I love this guy! One of the top professors I’ve ever had here. His lectures are super easy to understand and easy to follow. Plus he’s an all around sweetheart. He truly cares about his students and wants all of them to learn the beauty of filmmaking. Plus, you can bring snacks to movie days, so it’s almost like you’re in a movie theater while watching movies. The class usually watches the movies on Thursdays, and the majority of notetaking is done on Tuesday’s. I was always so excited to go to class because that’s how much I loved it. In this particular class, you get to watch the films of Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, Alfred Hitchcock, James Dean, just to name a few. The only movie I didn’t like in the class was “The Piano.” It was pretty creepy and disturbing. But that’s my only complaint.
There are four pop quizzes which are open note, so it’s very easy to get an A on those. The midterm and final are extremely easy, as he tells you exactly what to study for them. No surprises at all. Just go over your notes and you’ll be solid. The group project is also really easy; each group is given a made up script from a different era (50s, 60s, 70s, etc) and you have to pick which actor and actress would be best for the leading roles. You will get an A long as you give specific and concrete reasons as to why you would cast a certain actor or actress in a movie being made. I got an A, and not only is it easy to get an A, the class is extremely entertaining. TAKE HIM TO BOOST YOUR GPA AND YOUR WILL TO LIVE!!

If you don't take this class, you must really not like yourself. This class is so easy and so fun. The 120 series with Peter is probably the best series offered at UCLA. All you have to do is watch movies and pay attention. And you don't even have to watch them in class. I honestly watched most of the films assigned at home. There are four pop quizzes, and one of them is dropped, but they mainly occur on Tuesday lectures because that's when he expects you to be there because he's covering new information. The info on the lectures is insanely simple to grasp, and the professor is welcoming to questions and willing to help you out if you have trouble. He really cares about his students and the material he's teaching. He's been doing this for a long time, and there's very few professors I've met who still care about what they are teaching. The quizzes and the midterm are 75% short response and then there's a few MC questions. If you don't know the answer to the short response, you can usually get away with writing something close to what you think the answer is, and then he'll go over it in class. There is one group project at the end of the course where you have to cast a movie based on a certain time period and genre. The casting is totally up to you and your group, so have fun with it and hope you have an agreeable group. Then you'll have to present in front of the professor and the TAs, the rest of the class leaves beforehand so less pressure. I watched a lot of films I hadn't seen before because of this class, so I really appreciated it. I can't implore you enough to take this course, so I hope you get lucky with enrollment!