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Showing posts with label French film club. Show all posts
Showing posts with label French film club. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Film Club for French Language Students by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Film Club for French Language Students by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

The inspiration for a small (4 – 6 people) French Film Club came to me when I lived in Stuttgart (Germany) for five years.

The German government sponsors film clubs throughout the country in movie theatres.  A small film club in a home should not charge admission, but you can seek direction on the issue of performance rights from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

While watching contemporary films, I have put together suggested study group guidelines for viewing films.  This film club does not replace film studies in a university.  However, a student coming into a university course with a good background in film can augment classroom studies to find industry entry-level jobs.

As a librarian, my film study group to go along with a French Film Club unashamedly requires reading books to organize your learning of history and techniques.  Studying technical solutions to filming problems in the past might save you money, if you are making your own film now.

Introduction to Film Criticism

Everyone wants to be a film critic, but you should know the difference between a film reviewer and a film critic first.

A reviewer has learned the techniques of a review, but usually lacks an extensive background in the history of film to make reference back to older films that helped create the environment for the current one to exist.

You usually start as a reviewer and become a critic as your knowledge of film history increases.

A critic knows film history, refers to film history in reviews, and will fight to preserve art that exemplifies the best aspects of human civilization.  (If you need to know what human civilization is read some anthropology books; I am a scientist.)

The two books that I like as an introduction to understanding all aspects of making a film and judging narrative (storyline with a climax and dénouement) follow: 

Level 1 – Introduction to Film Making

-Read Understanding Movies by Louis Gianetti

-Read The Power of Film by Howard Suber

Level 2 – Film Reviewing Books and Criticism

-Read A Short Guide to Writing about Film by Timothy Corrigan

-Read Cahiers du Cinéma: The 1950s: Neo-Realism, Hollywood, New Wave by Jim Hillier

-Read Cahiers du Cinéma: 1960 – 1968: New Wave, New Cinema, Reevaluating Hollywood by Jim Hillier

Level 3 - Film History Books

-Read The Oxford History of World Cinema by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith

When I began learning about film, I read this chapter by chapter and noted the names of all the films mentioned in each chapter to plan films to rent from Netflix at the time.

Level 4 – French Film History Books

-Read the French Cinema book by Michael Temple
and make notes of films to rent and watch

-Read The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler

This section is also a good place to define the difference among the terms movies, motion pictures, cinema, and film:

Movies = motion picture

Motion pictures = movies as a genre (type of art) or entertainment

Cinema = motion pictures collectively as an art form

Film = motion picture industry

Level 5 – Understanding Scripts

Scripts are like blueprints for a house.  The shooting script a director uses is very different from the “dialog script” with minimal directions that you send to Hollywood readers on staff for agencies or directors.  To write your first script, the following books and magazines are helpful:

-Read Screenwriter Magazine

I subscribed to Screenwriter magazine for my daughter Florence, so she could learn about writing and selling scripts to encourage her to read and write.

She read that magazine for ten years and was later accepted into and graduated from Juilliard’s playwrighting program.  I think they did a good job explaining technique and business for this reason.

-read The Screenwriter’s Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling your Script by David Trottier  - (Better for dramatic films)

-read Documentary Directing and Storytelling: How to Direct Documentaries and More - (Better for Documentaries)

-read The Hollywood Standard: The Complete and Authoratative Guide to Script Format and Style by Christopher Riley

-read The Art of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives by Lajos Egri

Level 6 – French Film Club Activities

-Activity 1 – French Speaking Activity

Using Lajos Egri’s book The Art of Dramatic Writing analyze the film you are watching to identify the “I-must-have-this-or-die” theme and present your point of view with examples from the film to back up your position in French.

-Activity 2 – French Speaking Activity

Speak in French and tell your film group what 3 conditions would have to exist for you to change your position about your interpretation of the film.

Hold a discussion in French with your film group to see if alternate interpretations of the film exist starting with your conditions.

-Activity 3 – French Writing and Speaking Activity

Using Corrigan’s A Short Guide to Writing about Film, watch a French film twice as he advises and use his shorthand to write a review of the film in French.

Once the reviews are written, go around the club and read the reviews.

Discuss the reviews, if you have time.  If you do not agree with someone, have 3 examples to back up your argument against the person’s conclusions.

-Activity 4 – French Speaking Activity

Discuss in French what kinds of people or markets this kind of film would appeal to for writing up in a marketing plan.

-Activity 5 – French Speaking Activity

Discuss in French how a market for this film would find out about your film. 

Where would these people buy the films?  Red Box outlets? 

Are there any payment impediments?

Are there impediments for getting merchandise to outlets like Red Box?

-Activity 6 – Trade Show Presentation in French Activity

Write up a sales presentation for your film in French for a trade show.  Pretend you are at the Cannes Film Festival.

Take turns presenting your film and answering questions about it.

Ask people asking questions, what kind of distribution network they represent. 

How many movies theatres do they have? 

How many seats could they fill for a 6-month run with full occupancy? 

How many homes do they serve with their satellites for movie downloads?

Do they have Red Box like distribution points at rural grocery stores, hotels, and gas stations?

-Know what your minimum sales figure is.  Production costs with a mark up by 4?  For example, $10,000 x 4 = $40,000. 

You have to remember to make sales that are profitable and you must know how much it cost to make your film to do this.

- Activity 8 – French Speaking and Writing Activity

Watch a French film and make a list of all items in it to do merchandise sales associated with the film.

Translate the names of the items from English to French.  (This is harder than it sounds.)

Prepare a sales presentation in French of merchandise associated with the film in groups of 10 items each with different branding associations.

As a group, make a 1 sentence “log line” to describe the film and sell it with “queen of cool” brio.

Do a trade show role play.  Have 1 person be the film salesman and another will be the merchandise salesman.  The other two people in the group will be customers.

Do the role play for 15 minutes.  Take notes on what you learned.  Look up phrases you needed to know and repeat the trade show a few times.

Take notes on what you learned in French.

Bonne Continuation.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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