"Pitch a Movie Idea" Contest: Tonight

Objective: to pitch a movie idea that explains your designs for a future film. You must discuss choices that will impact the visual and auditory aspects of the film (e.g., editing styles, composition, sound mixing, costumes, set design, lighting, etc.).

Competing for:

(1) free pass on last blog assignment

(2) drop lowest quiz grade

(3) 20 extra credit points added to your final grade calculation

Blog Assignment 5/6: Experimental Films and The Spectator Experience

"Site Specific: Las Vegas 05" (Olivo Barbieri, 2006)

In our textbook, Scott MacDonald is quoted as saying that avant-garde films may evoke frustration because, “these films confront us with the necessity of redefining an experience we were sure we understood” (Pramaggiore, 293). Referring to the spectator experience, MacDonald suggests that viewers encounter avant-garde and experimental films differently than traditional commercial films. The difference can be attributed to two factors: (1) the viewing space and (2) the visual/auditory material.

For the majority of this semester, we have re-created the traditional viewing experience: sitting in a darkened room, watching images projected on a large screen, listening and watching intently as a narrative unfolds before our eyes. But, as we discussed at the beginning of the semester, film viewing did not start out this way…spectators originally confronted short films in tents on fairgrounds or in storefront shops. Today, avant-garde and experimental films are most commonly encountered in museums, smaller theaters at film festivals, and on the Internet.

The way such films are seen, however, is not the only thing that challenges established notions of what watching film entails. Avant-garde film style asks us to re-think what film art encompasses through modifications of sound and image collision, non-narrative structure, philosophical and political subject matter, and visual expression.

For this Blog Assignment you will write two paragraphs: one discussing an avant-garde film screened in class and another thinking through contemporary notions of the spectator experience.

First, write a paragraph analyzing one of the short avant-garde films we screened in class (see handout for a complete list and links to each short). Answer this question:

How did this film make me re-think film art and/or the spectator experience?

In your second paragraph, respond to one of the following questions:

1. Today many spectators view films on computers or television sets, which is inherently different from viewing a movie on a big screen in a darkened room or theater. Have new movie-viewing practices changed the way we think about the cinema?

2. YouTube has made both avant-garde films and home-made video experiments available to a large viewing public. Does the YouTube Generation think about experimental videos differently than previous generations (who could only see such films in “art” environments)?

3. When YouTube videos and experimental shorts “go viral,” they receive public attention that rivals that of cult film publicity. Discuss one experience you have had in which you encountered a viral short video online. Do you think of such videos as “film” or categorize them as something else? Explain your answer.

REQUIREMENTS: 300 words minimum. Post must be live by 5:00 pm on Friday, April 8, 2011.

Blog Assignment #4: Writing with Style

Writing film criticism should be, first and foremost, about relaying some essence of the film to the reader. By “essence,” I am not referring to a film’s overall thematic material or argumentative objective; rather, I am referring to the style of the film. V.F. Perkins distinguishes between films that have manner (ones that are mainly concerned with how they tell a story; i.e., the narrative structure) and those which achieve style (those that incorporate elements of form that contribute to the film’s content).

Style is achieved through form.

Film is ultimately a visual and aural medium. The forms that attribute to a film’s style -- elements of mise-en-scene, editing and transitions, shot composition, and sound – can distinguish between a mediocre film that, although it may be entertaining, achieves only manner and a film that achieves style.

In the same way, when writing criticism, concentration on form is paramount to criticism that captures the given film’s essence.

The Hurt Locker (Katherine Bigelow, 2008)

GROUP TWO:

For this blog assignment, you will write 2 separate paragraphs:

(1) For the first paragraph, describe the opening scene from The Hurt Locker (2008). Your description should attempt to relate the essence of the scene. Think carefully about word choice, sentence length, pacing throughout the paragraph, and transition words. Your objective is twofold: (a) to give your reader a sense of what is happening on the screen through your description, and (b) to discuss the cinematic techniques at hand which evoke the essence of the scene (e.g., editing and pacing, camera movement, point of view shots, and/or composition).

Watch the opening scene HERE.

(2) For the second paragraph, COMPARE the opening scene with another scene in the same film. This paragraph does not have to mimic the style in the same way your first paragraph should. Instead, you can concentrate on comparing the cinematic techniques employed by Katherine Bigelow in two different scenes. Conclude this paragraph with a one-sentence statement about the EFFECT of the FORM used in this film.

REQUIREMENTS: 300 words minimum. You must use at least 2 vocabulary words from list #3. BOLD each vocabulary word you use. Post must be live by 5:00 pm on Friday, March 4, 2011.

GROUP ONE:

Your objective is to continue the conversation begun in paragraph one by COMPARING the opening scene with a different scene from the film. Choose a peer's blog, read the first paragraph (the descriptive one) carefully. Then, building from the observations made by the writer about the opening scene, ADD to that person's blog by writing ONE PARAGRAPH that compares the opening with a scene DIFFERENT from the one s/he wrote about in her/his second paragraph. In other words, you will be completing the second part of the assignment described above for Group 2.

REQUIREMENTS: 150 Words Minimum. You must use at least 2 vocabulary words from list #3. BOLD each vocabulary word you use. Post must be live by midnight on Saturday, March 5, 2011.

Blog Assignment #3: Film Criticism Today -- A Single Man

GROUP ONE:

In "Against Interpretation," Susan Sontag asserts that "desirable" criticism should encompass two elements: (1) concentration on form and (2) "accurate, sharp, loving description of the appearance of a work of art." Yet, as Dudley Andrew points out in "Susan Sontag and The Criticism of Cinema's Modernity: An Introduction," criticism since the 1990s has been replaced with box office reports. As he explains, "USA Today [...] led the trend [...] to eliminate discursive film criticism altogether, replacing it with box office standings. In this era of market democracy why not let the people point to the films that need to be seen? Why not let the numbers speak without intermediation? Polls have taken over for political analysis. The same may as well apply to cinema" (Post Script, 26.2).

While Sontag laments the absence of descriptive criticism in the 1960s, Andrew posits that film criticism has disappeared from the general public altogether. Serious criticism, according to Andrew, only finds a small audience among scholars and film students. Yet, there are still popular film critics (writing for newspapers and online blogs) who routinely review movies. For this blog post, you will reflect on the types of criticism most often encountered by the general public today.

PARAGRAPH ONE: Read one review of A Single Man (2009) and analyze the effectiveness of the review. Does it achieve what Sontag prescribes for successful criticism? How could this review be improved,...or should it?

Example Reviews:

Roger Ebert:http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article AID=/20091223/REVIEWS/912239995

Manohla Dargis (New York Times): http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/movies/11singleman.html

PARAGRAPH TWO: If you were to focus on the form of this film as Sontag suggests, which element of mise-en-scene best represents a cinematic element that contributes to the dramatic narrative? Write a paragraph concentrating on one cinematic form utilized in A Single Man and evaluate its artistic effectiveness in this film.

REQUIREMENTS: 300 words minimum. You must use at least 2 vocabulary words from list #2 (Film: A Critical Introduction pp.128-151). BOLD each vocabulary word you use. Post must be live by 4:00 pm on Friday, February18, 2011.

GROUP TWO:

After group one has posted their entries, browse through your peers' blogs and pick one entry to comment upon. You can agree with the writer, argue with a specific point made, or both. But, you MUST add something to the conversation begun by the writer.

REQUIREMENTS: 200 words minimum. Post must be live by midnight on Saturday, February 19, 2011.

Blog Assignment #2: Moments of Choice in Shark in the Head

GROUP TWO:

In “Moments of Choice,” V.F. Perkins distinguishes between filmmakers who achieve “manner” and those who successfully turn manner into “style.” As he explains this transition, a successful director can “[…] bind the movie together in a design that offers a more personal and detailed conception of the story’s significance, embodying an experience of the world and a viewpoint both considered and felt. At this point, manner becomes style.” For Perkins, films that are mainly concerned with manner (i.e., the way a story is told) lack the “style” associated with using elements of mise-en-scène to enhance the narrative structure.

As discussed in class, several critics complained that Memento’s (2007) syuzhet was nothing more than an “author’s trick.” They asserted that the narrative structure, while original and compelling, lacked support from a captivating story line or elements of mise-en-scène to further the visual themes of the film. Shark in the Head (2004) reverses the emphasis from narrative construction to stylistic representation – almost to a dangerous polar opposite. This film emphasizes stylistic expression over narrative.

For this assignment, you will write TWO PARAGRAPHS:

Choose one moment from Shark in the Head in which setting plays a prominent role. ***DESCRIBE IT, in detail, TO YOUR READER*** What is the setting? How does the director deviate from traditional depictions of setting to create symbolism? As an element of mise-en-scène, does this moment contribute to the visual themes of the film?

After you have described the moment you chose, answer this question: does this film achieve style, or does it’s extreme concentration on stylistic representation mean that it is a film of “manner” (i.e., is the film more concerned with HOW it is telling the story than the elements that contribute to a complete cinematic experience)?

REQUIREMENTS: 300 words minimum. You must use at least 3 vocabulary words from the first 25 words on the list. BOLD each vocabulary word you use. Post must be live by 3:00 pm on Friday, February 4, 2011.

GROUP ONE:

After group two has posted their entries, browse through your peers' blogs and pick one entry to comment upon. You can agree with the writer, argue with a specific point made, or both. But, you MUST add something to the conversation begun by the writer.

REQUIREMENTS: 300 words minimum. Post must be live by 3:00 pm on Saturday, February 5, 2011.

Blog Assignment #1: Enigma and Delay in Psycho

GROUP ONE:

For this assignment, we will be working from Roland Barthes’ notion of the “writerly” text. According to Barthes, “…the writerly text is ourselves writing” (S/Z, 5); therefore, you, the reader, will be interpreting the film text in order to produce meaning from it.

Your assignment is to analyze Hitchcock's storytelling strategy in Psycho by connecting your observations to Barthes' Hermeneutic Code. The Hermeneutic Code denotes an enigma (riddle) that moves the narrative foreward, setting up delays and obstacles that maintain suspense. You need to produce TWO PARAGRAPHS:

Paragraph 1: Identify an Enigma established in the film, Psycho. How is the question posed visually to you, the viewer? Then, discuss ONE SCENE in which a delay is introduced. How is the delay represented visually and what is the effect of creating this delay?

DELAYS:

1. Thematisation. What in the narrative is an enigma?

2. Positioning. Additional confirmations of the enigma.

3. Formulation of the enigma.

4. Promise of an answer of the enigma.

5. Fraud. Circumvention of the true answer.

6. Equivocation. Mixture of fraud and truth.

7. Blocking. The enigma cannot be solved.

8. Suspended answer. Stopping the answering after having begun.

9. Partial answer. Some facets of the truth are revealed.

10. Disclosure of the truth.

Since we are dealing with a film, the code can take the form of spoken dialogue, auditory cues or music, visuals, and/or editing choices. Remember, Barthes says that “Each literary description is a view” (55). He describes the writer (read: artist of any kind) as someone who places a frame around reality, creating a perspective from which we see the story being told. Every decision the artist makes creates a frame. Decisions to include or exclude details, to frame characters in a particular way, or to place actions within a specific chronology all affect the way we interpret the scene.

Paragraph 2: In your opinion, could this film be classified as a readerly text or does it allow for plurality of meanings, making it a writerly text?

REQUIREMENTS: 300 words minimum. You must use at least 2 vocabulary words from the first 12 words on the list. BOLD each vocabulary word you use. Post must be live by 3:00 pm on Friday, January 21, 2011.

GROUP TWO:

After group one has posted their entries, browse through your peers' blogs and pick one entry to comment upon. You can agree with the writer, argue with a specific point made, or both. But, you MUST add something to the conversation begun by the writer.

REQUIREMENTS: 300 words minimum. Post must be live by 3:00 pm on Saturday, January 22, 2011.

Welcome to ENG 2300: Film Analysis!

This class is designed as a hybrid course, meaning that part of the required work will be completed in class and part will be completed online. Most of the online work will be submitted via a blog that you create and maintain throughout the semester.

For your first blog assignment, you will set up your blog and write your first post (300 words minimum) by midnight on Friday, January 14th.

Step 1: Create a Blogger Account if you do not already have one and create a new blog for this class.

Step 2: Name your Blog. You can be as creative as you want with the title, but for grading purposes the first part of your blog's name MUST include your first and last name. (Ex: Lauren Glenn's Fantastic Film Forum)

Step 3: Create Two TABS: (1) Screening Notes (2) Description of Blog

(You do this by going to "Design," Click "Add a Gadget" and choose "Pages." You add new pages by clicking on "New Post," and then on "Edit Pages" and "Add New Page."

Step 4: Your Home Page will be where you post your Blog Assignments.

Step 5: Under your "Blog Entries" tab, post your first blog entry (which will be graded pass/fail). Find a film REVIEW about Full Metal Jacket. Post a link to the review. Analyze the usefulness of the review -- Does it only provide a plot synopsis? Does the writing make you want to see the movie? Is it critical of the film's STYLE (the visual aspects and/or the narrative plot design)? Finally, does the review indicate that the reviewer is "literate" in the visual literacy of movies?