Test on Tuesday, December 6

The test will focus on Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho,  Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, and the key terms and concepts from Chapter 2 of our textbook, Understanding Movies. Be sure to look over your notes, your homework assignments, and all Viewing Guides and handouts. Also, know how to define "rhetoric" and be able to give an example of "rhetoric of the moving image." Along with the general plot, key quotes, 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; epigraphs; birds-eye view shot; split screen; Butterfly Effect; motifs (spirals, clocks, etc.), montage; flash forward; red filter; freeze frame; web of life plot; and Lola as hero. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• In Psycho: shooting day for night; voyeurism; MacGuffin; parallel editing or crosscutting; director's cameo; motifs of mirrors and birds; the shower scene; the characterization of Norman Bates; the final image; and the groundbreaking features of the film in general. 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 vs. the classical paradigm; montage; racial tensions in NYC; and Spike Lee's DVD Special Features. 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.

This is only a general guide and not necessarily 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 Monday, 12/5 in room 452.

The approximate test breakdown: 60% multiple choice / 20% mini essay on mise en scene / 20% short answers

Good luck!

Extra Credit Hitchcock Project

Not everyone has to go to college, but if you're planning to and didn't so well on our last test, here's an extra credit option for the first quarter:

Choose an Alfred Hitchcock film you've never seen before, watch it, and submit your answers to the questions below on Turnitin.com. Here are the DUE dates:

November 9: Submit the title and year of your film to MrD at the beginning of class. Make sure it's a film you're able see; there are no substitutions.

November 14: Submit your typed and double-spaced responses to the questions below to Turnitin.com by 3 p.m.

Missing either of these deadlines makes you ineligible for extra credit. Also, make sure you do your own work and that what you submit is 100% original. This is not a collaborative effort; do NOT show your work to anyone else, compare notes, or use the work of another "as a reference."

EXTRA CREDIT QUESTIONS

1) What's the title and year of your film? (Remember to underline film titles!)

2) Hitchcock's films often revolve around murder, betrayal, love, and a man/woman on the run. Which of these elements apply to your film? Give specific examples.

3) Hitchcock saw himself as the Master of Suspense. What's suspenseful about your film and how, through sound or visuals, does he create suspense? Be specific.

4) Define "voyeurism." What moments of voyeurism are in your film: does a character spy on or watch the movements of another character? Does Hitchcock use subjective POV to turn us, the viewers, into voyeurs?! Give specific details.

5) How does your film compare to Psycho? How is it similar or different visually or in terms of its themes. Again, give specifics and develop your ideas.

Test on Monday, 5/16

The test will focus on Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot, Asghar Faradi's A Separation, the Student Choice Film for your period, and the key terms and concepts from Chapter 2 of our textbook, Understanding Movies. Be sure to look over your notes, your homework assignments, and all Viewing Guides and handouts. Also, know how to define "rhetoric" and be able to give an example of "rhetoric of the moving image." Along with the general plot, key quotes, and character developments of our films, be sure to focus on these areas in your review:

• In A Separation: Visual and physical separations in the mise en scene; how is the depiction of life in modern Tehran, Iran similar and different to life in the west?; drama as genre; long takes at the film's beginning and end; what crucial information is not divulged at the end of the film? Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.

• In Some Like It Hot: Comic structure (beginning with social upheaval and ending in harmony); comedy as "serious fun"; Sugar's songs' lyrics; Screwball Comedy; curtain line; swish pan and its effect as visual rhetoric; filmed in black and white for a reason; parallel editing (crosscutting); using proxemic patterns to create humor; Kinds of Comedy: parody, sight gags, slapstick, repartee, situational comedy, sexual innuendo, phallic symbols, running gag, dramatic irony, and meta-filmic moments. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• In American Beauty (Period 1) OR The Sixth Sense (Period 2): Be familiar with the characters, plot developments, and the concepts discussed in class. 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.

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 Thursday, 5/12 in room 452.

The approximate test breakdown: 60% multiple choice / 40% short answers

Good luck!

How to Conduct a Mise en Scène Analysis

❶ Let your eyes wander around this frame from North By Northwest for a few minutes. Using “The Elements of a Mise en Scène Analysis” handout you received in class, analyze the frame considering the following elements numbered 1, 3, 9, 10, 11, 13 and 15.

❷ Write a 1-2 page typed and double-spaced mise en scène analysis that ultimately describes the frame’s significance to the film as a whole and/or something significant regarding the characters in the frame. 

❸ I suggest this as a structure for your essay: 

❡1 - A brief description of the frame’s context–who is in the frame, what’s their relationship, and what’s happening at this moment in the story. 

❡2 - A breakdown of the elements numbered above (1, 3, 9, etc.) Make sure you explain your responses: how do you know it's Closed Form, for example. And what makes the Dominant the Dominant?

❡3 - An analysis of how those elements contribute to the frame’s overall meaning or significance.

 Look over the model mise en scène analysis provided in class and click on the image above to get a closer look.

 Submit your analysis via Turnitin.com by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, 4/11.

Test on Monday, 2/29

The test will focus on Steven Spielberg's Jaws and the key terms and concepts from chapter 1 of our textbook, Understanding Movies. Also, review everything from the beginning of the course, such as literary, dramatic, and cinematic aspects, etc. Look over your notes, your homework assignments, and all Viewing Guides and handouts.

 

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

• In Jaws: The aspects of classical cinema; thriller as genre; metonymy; the "Jaws Shot"; triadic composition as motif; long take; DVD special features; continuity errors; cameo; Quint's monologue on the USS Indianapolis. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.

• Key Terms and the Effects They Create: framing, camera angles, visual rhetoric (the definition of RotMI); deep focus; rack focus; diegetic and non-diegetic sound; authorial and subjective points of view--and EVERYTHING FROM CHAPTER ONE of our textbook! 

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, 2/25 in room 452 at 2:35 p.m.

UPDATE: Approximate test breakdown: 60% multiple choice / 20% short answer (on classical cinema) / 20% short answer (LCD aspects)

Good luck!

And the Winner Is...

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

The 7th Annual RotMI Winter Film Festival viewers have spoken! Congratulations to the winners of the coveted Baby Daz in the following categories:


BEST MOCKUMENTARY

The Jackie Phenomenon (Jackie, Caroline, Karen, Michelle)

BEST PERFORMANCES
Fantasy (George, Mark, Jack)

BEST MUSIC
The Blind Date (Elora & Katia)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
We have a tie!

Agent Suit and Tie (Danny) & Untitled (Santiago, Andrew Ko.)

BEST EDITING
Fantasy (George, Mark, Jack)

BEST HORROR FILM
Christmas Lights (Brian, Bryant, Matthew, Tyrone)

BEST FILM BY AN AUTEUR

Surprise! (Ali)

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Fashion Show 2016 (Annie, Sophie, Tanya)

BEST LOCATION SHOOTING

Equador in 7 Days (Orly, Elise)

BEST PICTURE
The Jackie Phenomenon (Jackie, Caroline, Karen, Michelle)


Thanks for a great semester, everyone!