"The Language of Film" is the name of the class I'm taking this semester. The class gives the students an idea of how films are made by the director, screenwriter(s), actos, cinematographer, the production designer, etc. Already, we watch one lesson on our dvd on how scenes are shot that allow us to enter inside the mind of a character and what thoughts and ideas may be floating in their minds(the scene was from Juno when the lead character goes into an abortion clinc). I really like this class, but the teacher, just drags out any interest to maintain focus. Ugh!!!

I know what you mean, one of my classes(math 102 I believe) was taught by the most dull instructor i've ever met, I couldn't have cared less about that class if I tried. Also took a scriptwriting class in college a couple years ago, it was pretty interesting.

Yeah, I've definitely had this experience more than a few times. I had Jenny Lau for Critical Studies, which is essentially film theory, and couldn't pay attention for the life of me. I ended up playing Catan on my friend's phone and got an A in the class by doing the reading and understanding the material. I also had Joseph McBride (w. Rock 'n' Roll High School) for Documentary Film, which was interesting mostly because of the films he elected to show. He occasionally had neat stories to tell, like his experiences with Orson Welles, but his rigorous grading standards and general fatness were too much for me to handle.

This semester's a little better. I have R.L. Rutsky for Film Noir and Aaron Kerner for Film and the Holocaust, both of which should be worth the tuition money. The jury's out on my Art of Cinematography class, which holds for the first time tomorrow, but I'm sure it will be fine. I'm also taking a class called HOW 2 LRN W UR IPOD. Can you tell I'm trying to graduate?

I once had an editing class with a teacher who showed movies for instructional purposes that she'd apparently never seen before, including Blackhawk Down. (Her only comment afterward was letting us know that she didn't know it was going to be so violent. Very insightful.) She pissed away much of the time going on and on about her posh professional gig as the editor for Sunday mass tapings on public access.

That's also the class in which I chewed a really old piece of gum for so long that it deteriorated into a bitter liquid in my mouth and I had to go to the bathroom to gargle tap water.

I had a screenwriting class that was pretty cool, though the teacher was pretty stuck on the Syd Field three act paradigm. Her attitude seemed to be that you had to write to the formula or you wouldn't get work. My attitude was that nobody in the room was getting any work anytime soon, so why not write something else?

I think I liked my acting classes the most, though, which was surprising.