MISCELLANEOUS COURSE SYLLABI, EXERCISES, AND PAPER TOPICS FROM PROF. CARNEY’S CLASSES. THIS MATERIAL REPRESENTS ONLY A TINY SAMPLE OF THE AVAILABLE COURSE HANDOUTS, BUT IS PROVIDED TO GIVE AN IDEA OF HIS INTERESTS AND APPROACHES TO FILM AND THE OTHER ARTS.

COM FT 554 E1
Film Studies Special Topic:
Two Indie Masters—Jon Jost and Robert Altman
Tues. 2-4, Thurs. 2-5

Mr. Carney
Room B5

Mr. Carney’s office hours (College of Communication Room 223C):
Tues. and Thurs. 12:00–12:30 P.M.
Tues. and Thurs. 5–5:45 P.M.
and by arrangement

Special office hours for Film Studies grad students:
Tues. 4–5 P.M. (check in advance for availability)
and by arrangement

Tel: 353–5976

Teaching Assistant:
Laura Ivins-Hulley <livins@bu.edu>
Her office hours (College of Communication Room 223C):
Mondays 12:30-1:30 P.M.

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We will focus on one "low budget" and one "high-budget" indie master. Robert Altman and Jon Jost have created enormous bodies of interesting work over the course of the past forty years. The one filmmaker has generally had budgets in the millions; the other has made films for one-tenth or one-hundredth of that amount. What can their work show us about the expressive possibilities of outsider art?

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Required reading:

Miscellaneous essays and interviews posted on the course web site.

Raymond Carver, Short Cuts, Vintage paperback.

Required outside viewing:

All outside viewing assignments reflect titles placed on reserve in Mugar Library for viewing in the basement of the library.

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CLASS SCHEDULE

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The Rules of the Game:

Attendance and prompt arrival in class is required. Absences or late arrivals (or early departures) will result in your final evaluation being lowered. If you are unable to make a particular class for an exceptional reason, you must speak in person to the T.A. at least one class prior to the absence and receive permission. Please do not leave messages on my office machine or email me about absences.

When you enter the classroom, please have already attended to personal needs (medications, rest room visits, drinks of water, needs to smoke, use of your cell phone or PDA, etc.) to avoid disrupting the class. Note also that your presence is just as important when a film is being screened as it is during a discussion or lecture. You should not “step out” to make a call or do something else during a screening. Whenever possible, I will schedule a 5–minute break at the halfway point in the class.

Beyond being “present and attentive,” you have three major duties and responsibilities:

1) Papers: You will be responsible for writing four formal papers. Topics will be discussed and distributed during the course of the semester, based on subjects that come up in class discussions (or subjects that we do not have time to deal with adequately in class). No extensions may be given. The papers will count for approximately half of your final grade. (But note the final paragraph below.)

2) Exercises: You are responsible for a number of outside reading, writing, or viewing exercises (beyond what is already on the syllabus) which will be assigned during individual classes for completion by the next class. Many of these assignments will be based on issues that come up in discussion and will be due in the following class. Some assignments will require viewing tapes in the viewing area in the basement area of Mugar Library.

With regard to these duties: If you miss a class, be certain you have contacted the teaching assistant or another student to familiarize yourself with any writing that has been assigned for the following class. This work must be done in time for the appropriate class since it will often be the basis for class discussion. There will be no opportunity to make up this work if you do not do it on time and no extensions may be given.

Some of these exercises will be collected on the day they are due, others will not. However, all exercises should be retained in a separate folder (not the one you keep your course notes in) throughout the semester and turned in at the end of the semester. These exercises will count for approximately half of your final grade. (But note the final paragraph below.)

3. Discussion: Any wit, wisdom, and intellectual engagement with the material you bring to class will count as “extra credit” to raise your grade. The reverse is also true: Missed classes, tardiness, and lackluster class participation or inattentiveness will lower your grade.

A general point: Be expressively brave. Use your exercises, papers, and class comments to formulate and test new ideas. Consciousness does not precede expression.

There will be no mid–term or final exam. Your final evaluation will be based on your class participation, your exercises, and your papers.

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Paper on Jon Jost’s Sure Fire and/or Slow Moves:

A. View Sure Fire in class on Tuesday Feb 7. Take notes on the following three aspects of the film:

1. Its style (as defined by other Jost films in class).

2. Its narrative structure (as defined by other Jost films in class).

3 Its thematic relationship/connection/similarities with other Jost films.

B. View Slow Moves in class on Thursday Feb. 9. Take the same set of notes about this film as you did for the other. If there is time, you will have an opportunity to view selected scenes from Sure Fire once more at the end of this class.

Write a perceptive, well–organized discussion of the above three issues in a 3–4 page paper. You may discuss both films or one film or the other. Be sure to devote at least a few sentences of your analysis and interpretation to the ending of either or both films.

Due at the start of class, Tuesday February 14. (This is the day of Jost’s visit to our class so please have papers ready to turn in at the start of class and, out of courtesy to Jon, please do not be late for class.)

Paper on Robert Altman’s Short Cuts:

A. View Short Cuts in Mugar Library.

Take notes on the following three aspects of the film:

1. Its style (as defined by other Altman films in class).

2. Its narrative structure (as compared with Altman’s Nashville).

3 Its thematic relationship/connection/similarities with Altman’s Nashville.

Write a perceptive, well–organized discussion of the above three issues in a 3–4 page paper.

Due at the start of class, Tuesday, April 4.

Final Paper: “Pay no attention to the man behind the screen”—Finding Altman in his work

Write a perceptive, well–organized discussion of what Altman’s work tells you about his vision of life.

You may refer to any of the films viewed for class.

Length: 3–4 pages

Due at the start of the final class, Thursday, April 27.

COM FT 554 F1
Film Studies Special Topic:
In the Workshop of the Artist: John Cassavetes
Tues./Thurs. 9-11:30 AM

Mr. Carney

Mr. Carney’s office hours (Room 223C) Tues. and Thurs. 12:00–12:30 P.M. Tues. and Thurs. 5–5:45 P.M. Tel: 353–5976

Special office hours for Film Studies grad students: Tues. 4–5 P.M. (check in advance for availability) and by arrangement

Course teaching assistant: Rachel Jones <rachelcjones@hotmail.com>. Her office hours in Mr. Carney’s office (Room 223C): Wednesdays 5-6 P.M.

Course description:

A study of Cassavetes' creative process, based on alternate versions of his films, screenplays, and unproduced projects (proposals, pitches, plays, scripts, fiction). Using Cassavetes' work as a case study, we will attempt to grapple with a few of the ultimate questions: Where does art come from? How is great art created? What is the connection of the work with the artist's life? What can art tell us about our own lives?

Texts to be consulted (in whole or in part): The Husbands novel, the stage play versions of Faces and Woman Under the Influence, the two versions of Shadows, Faces, and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, and various produced and unproduced play and film scripts, including: Son, She's Delovely, East-West Game, Woman of Mystery, and others.

Note: This is an experimental course. It has never been taught before and much of the material we are reading or viewing in the course has never been seen since it was created. It has not been written about or discussed in books or essays – even in my own writing. Consequently, it is impossible to know how rapidly or slowly we will proceed, how much or how little of interest we may discover in this material, or what conclusions we will be able to come to. That means that, unlike other courses you are taking (and other courses I have taught over the years) I cannot promulgate or hold us to a pre–ordained schedule. It was exactly at this point that the old maps simply read: “Here there be dragons.”

But there are several consequences, which I would ask you to take to heart and treat seriously:

First, although we will view films from time to time, this is not the customary Film Studies “film viewing/film discussion” course. It will largely be a reading course. You will be responsible for a large amount of outside reading. That means that this course will require an unusual personal investment of time, effort, and energy, particularly outside the class, much more than the customary Film Studies course. It is critical that the assigned reading for each and every class be done with no exceptions or excuses.

Our schedule will repeatedly be adjusted based on what is accomplished in any given class and will be announced (and frequently changed) from one class to another. Since the reading or writing assignments will often be announced only one class prior to the time they are supposed to be accomplished, you will have to remain exceptionally responsible and responsive. Even if you only have two days to do an assignment, you must make sure that it is done. Even if you happen to miss a class, you will still be expected to get the assignment from someone else and complete it. Find a friend in the class whom you can check with to make sure you are doing what you are supposed to be doing. If these requirements are too demanding (or confusing), I would suggest that you drop the course and take something else in its place.

Some ground rules:

Attendance and prompt arrival in class is required. Absences or late arrivals (or early departures) will result in your final evaluation being lowered. If you are unable to make a particular class for an exceptional reason, you must speak in person to the T.A. at least one class prior to the absence and receive permission. Please do not leave messages on my office machine or email me about absences.

When you enter the classroom, please have already attended to personal needs (medications, rest room visits, drinks of water, needs to smoke, use of your cell phone or PDA, etc.) to avoid disrupting the class. Note also that your presence is just as important when a film is being screened as it is during a discussion or lecture. You should not “step out” to make a call or do something else during a screening. Whenever possible, I will schedule a 5–minute break at the halfway point in the class.

Required writing: You will be responsible for several papers and a number shorter “exercises” which will be assigned during individual classes for completion by the next class. Some of these exercises will be collected on the day they are due, others will not. However, all exercises should be retained in a separate folder (not the one you keep your course notes in) throughout the semester and turned in at the end of the semester.

With regard to these duties: If you miss a class, be certain you have contacted the teaching assistant or another student to familiarize yourself with any writing that has been assigned for the following class. This work must be done in time for the appropriate class since it will often be the basis for class discussion. There will be no opportunity to make up this work if you do not do it on time and no extensions may be given.

There will be no mid–term or final exam. Your evaluation will be based on your class participation (whatever energy, engagement, and insight you bring to our discussions) and your performance on the assigned papers and exercises.

Be expressively brave. Use your exercises, papers, and class comments to formulate and test new ideas. Consciousness does not precede expression.

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Required to be purchased:

Books:

Ray Carney, Cassavetes on Cassavetes (Faber and Faber) Ray Carney, Shadows (British Film Institute)

Course packets:

Packet #1: “Two Plays” (A Woman Under the Influence)

Packet #2: “One Fa and Eight Las” (play script) and “The Marriage” (shooting script) for Faces

Packet #3: Shooting script for Love Streams Draft script for She’s Delovely

Packet #4: Son Shooting script for The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

A possible packet #5 TBA

Other material to be discussed, screened, consulted:

Interview footage connected with Faces Proposals and pitches written by Cassavetes for unproduced television shows The Husbands novel Rehearsal footage connected with Husbands The shooting script of Opening Night The script of East-West Game (play) The script of Begin the Beguine (play) The script of Woman of Mystery (play)

The two versions of Shadows, Faces, and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie.

Films available in multiple copies Mugar Library:

Shadows Faces Husbands Minnie and Moskowitz A Woman Under the Influence The Killing of a Chinese Bookie Opening Night

The above titles may be checked out from the reserve desk and viewed in the basement screening facility any time Mugar is open for business. They do not circulate outside the library. If you need to view them elsewhere, a single copy of most of them is also available for rental from the Krasker Media Group (Krasker) at 985 Commonwealth Avenue or any commercial video store that stocks art films. If you want to check on availability at Krasker, you may call Walter at 353–8112.

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John Cassavetes: Two Plays

(The stageplay versions of A Woman Under the Influence)

For use in: COM FT 554 F1 Film Studies Special Topic: In the Workshop of the Artist: John Cassavetes Prof. Ray Carney Boston University Department of Film and Television

Confidential. Unpublished manuscript material. For course use only by students enrolled in the course. May not be quoted, copied, or distributed.

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Paper #1

Compare Play #1 with Play #2 (the first drafts of A Woman Under the Influence) and compare both with the film version of A Woman Under the Influence.

Note the difference in Cassavetes’ conception of Mabel between Play #2 and Play #1.

Note the different actions and events in Play #1 and Play #2

Note the complete re–conceptualization of Mabel in the screenplay of A Woman Under the Influence.

What is going on?

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John Cassavetes Drafts of Faces (The texts of the orignal three–act stageplay and the shooting script)

For use in: COM FT 554 F1 Film Studies Special Topic: In the Workshop of the Artist: John Cassavetes Prof. Ray Carney Boston University Department of Film and Television

Confidential. Unpublished manuscript material. For course use only by students enrolled in the course. May not be quoted, copied, or distributed.

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Paper #2

1. Reading assignment before Tuesday February 7: Have read the chapter in Cassavetes on Cassavetes on A Woman Under the Influence.

2. Viewing assignment in class on Tuesday February 7: View Faces

3. Reading assignment for Thursday February 9: Read the play version of Faces (the material in the first half of the binder). It is highly recommended that you view the film on Tuesday in class before reading the play text.

4. Viewing assignment in class on Thursday February 9: View Faces again.

5. Writing assignment for Tuesday February 14:

After viewing Faces twice in class, write a 3–4 page paper discussing the effect of the changes made between the play and the film versions of the script. (The right–hand pages of the second section of the binder have the cutting continuity text of the film for reference.) There are too many differences to discuss in such a brief paper, so please focus your argument on a small number of passages in the play and film versions and make a well–organized argument about how Cassavetes’ changed the text as he worked with it.

Due in class Tuesday February 14.

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The two versions of Shadows: 1957 and 1959

Paper #3: Revising a film not by rewriting the script but by re–shooting and re–editing it

Preparation: View the first version of Shadows in class, and take careful notes on the differences between the first version and the later (second) version of the film that you have already seen. View the second version again as necessary. It is on reserve in the library.

Reading: Read the Shadows book assigned for the course. But keep in mind that the book was written before the discovery of the first–version print and consequently, some of the conclusions in the book and parts of the argument are incorrect. Also read the page on www.Cassavetes.com devoted to the discovery of the first version: http://people.bu.edu/rcarney/discoveries/shadowsquest.shtml

Writing:

Write a well–organized paper about what Cassavetes was attempting to do when he revised the first version. What scenes does he delete? What scenes does he add? What else does he change? But the more important question about all of these issues is why, why, why? What do the changes accomplish?

For extra credit:

Add a separate paragraph describing how the first version is different from the second. What is the essence of the first version’s vision of life that makes it unique and different from that of the second version?

Length: Three to four pages.

Due at the start of class Tuesday March 21.

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John Cassavetes Drafts of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (including parts of the re–write done by Nick Cassavetes after his father’s death) and a draft of She’s Delovely (not to be confused with Nick’s She’s So Lovely)

For use in: COM FT 554 F1 Film Studies Special Topic: In the Workshop of the Artist: John Cassavetes Prof. Ray Carney Boston University Department of Film and Television

Confidential. Unpublished manuscript material. For course use only by students enrolled in the course. May not be quoted, copied, or distributed.

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Paper #4: Cassavetes’ creative process in The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

Preparation: Read the screenplay for The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. View the 1976 (first) version of the film. View the 1978 (second) version. The screenplay is in our packet. The film texts are on reserve in the library. There are ten VHS copies of the first version; there is a single DVD copy of the revised version.

Writing: Write a well–organized paper about what Cassavetes’ revisions can tell you about the film and about the creative process. What changes does he make? What do the changes accomplish? Why did Cassavetes make them?

Length: Four pages.

Due at the beginning of class Thursday April 27.

Spring 2006 CAS AM 502 A1 Special Topic in American Studies

Twentieth-Century Short Fiction: Five Masters Mr. Carney TR 12:30–2:00 Room: American Studies Building HIS 110

Mr. Carney’s office hours (College of Communication Room 223C): Tues. and Thurs. 12:00–12:30 P.M. Tues. and Thurs. 5–5:45 P.M. and by arrangement Tel: 353–5976 =============================================================

An in–depth analysis of five twentieth-century masters of the short story form: Eudora Welty, John Cheever, Raymond Carver, Joyce Carol Oates, and Alice Munro. Each author offers a distinctively different vision of the expressive possibilities of short fiction. We will explore what each can tell us about our culture and ourselves.

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READING LIST (Required to be purchased. Available at the bookstore.)

Eudora Welty, The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

John Cheever, The Stories of John Cheever, Knopf Raymond Carver Short Cuts, Vintage

Joyce Carol Oates, Will You Always Love Me?, Penguin Putnam

Joyce Carol Oates, Faithless, Harper–Collins

Alice Munro, Selected Stories, Vintage

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CLASS SCHEDULE

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Requirements:

1. Attendance is required and will be taken. Promptness is required. 2. Additional reading or writing assignments may be issued in a particular class. If you miss a class, you are responsible for obtaining information about assignments and completing them. No excuses will be allowed.

3. There will be no mid–term or final exam. Two different kinds of writing assignments are required and will be collected during the course of the semester:

A) A continuing, ongoing reading journal: The journal should chronicle your reactions to every story you read this semester. The journal should be kept entirely separate from your class notes, but may reflect them and include and develop points brought out in class discussions. The goal is to keep a diary of your developing reactions to the work of these four writers, one that will help you remember the stories and your reactions to them.

Bring this journal with you to every class since class activities will be based on it (including asking you to share your entries with other members of the class). Another reason to bring it to every class is that it may be collected at several points in the semester. If and when it is collected it in class, no extensions to get it or add additional entries to it can be granted. The journal will be collected at the end of the semester.

Please employ the following format for each journal entry:

• The title of each story at the top of a new page on which its journal entry begins

• Your notes as you read the story or think about it after you have read it. Document your honest, evolving responses. And be sure to compare and contrast the story with others you are reading.

• A repeat of the title of the story at the end of your reading notes, followed by:

• A brief plot summary and list of the names of the major characters and one or two sentence description of who they are or what they do

B) Four papers. Paper topics will be announced approximately one week in advance of the due date, and will be based on previous points made during class discussion. No extensions will be granted. Please arrive at class promptly when papers are due. The papers will form the basis for the discussion in the class in which they are due.

4. The final evaluation will be based on your journal and papers, your comprehension of and engagement with the weekly reading (as evaluated through class discussion and quizzes), and your attendance, promptness, and quality of class participation. Any additional wit, wisdom, and passion you bring to the course will be rewarded (and appreciated).

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Paper Topic #1 (Eudora Welty): Write a carefully considered and well–organized 3–5 page paper on the following topic:

Discuss how the paragraph on page 361 beginning “The orphan!…” offers a way of understanding “Moon Lake.” In the course of your answer be sure to discuss your interpretation of the significance of the three characters: Jinny, Easter, and Nina. Why did Welty create these particular figures? What is their relationship with each other? What is their relationship with the boy who plays the bugle?

Due in the Department of Film Office in the College of Communication, Thursday, February 9 on or before 2:00 PM.

Note: There will be no class meeting on Tuesday Feb. 7 and Thursday Feb. 9. Please be sure to have read the stories assigned for these days however. And be sure to bring your John Cheever book and have read the assigned stories in it for class on Tuesday Feb. 14.

Paper Topic #2 (John Cheever) Write a well–organized 3–5 page paper on the topic of the relation of “visionary” and “realistic” moments, events, scenes in “The Swimmer.” Although you should deal with the entire story, be sure at some point in your argument to deal with the final pages and the ending.

Due at the start of class Thursday, March 2. No extensions may be granted, so if for any reason you cannot make class, be sure that your paper has been turned in on or before the deadline.

Paper Topic #3 (Joyce Carol Oates) Write a well–organized 3–5 page paper on one of the following stories in Oates’s Faithless: “The Scarf,” “Secret, Silent,” “Gunlove,” or “A Manhattan Romance,” describing the central imaginative and/or social “issues” with which the story deals. That means moving beyond discussing plot or character psychology (though you may need to mention aspects of those things). What is the story most deeply about? How do the various events and emotions represent explorations of that imaginative and/or social issue?

Due at the start of class Tuesday April 11. Please come to class promptly since the paper will be used as the basis for class discussion. (No extensions may be granted, so if for any reason you cannot make class, be sure that your paper has been turned in on or before the deadline.)

This is only the "To Print" page. To go to the regular page of Ray Carney's www.Cassavetes.com on which this text appears, click here, or close this window if you accessed the "To Print" page from the regular page. Once you have brought up the regular page, you may use the menus to reach all of the other pages on the site.