Film Appreciation Course

This course is an introduction to the World of Cinema. For viewers who have been enchanted by this medium of storytelling, this is an opportunity to explore the fundamentals of cinematic language. What makes a good movie? Why do we connect with some stories more than others? What is the importance of previous genres of film-making, to what we watch today?

Some 2000 years ago, Aristotle wrote that, “The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living differ from the dead.” Maybe he was exaggerating to make a point, but think about it – ever heard someone reference a famous point in history, or some piece of literature, and you were suddenly lost?

To really understand and get the most out of anything – to enjoy something as much as it can be enjoyed — requires insights, reference points, understanding and, in general, education about the subject. This is perhaps most true for art.

And good films are works of art, every bit as much as a Shakespeare play or a Beethoven symphony. And if you understand the art form – in this case film — if you know about theme and act structure and character arcs and sub-plots and symbolism and foreshadowing and a hundred other tools that great filmmakers use to make great films, you can love this art form in a much richer and deeper way than just viscerally taking in a movie for entertainment value.

So whether you just want to enjoy films more…whether you want to be able to learn more about great films so that someday you yourself can make a great film… a course in film appreciation is the ticket. And AISFM, with its stunning and intimate theater and its world class faculty of film experts, is just the place!

Learning Objectives

• Short History of Cinema

• Cinema as a medium of Art & Communication

• Introduction to various Styles of Filmmaking

• Italian Neo realism

• French New wave

• Indian Regional

• New Hollywood

• Japanese Cinema

• Bollywood / Tollywood

• Development of the Indian Film Narrative

• World influences on Indian Cinema