A complete bluffer's guide to the cinema! This course is a journey through the most important films ever made, the background to their making, and how they changed the medium of cinema forever. For instance, discover how the appliance of saliva created an editing revolution; find out how a small British B-movie company helped shape modern cinema (with a bit of help from the BBC!); and query why so many of Hollywood's early, ground-breaking classics rarely get shown today. Featuring films both familiar and forgotten from all four corners of the world, here is the opportunity to explore some of the most innovative, inspiring and controversial films ever put on the silver screen and why they deserve the title of "Movie Milestones".
Course aim
To provide an introduction to the history of film by focusing on the most important movies ever made and how they changed the medium of film forever. This will enable the student to have a greater awareness and appreciation of film as an art form.
Do I need any particular skills or experience?
- This course is for beginners
- This course is for improvers
- This course is for beginners and improvers
By the end of the course I should be able to:
- Identify the most important films in the history of cinema.
- Describe why these films are so important.
- Recognise and list some of the technical innovations that make these films so important.
- Identify how these films influenced other movies.
What else do I need to know?
No pre-course work is required, just an interest in films! If you wish you could watch any of the following films: Birth of a Nation (1915); Battleship Potemkin (1925); The Jazz Singer (1927); The Wizard of Oz (1939), Rome, Open City (1945), Breathless (1959); Easy Rider (1969); and Jaws (1975).
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