4 pages paper

Assignment 1

Film 1900

Assignment #1: Film 1900 – Fall 2014

This assignment is out of 30 marks (not 100%).

Please read all instructions carefully before you begin to write your first draft.

Non-compliance for each instruction below will result in the deduction of a mark. Check your assignment before you submit it as the system does not allow resubmissions.

For technical help with Moodle submissions please write to: [email protected]

Technical Specifications

Submission file: only use your passport York email to upload your assignment-file. The file that you will upload should be saved under your officially registered last name, first name and assignment 1 as indicated: “Smith_Gina_Assignment1”

Include your full name and student number on the assignment’s title page. (Again, use your officially registered name, not your nickname.)

Assignment due: October 14/2014 at Noon (submit to Moodle);

Length: 1000 words (this means you will have to edit your assignment to fit this requirement. TAs will stop reading the assignment at 1,000 words);

Pagination: Include page numbers;

Font: 12 pt. Times New Roman;

Margins: Leave 1.5" on both sides;

Spacing: Double-space your work.

Please submit your assignment in Word.

Guidelines to the Assignment:

This is an analytical response paper. It is not a research paper nor an assignment where you merely give your opinion. An analytical response paper actively engages with the ideas presented in the readings and lectures, in an informed manner. You are being tested on your reading, writing and comprehension of the course material. You are therefore required to actively show that you have read the course material and are intelligently able to discuss, analyze and critique the ideas encountered in your readings and in lectures.

Introduction

i) In the introduction, present the main argument or thesis statement. (A thesis statement is the answer to your question – see link provided on how to write a good thesis statement.)

ii) Include three supporting arguments. Present a succinct outline (1-3 sentences) of three supporting arguments you will be taking up to support your main argument.

iii) Your introduction should have no more than five well-crafted and thoughtful sentences.

Body

The body of your assignment will first present and then analyze each of the three supporting arguments listed in your introduction. As much as possible, include complexity and sophistication to your supporting arguments, rather than simplifying or presenting dichotomies (either “X” or “Y”). While each supporting argument can have several paragraphs, each paragraph should be between 4-7 sentences.

If it helps, draw a diagram to map out your best supporting arguments before you start writing. This will allow you to map the logical flow of your arguments and also allow you to eliminate superfluous and unimportant detail.

Conclusion

Present a well-articulated conclusion that converges the 3 supporting arguments presented in the body of your assignment.

Example:

“That is, given X, Y and Z (the 3 supporting arguments), I conclude that …(the main argument).” Tie it all up in 4-5 well thought-out sentences.

Edit your work!

After writing your first draft, you have only accomplished half the work required! Keep in mind that well-written assignments have been edited anywhere from 3 to 5 times (if not more).

After having written your first draft, make sure you refine and edit it. Refine and rewrite all aspects of your introduction (including the thesis statement and the 3 supporting arguments), the analysis presented in the body and the conclusion. Remove all superfluity and unnecessary verbiage; make sure each word counts.

Check the mechanics: sentence structure, grammar, punctuation and spelling.

Sentence structure : if you have a long, convoluted sentence shorten it so that each sentence has only one subject and one object. Do not arbitrarily switch these relations in your subsequent sentences! Moreover, do not telescope one idea into another endlessly in a sentence. Convoluted, winding sentences with excessive verbiage show confusion in thought and reflect a lack of clarity in thinking.

Paragraphs : Paragraph your work. As noted above, while each supporting argument can have several paragraphs, each paragraph should be between 4-7 sentences . Take the space to explain, discuss and illustrate each point so that each point is presented comprehensively. However, do so without resorting to excessive verbiage. While presenting the important and necessary details of your argument, try to be concise (this is a short assignment, so make your points effectively and succinctly).

Logic : does the flow of your arguments make sense? Is there a good logic to what you’re arguing for? Take note that if your logic is faulty your reader will pick up on it! Is this logical flow clearly presented? Are there any contradictions in what you’re writing? How can you make it better and improve it?

Quotations : do not merely throw in a quotation without first setting it up. Set up a quote properly. For instance, if quoting, write it in the following manner:

In Bazin’s view on realism, he writes that “….”

Use quotations sparingly (not more than once or twice in a four page assignment). Use quotations only to buttress your point and not to make the actual point itself. Instead of quoting endlessly, paraphrase what the author is saying in your own words and reference that idea properly in the Endnotes/Footnotes.

Distance yourself : pretend that you’re someone else reading the assignment. Change and refine anything that does not make sense to you. Think of the person who will be reading your assignment. Will your main argument and supporting arguments make sense to him/her? Have you communicated the various points of your analysis clearly and concisely?

Edit, edit, edit!!

Bibliographic style

Pick one: footnotes, endnotes or embedded citations with endnotes.

Use: MLA or Chicago style

If you wish to use Chicago style, here’s the Quick Guide Link:

http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html

(If you do not know what these are, go to Scott Library and ask a Reference Librarian to help you. Whichever styling format you use, please be consistent.)

Plagiarism

Any assignment found to be plagiarized in part or in whole will receive an automatic "0."

All students are expected to familiarize themselves with the following information:

· Academic Honesty Policy and Procedures http://www.yorku.ca/univsec/policies/document.php?document=69.

· Academic Integrity Website http://www.yorku.ca/academicintegrity.

Grading, Assignment Submission, Lateness Penalties and Missed Tests

Grading: The grading scheme for the course conforms to the 9-point grading system used in undergraduate programs at York (e.g., A+ = 9, A = 8, B+ - 7, C+ = 5, etc.). Assignments and tests* will bear either a letter grade designation or a corresponding number grade (e.g. A+ = 90 to 100, A = 80 to 90, B+ = 75 to 79, etc.)

For a full description of York grading system see the York University Undergraduate Calendar at

http://calendars.registrar.yorku.ca/2013-2014/academic/grades/.

Students may take a limited number of courses for degree credit on an ungraded (pass/fail) basis. For full information on this option see Alternative Grading Option in the Faculty of Fine Arts section of the Undergraduate Calendar - http://www.registrar.yorku.ca/calendars/2013-2014/faculty_rules/FA/grading.htm.

Assignment Submission: Proper academic performance depends on students doing their work not only well, but on time. Accordingly, assignments for this course must be received on the due date specified for the assignment. Assignments are to be handed in online, on your Moodle account.

Lateness Penalty: Assignments received later than the due date will be penalized (1% per day that assignment is late). Exceptions to the lateness penalty for valid reasons such as illness, compassionate grounds, etc., may be entertained by the Course Instructor but will require supporting documentation (e.g., a doctor’s letter).

Missed Tests: Students with a documented reason for missing a course test, such as illness, compassionate grounds, etc., which is confirmed by supporting documentation (e.g., doctor’s letter) may request accommodation from the Course Instructor. Further extensions or accommodation will require students to submit a formal petition to the Faculty.

Questions:

Assignment 1: Film 1900 – Fall 2014

Due: Tuesday October 14, 2014 @ Noon

(Ignore the Turnitin dates when you submit your assignment to Moodle, they are for my own purpose.)

Assignment Requirements :

Discuss and analyze at least two substantive readings (more than 4 pages long) in your written assignment;

Engage with two films screened in class;

Present a well-crafted introduction with a proper thesis statement and three supporting arguments;

No outside reading material;

Use gender-neutral language;

Cite your work properly.

Select one question:

1) Bert Cardullo writes that “Bazin upheld mise en scène against editing or montage because, to him, the former represented ‘true continuity’ and reproduced situations more realistically…” (Cardullo, 7).

Compare and contrast the editing systems of classical Hollywood cinema and neorealist cinema. Present a critical assessment of the type of shots and editing techniques necessary to produce Bazin’s true continuity, which reproduces situations more realistically.

Select one scene from either Stagecoach or Mildred Pierce and another scene from Bicycle Thieves to illustrate and support your argument.

2) Two debates concerning the function of art are its mimetic and formalist functions, which Bazin and Eisenstein propounded respectively. The mimetic function of art suggests that art, in revealing the world as it exists, brings us closer to reality. The Formalist function advocates a revolutionary goal for art, in which art should change and modify our perceptual reality, in order to revision and rethink the world anew.

Incorporating Bazin and Eisenstein’s views into your argument, assess and present an informed analysis of their two perspectives, making a judgment on the debate.

Consider your argument specifically in terms of film . Select two films from the following to illustrate and support your argument: Bicycle Thieves, The Battleship Potemkin or Mildred Pierce.

3) Bert Cardullo writes that “[w]hat Bazin objected to in the work of Sergei Eisenstein was precisely how the Soviet director splintered reality into a series of isolated shots, which he reassembled through the art of montage” (Cardullo, 7).

Consider Bazin’s critique of Eisenstein’s editing with respect to Bazin’s desire for bringing the spectator closer to the real. Consider the flow of life versus the splintering of reality in Bicycle Thieves and The Battleship Potemkin to illustrate and support your argument and analysis.

5) Bert Cardullo writes, “[t]he Russians themselves had derived their methods from American movies, especially those of D.W. Griffith, and American cinema had continued in the ‘editing’ vein. In Hollywood pictures and, through their example, in most pictures everywhere, the guiding rule was to edit the film to conform to the flow of the viewer’s attention, to anticipate and control that attention” (Cardullo, 7).

Marilyn Fabe writes that the “Soviet film pioneers were deeply impressed by the emotional effects generated by D.W. Griffith’s narrative techniques – his use of the close-up, his innovative camera movements, and the way he changed camera angles (Fabe, 21).

According to Cardullo and Fabe’s statements above, they are suggesting that there are similarities between the continuity editing system of classical Hollywood cinema and Eisenstein’s Soviet Montage. If so, what are these similarities? Present an original shot by shot analysis (not taken up in lectures or readings) of a scene from either Stagecoach or Mildred Pierce and compare it to a scene from The Battleship Potemkin to illustrate and support your argument.

5) With respect to neorealism Bert Cardullo writes, “…the basic tenets of this new realism were threefold: to portray real or everyday people (using nonprofessional actors) in actual settings; to examine socially significant themes (the genuine problems of living); and to promote, not the arbitrary manipulation of events, but instead the organic development of situations (i.e. the real flow of life, in which complications are seldom resolved by coincidence, contrivance, or miracle)” (Cardullo, 22-23).

Consider Cardullo’s analysis to examine the similarities and differences between the narrative conventions of classical Hollywood cinema and neorealist cinema. Utilize Stagecoach or Mildred Pierce and Bicycle Thieves to support and illustrate your argument.

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