-Luc Godard, 1963)

-City Lights (Luci della città, Charlie Chaplin, 1931)

-The Spiral Staircase (La scala a chiocciola, Robert Siodmak, 1946)

-Cronaca di un amore (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1950)

-Sunrise (Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, 1928)

-La règle du jeu (La regola del gioco, Jean Renoir, 1939)

-Roma città aperta (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)

-Ladri di biciclette (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)

-Viaggio in Italia (Roberto Rossellini, 1954)

-A bout de souffle (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)

-La dolce vita (Federico Fellini, 1960)

-Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

-2001 A Space Odissey (Stanley Kubrik, 1968)

-Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1975)

-Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)

-Citizen Kane (Quarto potere, Orson Welles, 1941) v.o. st.it.

-The Magnificent Ambersons (L'orgoglio degli Amberson, Orson Welles, 1942) v.o. st.it.

-The Stranger (Lo straniero), Orson Welles, 1946, v.o. st.it.

-The Lady from Shanghai (La signora di Shanghai, Orson Welles, 1948) v.o. st.it.

-Touch of Evil (L’infernale Quinlan, Orson Welles, 1958) v.o. st.it.

 

 

Teaching methods

The course program includes an in-depth exploration of several issues in film historiography through the study of exemplary films from cinema history included in filmography (these films are an integral part of the exam program). The films covered in class will be placed within the historical context of their production, highlighting the linguistic, aesthetic, stylistic, and technological factors that characterize them, as well as the sociological, political, and economic phenomena that contributed to shaping their form. The program also includes a study of the cinema of Orson Welles.

 

Frontal lessons, which will include screenings of film excerpts and analysis of key segments. Subject to changes due to the health situation, lectures will be held in person.

Assessment methods

The examination consists of an oral interview intending to ensure the knowledge of the topics (films and themes) covered in class and listed in the Bibliography and Filmography.

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

Teaching tools

Students must watch all films included in the exam filmography in their entirety. The Department of Arts Video Library (Via Barberia 4) is available for this purpose. There, they can reserve video stations or borrow materials at home. To avoid backlogs, students are advised to begin using the video library well in advance, without waiting until the last few days before their chosen exam session. If students decide not to use the Department Video Library service, they will still need to view the films included in the filmography by obtaining them elsewhere (and, again, it is recommended to do so well in advance).

Office hours

See the website of Elena Dagrada