Using the book Looking at Movies, or A Short Guide to Writing About Film, this course analyzes a number of important films, some in their entirety and others through selected clips, as a way of helping students explore the major components of filmmaking as an alternative form of narrative. Screenplays, mise-en-scene, setting, sound, cinematography, editing, and the language of filmmaking form the basis of class discussions. Students look at the work of some of the most important directors of the past and those working today, including Orson Welles, Michael Curtiz, Terence Malick, Roman Polanski, Stanley Kubrick, The Coen Brothers, Spike Lee, Wes Anderson, Ang Lee, and Sam Mendes. Students will also examine specific genres such as film noir, the western, science fiction, gangster, horror, and comedy. In addition, students keep extensive notes through which they can trace their development as critics of film, write reviews and analyses, and make short presentations. We will also examine several works of literature (novels and short stories) and study their transfer to the screen and look at original screenplays. Some works considered in past years include American Beauty, Memento, The Dark Knight, Into the Wild, Do the Right Thing, Run, Lola, Run, Minority Report, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, No Country for Old Men, Chinatown, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, and Blade Runner.