PROJECTS AND ASSIGNMENTS

ENC 4355 SPRING 2003

When you write about movies, “it is insufficient to convince others to like or dislike the film, but to add to their understanding of the film… personal feelings, expectations and reactions may be the beginning of an intelligent critique, but they must be balanced with rigorous reflection on where those feelings and expectations and reactions come from and how they relate to more objective factors concerning the movie in question: its place in film history, its cultural background, its formal strategies… what is interesting is not pronouncing a film good or bad but explaining why (T. Corrigan)."

Students are required to see 10 films which will be screened at the Miami International Film Festival. You must keep a notebook and fill out film analysis sheets for each film. You will choose one American independent film and one foreign film from your 10 to write a 7-8 page paper each researched examination of each film and its context. In your papers, you are expected to demonstrate an ability to analyze and interpret a film critically as well as demonstrate knowledge about the background or society from which it emerged; this means that you should address issues of aesthetic style, narrative, and historical tradition of the film that are relevant to your particular topic. In your introduction, explain briefly why you chose to address the particular film. Next, identify the context of the film and explain how it is relevant to your understanding of the whole film—its style, narrative, mood, etc.. Then, through a detailed analysis of the film, you will demonstrate how it does or does not rely on other films of similar type, time or locale.

Before you begin writing, you will need to read at least one critical article on the film, and do research on its director, or the tradition/genre into which it fits. (This does NOT include internet user comments.) If you use any ideas from outside resources, cite properly, in accordance with the MLA Manual of Style. Presenting other people's ideas as one's own is considered plagiarism.

To illustrate your points, pick out one or two 3-10-minute sequence/s* for detailed analysis. When analyzing the sequence/s, be careful not to retell plot when analysis is required. When talking about story/plot, discuss the shape, range, depth, closure of the narrative. When pointing out stylistic features, describe what effect they have on the overall design of the sequence and film and how they affect the viewer. Do not simply point out film style without talking about its meanings!

Wrap up your paper by summarizing what you have learned in your detailed analysis and reflect on the connections between it and the film as a whole. State how this affects/changes your overall reading of the film.

*A sequence is a series of shots somehow connected logically in terms of

a) their common locale or setting; and/or b) their relation to one dramatic moment in the plot (i.e. a "scene"); and/or c) their common function in terms of furthering plot development or creating "atmosphere"; and/or d) their relation to some common theme or issue. Such a sequence may be worth choosing less for its relation to setting, plot, or theme, than for the fact that it contains a typical or extraordinary stylistic feature you would like to examine, in the context of your guiding question/s.