Standards:

I follow the College of Wooster guidelines for grading.  “A” grades reflect excellent work, “B” grades very good work, “C” grades adequate work, and “D” minimal work.  Grades of “F” are reserved for work that is unsatisfactory in its content, relationship to the assignment, and/or degree of effort.  Plagiarism will always result in a failing grade.

 

Grade Components and Assignments:

PROFESSIONALISM  (20%):

One fifth of your grade is composed of fulfilling a very simple set of guidelines. Come to class. Don’t be late to class. Don’t be disruptive. Pay attention to what people are saying in the class. Watch the movies. Take notes on the movies. Be ready to talk about the movies. Turn in your work, turn it in on time, and in the right format. 

4 – 300-word response papers  (5% each)

For each historic period under consideration in this course, students will prepare a short 300-word response paper addressing how the films they have seen reflect the era in which they were produced.

movie journal  (20%)

Each student will maintain a written movie journal in which they keep their notes from each movie and whatever notes they take from class that they associate with those movies. These journals will be the basis of your research paper. These will be kept in a single notebook, specifically for that task. Students will bring their movie journal to class every time. Journals will be taken up and reviewed from time to time. There is no right way to keep a journal. Use your imagination, but remember, the idea is to record your thoughts on  movies and history in real time. These ideas will be incredibly valuable as you prepare your research papers and movie. 

Quizzes – 10 – (20%)

Eleven times during the semester, we will have a short quiz in class covering the mandatory movies, readings, and lectures. These are very low-stakes individually, but it’s important that you at least review your notes and watch the films and do the reading so that you can do well on them collectively. 

student films (20%)

In addition to learning how to analyze movies as historical data, we will also practice a little movie-making of our own. Working singly, or in small groups, each student will produce their own 1-2 scene short film of six minutes or less. It must be an instantly recognizable genre, contain dialogue, music, and different types shots (a rubric will be shared later in the semester), be costumed and lighted appropriately, and can be either an original film, something based on a work of fiction or reporting, or a new take on another film. The only catch, is that it adhere to the standards of the old Hays Code. Our last three class periods will be a film festival of these student-submitted movies. You may ask non-classmates to act in or help score your films, but all writing, directing, producing, photography, lighting, and costuming must be done by someone in the class and in your group.