Lesson 1 Plan

Lesson 1 Plan

Film as an Art

Overview

Because it came along so late in the history of art and civilization, film summarizes and subsumes all the other arts. Whether it’s painting and graphic arts, the novel and narrative, theatre and drama, or music and poetry, film reflects the ideas of those other, older arts and uses their substance. Even architecture contributes much to film. And if a new art is invented, you can bet that filmmakers will find a place for it!

The purpose of Lesson 1 is two-fold: We’ll be discussing the nature of art in general and examining how film fits into the spectrum of all the arts―narrative, visual, literary, and musical. We’ll also begin a discussion of how dominant movies and media have become in our daily lives.

Time Estimate

It should take 4 1/2 hours to complete this lesson’s material.

Objectives

After successfully completing this lesson, you will be able to:

Identify what makes "art" art.
Describe how movies draw on all the other arts that came before them (and after them).
Explain how artwork, artist, and observer interact.
Understand the critical role played by the observer (which is why you are taking this course after all).

Activities

During this lesson, you will complete the following activities:

Movies Without Pictures: In this activity, you will listen to an old-fashioned radio show (Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion) in order to experience a "motion picture without pictures."
Life Without Movies: In this activity, you will attempt to live for as much as a week without the normal media input of television. This experience will help you get a feel for the crucial role that movies and media play in our lives.
Art Without Artists (Optional): Dig it, then describe "it" for us. Or describe some event in your life where you found yourself as an observer doing all the work of art.