Report #1 - Due 9/20
Discuss the realistic (Lumière) and formative (Méliès) tendencies that Kracauer's outlines in Basic Concepts. You may draw on the principles of film form and the relationship to meaning in FA.

Report #2 - Due 10/4
Discuss one of the following:
1. the relationship between mise-en-scene and physical reality in Greed. Refer to the essay by Kracauer.
2. the relationship between montage and the shot in Potemkin. Please make references to a specific sequence and to Eisenstein's writings.
3. realism/naturalism vs. montage in Greed and Potemkin.

In these reports I would like you to make frequent references to the four dimensions of film editing: graphic, rhythmic, spatial, and temporal, to illustrate your points.

Report #3 - Due 10/18
Choose one of the following:
1. Compare and contrast the comic acting styles of Chaplin (City Lights) and Keaton (Sherlock Jr.) and the cinematic language they empoly to visualize these styles and communicate their ideas about society and moral choices.
2. How does the visual-auditory plan in Citizen Kane relate to the overall thematic meaning of the film? Please chose a single sequence for your analysis. Topics to consider are: cinematography, sound, set design, acting, and last but least the narrative structure of the film.

Mid-term in-class exam - 11/1

Report #4 - Due 11/15
How do Dreyer and Bresson build the psychology of their characters through cinema, Dreyer in his stylistic austerity "taking-your-time" ambiance and Bresson through his aesthetics of fragmentation?

Dreyer writes: "I don't bring a picture just for the sake of the picture, just because it's beautiful; if the picture effect does not promote the action it is injurious to the film."

Bresson writes: "One does not create by adding but by taking away." and "Not beautiful images but necessary ones."

Report #5 - Due 11/29
Italian Neorealism and the French New Wave (in-class)

Report #6 - Due 12/13
Hitchcock's Rear Window (in-class)

Final take home exam - 12/20