Test on Tuesday, 3/13

The test will focus on Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, Weijun Chen’s Please Vote For Me, Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run, 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 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 Jaws: genre: thriller; metonymy; the "Jaws Shot"; triadic composition as motif; long take; DVD special features; story structure; how sound contributes to both mood and character; cameo; Quint's monologue on the USS Indianapolis. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• In Please Vote For Me: 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 Run Lola Run: 5 visual aesthetics, epigraph, birds-eye view shot, split screen, pastiche, crane or boom shot, chaos theory/butterfly effect, 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.

• Key Terms and the Effects They Create: visual rhetoric; cut; dissolve; long take; eye-line match; deep focus; soft (shallow) focus; diegetic, non-diegetic & internal diegetic sound; authorial & subjective points of view; visual, audio, and text tracks in documentaries; film style spectrum (realism, classicism, formalism) and documentary film style spectrum--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 at 2:35 p.m. on Monday, 3/12 in room 452.

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

Good luck!

Blog Topic #2 - COMMENT by 9:00 p.m. on Friday, 3/2

For our second Blog Comment Home Work, watch the short documentary Hilary's Straws 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 the short documentary Hilary's Straws and leave a comment that responds to the following questions:

1. We've defined documentaries as nonfiction films that are usually shot on location, use actual persons, rather than actors, and focus thematically on historical, scientific, social, or environmental subjects. Their principal purpose is to enlighten, inform, educate, persuade, and provide insight into the world in which we live. How has this film enlightened, informed, educated or persuaded you about?
2. How does the filmmaker want you to feel about Hilary? Explain.
3. In terms of the VISUAL TRACK (images) or the AUDIO TRACK (voices, music, sound effects, etc.), what's one element that significantly contributes to create that "feeling." Explain.

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.


BE SURE TO SIGN YOUR COMMENT WITH YOUR FIRST NAME & LAST INITIAL!

And the winner is...

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

The 3rd Annual RotMI Winter Film Festival viewers have spoken! Congratulations to the winners of the coveted Baby Daz in the following categories:

BEST STORY
Behind The Curtains (Tyler, Kevin, Jae)

BEST COMEDY
Mr. Wrong (Amanda, Jennifer)

BEST PERFORMANCES
The Visit (Justin C., Matt, Joash)

BEST ART PRODUCTION
Night of the Living Japanese (Crystal, Isaac, Kerry)

BEST EDITING
Aurora (Arisa, Anita)

BEST PICTURE | BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY | BEST MUSIC
By My Side (Tom)

Congratulations to the winners! Thanks for a great semester!

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!