Talking Pictures (Online)

Pre-requisites for enrolment

No experience required, though seeing the films in advance would be very useful.

Students will need to be able to confidently use videoconferencing software and be comfortable with using websites.

Special Information

In order to participate in this course, you will need access to a computer with a speaker, microphone and a good internet connection. An internet browser is required to access the online learning platform. Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are the recommended browsers.

Content of Course

What is it to talk about film? After all cinema has been, since the late twenties, mainly an audio visual medium, and we must turn those images into words if we are to talk about them. Superlatives are easy to offer, but analysis harder to define, since, as a French filmmaker once proposed, film is manual work with the unconscious. Together, as a class, we will try and find a 'talking cure'. 

1. The Wonders (2008), Alice Rohrwacher 

2. The Death of Mr Lazarescu (2005), Cristi Puiu. 

3. The Dark Knight (2008), Christopher Nolan. 

4. Leviathan  (2014), Andrey Zvyagintsev 

5. There Will Be Blood (2008), Paul Thomas Anderson 

6. Dogtooth (2009), Yorgos Lanthimos 

7. Syndromes and a Century (2009), Apichatpong Weerasethakul  

8. Last Days (2005), Gus Van Sant. 

9. Western (2017, Valerie Grisebach  

10. A Touch of Zen (2013) Jia Zhangke 

11. Conclusion: How successful have we been at making sense of the above films? These are works that we have speculatively probed, looking at their form and their content. We have also tried to develop our own intuitions in relation to images that move quickly in front of our eyes and touch upon thoughts in the back of our mind. 

Teaching method(s)

This course will be delivered via live online sessions.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Discuss ideas with confidence in a classroom environment;

• Comprehend aspects of film theory and practice;

• Demonstrate a better understanding of their aesthetic taste.

Sources

Core Readings

Students should not purchase books until the course is confirmed to run, and their teacher instructs them to do so.

Recommended:

• Perez, G., 1998. The Material Ghost. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

• Farber. M., 1998. Negative Space. New York: Da Capo Press.

• Bazin, A., 1967, 1971, What is Cinema? Vol. 1. London: California University Press.

• Bazin, A., 1971, What is Cinema? Vol. 2. London: California University Press.

• Deleuze, G., 1997. Cinema: Vol. 1. London: Athlone Press.

• Deleuze, G. 1994. Cinema: Vol. 2. London: Athlone Press

• Cavell. S. 1971. The World Viewed. New York: Viking Press.

Web Sources

http://www.imdb.com

IMDB

http://www.sensesofcinema.com

Senses of Cinema

Queries

If you have questions regarding the course or enrolment, please contact COL Reception at Paterson's Land by email COL@ed.ac.uk or by phone 0131 650 4400.

Student support

If you have a disability, learning difficulty or health condition which may affect your studies, please let us know by ticking the 'specific support needs' box on your course application form. This will allow us to make appropriate adjustments in advance and in accordance with your rights under the Equality Act 2010. For more information please visit the Student Support section of our website.