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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