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Test on Wednesday, December 13

The test will focus on Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot, 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 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 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 Tuesday, 12/12 in room 452.

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

Good luck!

Test on Wednesday, November 8

The test will focus on Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, and Weijun Chen's Please Vote For Me. 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 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? Documentary as genre: what's the purpose of a documentary? What did this film enlighten you about? The effect created by parallel editing or crosscutting. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.

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, 11/6 in room 452.

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

Good luck!

Reflecting on Your Reading Project Book

By now you've finished (or almost finished!) reading the film-related book you chose to read a few weeks ago, and now it's time to reflect back.

In a well-written reflection of 2-3 pages (typed and double-spaced) you should describe your reading experience. The most thorough reflections will consider the following:

• What kind of a reader are you? How much do you read for pleasure? What's your general attitude toward reading? Have your reading habits changed as you've gotten older?
• Was anything new about this experience? First book you've ever read on an iPad/Kindle? First time you've read a nonfiction book or book about film?
• What're your book's title and author?
• How did you choose your book? Where did you find it? Was it recommended by someone?
• What is the subject of the book?
• What expectations did you have? Did the book meet those expectations? Why or why not?
• What insights into the world of film have you gained? Give specifics and develop your examples. Use a direct quote to add specificity.
• Describe the experience of reading the book? Was it a quick read? Was it challenging? Was it pleasurable or not? Why?

If you've read a book that was adapted into a film then you've also watched the film and should discuss

• More than what's missing in the film that was in the book. Is there a pattern in what was cut? A sub-plot? An entire major character? What was the effect of the changes?
• Was material added? What's the effect of the new material?
• Do some research! Was the author any way involved in making the film?
• Describe the experience of reading the book versus seeing the film. Which did you prefer and why? 

Aside from being well-written, your reflection should be original, honest, and informal. It should also be typed, double-spaced and submitted to Turnitin.com by 11:59 p.m on Sunday, 10/29.

For an "A" you also need to effectively utilize a parenthetical statement, exercise some sentence length variety, and try one of the four openings as taught in class and, in the heading of your essay, state which opening you're using. For example:

Jane Doe
RotMI Reading Project Reflection
ANECDOTAL OPENING

Test on Wednesday, 10/11

The test will focus on Gus Van Sant's's Good Will Hunting 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, 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; 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 Chapter 1 - Understanding Movies: film style; various shots; framing; angles; lighting; cut, dissolve; eye-line match; deep focus; rack focus; diegetic, internal diegetic, and non-diegetic sound; authorial and subjective points of view, etc.

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

The approximate test breakdown: 60% multiple choice / 20% mini essay on Literary, Dramatic & Cinematic Aspects / 20% short answers

Good luck! 

The RotMI Reading Project

Here's a chance to read a great book about--what else--film!

By Friday, 9/29, find an appropriate book (see below) and bring it to class.

It may be a book...

• About a favorite film, such as The Jaws Log, the reflections of screenwriter Carl Gottlieb on the making of Jaws.
• Written by a critic that analyzes a film such as The Godfather (BFI Film Classics) or Star Wars (BFI Modern Classics). BFI is the British Film Institute and they've published many books for what they call Film Classics and Modern Classics.
• That was adapted into a film. Both The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me were originally written by Stephen King and can be found in one book called Different Seasons.
• Written by a director about how films are created, such as Sidney Lumet's Making Movies or David Mamet's On Directing Film.
• That interviews a groundbreaking person in Hollywood, such as Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman to ever win the Oscar for Best Director (The Hurt Locker): Kathryn Bigelow: Interviews
• That chronicles a director's life, such as Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light or an actor's autobiography, such as Michael J. Fox's Lucky Man: A Memoir. 

Whatever book you choose it should be between 100-300 pages, appropriate for a school assignment, and brought to class on Friday, 9/29. Books on iPads, Kindles or other electronic devices are more than welcome.

We'll discuss in class how we're going to write about our books and by when you need to finish reading. Just go find a great book about film!

And the Winner Is...

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

The 8th Annual RotMI Winter Film Festival viewers have spoken! Congratulations to the winners of the coveted Baby Daz in the following categories:




BEST MOCKUMENTARY

The Tortoise of Death (Ben C., Charles, Ari, Ryan M.)

BEST PERFORMANCES
Home Again (John-Carlos, Alexis, Sahaj, Andrew C.)

BEST MUSIC
Reunite (Caleb, Rohin, Liam, Paaras, Brandon M.)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

We have a tie!
Bruh. (Simon, Josh, James, Evan, Abin) and Return of Darkness (Hardy, Leo, Ben Z., Jay, George)

from Bruh.

from Return of Darkness

BEST EDITING
Bruh. (Simon, Josh, James, Evan, Abin)

BEST DOCUMENTARY

A Day in the Life (Brad, Bradley, Max, Jake)

BEST PICTURE
Reunite (Caleb, Rohin, Liam, Paaras, Brandon M.)

Thanks for a great semester, everyone!