Critical Comparison

Key Reminders

Properly punctuate titles, spell check, re-read for clarity

Anyone should be able to pick up this paper and read it without prior knowledge of the topic or the film, give a proper intro

Don’t state the obvious (i.e. saying a silent film uses sound differently than a sound film)

Don’t use “I” or “my” statements (No “I think”, “I am going to talk about…”, “it drew my attention”) Speak objectively about the film and use your examples to back up your point. Talk about the film from the “audience” or “viewer” perspective.

You are making an argument! State your case…

Form a thesis statement

Look for something specific

Choose scenes that actually back up your point

Be specific with your examples

Be specific with the details in your examples

Don’t repeat yourself or talk in circles

Pick a Topic, Stay on Topic

Things to Analyze

Camera Movement

Lighting

Editing

Color*

Sound Design*

Production Design

Wardrobe

Shot Size

Camera Angle

Blocking of Actors

My Darling Clementine, John Ford (1946)

Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan (2017)

“

Intro + Thesis: Perspective is a useful tool in

cinema. Shootout scenes from the end of John

Ford’s 1946 western My Darling Clementine and the

beginning of 2017’s Dunkirk by Christopher Nolan

play with perspective in different ways. While they

both use naturalistic sound design to place a

viewer in the action, the films have contrasting

camera styles that makes the audience observers

in Clementine and participants in Dunkirk.

“

As Earp’s character approaches the OK Corral, the sound is barely audible. It only includes the ambience of the West and Earp’s footsteps crunching in the dirt. The wide shot holds steady as he comes nearer…

The stagecoach we saw in the distance moments prior now moves closer. The sound starts to fill the scene. The shots still come slow and steady. The stand-off grows more tense, cutting back and forth between close ups of Earp and Old Man Clanton as he admits to killing Earp’s brother.

They have to raise their voices as the stagecoach approaches and begin shouting, further amping up the nervous pressure between sides. A wide shot of the younger Clanton moving in to attack Earp is interrupted by the stagecoach which takes over the soundscape and the image with the dust it kicks up, and while the sound leaves quickly, the dust remains.

From the same wide shot, Clanton fires a shot through the cloud of dirt that breaks the scene open. The pace of the editing changes from here…

“

Tommy rushes to escape the German gunfire. Each gunshot pierces through the scene. The audience is given a sense that the bullets are whizzing by them.

A fast-moving camera swiftly tracks towards Tommy from behind as he runs through the streets. It pans erratically to the left and right as other soldiers are gunned down creating a sense of chaos. We see them fall, but the camera keeps moving to follow Tommy. The camera continues to push in as Tommy scales a fence, coming right up to the gate.

It then cuts to the other side from Tommy’s eye level. It’s as if the audience is sitting right beside him as he takes fire. The sounds here are still crisp: the gunshots, the jamming mechanics of Tommy’s rifle. But unlike Clementine, there’s a very soft score underneath the scene.

“

The static camera used in Clementine places the

audience in a state of observation. We are not in the

scene, but we are present and watching from a safe

distance. With Dunkirk, Nolan places the viewer in the

middle of the scene. There’s no safety as the audience.

We are participating in the action alongside the

protagonist…

For your papers…

Pick a specific thesis to help you narrow in

on what you’re talking about.

Give relevant details that back up that argument.

Take those specific ideas you are comparing/contrasting and

analyze how those similarities or differences change the

experience of watching those films/scenes.