FILM TV 4
Introduction to Art and Technique of Filmmaking
Description: (Formerly numbered 122B.) Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour. Students acquire understanding of practical and aesthetic challenges undertaken by artists and professionals in making of motion pictures and television. Examination of film as both art and industry: storytelling, sound and visual design, casting and performance, editing, finance, advertising, and distribution. Exploration of American and world cinema from filmmaker's perspective. Honing of analytical skills and development of critical vocabulary for study of filmmaking as technical, artistic, and cultural phenomenon. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2019 - This class is cake, and I absolutely miss it. I was having a really tough time this quarter with my mental health and I always looked forward to this class. Rory wants you to understand the material, and he does a great job explaining it. My TA was a film veteran finishing up his degree, so he was a reliable source of information. Midterm is in-class. You watch a couple of clips and respond to the prompts. Not too hard. Like I said, my mental health was shit, so I was always smoking weed. Pretty sure I took the midterm high, and I enjoyed writing it. There's a take-home essay. Watch a few clips, respond to the prompts. The final is the best. You get to choose your own film to dissect, using the knowledge you've accumulated all quarter. I wrote all my essays high, and did well. This class will change the way you view films, and you'll want to take it again. The professor is funny, well-versed, likes Led Zeppelin (doesn't matter but that makes him cooler.) Also, we got to watch the original Blade Runner, set in Los Angeles, 2019, which is when I took this class :). TAKE THE CLASS IF YOU WANT A BADASS GE THAT YOU'LL FOR SURE GET AN A ON
Winter 2019 - This class is cake, and I absolutely miss it. I was having a really tough time this quarter with my mental health and I always looked forward to this class. Rory wants you to understand the material, and he does a great job explaining it. My TA was a film veteran finishing up his degree, so he was a reliable source of information. Midterm is in-class. You watch a couple of clips and respond to the prompts. Not too hard. Like I said, my mental health was shit, so I was always smoking weed. Pretty sure I took the midterm high, and I enjoyed writing it. There's a take-home essay. Watch a few clips, respond to the prompts. The final is the best. You get to choose your own film to dissect, using the knowledge you've accumulated all quarter. I wrote all my essays high, and did well. This class will change the way you view films, and you'll want to take it again. The professor is funny, well-versed, likes Led Zeppelin (doesn't matter but that makes him cooler.) Also, we got to watch the original Blade Runner, set in Los Angeles, 2019, which is when I took this class :). TAKE THE CLASS IF YOU WANT A BADASS GE THAT YOU'LL FOR SURE GET AN A ON
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2017 - Grade breakdown: 20% attendance/participation (lecture/section), 10% short essay #1, 15% short essay #2, 20% midterm, 35% take home final essay. This class was really time-consuming and had a lot of strict rules. This is not a chill GE. The readings due every class were dense and you had to read them to understand what was going on in the class. Slides were used in lecture and uploaded but there wasn't much useful information on them. Attendance was mandatory because TAs took attendance at some point every lecture. Phones and laptops weren't allowed in class and if you wanted to use your laptop you had to sit in the front row, and if they caught you with your phone you didn't get attendance credit that day. Section was mandatory but helpful because the TAs went over the readings and you did little group exercises to understand the material better. I never went to Mchugh's office hours but in lecture she had strong opinions and totally disregarded the opinions of others (seemed arrogant). The course satisfies the diversity requirement which is good but I really didn't enjoy this class at all and wouldn't recommend it.
Fall 2017 - Grade breakdown: 20% attendance/participation (lecture/section), 10% short essay #1, 15% short essay #2, 20% midterm, 35% take home final essay. This class was really time-consuming and had a lot of strict rules. This is not a chill GE. The readings due every class were dense and you had to read them to understand what was going on in the class. Slides were used in lecture and uploaded but there wasn't much useful information on them. Attendance was mandatory because TAs took attendance at some point every lecture. Phones and laptops weren't allowed in class and if you wanted to use your laptop you had to sit in the front row, and if they caught you with your phone you didn't get attendance credit that day. Section was mandatory but helpful because the TAs went over the readings and you did little group exercises to understand the material better. I never went to Mchugh's office hours but in lecture she had strong opinions and totally disregarded the opinions of others (seemed arrogant). The course satisfies the diversity requirement which is good but I really didn't enjoy this class at all and wouldn't recommend it.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2019 - Class Breakdown: Attendance and Participation: 15% -- Attendance is required after the lecture and screening, you sign in with your TA. Attendance is also required in discussion sections, additionally, you should engage (ask questions, answer questions) in sections to get full participation points. Mid-Term Exam: 25% -- One part is multiple choice (it was insanely easy, like I'm pretty sure Professor Paredes said that the majority of the class got 90% and above on this portion). However, as she recognized it was really easy, I'm pretty sure she's going to make it harder in the upcoming years. I only got a question wrong on the multiple choice by studying the slides in class (she uploads them on CCLE). Additionally, she makes midterm review slides which makes studying even easier. I only studied the day before and again only got a question wrong. The HARDER part of the midterm exam is the shot by shot analysis of a film. You have to identify formal elements of the shots, as she puts it on loop on the big screen. (Don't worry, she gives you the portion of the film before hand on CCLE which you can identify the formal elements beforehand and memorize them and bring them to class. I really appreciated that she did this, it would not have been possible to do this in the 1 hour midterm exam.) Take Home Essays: 30% -- You have two take home essays, which are relatively easy. The first one is only 750-800 words, I felt myself wanting to write more but was limited by the word count. The second one is 1000-1100 words, and is a little bit more difficult because you have to recreate a scene with different elements. (It's much more creative than the first one.) Final Paper: 30% -- Final is a paper! You have to present in your discussion section your thesis and your ideas about your paper. Your essay is about 2000-2200 words, and it has to be about a film that you didn't watch in class in where you analyze diversity themes such as sexuality, race, ethnicity, disability, etc... Grading Scale: 90 is an A !!! (80 is a B, and so on.) The Professor: -- Professor Paredes is a super nice, warm, and welcoming person. She's really educated (she got her PhD from USC), and she can some times be funny. But not the most entertaining lecturer, she's very monotone and I would sometime just zone out. HOWEVER, she's super organized and uploads EVERYTHING on CCLE which is super awesome, and I really appreciate that about her. She genuinely cares about your learning, she cares about the TAs, and she cares about her class. Summary: -- This class is really easy if you're a good writer and you can memorize certain stuff. I stopped going to lecture and the screenings after the midterm, and just signed up for attendance after the screening (she might change the way of taking attendance in the future.) I still got an A however.
Spring 2019 - Class Breakdown: Attendance and Participation: 15% -- Attendance is required after the lecture and screening, you sign in with your TA. Attendance is also required in discussion sections, additionally, you should engage (ask questions, answer questions) in sections to get full participation points. Mid-Term Exam: 25% -- One part is multiple choice (it was insanely easy, like I'm pretty sure Professor Paredes said that the majority of the class got 90% and above on this portion). However, as she recognized it was really easy, I'm pretty sure she's going to make it harder in the upcoming years. I only got a question wrong on the multiple choice by studying the slides in class (she uploads them on CCLE). Additionally, she makes midterm review slides which makes studying even easier. I only studied the day before and again only got a question wrong. The HARDER part of the midterm exam is the shot by shot analysis of a film. You have to identify formal elements of the shots, as she puts it on loop on the big screen. (Don't worry, she gives you the portion of the film before hand on CCLE which you can identify the formal elements beforehand and memorize them and bring them to class. I really appreciated that she did this, it would not have been possible to do this in the 1 hour midterm exam.) Take Home Essays: 30% -- You have two take home essays, which are relatively easy. The first one is only 750-800 words, I felt myself wanting to write more but was limited by the word count. The second one is 1000-1100 words, and is a little bit more difficult because you have to recreate a scene with different elements. (It's much more creative than the first one.) Final Paper: 30% -- Final is a paper! You have to present in your discussion section your thesis and your ideas about your paper. Your essay is about 2000-2200 words, and it has to be about a film that you didn't watch in class in where you analyze diversity themes such as sexuality, race, ethnicity, disability, etc... Grading Scale: 90 is an A !!! (80 is a B, and so on.) The Professor: -- Professor Paredes is a super nice, warm, and welcoming person. She's really educated (she got her PhD from USC), and she can some times be funny. But not the most entertaining lecturer, she's very monotone and I would sometime just zone out. HOWEVER, she's super organized and uploads EVERYTHING on CCLE which is super awesome, and I really appreciate that about her. She genuinely cares about your learning, she cares about the TAs, and she cares about her class. Summary: -- This class is really easy if you're a good writer and you can memorize certain stuff. I stopped going to lecture and the screenings after the midterm, and just signed up for attendance after the screening (she might change the way of taking attendance in the future.) I still got an A however.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - Professor Trice is incredible. She is devoted, respected, smart, knowledged. Her organization is on-point and the amount of detail and attention she puts into every single assignment instruction, rubric, syllabus, etc is second to none. I am a STEM person so I really didn't find the content all that interesting, but I could tell that she was engaging. She really cares about what the students have to say and takes a good amount of class to have several students give their insight. The class is very manageable. Her lectures give you everything you need to know from the readings, so you don't have to do those. The films are not the best, but they're interesting enough to pay attention to. You don't have to take notes during the screenings. Just bring a jacket because Melnitz is freezing!! The creative exercises are self-explanatory (she lays out the instructions so nicely for you), and you get to choose 2 of 5 assignments, so you really get to do projects that work better for you. The take home exams are kinda overwhelming at first glance, but they're really not that bad. The questions are easy to answer and they're obviously all open book, which is nice. We also got like practically a week with both exams, so there was enough time if you didn't leave it to the last minute. I don't know what I got on the final project, but it wasn't too bad if you manage your time well and choose an option that you know you can do well on. My TA was Brittany Murphy and I absolutely loved her. She's hilarious, smart, and genuinely cares for the well-being of her students. Easy A, but meh course content.
Fall 2019 - Professor Trice is incredible. She is devoted, respected, smart, knowledged. Her organization is on-point and the amount of detail and attention she puts into every single assignment instruction, rubric, syllabus, etc is second to none. I am a STEM person so I really didn't find the content all that interesting, but I could tell that she was engaging. She really cares about what the students have to say and takes a good amount of class to have several students give their insight. The class is very manageable. Her lectures give you everything you need to know from the readings, so you don't have to do those. The films are not the best, but they're interesting enough to pay attention to. You don't have to take notes during the screenings. Just bring a jacket because Melnitz is freezing!! The creative exercises are self-explanatory (she lays out the instructions so nicely for you), and you get to choose 2 of 5 assignments, so you really get to do projects that work better for you. The take home exams are kinda overwhelming at first glance, but they're really not that bad. The questions are easy to answer and they're obviously all open book, which is nice. We also got like practically a week with both exams, so there was enough time if you didn't leave it to the last minute. I don't know what I got on the final project, but it wasn't too bad if you manage your time well and choose an option that you know you can do well on. My TA was Brittany Murphy and I absolutely loved her. She's hilarious, smart, and genuinely cares for the well-being of her students. Easy A, but meh course content.
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