Understanding Movies: the Language of Film
8-weeks | Registration opens 8/28/2026 9:00 AM EDT
We've all been taught how to read literature, an art that deals essentially with words. Film, however, conveys ideas differently: there are images and sound to consider. This course provides insight into the variety of ways in which films communicate. We will examine the range of film’s unique language and form (e.g., shot composition, camera movement, sound, editing, etc.) and explore how the essential properties of the medium are used by filmmakers as a means of expression. In-class screenings will include sequences from recognizable films that illustrate the unique aesthetics of motion pictures.
NOTE: This is a REPEAT of the course offered in Fall 2018.
- Suggested Reading: Making Movies, by Sidney Lumet
Sybil Delgaudio
Sybil DelGaudio is Emerita Professor of Radio, Television and Film at Hofstra University, where she served for six years as Dean of its School of Communication. Her research has been published in books and journals and her production work has combined her interest in animation scholarship with a passion for documentary, resulting in two projects she directed for public television: Animated Women and Independent Spirits. Both works have been shown on PBS stations around the country as well as at international film festivals, garnering festival prizes, as well as an Emmy for Animated Women.