Film Paper 1 [FP1]
Due in LEO Assignments folder.
[Full Project Descriptions listed in Syllabus>Additional Instructions.]
Grading:
A = 15-16 points
B = 13-14 points
C = 11-12 points
D = 9- 10 points
F = 0- 8 points
Select a film (or group of films) and film genre from a specific decade and write a3-5 pageanalytical paper detailing that films and that genre’s influence on American and global culture both then and now and how culture, in turn, influenced and shaped the cinema. While you should feel free to use both primary and secondary source citations, in these papers I am interested more in your critical thinking and the use you make of your research than in your prowess with footnoting (which I hope you have already developed in your English classes).
Tech specs: minimum 3-5 pages (you will not improve your grade by writing more, but by writing as well as you are capable, and by improving your writing skills as the class progresses); 1-inch margins all around; 12 pt. font; double-spaced; name, title and page number in footer or header on every page; title your paper, centered, in bold font (you can use either the title of the film[s] or, better yet, create an essay title (that could include the name[s] of the film[s]).
These Film Papers may consider, comment on, and interconnect the aesthetic and technical aspects of the films, such as:
editing, montage, filmic structure
cinematography, camerawork, lighting
directing
screenwriting
acting
production design, sets, costumes, special effects, style
music and sound
Equally (if not more) important will be to consider and write about the following:
what (and how) do movies mean?
theme, content, genre, intention, audience
social dimension and function: what the film says and means about the world, and particularly today’s multi-cultures (in all their broad meanings and permutations)
personal dimension: how the film affects you personally (identification, engagement, pleasure, excitement, alienation, boredom, etc. how and why?)