Blog Topic #7 - Comment by 9:00 p.m. on Wed., 12/23

Tell Us about Your Final Exam Project: Creating an Original Short Film

1. What's the name of your production company and how is it appropriate for your group?
2. What role will you play in the film's creation and why? (Screenwriter, editor, actor, etc.) Why is that the right role for you?
3. Give a brief description of your film. What's the general plot? To what genre does your film belong? What will be the film's style? What will be the establishing shot and what theme will it it establish?

Respond by leaving a COMMENT on this posting.

For full credit on this home work assignment, your COMMENT must be a minimum of 1 well-developed paragraph (5-7 sentences) that follows the criteria above. COMMENTs that are not proofread will receive a zero.

EXTRA CREDIT Works Cited Practice

Follow the links below to the two sources. 

Using the information from those two sources, create a typewritten, properly formatted works cited page with two sources. Submit this extra credit practice assignment at the beginning of class tomorrow, Thursday, 12/17.

1) Go to The Student Resource Center through the GNSH Library. Search for Terry Teachout's article, "The Trouble with Alfred Hitchcock." Use the information there to document this article in your works cited.

2) Go to the original New York Times review of the film Three Kings. Use the information there to document this article in your works cited.

Do NOT use any other documenting format than what is outlined in the GNSH Guide for Research Papers.

Be certain that each source is formatted based on what type of source it is! (The format for documenting a book is very different from the format for The Student Resource Center online database!)

Be certain that you compare your works cited to the sample in your Guide for Research Papers. Have you followed all rules regarding indenting, line spacing, etc.?

Blog Topic #6 - COMMENT by 9:00 p.m. on Tues., 12/15

CRITIQUING the STUDENT CHOICE FILM

Whether you saw Good Will Hunting or Three Kings, give your overall opinion of the film by leaving a COMMENT on this posting. In terms of literary, dramatic, and cinematic aspects, what were the film's specific strengths and weaknesses?

Remember to follow the conventions of a film review (actors' names in parentheses after characters' names, ***spoiler alerts***, etc.)

For full credit on this home work assignment, your COMMENT must be a minimum of 1 well-developed paragraph (5-7 sentences) that follows the criteria above. COMMENTs that are not proofread will receive a zero.

Student Choice Films

After a grueling nomination and election process, both Period 4 and Period 9 have chosen a film to see this week.

Period 4 chose Three Kings, a 1999 action-adventure-comedy-satire about 4 U.S. soldiers searching for Saddam Hussein's stolen Kuwaiti gold at the end of the Persian Gulf War.

Period 8 is viewing Good Will Hunting with Matt Damon, Robin Williams, and Ben Affleck. Winner of two Oscars, the film tells the story of a young janitor at MIT who turns out to have the same potential for brilliance as Mozart or Einstein.

We're studying both films from the perspective of the "Big Picture": the story. How do these films stack up against what we've learned regarding the classical paradigm?

Test on Friday, 12/4

The test will focus on George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run, and Alfred Hitchcock's North By Northwest. You should also know the terms from chapters 2 and the first half of chapter 4 of our textbook, Understanding Movies. Also, you should know all critical terms that we learned earlier in the course, from cinematic terms (such as "long shot") to other terms such as "metonymy."

Look over your notes, your homework assignments, and all Viewing Guides and handouts.

Be sure to focus on these areas in your review:

• In Night of the Living Dead: the zombie apocalypse genre and its conventions; continuity error; colorblind casting; "stealing a scene"; indie film; expressionism; subtexts (cultural/historical significance); ironies in the plot; final shot; director's cameo.  Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• In Run Lola Run: birds-eye view shot; split screen; pastiche; arc shot; crane or boom shot; steadicam; chaos theory; motifs (spirals, etc.); snorkel camera; montage; red filter; web of life plot; Lola as hero. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• In North By Northwest: Director's cameo; femme fatale; MacGuffin; final cut privileges; title credits; montage; characterization & compression; visual irony; visual foreshadowing; aural cue; character subtext; "stealing a scene"; film subtexts; "Becoming George Kaplan"; "The Matchless Eve Kendall"; "Murder scenes shot lovingly & love scenes shot murderously"; epiphany & character arc; how tension & suspense are created in "The Crop Dusting Scene." Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• Key Terms: Mise-en-scene ("placing on stage"); aspect ratio (standard vs. widescreen); iris shot; the dominant; tight framing, proxemic patterns; open vs. closed form; the take; cutting to continuity; jump cut; parallel editing / crosscutting

This is only a general guide and not a complete list of everything we learned and everything you should study!

Good luck!