OVERVIEW

The course focuses on the main historiographical and theoretical aspects of the film screenplay.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Analysing knowledge of screenplay both as a prior form to film and as a regime of autonomous writing; studying the main models of script that have evolved over time and their structure.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the main theoretical and historiographical aspects of film screenwriting, placing its various forms in the appropriate eras and contexts. They should also know and be able to articulate the main aspects of the film cases analyzed in class, and the historical and theoretical issues related to them.

TEACHING METHODS

Classes will be held in-person (face-to-face teaching), unless further directives are issued by the university.
All students are encouraged to register on the course page on the Aulaweb platform.  

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Writing comedy. Screenwriting, screenwriters and writing in Italian-style comedy.

This teaching aims to delve into the main aspects of the history and theory of film screenwriting. After a first part of a historiographical and theoretical introduction on writing for film, where concepts and notions such as narrative, action, storytelling, adaptation, etc. will be discussed, the multifaceted and layered relationships between writing for film and comedy will be analyzed. In particular, we will deal with the season of Italian-style comedy (commedia all'italiana) through the study of some representative films and its major screenwriters (Rodolfo Sonego, Age and Scarpelli, Piero De Bernardi, Leo Benvenuti, Ennio De Concini, Ruggero Maccari, Ettore Scola), analyzing the original screenplays to highlight narrative structures and character construction mechanisms. A comparison of films, original screenplays, archival documents, paratextual sources and articles will be made to question how comic mechanisms and the sense of storytelling were constructed in a specific cross-section of Italian film history and the history of our country.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography for students using the teaching for 6 cfu​:

1) F. Vanoye, La sceneggiatura. Forme, dispositivi, modelli, Lindau, Torino, 1999

2) M. Comand, La commedia all’italiana, Il Castoro, Milano, 2010

Non-attendees must add:

Age, Scriviamo un film. Manuale di sceneggiatura, il Saggiatore, Milano, 2021

Bibliography for students using the teaching for 9 cfu​:

1) F. Vanoye, La sceneggiatura. Forme, dispositivi, modelli, Lindau, Torino, 1999

2) M. Comand, La commedia all’italiana, il Castoro, Milano, 2010

3) M. Comand (a cura di), Sulla carta. Storia e storie della sceneggiatura in Italia, Lindau, Torino 2006.

Non-attendees must add:

Age, Scriviamo un film. Manuale di sceneggiatura, il Saggiatore, Milano, 2021

Filmography for all students:​

Divorzio all’italiana (Germi, 1961)

Il sorpasso (Risi, 1962)

La visita (Pietrangeli, 1963)

Straziami ma di baci saziami (Risi, 1968)

La ragazza con la pistola (Monicelli, 1968)

C’eravamo tanto amati (Scola, 1974)

Quelle strane occasioni (Comencini, Loy, Magni, 1976)

I nuovi mostri (Monicelli, Risi, Scola, 1977).

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

GABRIELE RIGOLA (President)

LUCA MALAVASI

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Classes will begin the week of September 19, 2022

Class schedule

HISTORY, FORMS AND MODELS OF THE FILM SCRIPT

EXAMS

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The exam consists of an oral exam in which the knowledge acquired and critical-analytical capacity in discussion will be assessed with particular reference to the cases analysed in lectures. 

Exam schedule