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Fun Summer 2013 Online Film Course

ULIB300: Film and Media Literacy
CRN: 51805

GEC Course information:
This course falls under the GECO numbers 5. Artistic expression and 7. American culture.

Film Class

  • This course runs the full summer term, but you may arrange to complete it early

Study Film Genres and Criticism

  • Watch films online (also available on DVD in the Downtown Campus Library)
  • Learn film vocabulary and criticism
  • Learn to use film databases
  • Become an informed media consumer
  • Film list (you choose four of the eight genres to study, then two of those to watch all five films for - from those two, you select one alternate for your final project)

Study:

  • Gangster moviesincluding the Godfather movies
  • Blaxploitationfrom the 1970s including Shaft (1971) and Shaft 2000
  • Westernsincluding High Noon (1952)
  • Slasher moviesfrom Psycho (1960) to Cabin in the Woods (2012)
  • The films of Quentin Tarantino from Reservoir Dogs (1992) to Django Unchained (2012)
  • World Cinemaincluding Seventh Seal (1958)
  • Graphic Novel Adaptationslike The Dark Knight (2008) and V for Vendetta (2005)
  • Dark Comedy including Dr. Strangelove (1964) and Heathers (1989)
About the Course:
  • This is an online eCampus course. The class does not meet in person.
  • You
    • watch many films on streaming video
    • may also choose to view your own copies, rent them from Blockbuster, Netflix, etc.
    • may watch them in the Downtown Campus Library in private multimedia viewing rooms on 42" plasma screens or on multimedia computers with headphones.
    • will watch a total of 15 - 17 films. There will be a 5 question quiz for each film. You will have a study guide for each quiz so you you will know what it covers.
    • will do written assignments that you will post to a Facebook discussion group
    • will evaluate your classmates' reflections and receive evaluations of your work
    • will do database assignments where you research film information and find the answers to questions online
    • will be responsible for the readings that accompany the films - all online
  • There will be online "lectures" for each of the genres you will study in eCampus learning modules
  • There will be a brief online quiz for almost every learning module.
  • You will choose four of the eight genres to study. You will then watch five additional films in two of those genres and take brief quizzes on each of them.
  • Finally, you will choose from a list of selected films from your chosen genres and write one film critique using the skills and vocabulary you have practiced in the course.

Read student Comments

Questions? Email the Instructor:
beth.toren@mail.wvu.edu or call (304) 293-0336

Film List

Gangster Films
  • Godfather II (1974)
  • Public Enemy (1931)
  • Key Largo (1948)
  • White Heat (1949)
  • Scarface (1982)
  • Goodfellas (1990)

Optional Gangster Films (You may choose one for your final project, a film review)

  • The Departed (2006)
  • Godfather (1972)
  • Godfather III (1990)
  • Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
  • On the Waterfront (1959)
  • Little Caesar (1930)
  • Casino (1995)
  • Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
  • Roaring Twenties (1939)
Westerns
  • High Noon (1952)
  • Shane (1953)
  • The Searchers (1956)
  • Ride the High Country (1962)
  • High Plains Drifter (1973)
  • The Shootist (1976)
  • The Proposition (2005)
Optional Westerns (You may choose one for your final project, a film review)
  • Ox Bow Incident (1943)
  • The Big Country (1958)
  • True Grit (1969)
  • The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
  • The Wild Bunch (1969)
  • My Darling Clementine (1946)
  • Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
  • Dead Man (1995)
  • The Ballad of Little Jo (1993)
Slasher Films
  • Psycho (1960)
  • Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
  • Halloween (1978)
  • Friday the 13th (1980)
  • Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
  • Scream (1996)
  • Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Optional Slasher Films (You may choose one for your final project, a film review)
  • April Fool's Day (1986)
  • Black Christmas (1974)
  • Death Proof (2007) (Also a Quentin Tarantino option)
  • Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
  • Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982)
  • Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (Part 4) (1984)
  • Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (Part 5) (1985)
  • Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives (1986)
  • Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood (1988)
  • Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
  • Funhouse (1981)
  • Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)
  • Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
  • Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
  • Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
  • Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
  • Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)
  • Scream 2 (1997)
  • Scream 3 (2000)
  • Scream 4 (20111)
  • Slumber Party Massacre II (1987)
  • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
  • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II (1986)
  • Leatherface - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
  • Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
  • Texas Chainsaw Massacre The Beginning (2006)
  • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - The Next Generation (1995)
  • Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)
World Cinema
  • Four Hundred Blows (1959)
  • Seventh Seal (1958)
  • Ju Dou (1991)
  • That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)
  • Rashomon (1951)
Optional World Cinema Films (You may choose one for your final project, a film review)
  • Wages of Fear
  • Wild Strawberries
  • Breathless (1961)
  • Viridiana (1962)
  • Kwaidan (1965)
  • Belle de Jour (1967)
  • Ran (1985)
  • Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
  • Farewell to My Concubine (1999)
Blaxploitation Films
  • Shaft (1971)
  • Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song (1971)
  • Superfly (1972)
  • Coffy (1973)
  • The Mack (1973)
  • Shaft 2000 (2000)
Optional Blaxploitation Films (You may choose one for your final project, a film review)
  • Jackie Brown (1997)
  • Sheba Baby (1975)
  • Friday Foster (1975)
  • Foxy Brown (1974)
  • Shaft's Big Score (1972)
  • Shaft in Africa (1973)
  • Dolemite (1975)
  • Black Caesar (1973)
  • Cleopatra Jones (1973)
  • Blacula (1972)
  • Scream, Blacula, Scream (1973)
The Films of Quentin Tarantino
  • Reservoir Dogs (1992)
  • Pulp Fiction (1994)
  • Jackie Brown (1997)
  • Kill Bill: Vol. One (2003)
  • Inglourious Basterds (2009)
  • Django Unchained (2012)
Optional Quentin Tarantino Films (You may choose one for your final project, a film review)
  • Death Proof (2007)
  • Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
  • Natural Born Killers (1994) (story by)
  • Sin City (2005) (special guest director)
  • True Romance (1993) (written by)
Dark Comedy
  • Heathers (1989)
  • Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
  • The Loved One (1965)
  • Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
  • M*A*S*H* (1970)
Optional Dark Comedies (You may choose one for your final project, a film review)
  • Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
  • Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
  • Harold and Maude (1971)
  • Catch 22 (1970)
  • The Trouble with Harry (1955)
  • Mr. Verdoux (1947)
  • The Player (1992)
  • Barton Fink (1991)
  • Little Murders (1971)
  • Fight Club (1999)
  • Bamboozled (2000)
Graphic Novel Adaptations

Notes:

  • For all of the films in this module, the graphic novels will be on closed reserve at the Access Services Desk of the Downtown Campus Library.
  • Certain assigned readings in the novels will be covered on the quizzes for the movies.
  • Closed Reserve means that you can only check the book out for in-library use for two hours at a time.
  • If no one else is waiting for it after two hours, you may check it out another two hours.
  • You need your Mountaineer Card (WVU ID) to use as your library card in order to check the graphic novels out.
  • 300 (2006)
  • Ghost World (2001)
  • Road to Perdition (2002)
  • V for Vendetta (2005)
  • A History of Violence (2006)
  • The Dark Knight (2008)
  • Iron Man (2008)
Optional Graphic Novel Adaptations (You may choose one for your final project, a film review)
  • The Avengers (2012)
  • The Watchmen (2009)
  • The Incredible Hulk (2008)
  • Tank Girl (1995)
  • Barb Wire (1996)
  • Captain America, the First Avenger (2011)
  • Swamp Thing (1982)
  • X-Men (2000)
  • X2: X-Men United (2003)
  • X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
  • X-Men: First Class (2011)
  • X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
  • Hellboy (2004)
  • Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
  • Hulk (2003)
  • Incredible Hulk (2008)
  • Batman Begins (2005)
  • The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
  • Fantastic Four (2005)
  • Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
  • Fritz the Cat (1972)
  • From Hell (2001)
  • Spider-Man (2002)
  • Spider-Man 2 (2004)
  • Spider-Man 3 (2007)
  • The Amazing Spiderman (2012)
  • Spawn (1997)
  • Thor (2011)
  • Daredevil (2003)
  • Elektra (2005)
  • American Splendor (2003)
  • Heavy Metal (1981)
  • The Rocketeer (1991)
  • The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
  • Sin City (2005)
  • 30 Days of Night (2007)