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August 1995, Week 2

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From:
knight iii a <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 9 Aug 1995 13:23:14 -0500
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I always teach entire films, usually by scheduling a couple
(sometimes three) screenings a week.  I encourage--sometimes require--
students to see the films twice (where I teach we have both three and
four credit classes, with credits potentially "delinked" from contact
hours, so if I can get four credits for students with only three
contact hours, I don't feel at all shy about demanding a fair chunk
of their time for screenings).  I teach using a mix of film and video
(all the films are available for individual analysis on video or
disc).
 
I think the collective viewing experience is important and I think
viewing things on film is important.  However, I also think its
important for students to be aware of the different experiences and
understandings their "movie-going" choices are likely to yield, so I
usually assign at least one short paper in which they must describe
and analyze the differences between watching a video and going to a
movie (often this is a first, ungraded paper--it makes them think
analytically and shows me some of the strengths and weaknesses of
their writing abilities).  Depending on the class and the amount of
writing they are doing, I may have them do more of these "meta" or
"contextual" essays.  Often the students do their best work on these
papers, because they are urged to take their experiences as a sort of
evidence--but not their only or fully adequate evidence--for what
they want to argue.  They start to see how much of what they "choose"
to do happens out of awareness, though not necessarily unconsciously,
and how habit, or ingrained knowledge, effects what they make of the
movies (whether Open City or Dumb and Dumber) they see (among other
things).
 
So finally, even if my students do see things on video (which I'm not
especially happy about) or even in clips (if they miss a screening
and only come to the class where we do close analysis), they can't
leave my class unaware that there are differences between an
entire film and a clip (or quotation) or between film and video.
 
I hope they learn other things, too.
 
Arthur Knight
William & Mary
 
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