Test on Thursday, 10/24

The test will focus on Gus Van Sant's Good Will Hunting,  Weijun Chen's Please Vote for Me, Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run and the key terms and concepts from chapters 1 and 8 from our textbook, Understanding Movies. Also, review everything from the beginning of the course, such as literary, dramatic, and cinematic elements, the definition of RotMI, etc. Be sure to look over your notes, your homework assignments, and all Viewing Guides and handouts.

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

• In 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; long take; attachment disorder as a psychological term. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• In Run Lola Run: 5 visual aesthetics, the formalistic aspects of the film's style and story structure, epigraph, birds-eye view shot, split screen, Butterfly Effect, motifs (spirals, time, etc.), montage, flash forward, 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 Please Vote For Me: Documentary Style Spectrum: What are the qualities of a formalistic documentary vs. a realistic one? Similarities in the 3 candidates’ home lives; candidates’ strengths and weaknesses; who wins the election and what factors help that person? Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• In Chapter 1 - Understanding Movies: film style; various shots; framing; angles; lighting; cut, dissolve; eye-line match; deep focus; rack focus; diegetic and non-diegetic sound; authorial and subjective points of view, etc.
• 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 possibly 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 Wednesday, 10/23 in room 452.

The approximate test breakdown: 60% multiple choice / 20% mini essay on documentary style / 20% short answers

Good luck!

CRASH: Rate the Film

• Period 6 Survey

• Period 7 Survey

Test on Wednesday, 5/22

The test will focus on Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away and the Student Choice Film for our class period (Period 7: Gus Van Sant’s Milk or Period 6: Michael Blieden’s Super High Me). Also, review everything from the beginning of the course, such as literary, dramatic, and cinematic elements, the definition of RotMI, 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 films, be sure to focus on these areas in your review:

• In Spirited Away: The typical conventions of animated films; the film’s “eco-message”; motifs involving the importance of name, memory, and identity; Miyazaki’s inspiration for the character of Chihiro; auteur; moments of realism. 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 and slapstick, final shot. DVD Special Features: deleted scene, original ending, all voices filtered through technology and 24 frames per second (fps). Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• In Do The Right Thing: title credits; match cut; breaking the fourth wall; litany; episodic story structure; montage; 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 Milk (Period 6 ONLY): Characterization of Harvey Milk; setting of the film (social fabric); story structure; cinematic aspects; the general plot.
• In Super High Me (Period 7 ONLY): Documentary film style; the film’s purpose and final observations; the general plot.   

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 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, 5/21 in room 452.

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

Good luck!

Test on Wed., 4/10

The test will focus on Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run, Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest and the key terms and concepts from chapters 2 and 8 from our textbook, Understanding Movies. Also, review everything from the beginning of the course, such as literary, dramatic, and cinematic elements, the definition of RotMI, 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 films, be sure to focus on these areas in your review:

• In Run Lola Run: 5 visual aesthetics, the formalistic aspects of the film's style and story structure, epigraph, birds-eye view shot, split screen, crane or boom shot, steadicam, chaos theory, motifs (spirals, etc.), 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 North By Northwest: director's cameo; day for night shooting; femme fatale; MacGuffin; final cut privileges; title credits; parody; montage; characterization and compression; visual irony; phallic symbol; visual foreshadowing; character subtext; "stealing a shot"; film subtexts; matte shot; "Becoming George Kaplan"; "The Matchless Eve Kendall"; "Murder scenes shot lovingly and love scenes shot murderously"; epiphany and character arc; how tension and suspense are created in "The Crop Dusting Scene." Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point 
• In Chapter 2 - Understanding Movies: 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.
• 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 at 2:35 p.m. on Wednesday, 4/9 in room 452.

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

Good luck!

Research Paper Requirements

Here's just about everything you need to know about the research paper. (Open the images in a new window or tab to enlarge it before printing.)

 

Writing an Argument: 'Piece By Piece'

Here's some information you might find useful as you prepare to write an argument placing "Piece By Piece" on the Style Spectrum for Documentaries.

First, the filmmaker's name is Sachi Schuricht, NOT what it says on the assignment sheet you received last week. (Sorry about that! I confused our film with another documentary of the same name.)

Second, if you'd like to see the entire documentary again before writing your essay, please schedule a time with me to do so before, during, or after school asap. Otherwise, you may find these links helpful:

• The first 7 minutes of "Piece By Piece" are viewable on Vimeo.com
• "Piece By Piece" is also available from the iTunes Store
• More information from the Tribeca Film Festival

Blog Topic #1 - COMMENT by 9:00 p.m. on Wed., 2/13

Comment by creating an annotated list of 5 movies with a theme: 5 all-time favorites, 5 funniest comedies, 5 worst sci-fi movies ever, 5 great movies of 2012, etc. Be creative!

NOTE: You cannot post to this blog from school; you must access it from home. 

Be sure to

• Give your list a TITLE that identifies its theme.
• NUMBER the movies in your list and give their titles.
• Follow each movie with a completely original 2-3 SENTENCE ANNOTATION explaining why it made your list.
• PROOFREAD your comment before you submit it! Comments that are not proofread will not count as having completed the assignment.
• SIGN your comment by ending with your FIRST NAME & LAST INITIAL.

Use my list below as a model:

Daszenski's 5 All-time Favorite Hitchcock Films

1. The Birds (1963) - Even though the special effects are no longer so special, this is still one of the best 'When Nature Goes Nuts' films. Night of the Living Dead owes a lot to Hitchcock: people trapped in a house during an unnatural apocalypse, no real closure, and enough claustrophobia to fill 3 movies.
2. North By Northwest (1959) - Madison Ave. executive or CIA assassin? Cary Grant plays Roger Thornhill who is chased across North America by the good guys and the bad guys for a crime he didn't commit. With his good looks and fancy suits, Thornhill was licensed to kill before James Bond ever hit the silver screen. 
3. Rear Window (1954) - Maybe the most intense ending of any Hitchcock film, this will teach you not to spy on your neighbors, no matter how bored you are.
4. Lifeboat (1944) - It's WWII and survivors from a ship torpedoed by the Nazis struggle to stay alive on the high seas. But what happens when one of the "survivors" is actually a Nazi? Oh, those Hitchcockian twists...
5. Notorious (1946) - Unforgettable war-time spy thriller set in South America with Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Claude Rains.

- Jim D.

And the Winner Is...

Hollywood's Academy Awards have the Oscar. RotMI has the Baby Daz.

The 4th Annual RotMI Winter Film Festival viewers have spoken! Congratulations to the winners of the coveted Baby Daz in the following categories:

BEST COMEDY
The Life of a Shredder (Josh, Daniel, Craig, Julia, Eric)

BEST PERFORMANCES
We Could Have Had It All  (Melissa, Jackie L., Lauren, Bradley, Max D.)

BEST ORIGINAL STORY
Second Chance (Justin, Melvin, Shivam)

BEST MUSIC
The English Paper (Dean, Teddy, Jordan)

And the winner of four awards...

BEST PICTURE 
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY 
BEST EDITING 
BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS
Wassermelone (Max S., Adin, Morgan, Mark, Matt)

Thanks for a great semester, everyone!

Vote!

The voting window for the 4th Annual RotMI Winter Film Festival Awards will be open until 9 p.m. this Saturday night.

Check your email for a link that will take you to an electronic ballot. Then check back here soon as we announce the winners!

Film Research Paper Checklist

Use this checklist before submitting your MLA research paper to Turnitin.com.

The essay is DUE at the start of class on Monday, 1/7/13.

Before submitting can you say that all boxes are legitimately checked?