Overview
Write a total of three essays, one essay for each section (A, B, and C).
Please indicate, by number, your answers.
Eligible Films:
- Casablanca
- Double Indemnity
- Invictus
- The Graduate
- LA Confidential
- American Beauty
- Slumdog Millionaire
- Green Book
- Silence of the Lambs
- Memento
- The Imitation Game
- Ex Machina
- Hidden Figures
- Interstellar
SECTION A: Answer one of the questions.
1. Choose one genre of cinema (as outlined in the lectures, not as presented in the textbook): Classical, Modern, or
Postmodern. In your essay, show how one or more films characterize this genre. Be sure to define and discuss the
fundamental elements of this genre as suggested in the course lectures.
2. Compare and contrast two genres of cinema (Classical, Modern, or Postmodern), illustrating your answer by discussing
one or more films. Be sure to define and discuss the fundamental elements of these genres as suggested in the course
lectures.
3. Choose at least one important element in film interpretation (issues that might be examined include: cultural perspectives, cinematic time, narrative trajectory, and forestructure) and illustrate your answer by illustrating it in one or more films.
SECTION B: Select two or more terms/concepts and apply them to one or more films viewed in class.
Diegetic sound / non-diegetic sound / ambient sound / crane shot / Steadicam / framing or reframing / establishing shot/master shot / extreme long shot / extreme close-up / close-up / medium shot / deep-focus cinematography / slow motion or fast motion / chiaroscuro / high-key lighting / low-key lighting / continuity editing or cutting on action / shot/reverse shot / freeze-frame / fade-in or fade-out / wipe / dissolve / montage / long take / voice-over / realism / antirealism / verisimilitude / climax / characterization / flat character / round character / cinematic time / flashback or flash-forward / inciting moment / omniscient point-of-view / single character point-of-view / group point-of-view / parallel editing / jump cuts / split screens
SECTION C: Select TWO issues from the list on the exam and apply them to one or more films viewed in class.
- Cultural assumptions of society and audiences
- Character Stereotyping
- Relationships, including love
- Issues of identity
- Images of women
- Issues of Technology, including AI and Robotics
- Issues of gender
- Journey motif(s)
- Themes of nostalgia and loss
- Comic irony/satire/parody
- Racial and ethnic portraits
- American myth
- Degradation/corruption
- Portraits of Romance
- Strategic or critical moment in a film
- Ethical issues
- Terror, horror, fear
18. International representations
19. Uses of violence
20. Issues of obsession
21. Coming of age narrative
22. Representations of urban life
23. Representations of rural life