Film Class

I'm teaching a film class for the first time this semester. It's an overload class the school's making available at the new satellite center in Ottawa. The film class on the main campus pretty much belongs to my colleague who has had it sewn up for the last several years. I get this one only because she doesn't want to drive the 17 miles to teach it over there. I don't mind the drive and am happy for the opportunity.

What's weird, however, is the fact that I don't know how to teach it. I've been teaching one thing or another for over ten years now and yet I'm really not sure how to approach teaching a film class. I've got the syllabus together, the schedule, the basic assignments, etc. but I still feel as though I'm making it up as I go along.

Tonight was the first class and I was surprised by how many students, when asked why they signed up for the class, simply said, "It fills a slot" or "I need a a GPA booster." I appreciate candor about the academic process as much as the next teacher but, seriously? That's a little too honest for my taste. I realize that a lot of the students taking classes at the satellite center otherwise may not attend classes at all so they are a little rough around the edges - but jeeze.

Anyway, tonight we watched John Sayles' 1996 murder mystery/Western/social exploration of borders, Lone Star. I chose it as the initial film because, in many ways, it's a perfect example of what movies are capable of. It tells a story in ways that only a film could pull off. You couldn't replicate some of the effects in Lone Star in any other medium. There are lots of flashbacks and the transitions between past and present are so disorienting and yet cool, they knock me out every time.

Next week, we'll talk about Photography and watch sequences from Apocalypse Now, Tucker: A Man and His Dream, Days of Heaven, and possibly Saving Private Ryan.