Film Reaction Paper

Part 1: Viewafeaturefilm made between 1940 - 1970youhave notseenbefore(orwillseelaterinthisclass)byagreatdirector.Ifyou wouldliketoseeanAmericanfilm,considerseeingsomethingdirectedbyFrankCapra,GeorgeCukor,John Ford,GeorgeStevens,PrestonSturges,BillyWilder,orWilliamWyler.Ifyouwouldliketotryaforeignfilm, considerIngmarBergman(Swedish),LuisBuñuel(Spanish),ClaudeChabrol(French),FedericoFellini(Italian), AkiraKurosawa(Japanese),LinaWertmuller(German)ortheBritishteamknownas“TheArchers”madeupof MichaelPowellandEmericPressburger.Thesearesuggestions,butnotacomprehensivelistofpossibilities. Foramuchmoreextensivelist,youmightwanttovisithttp://www.filmsite.org/directors.html.(Notethatmany directorswereactivebothbeforeandafter1970.Makesureyouseeapre-1970film,makesureit'safilmyou have notseenbefore,andmakesureit isafeature.Don't,forexample,seeBuñuel'sUNCHIENANDALOU, whichisashort,notafeature.)

Commentonthespecificfilmyousaw.Payparticularattentiontothecamerawork(cinematography)theediting(montage) and the sound (this can include the music).Whatdidyoulike,andwhatdidyoudislike,aboutwhatyousaw?Whydoyoulikethe thingsyoulike,andwhydoyoudislikethethingsyoudislike?Isthefilmagoodfilm,orisit not?(Note:Thisis notthesamequestionaswhetherornotyoulikedit.Itisentirelypossibletolikeafilmthatyouareawareis not verygood.)Youshouldcommentonthefilmbothasarepresentativeofitsgenreandasafilm.

Part2:Nowthatyouhavecommentedonthespecificfilmyouviewed,seeifyoucandrawsomegeneral conclusionsabouttheworkofthedirectorandoneofthemainactorsoractresses.Forexampleletussayyou watchedthe2012filmPrometheus(nothisisanota film you can watch for this paper). DidyoulikeRidleyScottasa filmmaker? DidyoulikeMichaelFassbenderintherollofanemotionlessandroid?Why,orwhynot?Besureto commentontheoverallimpressionyouhadofthefilm,includinghowyouseeitasanexampleofthe its genre and time period. Remember,thisisnotaresearchpaper.Iam interestedinwhatyouhavetosay,notinwhatyoucanlearnbyreadinguponthefilmorthefilmmaker.

Part3:Onaseparatepage,inserttheheading"MyCriteriaforQualityinFilm."Underthatheading,useyour commentsaboutthisfilmanditsfilmmakerasguidelinestowardproposingfivegeneralstatementsindicativeof yourpersonaltasteinmovies.Thesestatementsshouldbenumbered(1)through(4),andtheyshouldbe written ascompletesentences or a short paragraph.Itmightbeusefultointroduceeachstatementwithsuchlanguageas"Excellent moviesfeature,"or"Amovieismorelikelytobegoodif,"or"Acharacteristicofhigh-qualitycinemais."(For example,ifyoucommentedinthebodyofyouressaythatyoulikedtheactingbecauseitwasrealisticandyou likedthescriptbecauseithadahappyending,youcouldproposethesetwostatementsascriteriaforquality: "(1)Excellentmoviesfeaturerealisticacting.(2)Amovieismorelikelytobegoodifitendshappily."Do notjust putsomethinglike"Goodmoviesfeaturegoodacting."Thepointhereisforyoutothinkabout—andthen explain—whatsuchqualitywordsasgood,excellent,andeffectiveactuallymean.Besuretosaveyour"My Criteria"pagetoyourharddrive—youwillbeaddingmoreitemstothislistandresubmittinganexpanded versionofitwith for the second paper later in this course.

Youwillberesponsibleforwatchingafilm andwritea3to5 pageessayinwhichyourespondtopromptswhichwillbeprovidedforeach paper (thismeansat least3pagesincludingthe“MyCriteriaforQualityinFilm”pageandnolongerthan5pages). These assignmentsarereactionpapers,notplotsummariesorresearchpapers.Thekeyelementhereisthatyouwillbetelling the instructor whatyouhavetosayaboutthefilm, notwhatothershave said.