Test on Wednesday, 5/30

The test will focus on Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso, the Student Choice Film for your specific class period (Slumdog Millionaire, Period 2 or Good Will Hunting, period 7), 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.

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

• In Cinema Paradiso: Establishing shot; characterization of Toto/Salvatore; minor characters and how they develop (character arcs); Italian life post WWII; symbolic imagery; jump cut; rack focus; final images (before and after the credits); elegy; the "Cinema of Life." 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 and love scenes shot murderously"; epiphany and 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 Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire: Bollywood; structure (3 timelines); crosscutting; widescreen aspect ratio; Themes: strength of the human spirit, chance/destiny.
• PERIOD 7 STUDENT CHOICE FILM - In Gus Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting: Classical film style; title credits; puns in the title?; kaleidoscopic view; attachment disorder; bird's-eye shot; slow motion photography; painterly vs. linear style; visual repetitions (motifs); final images for the 4 major relationships in the film; final shot; attachment disorder as a psychological term. 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!

Extra help will be offered after school at 2:35 p.m. on Tuesday, 5/29 in room 452.

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 Thurs., 5/24

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.