OVERVIEW

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

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Aim of the course is to deepen the knowledge of the film script both from a theoretical point of view and from a historiographical point of view, analyzing its structure as an antecedent form to the film but also as an autonomous writing regime. Another aim is to inscribe the screenplay in a network of discourses that can allow students to understand its interactions with the cultural, visual, productive and economic framework of reference. The teaching also aims to offer, through the study and analysis of the screenplay, critical and analytical tools to understand phases, contexts and issues in the history of cinema, entertainment and the cultural industry.

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).
All students are encouraged to register on the course page on the Aulaweb platform.  

Students with disabilities or DSAs are reminded that in order to request adaptations in the exam, they must first enter their certification on the University website at servizionline.unige.it in the "Students" section. The documentation will be verified by the University's Services for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities and DSA Sector (https://rubrica.unige.it/strutture/struttura/100111).
Subsequently, at least 10 days before the date of the exam, an e-mail must be sent to the teacher with whom you will take the exam, including in the knowledge copy both the School's Teacher Referent for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities and with DSA (Prof. Elisabetta Colagrossi: elisabetta.colagrossi@unige.it) and the Sector indicated above. The e-mail should specify: the name of the teaching; the date of the call; the student's last name, first name and roll number; the compensatory tools and dispensatory measures deemed functional; and required.  The contact person will confirm to the lecturer that the applicant is entitled to apply for adaptations in the examination and that these adaptations must be agreed upon with the lecturer. The lecturer will respond by informing whether the requested adaptations can be used. Requests should be sent at least 10 days before the date of the call in order to allow the lecturer(s) to evaluate the content. In particular, in case you intend to make use of maps conceptual maps for the exam (which must be much more concise than the maps used for studying) if the submission does not meet the deadline there will not be the technical time needed to make any changes.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Programme for 6 cfu and 9 cfu students
French actresses and actors between writing, characters and performance 

The teaching aims to explore the main aspects of the history and theory of film scriptwriting. After a first part of historiographical and theoretical introduction on writing for the cinema, where concepts and notions such as narration, action, storytelling, adaptation, etc. will be discussed, the relations between actor performance and screenplay will be examined. In particular, the case of acting in the French sphere will be addressed, with a specific focus on stylistic features, storytelling methods and the shaping of characters, between writing, characterisation, role construction and performance. We will examine peculiar figures and transnational stars (hence also French actresses and actors recurring in Italian cinema) in search of trends or divergences between storytelling forms, character writing and acting techniques. Films, original screenplays, archive documents, paratextual sources and articles will be compared in order to interrogate the ways in which acting in the French context has been narrated in a specific cross-section of film history.  

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography for students using the teaching for 6 cfu​:

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

2) A. Scandola, Il corpo e lo sguardo. L’attore nel cinema della modernità, Marsilio, Venezia, 2020

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) A. Scandola, Il corpo e lo sguardo. L’attore nel cinema della modernità, Marsilio, Venezia, 2020

3) A. Scandola, Tra performance e presenza: la recitazione di Brigitte Bardot, “Acting Archives Review”, IV, n. 8, novembre 2014 (https://www.actingarchives.it/images/Reviews/8/06.pdf)

Non-attendees must add:

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

An additional bibliography on individual actors or topics to be explored in depth will be added on the Aulaweb by the professor.
The obligatory filmography will be communicated at the beginning of the lessons.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

GABRIELE RIGOLA (President)

LUCA MALAVASI

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Tuesday 18 February 2025

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral exam

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. 

Erasmus students not proficient in Italian may request a substitutive bibliography, and take the examination in English or French.

Exam schedule