FILM ANALYSIS AND AUDIOVISUAL LANGUAGE

The course is part of the “Related or Additional Studies” programmes included in the curricula of “Art History” and “Performing Arts and Media Studies” for the Bachelor's Degree Programme in “Conservation of Cultural Heritage and Performing Arts Management”. Its aim is to provide students with a supplementary set of concepts related to the structure of the arts system arts, and in particular of the performing ones, as well as to the enhancement the cinematographic heritage, with specific regard to the most frequently encountered audio-visual materials. The objectives of the course are: to prepare students to develop a “privileged” and informed relation to audio-visual artworks (i.e. films and other formats), so as to be able to define their “agency” and “performativity”. Upon completion of the course, students will also have acquired the methodological tools enabling them to scrutinise audio-visual artefacts after their mechanisms, structure and meaning.

1. Knowledge and comprehension: Knowledge of the terminology of film language; Knowledge of the basics rules enabling to distinguish cinema’s main techniques and narrative models; Ability to comprehend critical and theoretical texts dealing with cinema.
2. Ability to apply the acquired knowledge and comprehension: Ability to describe a sequence or a film placing it in relation to its historical, production and genre-related context; Ability to apply methodological approaches to analyse films and audio-visual artworks; Ability to apply a metalinguistic ability in order distinguish between the specifically cinematic codes and codes belonging to other modes of expression.
3. Judgement skills: Ability to form personal interpretations based upon knowledge of the critical-theoretical literature; A critical approach to the aesthetic, cultural and historical judgement of audio-visual artworks;
4. Communication skills: Ability to participate in discussions around the subjects of the course; Ability to convey the specific character of the theoretical and historical discussion using an appropriate vocabulary, during the exam as well as during lectures; Ability to interact with fellow students and with lecturers in a critical and collaborative way, both in the classroom and using virtual electronic platforms.
5. Learning skills: Ability to take notes and share them in a collaborative manner; Ability to consult the reference texts and the bibliography these contain in a critical manner; Ability to deconstruct a film sequence or a short audio-visual work, discerning the narrative or discourse strategies in action, distinguishing forms of representation of space/time/characters/settings, modes of focusing or choosing the point of view.

No pre-requisites are required

Long take, close up, continuity editing, voice over, depth of field, fade-out: these and others “basic units” of defining cinema still represent the main means of creating audio-visual works today. A focus on some stylistic features will be provided so to reconstruct their theoretic influence, as well as the impact their use on some of the key-moments in the history of cinema or on certain films. We will study the different modes of resilience, adaptation and relocation that some of these features present in the recent media system. Together the proposed learning paths they will provide an empirical basis enabling the students to undertake the analysis of audio-visual texts with a greater historiographical awareness and with a specific attention towards aspects such as empathy, emotion and the “embodied” involvement of the spectator.

Gianni Rondolino, Dario Tomasi, “Manuale del film: Linguaggio, racconto, analisi”, Utet, Torino 2018.
Paolo Bertetto (a cura di), “Metodologie di analisi del film”, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2006

Students not attending the lectures must choose one of the following volumes, in addition to the above-mentioned textbooks:
D. Bruni, “Roberto Rossellini. Roma città aperta”, Lindau, Torino 2013
A. Costa, “Federico Fellini. La dolce vita”, Lindau, Torino 2010 
E. Dagrada, “Woody Allen. Manhattan”, Lindau, Torino 2012
M. Dalla Gassa, “Kurosawa Akira, Rashomon”, Lindau, Torino 2012
M. Giori, “Luchino Visconti. Rocco e i suoi fratelli” Lindau, Torino 2011
N. Lodato, F. Brignoli, “Orson Welles. Quarto potere”, Lindau, Torino 2015
S. Parigi, "Pier Paolo Pasolini. Accattone", Lindau, Torino 2008
M. Pellanda, “Andrej Tarkovskij. Andrej Rublëv”, Lindau, Torino 2015

Students are also required to watch six films that will be listed in a filmography made available on Moodle. Further readings will be provided during the course.

The method of assessment consists of a written test, divided into two parts. The first part is amultiple- choice questionnaire which intends assessing the knowledge of the basic theoretical-cinematographic vocabulary. This corresponds to the 70% of the overall course grade. The second part consists of a number of open-ended questions referred to one or more film sequences, which intend assessing the students’ ability to apply film analysis methods. This corresponds to the 30% of the overall course grade. The method of assessment for the students not attending their lectures will comprise an oral exam on the additional monograph. This will take place a few days after the written exam.

Lectures devoted to both the historical-theoretical as well as the analytical components of the course. The latter imply an active participation from students in the analysis and commentary of some film sequences which will proposed by both lecturers and the class.

Italian

written and oral