Jennifer Hammett

Lectures were a bit dry at times, which, given the length of the class, can be a problem if you're not completely alert & awake that day. We did a fair amount of small-group discussion, which was pretty useful, as we got to come up with ideas in groups instead of trying to think of everything individually, and then went over some of those ideas with the whole class, w/ teacher comments on them, which helped a bit more to figure out what she was trying to get us to come up with.

There were a couple surprise quizzes, which were pretty easy as long as you did the reading, and she even accepted "creative" answers, as long as they made sense and demonstrated that you understand the underlying concept (i.e. for a quiz on the 4 styles of documentary, using the titles of the example films from class rather than the technical terms), but the midterm seemed to be graded a bit more harshly (haven't gone back to get my final yet). It was mostly of the form "Discuss the use of [insert cinema term/concept] in the clip we just saw", and she seemed to have a bullet list of things she wanted us to notice and mention, and if we didn't catch or write about everything, we were marked down a bit. We got a bit more help on the papers, though, as there was a handout that stated exactly what she expects for an A, B, etc. And on the 2nd paper, we actually got our thesis statements back with comments on them -before- having to turn in the full paper, which helped immensely. It would've been nice to have that much clarity and direction in the rest of the class.

As a film major I really couldn't hate this class because I did enjoy watching the films. Hammett's lectures were decent if a little monotone (I always try to get a shot of coffee before each class so I don't fall asleep). My one gripe is that the grading of the essays and quizzes are uneccessarily harsh considering film analysis should be open ended and open for interpretation. Just because I think a little differently about a film subject does not mean I'm wrong or that I'm not thinking deeply enough. I just have a different opinion. That and her taste in films don't really gel well with mine, but I'll let that go since there were a few I really like and glad I got a chance to watch. Overall a decent class if you just want to take care of your GE credits, but if you're a film major looking for something more, expect to be a little disappointed.

I am a film major and did not like this class at all. She seems to have fairly bad taste in films, and gives horrible lectures. Her voice is very monotone and boring and she gives little information. The class was pretty easy, but I would recommend trying to get someone different. Also, the 6 responce papers we were supposed to do were graded fairly arbitrarily as the other review stated and she did not help the class advance their skills of responding to styles. Basically, I learned very little in this class.

There were never any introductions to the films. I am not a cinema major and felt a bit behind. The midterm covered a lot of material, but the test was only one page front and back, with fill in the blanks. 50% of the grade is the final, which was pretty easy. There were 6 short papers, which were graded completely arbitrarily by her TA's.