High Noon and HUAC

As I stated in class, High Noon is an allegory for what was going on in the United States at the time regarding the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). You might want to read through this short article on HUAC (and anything else you find as well)...

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3048900288&v=2.1&u=nysl_we_bcsd&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w

Discuss in 2 paragraphs how Fred Zinneman portrays this allegory cinematically through the story of Will Kane and his quest to enlist help to crush Miller and his gang.

Also, in one paragraph, discuss the use of time and how Zinneman portrays time passage cinematically in his film.

Due: January 3

The Searchers & the American Indian Portrayal on Film

Think about the portrayal of the American Indian and the portrayal of the whites in The Searchers. Discuss in a hearty paragraph how John Ford cinematically portrays each group. Then think specifically about Ethan and Scar and use your second paragraph to discuss how Ford cinematically portrays each of them specifically. In your last paragraph, discuss how the American Indian has been portrayed in film as you learned in Reel Injun. Feel free to write more than I've asked. This is a huge subject. Extra credit goes to those who comment on a classmates' comment or comments.

DUE: Friday, December 14

Mean Streets

Discuss CINEMATICALLY the themes of redemption and religion in Mean Streets.

Due: Monday, December 10

Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver is a film about many things, but overall it is about the theme of isolation and focuses on one particular loner in a big city who can be construed as an antihero. It is a film that draws from many genres: the Western, horror, noir, and was also influenced by the films of the Italians (DeSica, Rosselini, Fellini).

Discuss, in at least two paragraphs, the themes of isolation and/or the antihero and how Scorsese's film is influenced by the different genres and by the Italians.

Due: Friday, November 30. Along with pages 1-6 of your Independent Study!

Amarcord

This should be easy. Choose a scene in the film (any scene!) and analyze it in depth. Be sure to discuss its sociocultural influences, why you chose the scene, and how the scene relates to the film as a whole. Your response should be thoughtful and along the lines of what you'll do next month. Be thorough--at least 3 paragraphs.

Due: Monday, November 19.

La Strada

Roger Ebert, in his Great Films essay on La Strada, says:

"It is Quinn's performance that holds up best, because it is the simplest. Zamano is not much more intelligent than Gelsomina. Life has made him a brute and an outcast, with one dumb trick (breaking a chain by expanding his chest muscles), and a memorized line of patter that was perhaps supplied to him by a circus owner years before. His tragedy is that he loves Gelsomina and does not know it, and that is the central tragedy for many of Fellini's characters: They are always turning away from the warmth and safety of those who understand them, to seek restlessly in the barren world."

Fellini has given us a film about outcasts. How do the roles of these outcasts reflect on each other? Do you see any signs of redemption? Choose a character and examine how that character redeems him or herself and how that character is cinematically presented as an outcast by society. Be mindful of all of Fellini's symbolism! Do this in at least 3 hearty paragraphs.

Due: Monday, October 29

Tying it all together...

Think about the three films we've watched so far in this unit--Let the Right One In, Ringu, and The Shining, and choose 2 to use in your essay. Choose one of these two prompts:

• Examine all aspects of mise-en-scene (lighting, composition, set, properties, etc.). This would include colors as well. Discuss the concept of "monster" through the mise-en-scene in each film. This exercise will help to prepare you for your Independent Study and your Oral Presentation. Examine CLOSELY and offer me many details and examples. Think about what the director is trying to say IMPLICITLY. Tie both films in with each other. Discuss similarities and differences in the mise-en-scene in both films. Please do this in 4 well-developed paragraphs.

OR

• Choose a five minute scene in both films and examine the role of women and how they are portrayed in your selected scenes and in the films as a whole. Be sure to discuss this topic CINEMATICALLY. How does the director show us? Do this in 4 well-developed paragraphs.

DUE: Friday, October 19

Ringu

Remember how to look at a film through a feminist lens? Choose a five-minute scene in Ringu and examine the role of woman and how they are portrayed in your selected scene and the film as a whole. Be sure to discuss this topic CINEMATICALLY. How does the director show us? Do this in 3 well developed paragraphs. You might want to look up essays by such big names as Tania Modleski, Laura Mulvey, and Molly Haskell--extra credit for reference to any of their essays. You must state the title of the essay and use at least one quote. I have some books in the library that could help you with this.

DUE: Monday, October 8

Horror Mise-en-Scene

I want you to think about the mise-en-scene in Let the Right One In. Examine all aspects of mise-en-scene: lighting, composition, set, properties, etc. This would include colors as well. Discuss the concept of "monster" through the mise-en-scene of the film. This exercise will help prepare you for your Independent Study. Examine CLOSELY and offer me many details and examples. Think about what the director is trying to say IMPLICITLY. Please do this in 2 well-developed paragraphs.

Video Contest--Dues Oct. 14

Dr. Kresse just sent this link to me. It's a video contest for anti-bullying. It doesn't look like it would be too hard for any of you to do and the grand prize is $2000. Here's the link.

The Passion of Joan of Arc

This response is due Friday, September 28. You get extra credit if you write your own response and also respond to someone else's quote (agreeing or disagreeing).

Please choose one essay prompt and write at least 2-3 well-developed paragraphs.

Essay #1: From Roger Ebert's essay on The Passion of Joan of Arc:

"There is not one single establishing shot in all of 'The Passion of Joan of Arc,'' which is filmed entirely in closeups and medium shots, creating fearful intimacy between Joan and her tormentors. Nor are there easily read visual links between shots. In his brilliant shot-by-shot analysis of the film, David Bordwell of the University of Wisconsin concludes: 'Of the film's over 1,500 cuts, fewer than 30 carry a figure or object over from one shot to another; and fewer than 15 constitute genuine matches on action.'''

Many avant garde films also do not have matches on action or carryover shots. Compare The Passion of Joan of Arc to one of the avant garde films we watched in regards to editing and miss-en-scene.

Essay #2: From the Ib Monty article I gave you:

"When the film was released, the close-up technique was regarded as shocking. Dreyer defended his method by stating: 'The records give a shattering impression on the ways in which the trial was a conspiracy of the judges against the solitary Jeanne, bravely defending herself against men who displayed a devilish cunning to trap her in their net. This conspiracy could be conveyed on the screen only through the huge close-ups, that exposed, with merciless realism, the callous cynicism of the judges hidden behind hypocritical compassion— and on the other hand there had to be equally huge close-ups of Jeanne, whose pure features would reveal that she alone found strength in her faith in God.' As in all of Dreyer's major films the style grew out of the theme of the film. In La passion de Jeanne d'Arc Dreyer wanted 'to move the audience so that they would themselves feel the suffering that Jeanne endured.' It was by using close-up that Dreyer could 'lead the audience all the way into the hearts and guts of Jeanne and the judges.'"

Agree or disagree with this quote.

Jonas Mekas

As promised, here is the interview with Jonas Mekas. And here is his web site. Be sure to watch Self-Portrait and A Walk.

Avant Garde/Experimental Film

Choose 3 of the films we watched in class and answer the following questions. Answer all questions for each film to create at least 3 hearty paragraphs.

Le Retour a la Raison
Entr'acte
Le Ballet Mecanique
Un Chien Andalou
Meshes of the Afternoon

What do you notice about the film's presentation of cinematic space? What do you see onscreen? For example, lots of landscapes or closeups? Moving or static camera?

How does the director's use of lighting help to create meaning?

Do you identify with the camera's lens? What does the director compel you to see? What is left to your imagination? What does the director leave out altogether? Describe the mise-en-scene and how it helps to create meaning in the film.

What implicit meaning do you find in the film?

Due: Monday, 9/24

Independent Study 2013

This summer you are required to come up with your overarching theme and your 4 films that you'll use in your independent study next year. I have a great starting off point to help you narrow down your theme and films. Strictly Film School is a great resource for this. They classify films by genre, theme, and imagery.

Be ready when you come back to school to share this with the class in the first week on the blog.

Spirited Away and Persepolis

Think cinematically about both films and their female characters. Using cinematic evidence, write two paragraphs about how females are portrayed in each film. You will look at the films through a feminist lens. Additionally, write one paragraph on how the main female character's strength is portrayed cinematically.

For anyone interested, there is a good film guide to Persepolis here.

Due: Friday, June 8.

White Heat

In at least 3 hearty paragraphs, discuss White Heat, as well as the characteristics of the gangster genre and its role as an art form. In your discussion, bring in another gangster film you've seen on your own (The Godfather, Goodfellas, etc.). Your discussion should be in relation to the Warshow article I handed out on Wednesday and the idea of the gangster as an individual. I want to see at least 2 quotes from the article in your discussion. Don't forget, your film textbook has a great section on gangster genre.


Due: Monday May 21.

Bonnie and Clyde

Think about the following two excerpts from the Kael article. Choose one and explain if you agree or disagree with the quote and why. Choose a scene from the film to back up your statements and discuss the quote and the scene cinematically. Be sure to use the cinematic vocabulary you have learned thus far. Also, choose one scene and in one paragraph discuss any influence you see from any scene in The 400 Blows.


Quote #1:
"[It's]because the young French directors discovered the poetry of crime in American life (from our movies) and showed the Americans how to put it on the screen in a new, "existential" way. Melodramas and gangster movies and comedies were always more our speed than 'prestigious,' 'distinguished' pictures; the French directors who grew up on American pictures found poetry in our fast action, laconic speech, plain gestures. And because they understood that you don't express your love of life by denying the comedy or the horror of it, they brought out the poetry in our tawdry subjects. Now Arthur Penn, working with a script heavily influenced--one might almost say inspired--by Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player, unfortunately imitates Truffaut's artistry instead of going back to its tough American sources. The French may tenderize their American material, but we shouldn't. That turns into another way of making 'prestigious,' 'distinguished' pictures."

Quote #2
"Suddenly, in the last few years, our view of the world has gone beyond 'good taste.' Tasteful suggestions of violence would at this point be a more grotesque form of comedy than Bonnie and Clyde attempts. Bonnie and Clyde needs violence; violence is its meaning. When, during a comically botched-up getaway, a man is shot in the face, the image is obviously based on one of the most famous sequences in Eisenstein's Potemkin, and the startled face is used the same way it was in Potemkin--to convey in an instant how someone who just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, the irrelevant 'innocent' bystander, can get it full in the face. And at that instant the meaning of Clyde Barrow's character changes; he's still a clown, but we've become the butt of the joke.

The 400 Blows

I hope you all have read the Marilyn Fabe essay I gave you. If you haven't yet, go away from your computer right now and take 15 minutes to read the essay.

OK. Now, take a look at this quote from Truffaut in a 1966 interview:

"Before I met Rossellini, I wanted to make films of course, but it seemed impossible. A dream. He made it all seem easy. He has a powerful gift for simplification. He told me, it isn't hard to write a screenplay, you only have to look at the reality around you...The 400 Blows owes a great deal to Rossellini...[H]e showed me that things must be close to life."

Think about this quote and respond to it, using at least one scene from The 400 Blows. Feel free to include evidence from Rome Open City to back up any statements you make regarding Rossellini's filmmaking style. Write at least 3 meaty paragraphs (be sure to write cinematically) and use at least one quote from the Marilyn Fabe essay. Also, tell me your favorite scene and why (cinematically).

Due Wednesday, May 2.

The Awful Truth

Think about the film's mise-en-scene. Choose a scene in the film and discuss the mise-en-scene (costumes, set, properties, etc.) and its relation to the scene and the film as a whole. Use at least 2 hearty paragraphs for your discussion.

Also, please post your favorite line from the film.

Bicycle Thieves Assignment

I want you to analyze a scene from Bicycle Thieves. Please use the Internet sparingly--don't get caught up in what you read online about the film. The IB (and I) want to hear what you have to say!

Remember, this assignment is MORE practice for the Presentation assessment next year. Choose a 5-minute scene in Bicycle Thieves to analyze. 

After you have your 5-minute scene chosen, analyze it completely. Remember that you need to mention WHY you chose the scene and this scene's relation to the film as a whole. In addition, pay close attention to: mise-en-scene, lighting, camera angles, shot types, etc. Here is a list of items to pay attention to when you are writing your 750 words (at least) and when you do your oral presentation:

How well do I understand how meaning is constructed through the use of film language in this extract?

How well do I understand the extract's relationship to the film as a whole?

How well do I understand the influences of the film's genre?

How well can I place the film and this extract in a broader socio-cultural context?

How insightful is my analysis of the director's intention?

How coherent, incisive, insightful, and detailed is my evaluative interpretation of this scene?

Here is a list of "vocal" you can use:

narrative

direction

cinematography

mise-en-scene

framing

lighting (which is often, but not always, considered part of mise-en-scene)

camera movement

editing

sound (diegetic and non-diegetic)

Be sure your essay is AT LEAST 750 words. Let your ideas flow. Don't keep counting words and they will come. As you start talking about what you see and hear in the film you won't want to stop!

Please see me/email me with questions if needed.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO DISCUSS IMPLICIT MEANING AS YOU ANALYZE THE SCENE AND USE SPECIFIC EXAMPLES!!!

This is due Wednesday, April 4. Feel free to email me your completed essay.

Rome Open City assignment

I want you to analyze a scene from Rome Open City. Please use the Internet sparingly--don't get caught up in what you read online about the film. The IB (and I) want to hear what you have to say!

Remember, this assignment is MORE practice for the Presentation assessment next year. Choose a 5-minute scene in Rome Open City to analyze. 

After you have your 5-minute scene chosen, analyze it completely. Remember that you need to mention WHY you chose the scene and this scene's relation to the film as a whole. In addition, pay close attention to: mise-en-scene, lighting, camera angles, shot types, etc. Here is a list of items to pay attention to when you are writing your 750 words (at least) and when you do your oral presentation:

How well do I understand how meaning is constructed through the use of film language in this extract?

How well do I understand the extract's relationship to the film as a whole?

How well do I understand the influences of the film's genre?

How well can I place the film and this extract in a broader socio-cultural context?

How insightful is my analysis of the director's intention?

How coherent, incisive, insightful, and detailed is my evaluative interpretation of this scene?

Here is a list of "vocal" you can use:

narrative

direction

cinematography

mise-en-scene

framing

lighting (which is often, but not always, considered part of mise-en-scene)

camera movement

editing

sound (diegetic and non-diegetic)

Be sure your essay is AT LEAST 750 words. Let your ideas flow. Don't keep counting words and they will come. As you start talking about what you see and hear in the film you won't want to stop!

Please see me/email me with questions if needed.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO DISCUSS IMPLICIT MEANING AS YOU ANALYZE THE SCENE AND USE SPECIFIC EXAMPLES!!!

This is due Wednesday, March 28. Feel free to email me your completed essay.

All About Me Reflection

I want at least 750 words in which you reflect on your experience making your All About Me project. Please touch on the following:

• Planning and research--Discuss how you came up with your idea and how you went about putting your plans on paper. Did your final product match? What changed and why?
• Reflection and evaluation--Include artistic and logistical analysis of your production processes and provide critical evaluation of the project as a whole.
• Effective use of film language--Discuss your use of film language throughout the project.

Due: Wednesday, 2/8 (half day)

Blood Simple Assignment

Due: Monday, January 23

Blood Simple is from the genre of neo-noir. You have now watched 2 films from the noir category (one American, one French) and one from the category of neo-noir (American). Think about Blood Simple and one of the other films we have watched and discuss one of the following:

•  the role of the female and her relationship with the “bad guy” (who can also be a female) and how this relationship is represented cinematically by the filmmakers
• the “bad guy” and his/her violence and how he/she and the violence is represented cinematically by the filmmakers

For a high grade, you must:

• provide examples from the film to back up your argument
• speak cinematically and use your cinematic vocabulary
• show what you know about the genre of film noir
• include quotes from any film essays you’ve read on the subjects (women, noir, etc.)

Great site for Cinephiles

Movie Title Stills Collection

Rififi

This assignment is MORE practice for the Presentation assessment next year. Choose a 5 minute scene in Rififi to analyze. 

After you have your 5 minute scene chosen, analyze it completely. Remember that you need to mention why you chose the scene and this scene's relation to the film as a whole. In addition, pay close attention to: mise en scene, lighting, camera angles, shot types, etc. Here is a list of items to pay attention to when you are writing your 750 words (at least) and when you are doing your oral presentation:

• How well do I understand how meaning is constructed through the use of film language in this extract?
• How well do I understand the extract’s relationship to the film as a whole?
• How well do I understand the influences of the film’s genre?
• How well can I place the film and this extract in a broader socio-cultural context?
• How insightful is my analysis of the director’s intention?
• How coherent, incisive, insightful, and detailed is my evaluative interpretation of this contract?

Here is a list of "vocab" you can use:
narrative
direction
cinematography
mise-en-scene
lighting (which is often, but not always, considered part of mise-en-scene)
camera movement
editing
sound (diagetic and non-diagetic)

Be sure your paper is AT LEAST 750 words. Let your ideas flow. Don't keep counting words and they will come. I promise you. As you start talking about what you see and hear in the film, you won't want to stop!

Please see me/email me with questions if needed.

Blog Response--Mildred Pierce

I hope you have read the Mulvey article fully. I want you to choose one of the following quotes and respond to the quote using a 5-minute scene in Mildred Pierce. Your response should be at least 3 paragraphs and should include specific examples and another quote from the article to back up your statements. Be thorough. This is due Friday, 1/6.

Statement #1:
"In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its projects its phantasy on to the female figure which is styled accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness...This alien presence [of woman] then has to be integrated into cohesion with the narrative. As Budd Boetticher has put it: 'What counts is what the heroine provokes, or rather what she represents. She is the one, or rather the love or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself the woman has not the slightest importance.'"

Statement #2:
"An active/passive heterosexual division of labour has similarly controlled narrative structure. According to the principles of the ruling ideology and the psychical structures that back it up, the male figure cannot bear the burden of sexual objectification. Man is reluctant to gaze at his exhibitionist like. Hence the split between spectacle and narrative supports the man's role as the active one of forwarding the story, making things happen. The man controls the film phantasy and also emerges as the representative of power in a further sense: as the bearer of the look of the spectator, transferring it behind the screen to neutralise the extra-diegetic tendencies represented by woman as spectacle. This is made possible through the processes set in motion by structuring the film around a main controlling figure with whom the spectator can identify."