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 film’s 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?)
