Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred Leuchter, Jr.

In class we watched the documentary by Errol Morris, Mr. Death:  The Rise and Fall of Fred Leuchter, Jr. (1999).  This film is an example of the Cinéma vérité style of documentary film making. It also highlights one of the characteristics of modern documentary film making: dramatic reenactments.

The film can be watched below:

Film Study Quiz

You will have a quiz over the film study unit this Friday, October 7, 2011.  You will need to know the following items:

History of Film
  1. Persistence of vision
  2. Development of Photography
  3. Thomas Edison
  3. Lumiere brothers

Film Techniques and Language
  1. Shot v. scene
  2. Types of shots
  3. Transitions (ie, cut, dissolve, wipe, etc)
  4. Mise-en-scene v. mise-en-shot
  5. Types and uses of Camera movements
  6. Types and uses of focus

Documentary film---History
  1. Robert Flaherty
  2. Leni Riefenstahl
  3. Cinema Verite
  4. Direct Cinema
  5. Purpose of documentaries
  5. Characteristics of Modern Documentaries
  6. Modern documentary filmmakers
      a. Michael Moore
      b. Errol Morris

Films:
Great Train Robbery
Citizen Kane
  1. Background information
  2. Plot and characters
  3. Film techniques
Mr. Death the Rise and Fall of Fred Leuchter, Jr.
Pink Floyd’s The Wall
The Dark Knight

Schedule September 12-16, 2011

Monday, September 12

Meet in Black Box to watch The Dark Knight.

Tuesday, September 13

Finish The Dark Knight in Class.  Start discussion the themes and questions the movie raises.

Wednesday, September 14

1.  Intro to Film Study:  The History of Film, Part 1
2.  Philosophy according to Bio-Mechanics, Part2

Thursday, September 15

1.  Intro to Film Study:  The History of Film, Part 2
2.  Discuss the paper

Friday, September 16

1.  Watch, "The Great Train Robbery."  Discuss.
2.  Basic Film Language:  The Shot
3.  Watch first 15 minutes of Pink Floyd's the Wall

On Monday, meet in Black Box.  We will finish the film there on Monday.

Batman: See Where it All Began (Detective Comics #27)

As we get ready to jump into The Dark Knight, you can now read where it all began.  As we talked about in class on Friday, Batman made his first appearance in Detective Comic #27 in 1939. 

DC comics has now made it available online.  You can read the comic by clicking the link below:

Detective Comics #27

Review for CAT Test

Your CAT quiz over the sociology portion of the class is on Friday, September 9.  If you need another review sheet, click here.

Note:  Make sure you add Clifford Geertz to the people section.

There are also flashcards available to help you study.  Click on the links below:

Sociological Thinkers flashcards

Sociological Theories flashcards