FREN 274 - Cinéma français et francophone

FDR: HL
Planned Offering: Spring
Credits: 4

Prerequisites: FREN 162, FREN 164, or equivalent. This course uses French language films as the basis for discussions, oral presentations and directed writing exercises. It is structured as an intensive workshop for students who would like to learn to analyze films. More generally the course provides a better understanding of contemporary French culture and improves French language proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. In Spring 2012, the class focuses on French New Wave films of the 1960s and ‘70s and the filmmakers who revolutionized film style by experimenting with hand-held cameras, natural light and sound, and by playfully foregrounding film technique. Students acquire the vocabulary to describe camera position, camera movement, and editing as the grammar and syntax of the mise-en-scène. They acquire a better understanding of how the composition and sequencing of images contributes to narrative development. These films are a window onto the baby boom culture of post-war France and, as such, provide a deeper understanding of contemporary French culture. Lambeth.