Test on Tuesday, 12/20

The test will focus on Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing, Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, the Student Choice Film for our specific class, and the key terms and concepts from chapter 2 of our textbook, Understanding Movies. Also, review everything from the beginning of the course, such as literary, dramatic, and cinematic elements, etc. Be sure to look over your notes, your homework assignments, and all Viewing Guides and handouts.

• In Do The Right Thing: title credits; match cut; breaking the fourth wall; montage; allusion; litany; episodic story structure; racial tensions in NYC; Spike Lee's DVD Special Features. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point. 
• In North By Northwest: director's cameo; day for night shooting; rear screen projection effect; femme fatale; MacGuffin; final cut privileges; title credits; parody; montage; characterization & compression; visual irony; phallic symbol; visual foreshadowing; aural cue; character subtext; "stealing a shot"; 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
• PERIOD 2 STUDENT CHOICE FILM - In Peter Weir’s The Truman Show: product placement; Christof as God figure; allegory; film style; story structure; character arc; major themes (ex. free will vs. determinism); DVD Special Features
• PERIOD 8 STUDENT CHOICE FILM - In Paul Haggis’s Crash: eye of God shot; match cut; web of life plot; A. O. Scott’s original NYT review
• From Understanding Movies: (Ch. 2) Mise en scene ("placing on stage"), aspect ratio (standard vs. widescreen), iris shot, the dominant, subsidiary contrasts, intrinsic interest, tight vs. loose framing, character placement, composition, proxemic patterns, open vs. closed form.

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

Extra Help will be offered on Monday, 12/19 at 2:40 in Rm. 452.

The approximate test breakdown: 40% multiple choice / 20% miss en scene analysis / 40% short answers

Blog Topic #2 - COMMENT by 11:00 p.m. on Friday, 10/28

Your Final Thoughts about Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times

The film begins by defining itself as "A story of industry, of individual enterprise--humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness." Leave a comment below addressing this. How is the film about industry, enterprise, and the pursuit of happiness? Is it about anything else as well?

Be as specific as possible in discussing the film by giving concrete examples to back up what you say. Comments should be well-written, insightful, original, and at least a full paragraph (5-7 sentences) in length. Be sure to proofread.

Also, at the end of your comment WRITE YOUR FIRST NAME AND THE INITIAL OF YOUR LAST NAME. Thanks.

Blog Topic #1 - COMMENT by 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday, 9/20

For our first Blog Comment Home Work, watch Ted Chung's short film A Thousand Words on Vimeo.com, and leave your response to the questions below by clicking on the link "0 comments on this topic" below. Once you submit your comment you will be unable to see it until I publish it after the due date.

THE ASSIGNMENT:

Watch Ted Chung's short film A Thousand Words and leave a comment that responds to the following questions:

1. Define the term LITERARY ASPECT and give one (1) specific example from this short film. What do you see and what makes it a literary aspect?
2. Define the term DRAMATIC ASPECT and give one (1) specific example from this short film. What do you see and what makes it a dramatic aspect? 
3. Define the term CINEMATIC ASPECT and give one (1) specific example from this short film. What do you see and what's the EFFECT created by this cinematic aspect?

For full credit on this home work assignment, your "comment" must be written in complete sentences with accurate responses to all three questions. Comments that are not proofread will receive a zero.

Test on Monday, 5/23

The test will focus on Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, Fred Zinnemann’s High Noon, Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, and the key terms and concepts from chapter 2 of our textbook, Understanding Movies. Also, review everything from the beginning of the course, such as literary, dramatic, and cinematic elements, etc. Be sure to look over your notes, your homework assignments, and all Viewing Guides and handouts.

• High Noon: Establishing shot; motifs; Judge Mettrick's lesson in civics; Will Kane as "hero"; montage; the famous "boom shot"; subtext; HUAC; politics & film style; DVD Special Features. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• In Modern Times: silent film, inter-title, characterization of “The Tramp,” episodic structure, motifs, sight gags & slapstick, final shot. DVD Special Features: deleted scene, original ending, all voices filtered through technology & 24 frames per second (fps). Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• In North By Northwest: director's cameo; day for night shooting; rear screen projection effect; femme fatale; MacGuffin; final cut privileges; title credits; parody; montage; characterization & compression; visual irony; phallic symbol; visual foreshadowing; aural cue; character subtext; "stealing a shot"; 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
• From Understanding Movies: (Ch. 2) Mise en scene ("placing on stage"), aspect ratio (standard vs. widescreen), iris shot, the dominant, subsidiary contrasts, intrinsic interest, tight vs. loose framing, character placement, composition, proxemic patterns, open vs. closed form.

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

The approximate test breakdown: 40% multiple choice / 20% mini-essay / 40% short answers

Good luck!

Test on Monday, 4/4

The test will focus on Gus Van Sant's Elephant, Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run, Stephen Walker’s Young @ Heart, European style in the short film The Mozart of Pickpockets, and the key terms and concepts from chapter 8 of our textbook, Understanding Movies. Also, review everything from the beginning of the course, such as literary, dramatic, and cinematic elements, etc. Be sure to look over your notes, your homework assignments, and all Viewing Guides and handouts.

Along with the general plot and character developments of our four films, be sure to focus on these areas in your review:

• In Run Lola Run: 5 visual aesthetics, epigraph, birds-eye view shot, split screen, pastiche, arc shot, crane or boom shot, steadicam, chaos theory, motifs (spirals, etc.), snorkel camera, montage, red filter, freeze frame, web of life plot, Lola as hero. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• In Young @ Heart: the documentary style spectrum (characteristics of realism and formalism in nonfiction films), inter-title, cinema verite, reaction shot, episodic structure. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• In Elephant: What's realistic and what's formalistic about the film? In your opinion, does Van Sant offer clear-cut motivations for the killers? Where would you place the film on the general  'style spectrum'? Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point. Finally, read Elvis Mitchell's review of Elephant in the New York Times online.
• In Chapter 8 - Understanding Movies: mimesis, diegesis, avant-garde, plot, story, conventions, genre, classical paradigm (including exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, resolution and closure), linear vs. non linear narratives, realism as style, rites of passage, cinema verite

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

Extra help will be offered after school on Thursday, 3/31 in room 452 at 2:45.

The approximate test breakdown: 40% multiple choice / 20% mini-essay / 40% short answers

Good luck!

Blog Topic #3 - Comment by 9:00 p.m. on Tues., 3/22

Visit Tom Tyker's director's statement about Run Lola Run.

Then, respond to the following questions by leaving your thoughts as a COMMENT on this posting below.

1) According to Tykwer, what does he always start with when building a story into a film?

2) Tykwer says that he wants viewers to feel as if Lola has lived through all "the various possibilities we show in the film," meaning all three timelines! What was the emotional effect he was hoping this would create?

3) Tykwer says that the film's story "functions according to the structural principles used...in classical drama. We have a great and passionate love, we have a clear action principle, and we have a mission that goes right through the film." Okay, but give three specific examples of non-classical (formalistic) aspects to Run Lola Run.

For full credit, your responses must be in complete, well-written sentences. Be sure to proofread and to put any quotes you use from Tykwer's statement in quotation marks.

Quiz Tuesday, 2/8

Welcome RotMI fans, Spring 2011!

We've been thinking about the persuasiveness of visual texts. Film trailers are the perfect example of short films that are essentially commercials urging you to "buy" the film they're advertising.

There will be a short quiz in class on Tuesday, 2/8. We'll see a trailer you probably haven't seen before, and you will have the opportunity to both define and identify the following terms by citing examples from the trailer: Appeal (in general), emotional appeal, logical/rational appeal, & ethical appeal.

The challenging part is to explain HOW what you see is acting as, let's say, an emotional appeal. What emotion is the appeal connecting with? Is it tapping into your sense of patriotism? Is it trying to scare you? Fear can be a very powerful motivator.

Remember, if you fail this class you won't graduate! (Now that's an emotional appeal...)

And the winner is... (PART 2)

Hollywood may have the Oscar, but RotMI has the Baby Daz...

In stunning fashion, one film has swept the final four awards categories at the 2nd Annual RotMI Film Festival!

The Baby Dazzes for 

BEST ORIGINAL STORY

BEST MUSIC

BEST EDITING

BEST PICTURE

go to RotMI Parody (Daniel, Eli, Annie, Edward, Stella)

Congratulations, A SEED Productions! Feel free to leave your acceptance speeches in the form of a blog comment.

And the winner is... (PART 1)

The 2nd Annual RotMI Film Festival viewers have spoken, and here are the first four awards!

Hollywood may have the Oscar, but RotMI has the Baby Daz...




BEST DOCUMENTARY
Kids Are The Darndest Things. (Elana)



BEST PERFORMANCES
When The Rail Is Covered In Snow (Chang Min, Grace, Winston, Patrick, Junaid)

BEST ART PRODUCTION
Dream Vacation (Lauren, Christine V.)

CINEMATOGRAPHY
When The Rail Is Covered In Snow (Chang Min, Grace, Winston, Patrick, Junaid)

Congratulations to the winners! Check back soon for more awards!

And the Nominees Are...

The 2nd Annual RotMI Film Festival is underway! And the coveted Baby Daz awards are up for grabs.

The RotMI Film Festival Awards Committee has determined that there are 8 award categories. Click on the image to see which films have been nominated for each award.

Our Festival resumes this Wednesday and will conclude Thursday, 1/27. All class members will be able to vote at the end of class on Thursday. Of course, there's a blizzard coming. But what else is new?

Test on Thursday, 1/20

The test will focus on Some Like It Hot, Chungking Express, Cinema Paradiso, and the key terms and concepts from chapter 3 of our textbook, Understanding Movies. Also, review everything from the beginning of the course, such as the definition of "rhetoric," and literary, dramatic, and cinematic aspects, etc.

Be sure to focus on these areas in your review:

• Cinema Paradiso: Establishing shot; characterization of Toto; minor characters & how they develop (character arcs); Italian life post WWII; symbolic imagery; Magical Realism; Alfredo's 3 "magic tricks"; jump cut; final images (before & after the credits); elegy; the "Cinema of Life." Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• Chungking Express: Hong Kong cinema (and how this film is and isn't typical of the genre), traditional comic plot structure, motifs (time, love-sickness, expiration, change & variety), freeze frame, Quentin Tarantino's DVD Special Features, web of life plot structure, painterly vs. linear style, impressionism. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• Some Like It Hot: Comic structure (beginning with social upheaval), Sugar's songs' lyrics, Screwball Comedy, curtain line, swish pan, phallic symbol, day for night shooting, filmed in black and white for a reason, parallel editing (crosscutting), using proxemic patterns to create humor, parody, sight gags, slapstick, repartee, situational comedy, sexual innuendo, running gag, dramatic irony, meta-filmic moments. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• From Ch. 3 of Understanding Movies: Kinetic symbolism, vertical/upward movements, minimalists, swish pan, pull back, stationary camera vs. handheld, steadicam, 24 fps, persistence of vision, fast motion vs. slow motion, freeze frame.

Look over your notes, your homework assignments, and all Viewing Guides and handouts. Extra Help will be offered at 2:45 p.m. on Wednesday, 1/19 in room 452.

Looking Ahead

Here's what's coming up for the rest of the course:

• Tues., 1/18: Final Film Project Due
• Wed., 1/19: Return your textbook no later than today
• Thurs., 1/20: Test on Some Like It Hot, Chungking Express, Cinema Paradiso & Ch. 3 of out textbook (more details soon!)
• Fri., 1/21: Final written reflection due on the making of your film. The RotMI Film Festival begins!