What is Literature to Film?

We’ll Call It….

FILMLITERATURE

Or…

FILM LIT.

ME?

• Love film– Renting Top Gun– Checking out from local library for $1.00 each

• Grew up in Chicago• Same high school as John Hughes (Ferris

Bueller, The Breakfast Club, Home Alone)

• Northwestern University• Roomed with a Radio / TV / Film major

• 2002– Conference on using film in English classes– Loved it ever since as an instructional tool.

My Philosophy

It is always better to know more than to know less.

Hard work leads to opportunities and choices, choices that YOU

can make

When Do We Meet?

• Every day

• 1 period a day

• 1 semester long

Credit?• When you pass the class at the semester…

– Receive .5 of an English credit

• What if I am on track to already get my 4 credits of English?

– This class will drop into the Elective category– You need 6 credits in Electives to graduate!

What Will We Do?

• Study the history and evolution of film.

• Study the techniques used to make films.

• Examine clips of and full feature films.

• Analyze these films for their artistic, literary, and cinematic strengths and weaknesses

What Else Will We Do?

• Take notes

• Read from the text book

• Read fiction short stories

• Read film reviews

And….

• Read scripts

• Read film treatments

• Write research papers

• Write film analysis papers

And….

• Write film treatments

• Write mini-scripts

• Create storyboards

• Create mini-film scenes

And….

• Create soundtracks

• Watch a ton of good stuff

• Yes, we will work in this class

Assignment Pattern

FOCUS

Teaching reading, writing, and thinking through and with the

use of film.

We Won’t…..

• Use this as time to catch up on our sleep (since it will be dark a lot).

• Use this to catch up on texting.

• Just sit around, watch films, and say we like it or not.

WEBSITE

• Added a page to mine

• Class Overview

• Class Resources

• All assignments and a calendar of what we’ve done

Class Wiki

• Need to enroll in this.

• Projects / papers will be written on here.

• Daily schedule of assignments

MATERIALS

• Pen and pencil

• Notebook

• Folder

Turnitin.com

• Have you used it before?

• Do you have an account?

• If so….”enroll” in Film Lit course

• If not…make an account….then enroll in the course!

ABSENT?

• We have a strange scenario for this class if you are absent:

How do I make upseeing a clip or a

full film?

Answer…..• Class DVD• Clips• Assignments• PPs

• The P Drive• P Drive / Student / Warner / Film Lit.

• We’ll “punt” if these don’t work out for each scenario that comes up!

Thank you!

• Thanks for taking a risk on a new course.

• Please give me your honest feedback as we go through.

• Let me know what you need more of along the way.