Overview
Essay paper due on 11/13 (Friday).
Instructions
We have been watching films made by directors from around the world. Choose a director’s work that we have watched during the second period of our class (week 6- week 11) as a subject for your analysis. If you want to do a comparative study, you should choose no more than two films for this short paper. Observe how this director explores the concrete and the symbolic, the visible and the invisible, action and consciousness in his work. Can a film engage with particular social problems and become poetic at the same time? Can a film be local and universal at the same time? Do you believe that a “foreign” film about another people and another country can expand our view of the world—concretely, not abstractly? What excite you and frustrate you in watching films that you are not familiar with? These are questions I hope to prompt you to reflect on the films we have watched and studied; but you should not write your essay in a question and answer format.
This is an exercise in film analysis. Again, you should not repeat the story at length. Focus your discussion on a few key formal features of the film under discussion and explain why they are significant. Describe and analyze the shots, scenes and sequences that you think are cinematically and/or thematically interesting or meaningful. Use your analysis of specific aspects of the film (e.g. cinematography, music, editing…) to support and strengthen your arguments. You must also show that you have learned how to use basic film terms and concepts. (mise en scene)
Your essay should be at least 650 words, about 4 pages long, double spaced. It should have a proper title and page numbers.
Your paper will be based on a close reading of the films on the syllabus.
You should engage yourself critically and imaginatively with the film. Choose no more than 2 films or 2 directors for this short essay.
You need to cite at least two secondary sources. One could be a solid film review (from New York Times, Film Quarterly, Film Comment, Senses of Cinema, etc.) and the other must be one longer essay that provides contextual information and substantial analysis. You may use the articles that I posted on Blackboard or use JSTOR or other databases through our library to find academic articles. The essays and articles you cite must be authored by individual critics or scholars and published in reputable magazines and/or journals. No random online sources are to be accepted. When citing secondary sources, you need to comply with MLA format (posted on Blackboard).