電影拍電影（文類課：其他）

The process of filmmaking has always fascinated not only the general audience but also the filmmakers themselves. What happens behind the camera has always made very fascinating stories to be put on screen. In this class, we will watch and discuss the film classics on filmmaking itself made by the film auteurs, who include Buster Keaton, Dziga Vertov, Billy Wilder, Federico Fellini, Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Robert Altman, Stanley Kwan, the Coen Brothers, Tim Burton, Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, David Fincher, Tan Chui Mui, as well as Michel Hazanavicius. Together, they, being the most prominent directors in the film history, reveal to us the secret behind the scene and their view on film industry and film as an art form. Students will be required to watch and discuss a film in class weekly. For the term project (5 pages in length), each student shall choose to write in English either a screenplay or a term paper by the end of the semester. He or she shall decide which track to follow by the midterm that takes the form of a one-on-one interview with the instructor. Other requirements include (1) film logs, (2) online responses, and (3) a presentation on filmmakers. All lectures, assignments, and class discussion will be conducted in English.

GENERAL INFORMATION 1. Class attendance is mandatory. For any absences, an official leave of absence from the University Administration must be obtained at http://stuoffcourse.nycu.edu.tw/. 2. Requirements. To fulfill the course requirements, students should go over the assigned readings, submit their responses online, join the class discussions, and submit a term project (as a screenplay or a term paper). In all cases, English is the only language used. 3. Classroom decorum: a. No food or beverage (except drinking water) is allowed in class. b. Cellular phones must be switched to the flight mode. No texting or call answering is allowed in the classroom during the class sessions or the breaks. Exception: the phone’s torchlight can be used when keeping film logs. c. Electronic devices (notebook computers, tablets, iPads, etc.) are allowed to be used on the condition that they are strictly for perusing the soft copy of the syllabus. Unless permission is granted, internet connection must be switched off. d. No taping, recording, or photographing is allowed in class without permission. 4. Films: a. Films will be shown in class in the Blu-ray format (BD), where available. b. Students who should miss the screenings in class can watch the films on BD or DVD put on reserve at the circulation desk of our Main Library. 5. Reserved materials. To locate the films and book items on reserve at the library, follow these steps. a. At the “Library Search” slot, key in the course title in Chinese or English b. Select the tag “Course Reserves” (指定參考書) at the end of the slot. c. Click on the Search icon, and the reserve list will be presented. 6. Correspondence: a. You can write your e-mail in either English or Chinese. b. Always specify your English or Chinese name in full, as well as your student’s ID, in all your correspondence. c. All course-related announcements will be sent to your e-mail address on file at the NYCU Online Course Registration System (https://course.nycu.edu.tw/) and E3 (https://e3.nycu.edu.tw). Keep good maintenance of your mailbox and check your mails regularly. d. Internet activities and course grades will be posted at our site at our E3 page. To enter, key in the user ID and password you use for logging in at the Course Registration site. e. Whom to write to: write to the T.A. only if an error in your grades is suspected. Otherwise, direct all your queries to the instructor. 7. Rights. The instructor reserves the final and exclusive rights to amend any portion of the course syllabus, including the grading scale, course schedule, regulations, and instructions on assignments, examination, and term projects. Class Participation 1. Students will be graded in principle by the frequency of their participation in the class discussion, not necessarily by the quality of their inputs. 2. A student will earn 1 credit point for his or her input in class each week. The aggregate of all credit points earned will be factored into his or her “Class Participation” grade for the semester. Film Logs 1. Purpose. This assignment, to start in week 2 for the first 7 films, intends to sharpen your observation of the film form that shapes the meaning of a film, and to familiarize you with the terminology to produce an effective film analysis. 2. How to proceed: a. You keep the log for the first 30 minutes of the film assigned to watch in class. Wait for the yellow aisle lighting in the room to turn off to stop. b. For Week 3, however, only a 15-minute log is required of each film. c. You write your log at one go or at one sitting: do not, for instance, pause or rewind the film in order to write a more accurate log. Instead, you should learn to keep as much information as possible without any interruption. d. The exact log format will be disclosed in class. Logs that do not meet the requirements will be returned for rewriting. e. There is no need to type your logs, but you submit them in the draft form handwritten in an NYCU exercise booklet. f. You hand in your log in class after each viewing. Make sure that you include the film title, and the week number in your log, as well as your name and ID number on the cover. g. Each log will be graded between 1.0 and 5.0 points. Late works will be substantially graded down. Online Responses 1. Purpose. This assignment, to start in Week 9 (Film 8), intends to help you prepare what you can bring up as your input to our weekly discussion in class. 2. What to write. You write each week a response to the assigned reading(s). 3. Length & contents. What you write can either be a paragraph or two of 5 to 25 sentences, or some 5 to 25 questions and/or remarks (commands, criticisms, etc.). Remember, do not write beyond 25 sentences, and you are not writing a description, a summary, or a free association. And all internet protocols apply. 4. How to proceed. The responses must be submitted online by following these steps: a. On our page at E3, click on “Discussion” on the left. b. Click on the “Online Responses” forum of the corresponding week, such as “Weekly Response: Week 9 (Film 8).” c. Click on the “Reply” button in the instructor’s posting to begin. d. Always type your student’s ID, to be followed by a title of your choice, in the subject slot, such as “110450088 The B&W Film Can Be Colorful.” Avoid such general headings as “Afterthoughts,” “My View,” etc. e. If there should be an error in posting, post your response again and delete your earlier message. 5. Grading. Your response will each be graded with the scale of 1.0 to 5.0. Expect it to fall between 4.0 and 4.9 on average. If no blog is posted, the grade is 0. 6. Deadline. The deadline to post your response is Wednesday by 11:59 p.m. before the due date. There is a grace period between 12:00 a.m. and 1:20 p.m. Thursday. Any work posted after 9:00 a.m. Saturday shall receive 3.5 as the highest possible grade. Presentation on Filmmakers 1. Each student chooses to present on the filmmaker(s) whose film we watch in class. 2. The presentation, most preferably with visuals in PPT or PDF, is to take place in the week right before the assigned film of the filmmaker is viewed in class. 3. The presentation should run for about three (3) to five (5) minutes in length, and will be graded between the range of 1.0 and 5.0 of the semester grade. 4. After the presentation, the presentation file in PPT or PDF shall be shared at E3. Midterm Interview 1. The interview will be focused on two aspects: (1) coursework, and (2) prospectus, each taking up 5 pts. Together, the Midterm Interview takes up 10 points of the semester grade. 2. Each student will meet the instructor in person for a 10-minute session, in the form of an open-book oral interview in English or Chinese, on the course materials assigned to watch and read up to week 8 (inclusive). Students can bring in any materials they like to the interview. 3. Each student must also bring in a hard copy of the prospectus of his or her term project, which can be either a screenplay or a term paper. 4. Students will have to schedule their meetings, to take place in the department office, according to the available time slots in week 9. 5. Each interview will be graded according to the categories “substance” (whether materials represented by the student are solid and relevant), “comprehensibility” (whether he or she has a good grip of the materials), and “clarity” (whether he or she can communicate them in a forceful and logical manner). 6. To ensure fairness, students are advised not to discuss with each other the contents of their interviews until all interviews are over. TERM PROJECT For your term project, to be written in English, you choose to do a screenplay or a term paper. Make honesty your priority. Plagiarism of any form will not be tolerated. Screenplay 1. Your screenplay should be 5 to 7 pages in length. It can either be an original story or an adaptation. 2. The prospectus of your screenplay must be approved by the instructor no later than week 14. 3. Format requirements. Stick with the format used by the standard screenplay (the example given being The End of the Tour). Follow the format it adopts to the last detail, such as the margins, font type (Courier or Courier New), font size, indentions, line numbering, etc. 4. Screenplays will be due in week 16. 5. Turn in both the hard and soft copies, the latter of which should adopt this format to write both the filename and the e-mail subject: “student’s ID, your name in Chinese, Screenplay.” For example, “110450088吳偉雄Screenplay.” 6. Grading: T (Theme and Richness, 5 pts.), L (Language, 5 pts.), P (Plot Organization, 5 pts.), R (Originality, 5 pts.), and S (Style and Format, 5 pts.). The subtotal is to be averaged and multiplied by 6 to make 30 points. Paper Planning 1. The purpose of this assignment is to familiarize the students with the MLA documenting style of paper writing (https://www.mla.org/MLA-Style). 2. Students are advised to get the latest edition of MLA Handbook to do this assignment. 3. Print and submit your homework assignment beginning week 5 on the A4 paper following the samples given at our website. 4. Exemption : a. Exemption from most of this assignment (exercises 1-10) will be granted, if a term paper in English written by you for a different class before is submitted and accepted upon inspection. b. Even with an exemption, students are required to do Paper Planning exercises 11 to 14. Term Paper 1. Your term paper must show that you have learned substantially from the class. 2. Paper topics must be approved by the instructor no later than week 14. Submission 3. You submit a term paper of 5 to 7 pages in length, including footnotes or endnotes, but not the “Works Cited” list. (If you plan also to submit the same paper to a different class, you must extend the number of pages to 10-15. You must also notify both instructors beforehand.) 4. Papers will be due in week 16. 5. Turn in both the hard and soft copies, the latter of which should adopt this format to write both the filename and the e-mail subject: “student’s ID, your name in Chinese, Term Paper.” For example, “110450088吳偉雄Term Paper.” 6. Unless all your online responses and paper planning exercises have been completed (including any rewrite that must be turned in), you will not be allowed to submit your paper. Failure to submit the term paper would mean receiving a failing grade. Format and Style 7. The latest MLA documenting style will be adopted. Other formats will be accepted upon the instructor’s approval. 8. All students must fulfill the “Paper Planning” requirements (q.v.). 9. No more than one third of your cited materials should be those from the internet or online database. Print materials available in the PDF format are not counted as electronic resources. Grading Scale for Term Paper 10. A paper will be graded according to the following scale: C (Contents, 5 pts.), L (Language, 5 pts.), O (Organization, 5 pts.), R (Relevance and Originality, 5 pts.), and S (Style and Format, 5 pts.). 11. Students with paper planning waiver: the subtotal is to be averaged and multiplied by 5 to make 25 points. “Paper Planning” takes up the remaining 5 points. Together the total is 30 points. 12. Other students: the subtotal is to be averaged and multiplied by 3 to make 15 points. “Paper Planning” takes up the remaining 15 points. Together the total is 30 points. 13. If the term paper is not submitted, the “Paper Planning” grade will be nullified. 14. For each page you fall short of or go beyond, 1.0 point will be deducted, with 5.0 points as the maximal deducted points. Further Grading Policy 1. The missing works. Unless a special permission has been granted, all missing works (online Responses, paper planning exercises, etc.) are due in week 16, after which, for each missing work, two (2) points from the overall semester grade shall be deducted till this grade goes below 60. 2. The term project. In the case in which a student should request to turn in the term project after the due date, he or she shall receive an “I” for “incomplete” as the temporary semester grade. If the student should fail still to turn in the screenplay or term paper by the time when the “incomplete” must be resolved and the semester grade be sent, he or shall receive zero (0) as the grade of the said term project.

Class participation 15 points Film logs (on the first 7 films) 20 points Online responses (on the readings of next 7 films) 20 points Presentation on Filmmakers 5 points Midterm interview (coursework, 5 pts; prospectus, 5 pts) 10 points Term project 30 points Screenplay, or Term paper Student with paper planning waiver Paper planning 5 points Term paper 25 points Other students Paper planning 15 points Term paper 15 points Total 100 points

The Course Reader MLA Handbook, 9th ed., MLA, 2021.

地點

HC414

時間

Thursday, 10:30 AM-12:00 PM, and by appointment

聯絡方式

Instructor: Kien Ket Lim 林建國 (limk@nycu.edu.tw) (Tel: 03-573-1792, or campus extension 3-1792)