Writing Assignments

Your writing assignments for this course constitute 40% of your grade.
There are two of them and each one asks you to consider films in different contexts or settings.

Film History: In this paper you will be asked to consider a film or a genre of films in relation to the history of film. When did it appear and where? You could use significant dates in the development of film technology as ways to locate the films you are considering in a time frame. What is important is that you are able to represent your understanding of the sequence of the developments in film history.

Roughly broken down, You could consider film history as having these two threads ;

The Development of Technology
Motion Studies 1880's
Viewing devices- Kinetoscope, Mutascope, Zoetrope, 1880-1890's
Public Theatrical Presentation/Projection France, America 1895-96
Development of Sound 1929-32
The Studio System
Color
Emerging forms of communication Telegraph, Radio Television
Portable Film Equipment 1950's-60's
Video-1970's

Other Cultural Developments
Modernism, 1850-1930  The acknowledgement of the Observer
Manufacturing and standardization of work.- 1860's 
Wars since 1895
Increased understanding in the cognitive sciences.
Democratization of Education and the Arts.1890's
Speed, The need to examine time as a factor of efficiency.1890's
Cultural trend toward skeptical inquiry in arts and literature. 1890's
The development of new business models.1890's
Political upheaval. 1890's

Making Connections Although in this course we have focused on the film itself as it represents the maker's idea or ideas as well as an emerging technology, the opportunity exists for you to make connections between areas of interest that you may have already explored in other courses.

 

Modern Film Analysis

This is  a 5-8 Page Analysis of a contemporary film.

This film will require you to refer to your film viewing journal in order to help you engage in an analysis of a film. For this I would also expect you to employ the Bordwell text and some of the formal elements that are addressed in the different chapters. 

  Pay particular attention to PART FIVE chapter 11 for some     sample analysis of films and film making. 

Ethan Berry