[Chad]

INTRODUCTION TO FILM ANALYSIS
What is the difference between a movie and a film? How does one go from talking about movies to analyzing films? Why do films today look the way they do? This course, which includes a weekly film screening, introduces students to a number of ways of analyzing films and provides them with the necessary skills to think and write critically about a medium that is everywhere today.

This course is interesting and a good choice if you're wanting an elective or a course that isn't too hard. It's informational and the screenings can be fun!

Overview:
Weekly screening of films (various genres, older films, black/white, experimental, documentary, etc.) and you critique and analyze them. Some films can be boring and dry, while others are interesting and have a good plot/story to them. These screenings can be fun if you're in the course with a group of friends. They are outside of the lectures and usually at night.

You then have lectures which recap the films, look at some of the behind the scenes work, terminology, how the director sets up the shot and what is unique about that certain genre of film. You also learn a bit about lighting/sound. Very interesting material if you're into film production.

Overall you get really good knowledge about the basics of film production and get to be exposed to a variety of genres and films that you would never have thought to see. Note, these films are not blockbuster films you'd expect to see in the theatres so don't expect to see hollywood movies here.

Essay
There is an essay and it is worth a lot. You write about the films, so be sure to try and take notes during the screenings otherwise you'll forget what the films were about come essay time. Since the lights are dimmed really low I recommend having your laptop open to type up notes while watching the film, or watch the film and then right after take out a pencil/paper and jot down notes on the plot so you can trigger your memory to what happened in the film. Other tests weren't difficult if you attended lecture and the screenings.

This course is mandatory for most upper year theatre and film courses, so thats why I took it - I'm not very intersted in studying film, but this course is very basic and very intersting. Its easy to pick out little things from every movie you watch afterwards! haha

The screenings are the worst part - i took it in the summer so it wouldnt interfere with my other studies, but some nights the screenings are up to 2.5 or even 3 hours, and often the films are kind of boring and just related to the topic youre takling about in class... but you MUST watch them because theres questions on it on the tests an exam.

Those are all scantron by the way - yay!

Dr. Sokalski was amazing.

this class was actually pretty enjoyable. The films are interesting and as long as you do the readings (or at least understand what he's talking about) it's a really easy course. As previously stated, the tests are multiple choice and the essay wasn't that bad at all. And yes, the prof is pretty cool. He drones on a bit but he's super super nice.

So, I'm going to be a little harsh with this review, but this is because I based my choice on taking this course on the reviews mentioned above. Sorry for anyone who actually liked this course.

So now, the prof is Dr. Sokalski. I'm pretty sure that's how you write his name. Anyways, he doesn't use WebCT whatsoever so that is a huge pain in my opinion. I've found that, especially for first year, WebCT is a great resource when you're stumped on anything and want to ask other students or your prof. In his lectures, he kind of drifts between things, so you get a little confused about where you are when he moves back and forth like that. Personally, I've had to resort to just typing out everything he says and then later on analyze it.

And when everyone says that this is a bird course, don't listen to them. Sokalski even said in our first core that it would possibly be the hardest course we take. I don't necessarily think that the material is that difficult if you put your mind to it, but trying to pay attention and pushing yourself to attend your cores/screenings is the hard part.

So far, the movies are terrible. The first movie we watched, Calendar, was the most pointless and boring movie I've seen in my life. The other movies haven't been that great either. Let me emphasize that the movies you watch are not your typical Hollywood movies. The closest thing to a blockbuster Hollywood movie so far would be Citizen Kane and Meet Me In St. Louis. The other movies watched have been some like a 10 minute movie that was filmed when they couldn't record voices so the only sound would be the music played over it. There are several short films in the course which aren't interesting at all, just emphasizing the type of film it is.

Anyways, even though this course is basically just watching movies, it's not all it's made up to be. And if you have no friends in this course with you, then I would feel even worse for you. Even with being in a group of 6 friends, I can't bring myself to go to the class and endure it all.

Hopefully my critical review will help out some people. For those who don't have to take it but are considering it as an elective, don't let this review stop you from taking it. Just because I've had a brutal time in that class, it doesn't necessarily mean that you won't enjoy it. You've got other opinions up here, the only thing I'm doing is showing you the other side of Theatre & Film 1B03.

I took this course with recommendation from a couple friends. Mainly the course is taken by humanities students and film majors. However, there are a couple of science students, who take it for interest or an easy elective.

This course is about analyzing film form. The prof is Dr. Solkalski. He is very enthusiastic and "passionate" in his lectures. He gets flowerly with his words. (depends on the person if this helps or just confuses them). He talks really fast so taking notes [highly recommended] can get difficult. His lectures follow the textbook material but has some extra info that you must pay attention to. He doesn't use any online stuff purely traditional with lectures and mark postings.

Personally, as a science student, I took this course thinking it would be lighter on my course load. It was just as I had expected. There was a fair bit of reading each week but it could be done in a day. The concepts were fairly simple and logical.

There are:
2 lectures per week
1 lab (watching movies at night from 7-10pm but usually we're done by 9. people bring snacks). You can watch some of these movies online or rent them at the library, but keep on top of them because cramming them all into the night before the midterm/quiz/exam is a terrible idea.
1 tutorial -marks are given for attendance and participation [if you get a nice TA that's a bonus]

Break down
15% in-tutorial quizzes (there are two--> really easy if you know your stuff)
10% tutorial attendance and participation
15% midterm
30% term essay
30% Exam

This course really isn't that bad. Pretty interesting at times even though the movies are mainly black and white. All you have to study is the notes written from class (a small stack for me personally) and the textbook.

Hey ! One of the courses I'm taking next year is
THTR&FLM 1T03
INTRODUCTION TO THEATRE, CINEMA AND SOCIETY.

It sounds interesting, but I was wondering if anyone has taken that course.