Final Exam Project Written Reflection

Click on the image to get the requirements for the Final Exam Project written reflection. Then check out the Film Terminology list to make sure your film exhibits at least 5 of these cinematic elements and 1 camera movement.

Submit your reflection to Turnitin.com by 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 6.

Student Choice Film

It's time for our class to pick the next film we'll study!

For the next few days we'll be accepting student-nominated selections and, afterwards, we'll vote on which film the class will see. (Each class section will choose its own film, but we need at least 4-5 nominations per class to make this work.)

If you wish to nominate a film, you must leave a comment below with the following information NO LATER THAN Monday, 5/7 at 9 p.m.:

1) The film's title, director, and year it was released (check IMDB.com for this info)

2) 2-3 sentences about why you're nominating this film. If you've seen it before, why do you think viewing the film would be a valuable experience for the class? If you haven't seen it, why are you nominating it?

Also,

• The film you're nominating should be no longer than 2 hours (less than this would be even better!) and its content should be appropriate for our class.
• 1 nomination per person. 
• "Sign" your comment with your first name and last initial!

Test on Wednesday, 4/25

The test will focus on Sam Mendes' American Beauty, Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times, Alfred Hitchcock's North By Northwest, and the key terms and concepts from chapter 2 from our textbook, Understanding Movies. Be sure to look over your notes, your homework assignments, and all Viewing Guides and handouts (especially regarding the Classical Paradigm and Episodic narrative structure). 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 also focus on these areas in your review:

• In Modern Times: Film as important social/historical document; silent film; inter-title; characterization of “The Tramp”; episodic structure; motifs; sight gags and slapstick; final shot. DVD Special Features: deleted scene; original ending; talkies; 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 American Beauty: formalism as film style; what do we see when we "look closer"?; possible meanings of the film's title; 3-act structure; parallel editing; Drama as genre. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• In North By Northwest: 3-act structure; 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.

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 Tuesday, 4/24 in room 452.

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

Good luck!

Writing a Mise en Scène Analysis

❶ Let your eyes wander around this frame from Modern Times 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, 14, 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 Wednesday, 4/18.

Key Concepts for Chapter 2

There will be a very brief Reading Reward (quiz) on TUESDAY, 4/10 [NEW DATE] on some of the key concepts from Chapter 2 of our textbook, Understanding Movies. The best way to prepare is to thoroughly read Chapter 2, completing the fill-in-the-blank handout (on Google Classroom) as you go, and focusing on the following terms and concepts:

• Mise en scène
• Aspect ratio
• The dominant
• Open form vs. closed form
• Proxemic patterns
• Classical composition

Good luck!

Test on Wednesday, 3/7

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 conventions of classical cinema; thriller as genre; metonymy; the "Jaws Shot"; triadic composition as motif; long take; visual foreshadowing; 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 (shot types), camera angles, lighting (high/low key, neutral); visual rhetoric (the definition of RotMI); deep focus; shallow/soft focus; rack/selective focus; eye-line match; diegetic, non-diegetic, and internal 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 Tuesday, 3/6 in room 452 at 2:35 p.m.

UPDATE: Approximate test breakdown: 60% multiple choice / 20% mini-essay (on classical cinema) / 20% short answers

Good luck!

Key Concepts for Chapter 1

There will be a very brief Reading Reward (QUIZ) on Monday, 2/12 on some of the key concepts from Chapter 1 of our textbook, Understanding Movies. The best way to prepare is to thoroughly read Chapter 1, completing the fill-in-the-blank handout (that you received in class) as you go, and focusing on the following terms and concepts:

• Film style: Realism, formalism & classical cinema
• Shots: Long, medium, close-up and the effects they create
• Angles: Eye-level, high, low, birds-eye view, and oblique (also known as canted or dutch) and the effects they create
• The role of the cinematographer
• Photography: Soft-focus, deep-focus, and rack focusing (selective focusing)

Good luck!