INTERNATIONAL FILM AND AUDIOVISUAL STUDIES

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

Single discipline educational activity

Course Sheet

Course code:

L00938

Academic Year of enrolment:

2022

Year of supply:

2023/2024

Type of Course:

Related/Supplementary

Degree:

Course of 2nd Cycle Degree in MODERN LANGUAGES FOR MANAGEMENT AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Disciplinary Sector:

Cinema, Photography and Television

Location:

PESCARA

Credits:

Programme Year:

Professor and Collaborators:

TRIVELLI Anita

Cycle:

First semester

Hours of classroom activity:

Individual study hours:

Prerequisites:

Prerequisites
None

Objectives

Learning outcomes
The course concurs to realize the educational goals of the Degree
Program by introducing the students to relevant aesthetic and methodological issues, that will be investigated through the study of
emblematic film practices denoting a high theoretical density. Students progress will be evaluated according to their active participation in the classroom and group discussions as well as their familiarity with the analytic vocabulary of cinema studies.
The course aims to provide students with an adequate knowledge on: 1) some exemplary practices of a self-conscious cinema;
2) the narrative
strategies of the selected movies;
3) their mise en scène; 4) the self reflexive
quality of the selected movies;
5) the relationship between cinema and other expressive languages (literature, painting, theatre,
music, dance).
The skills acquired in this class can be used to partecipate in the activities of the prestigious International Film Festivals of Venice
and Pesaro, showcases of the most advanced current audiovisual
production, as well as the site of precious opportunities to meet
international scholars, experts, directors, actors, and other cinema
professionals.
Attending students and who have successfully passed the course
examination are eligible for accreditation of the above mentioned film
festivals. The accreditation badge is valid for all screenings and related
activities.

Contents

Contents
Mise en scène, metalanguage, intertextuality. These issues and their
relationships will investigated by analyzing a series of films which are exemplary for the theorethical debate on cinema and audiovisual media.

Extended Syllabus

Extended syllabus
Mise en scène, metalanguage, intertextuality are founding issues of the
theorethical debate on cinema and audiovisual media. This course is
designed to investigate them through the analysis of exemplary works of
the cinema history, thanks to the formal qualities of these films that
make visible and question their meaning production. On the other hand,
exploring
and exposing the formal qualities of a filmwork means
scrutinizing its style, its costruction modes and procedures, as well as its
discoursive strategies. In this context, the notion of a modern style can
be
useful to identify the common features of the course selected
filmography. In fact, this style runs through the entire Seventh Art
history, and has nothing to do neither with the technological matrix of
cinema (i.e. cinema as a modern art in its own, out of its technological
nature), nor with the social mirroring (i.e. cinema as a content reflection
of an age and its society). The study of this notion, together with its
theoretical foundations and distinguishing traits, will be the reference
conceptual axis for the analysis of the course selected films, pointing out
the conjuncture of self-reflexivity and material-reproduction. We will also
see
that this conjuncture problematizes the complex relationship
between cinema and “reality”, and shows in an original and innovative
way
the «impurity» of cinema, meaning the productive comparison
between
cinema and other artistic languages.
Lectures
will investigate the course selected audiovisual materials
(feature, documentary and essay films, videoworks) in the frame of their
cultural-historical context of realization; a considerable attention will be
payed to the comparison between cinema and other arts (literature,
painting,
dance, theatre, music), expounding the interrelationship
between the the film medium self-reflexivity and the highlight of its
reproduction quality, with this interrelationship at the base of the peculiar
intersemiotic operations perfomed by the films shown in class. This
course aims to develop an informed understanding of the cinematic
practices under examination; the theoretical elaboration of international
prominent authors and scholars will provide the methodological tools
useful for analysis and discussions in class. During the course additional
materials to allow for more in-depth studies may be referenced. Useful
information will also be given to students of other Degree Programs.

Recommended Bibliography

Reference films & books
FILMS:
L. Olivier, Enrico V; R. Bresson, Il diario di un curato di campagna; R.
Rossellini, Germania anno zero, Paisà; V. De Sica, Ladri di biciclette; film collettivi ideati da C. Zavattini (Siamo donne, L’amore in città, Il
cinegiornale della pace); H.-G. Clouzot, Le Mystère Picasso; M. Deren: Meshes of the Afternoon, At Land, A Study in Choreography for Camera, Ritual in Transfigured Time, Meditation on Violence, The Very Eye of Night
e Divine Horsemen. The Living Gods of Haiti; J.-M. Straub-D. Huillet,
Cronaca di Anna Magdalena Bach; M. Antonioni, Blow up; W. Wenders, Tokyo-Ga

BOOKS:
Libri:
Giorgio De Vincenti, Lo stile moderno. Alla radice del contemporaneo:
cinema, video, rete, Bulzoni, Roma 2013
Anita Trivelli, Sulle tracce di Maya Deren. Il cinema come progetto e
avventura, Lindau, Torino 2013

Teaching Methods

Teaching methods
1) lectures; 2) discussion of the course selected audiovisual materials
(feature,
documentary and essay films, video works) shown in class.
Course readings and discussions of the screened movies will develop the
students’ skills in audiovisual analysis and research, as well as their
facility with the pertinent terminology of cinema studies, and the study of
audiovisual texts. The screenings are in the original language with Italian
subtitles.

Evaluation methods

Verification of learning:

Assessment methods
An oral examination in the form of an interview will assess whether the
student has mastered the course content.
Grades run from 18 through 30/30.
Excellent (27-30/30) will be awarded to those students who achieve a
comprehensive understanding of the course content and are able to
articulate a specific and original vision of their own, that reflects both a
solid proficiency in the analytic vocabulary of cinema studies, as well as
in the movies under investigation and in the reference theoretical issues.
Good
(22-26/30) will be awarded to those students showing some
knowledge of the course content, but who are unable to fully articulate a
synthesis of all the materials under investigation, as well as fully develop
a sophisticated analysis, and use a correct but not always appropriate
analytic vocabulary of cinema studies.
Satisfactory (18-21/30) will be awarded to those students showing a basic
knowledge of the course content, and a supeficial understanding of all
the materials under investigation, as well as an inaccurate analytic
vocabulary of cinema studies.
Insufficient
(under
18/30)
will
be
awarded
to
those
students
demonstrating an insufficient grasp of the course content, an inaccurate
analytic vocabulary of cinema studies, a lack of profiency regarding the
movies examined and the reference theoretical issues.

Contacts/More Information

Further information
Attending the class sessions is recommended; the examination method
will be the same both for attending and not-attending students. The
viewing
of all movies listed in the filmography is required for the
examination.
STUDENTS OF OTHER DEGREE PROGRAMS ARE ADVISED TO CONTACT
THE PROFESSOR BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE COURSE, AND IN ANY
CASE WELL IN ADVANCE OF THE EXAMINATION DATE.
NOT ATTENDING-STUDENTS AND STUDENTS WHO HAVE NOT REGULARLY
ATTENDED THE LESSONS ARE ADVISED TO CONTACT THE PROFESSOR
WELL IN ADVANCE OF THE EXAMINATION DATE. THEY SHALL INTEGRATE
THE COURSE FILMS AND TEXTS OF THE SYLLABUS WITH THE FOLLOWING
ADDITIONAL BOOK: Thomas Elsaesser e Malte Hagener, Teoria del film.
Un’introduzione, Torino, Einaudi 2009; or Giorgio De Vincenti, Cinema e globalizzazione.
Costruire la democrazia, Bulzoni, Roma 2019.
Attending students and who successfully passed the course examination
are eligible for accreditation of Venice and Pesaro film festivals.
Furthermore,
the professor will give information about artistic and
cultural events occuring in our city/region/nation of particular relevance to the course objectives.
For any question students are invited to meet with the professor during
her office hours.

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

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