The course will analyze two Italian films from a comparative perspective: Bicycle Thieves (1948) by Vittorio De Sica and Caterina in the Big City (2004) by Paolo Virzì. Both movies are set in Rome, but offer a different representation of Italian life and culture. Each director offers his personal interpretation and his cinematographic style. De Sica portrays the post- war situation in Rome and the city’s struggles to return to normality through the lenses of Neorealism. Virzì in his ‘coming of age’ tale offers a contemporary example of the commedia all’italiana and an insight into the Italian contemporary attitudes and social behaviours. During the second half of the course, the class will be divided into two groups. Each group will select, from one of the two movies discussed in class, a scene to be rewritten and reshot. As in a film company students will act, direct and perform. An integral part of this process will be to visit the sites where these scenes were once filmed. The final part of the course will teach simple editing techniques in order to present the selected scenes to the public.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the course the students are able to:
approach two topics of Italian Cinema: Neorealism and Comedy Italian Style (Commedia all’Italiana);
understand the historical, social and political circumstances of the different moments in the history of Italy and Rome during which the film screened were realized;
analyze a film by a linguistic and technical point of view;
use the basic techniques of the making of a movie;
produce a simple short movie.
Method of presentation:
Lectures, screenings, students’ hands-on work in shooting and editing.
Required work and form of assessment:
Class attendance and participation (20%); midterm exam (20%); research project, developed by each member of the crew depending on his or her role (i.e. the director of photography will practice with the video camera and study the single shots in the original movie; the actors will study related films to familiarize with the improvisation expected from non-professionals in the Neorealist school) and script adaptation from both original selected scenes (20%); performance during the shooting (20%); performance during editing (20%).
content:
Part I –De Sica, Virzì: A voyage from Neorealism to the “Commedia all’Italiana” genre.
Week 1, session 1 and 2 : Neorealism, a new way of making film. De Sica explores Rome: Bicycle Thieves.
The events preceding Italian Neorealistic Cinema during Fascism. The cultural debate on “Realism” and the birth of Neorealistic Cinema.
Discussion on Vittorio De Sica’s cinema defined as a “cinema of feelings”.
Introduction to cinematographic language: editing and cinematography through the analysis of De Sica’s movie.
Introduction to Martin Scorsese’s documentary My Voyage to Italy to understand the point of view of an Italo-American director on Italian Neorealist Cinema.
Reading: Bondanella, Peter. A History of Italian Cinema. PART TWO: ITALIAN NEOREALISM, Chapter 3: “Masters of Neorealism: Rossellini, De Sica and Visconti”.
Film viewing: Bicycle Thieves, by Vittorio De Sica
Week 2, session 3 and 4: Reinvigorating the “commedia all'italiana” genre: Paolo Virzì.
Paolo Virzì’s cinema: a bittersweet picture of modern society in a special combination of compassionate laughter and social critique.
Discussion and analysis of Caterina in the Big City also from a technical point of view.
Reading: Bondanella, Peter. A History of Italian Cinema.
PART THREE: THE GOLDEN AGE OF ITALIAN CINEMA, Chapter 7: “Commedia all’Italiana. Comedy and Social Criticism” and
PART FOUR: GENERATIONAL CHANGE IN THE CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN CINEMA, Chapter 17th “Italian Cinema Enters the Third Millennium”
Film viewing: Caterina in the Big City by Paolo Virzì.
Part II – The making of the movie
Week 3, session 5 and 6 : Preparing the scenes to shoot.
Discussion of the individual roles within a film troupe: director, editor, actor, director of photography, etc.
Division of the class into two groups, one for each film.
Discussion and analysis of the selected films in order to chose the two scenes to be re-made.
Visit to the two locations chosen for the films.
Week 4, session 7 and 8: Preparing the scenes to shoot and organization of the shooting.
Adaptation of the script from both original scenes. Rehearsals in class and on location. Definition of the story board and the shot list.
Week 5
Session 9: First day of shooting. Shooting the first scene and backstage.
Session 10 : Second day of shooting. Shooting the first scene and backstage.
Week 6, session 11 and 12: Editing.
Download of the materials in the computers. Logging and learning the basic editing techniques.
Week 7, session 13 and 14 : Final editing.
Students perform editing (sound, music, titles and credits included)
Week 8, session 15 : Screenings and valuation of the students’ work.
Screening of the two short films and of the two backstages.
Required readings:
Millicent, Marcus. Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism. Princeton University Press, 1986.
Required Films (on reserve)
Bicycle Thieves, by Vittorio De Sica Caterina in the Big City by Paolo Virzì
My Voyage to Italy (documentary), by Martin Scorsese
Text Book
Bondanella, Peter. Bondanella, Peter. A History of Italian Cinema. The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc, 2009.
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Elisabetta Lodoli - director, screenwriter and writer - graduated in History and Philosophy at Bologna University (Italy) and got her Master in Film and Television at Calarts, LA, CA. Since her return to Italy, she lives in Rome where she has been directing both in cinema and television many films, documentaries and tv series among which: Papervision #1: Chiara Carrer (a portrait dedicated to one of the most significant contemporary illustrators of children’s books); Nisansala la tranquilla (Nisansala, the quiet girl, a portrait of a 17 years old girl from Sri Lanka, living in Rome); Stiamo bene insieme (Happy together -TV Series); Lui e lei II" (He&She, TV Series); Più leggero non basta (A lighter burden to bear - TV movie, with Stefano Accorsi and Giovanna Mezzogiorno). As a screenwriter she also works for cinema and tv, and recently she published her first young-adult novel Questo mare non è il mio mare (This is not my ocean). She just accomplished Connect/Disconnect, an experimental film produced and directed with the artist Pola Wickham. She is now working at Italia ’61, a documentary for RAI.
From Viewing to Making a Film on Rome
The course will analyze two Italian films from a comparative perspective: Bicycle Thieves (1948) by Vittorio De Sica and Caterina in the Big City (2004) by Paolo Virzì. Both movies are set in Rome, but offer a different representation of Italian life and culture. Each director offers his personal interpretation and his cinematographic style. De Sica portrays the post- war situation in Rome and the city’s struggles to return to normality through the lenses of Neorealism. Virzì in his ‘coming of age’ tale offers a contemporary example of the commedia all’italiana and an insight into the Italian contemporary attitudes and social behaviours. During the second half of the course, the class will be divided into two groups. Each group will select, from one of the two movies discussed in class, a scene to be rewritten and reshot. As in a film company students will act, direct and perform. An integral part of this process will be to visit the sites where these scenes were once filmed. The final part of the course will teach simple editing techniques in order to present the selected scenes to the public.
By the end of the course the students are able to:
Lectures, screenings, students’ hands-on work in shooting and editing.
Class attendance and participation (20%); midterm exam (20%); research project, developed by each member of the crew depending on his or her role (i.e. the director of photography will practice with the video camera and study the single shots in the original movie; the actors will study related films to familiarize with the improvisation expected from non-professionals in the Neorealist school) and script adaptation from both original selected scenes (20%); performance during the shooting (20%); performance during editing (20%).
Part I –De Sica, Virzì: A voyage from Neorealism to the “Commedia all’Italiana” genre.
Week 1, session 1 and 2 : Neorealism, a new way of making film. De Sica explores Rome: Bicycle Thieves.
Week 2, session 3 and 4: Reinvigorating the “commedia all'italiana” genre: Paolo Virzì.
Part II – The making of the movie
Week 3, session 5 and 6 : Preparing the scenes to shoot.
Week 4, session 7 and 8: Preparing the scenes to shoot and organization of the shooting.
Week 5
Week 6, session 11 and 12: Editing.
Week 7, session 13 and 14 : Final editing.
Week 8, session 15 : Screenings and valuation of the students’ work.
Required Films (on reserve)
Text Book
Elisabetta Lodoli - director, screenwriter and writer - graduated in History and Philosophy at Bologna University (Italy) and got her Master in Film and Television at Calarts, LA, CA. Since her return to Italy, she lives in Rome where she has been directing both in cinema and television many films, documentaries and tv series among which: Papervision #1: Chiara Carrer (a portrait dedicated to one of the most significant contemporary illustrators of children’s books); Nisansala la tranquilla (Nisansala, the quiet girl, a portrait of a 17 years old girl from Sri Lanka, living in Rome); Stiamo bene insieme (Happy together -TV Series); Lui e lei II" (He&She, TV Series); Più leggero non basta (A lighter burden to bear - TV movie, with Stefano Accorsi and Giovanna Mezzogiorno). As a screenwriter she also works for cinema and tv, and recently she published her first young-adult novel Questo mare non è il mio mare (This is not my ocean). She just accomplished Connect/Disconnect, an experimental film produced and directed with the artist Pola Wickham. She is now working at Italia ’61, a documentary for RAI.