ENG 3310 Fall 2024 - Rybnicek

This course introduces students to the history and language of cinema, tracking its evolution over time. Students will explore the key genres—such as Crime/Noir, Western, Horror, etc.—as well as the main influential film movements, including, but not limited to: German Expressionism, Poetic Realism, Neorealism, the various “New Waves,” New Hollywood, and so on. Through critical discussion, students will learn to recognize the formal techniques and specific choices of directors, as well as to analyze their resultant effects, particularly in view of a film’s thematic content. Special attention will be given to the overall conventions of the medium and the development of those conventions, as well as the myriad frames of "seeing/being" unique to cinema alone (as opposed to the devices of literature, for instance).