Over the years, my husband has helped teach classes at our co-op, and his American Film Studies course was one of the most popular electives he taught. Twenty-something kids signed up for it, and they had a great time talking about the different genres and aspects of filmmaking.
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The course alternated between one week of introducing a concept and assigning a film to watch for homework, and the following week would be discussion of the film and a writing assignment for homework.
My husband is simply a film fan—he has no formal education in the area. So he created lessons and conversation starters about each topic below based on some research and his own familiarity with films of the era. This outline isn’t, of course, a full curriculum…but it may help you put a framework around a course you want to create yourself!
One of the challenges with a film course is finding movies that all families are comfortable with their kids watching. We recommended movies for each topic, but gave families the option to watch a movie of their own choice in that category instead. We recommended they were award-winning or -nominated films to keep a level of quality to their choices, but if they had a good recommendation outside of those they could ask permission to watch that instead. When leading discussion on the movies, it can be challenging when they haven’t all seen the recommended film, but it did give an opportunity to ask them how they saw the themes, trends of the decade, or filmmaking element in the films they did watch.
Note that the course focused on American films only, and we chose not to include children’s or animated films in the film selections.
History of Film over the Decades
- Week 1: Introduce themes in 1910s – 1930s film and explain the Production Code.
- Homework: Watch It Happened One Night (NR) or Academy Award Best Picture nominee from these decades (American films only).
- Week 2: Discuss assigned films.
- Writing Prompt: If you liked the movie, write about three things that were not good about it. If you didn’t like the movie, write about three things that were good about it.
- Week 3: Introduce themes in 1940s and 1950s film.
- Homework: Watch Singing in the Rain (G), Citizen Kane (PG) or any Academy Award Best Picture nominee from these decades (American films only).
- Week 4: Discuss assigned film.
- Writing Prompt: What is your favorite genre and why?
- Week 5: Introduce themes 1960s and 1970s film, and discuss the advent of the “summer blockbuster” and the fact that filmmaking control moved from studios to directors with the end of the Production Code.
- Week 6: Discuss assigned films.
- Writing Prompt: If you were going to direct a summer blockbuster, what would be the most important features for you to include? Be sure to mention the genre your film would be.
- Week 7: Introduce themes in 1980s to 2000s film, and discuss the advent of “teen movies” and actors greenlighting movies.
- Homework: Watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (PG-13) and/or The Bourne Identity (R) or any Academy Award Best Picture nominee from these decades (American films only).
- Week 8: Discuss assigned films.
- Writing Prompt: Our class has now discussed the eras when studios are in control of filmmaking, when directors are in control, and when the actors were in control. Which do you think is best, and why?
- Week 9: Introduce themes in 2010s to 2020s films. Discuss Academy Awards and other awards shows, and whether they are truly the best films of the year.
- Homework: Watch Inception (PG-13) or any Academy Award Best Picture nominee from these decades (American films only).
- Week 10: Discuss assigned films.
- Writing Prompt: We talked in class about the Oscars and its importance to American cinema. Research the Razzies and write an essay on whether it has value to American cinema, and why or why not.
Essential Elements of Filmmaking
- Week 11: Introduce elements of cinematography.
- Homework: Watch Lawrence of Arabia (PG) or another American film that won an award for its cinematography.
- Week 12: Discuss cinematography in the films that were watched.
- Writing Prompt: In your opinion, what are the skills that make someone a great cinematographer? And what other skills might they lack that keep them from being a good director?
- Week 13: Introduce elements of directing.
- Homework: Watch On the Waterfront (PG-13) or another American film that won an award for its directing.
- Week 14: Discuss directing in the films that were watched.
- Writing Prompt: In the movie you watched this week, what would you have cut or added if you had been the director. Make an argument for why you would have made that decision.
- Week 15: Introduce elements of screenwriting.
- Homework: Watch The Princess Bride (PG) or an American film that won an award for its script.
- Week 16: Discuss the screenwriting in the films that were watched.
- Writing Prompt: Choose one specific technique of screenwriting (flashback, dialogue, monologue, plot element, etc.) in the film you watched, and argue why it makes the movie better or worse, in your opinion.
- Week 17: Introduce elements of acting.
- Homework: Watch The Conversation (PG) or an American film that won an award for acting in any area (lead, supporting, male, female, ensemble, etc.). I recommend looking at SAG awards for best ensemble.
- Week 18: Discuss the acting in the films that were watched.
- Writing Prompt: What makes an actor “bad”? Identify a specific time you thought a professional actor in a film acted “badly,” and tell me why. (“I didn’t like it” doesn’t count.) Then, write the same for “good” acting.
Film Genres
- Week 19: Introduce elements of silent films.
- Homework: watch The General (NR) or another silent film of your choice from the era before “talking pictures.”
- Week 20: Discuss silent films that were watched.
- Writing Prompt: It is easy to see how silent film is negatively impacted by the lack of sound. Are there benefits to less or no sound in films? How could a filmmaker use silence to make their film better?
- Week 21: Introduce elements of War Films and Westerns.
- Homework: Watch The Magnificent Seven (PG) and The Guns of Navarone (NR) or another war or Western that won an award.
- Week 22: Discuss war and Western movies.
- Writing Prompt: Anna in The Guns of Navarone is not a very good character. Tell me why and how you would fix it. Try to remember that the film is very long, so adding 45 minutes of additional scenes for her isn’t a solution.
- Week 23: Introduce elements of thrillers.
- Homework: Watch Vertigo (PG) or another award-winning thriller.
- Week 24: Discuss thrillers.
- Writing Prompt: Key elements in the thriller genre include unreliable narrators, plot twists, high-stakes situations, character motivations, setting, or themes like paranoia, obsession and the nature of evil. Which do you think contributes most to the overall impact on an audience and why?
- Week 25: Introduce elements of comedy.
- Homework: Watch Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (PG) or another award-winning comedy.
- Week 26: Discuss comedies
- Writing Prompt: There are many different techniques to make someone laugh, ranging from slapstick to dark comedy and more. How does the film you watched effectively use specific comedic techniques well or poorly, in your opinion?
- Week 27: Introduce elements of cult classics.
- Homework: Watch a cult classic of your own choosing.
- Week 28: Discuss cult classics OR host a movie trivia party with popcorn and “movie candy” prizes to finish up your year!
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