-
Hi everybody.
Look at me, it's your professor!
-
I'm not just a faceless set of text
on a screen. I'm actually a real person.
-
I'm Professor Keller and I'm going to be
your instructor for Cinema 120
-
Film Aesthetics, this fall semester.
-
So, a little bit about me and a little bit
about the course.
-
I actually grew up in the Santa Clarita
Valley.
-
I went to Meadows Elementary School,
Placerita Jr. High, Hart High School
-
And COC. I'm actually an alumnus in
addition to being a professor here
-
A member of the faculty. After my time at
COC, I went to UC Berkeley, where I got a
-
B.A. in Film Studies and then I went to
Chapman University, down in Orange County
-
to get an M.F.A. in Film and Television
Producing. So what do those degrees mean?
-
Well, the B.A. is in the analytical side
of filmmaking and the M.F.A. is in
-
the production side of filmmaking,
so I have background in both
-
But what we're really going to focus on
today, this semester, not today, is the
-
analytical side because that's what film
aesthetics is. We're going to spend the
-
next sixteen weeks looking at the various
parts of the filmmaking process
-
both individually and how they come
together to create a final product.
-
These include narrative, which is the
writing process.
-
Mise-en-scene, which is essentially a
fancy term for production design.
-
Cinematography, the lighting, the
camerawork, all of that sort of stuff.
-
Acting, pretty self explanatory.
-
Editing, how do you take all that raw
material you've shot and cut it together
-
in such a way that it creates mood,
emotion, and tone, etc.
-
And lastly, sound, which, to most, seems
like a fairly simple process but is
-
actually, potentially, the most
complicated and complex part
-
of the filmmaking process.
-
The goal is, by the end of the semester
for you to have a better understanding
-
of these individual processes and elements
and how they come together and, in the end
-
what I really want is for you to become
a more active viewer, somebody who tries
-
to understand the intent of the artist,
to understand their meaning, and interact
-
with the art itself, because that's what
it's there for. You're meant to interact
-
with it, in addition to enjoying it.
-
So, we've got a lot of fun movies ahead.
We've got a lot of interesting ground to
-
cover, and I hope you're as excited as I
am for all of it.
-
Alright, let's get going. It's going to be
a good semester.