Film Analysis ESSAY

ENG 117/AAH 136/FMS 132: Introduction to the Art of Film

Film Analysis Paper #3

900-1000 words, due F 11/20, 5pm, uploaded to Blackboard

For this film analysis paper, you may use parts or the entirety of any posts you have made on Yellowdig. Your Yellowdig discussion activity should be considered preparation and material for the paper. (To see only your own posts and comments on Yellowdig, select Filter—By Member, then enter your name). Yellowdig discussion questions are available on Blackboard by film in the content area, “Discussion Board Questions.”

Choose one of these two topics. Be sure to analyze at least two specific scenes with attention to formal qualities of camera position and perspective, lighting, sound, etc. The first time you mention the title of a film, follow it with the director and release year in parentheses. For example: Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954).

1. Though very different in their form, style, and time period, The Graduate and Run Lola Run are both examples of films that employ image and sound editing in creative ways, frequently altering or breaking with the conventions of the traditional continuity editing system. Analyze the creative uses of editing and/or sound in one or the other of these two films, with a focus on specific devices and approaches that you studied in the weeks on editing and/or sound. From the editing week, you might analyze examples of jump cuts, overlapping editing, graphic matches, or rhythm and tempo of editing. You might also discuss unconventional or distinctive uses of more traditional devices, such as match on action cuts. From the sound week, you could analyze examples of nonsimultaneous sound, sound bridges, manipulations of sound perspective, or offscreen sound. Pick a few specific techniques that stand out to you in the film and analyze how they contribute to the film’s form and narrative (for example: do they create a sense of mental subjectivity for a character, promote viewer identification with a character, enhance viewer responses such as suspense or curiosity, help to convey larger themes explored by the film, etc.).

2. Although Mookie comes closest to being the film’s protagonist, Do The Right Thing’s narrative focuses on a range of characters, employing unrestricted narration to create a broad portrait of a neighborhood and its tensions over the course of one day. Cinematographer Ernest Dickerson employs a wide range of cinematographic devices that contribute to establishing and portraying the characters, highlighting the emotional qualities of relationships and conflicts, developing the plot, and conveying the feeling of the film’s setting on this hot summer day. Analyze some of the distinctive elements of cinematography that stand out to you in the film, and discuss how they contribute to the film’s narrative and its exploration of racial tensions, conflicts, and police violence. You might discuss examples of camera movement (such as handheld camera, dolly or tracking shots, crane shots, pans and whip pans), shot type (long shot, medium shot, etc.), camera angle, lens focal length (wide angle or telephoto), zooms, etc. Pick at least two specific scenes to analyze in detail.