Annotated Bibliography

Film 214 Dr. Ayers

Annotated Bibliography Purpose The purpose of this assignment is to develop the skills necessary to conduct film research. This is an important first step in the writing process. See Film Analysis 11-14; 1037-1040 for more information.

1) Skills/Knowledge: As a result of completing this assignment, you will be able to: a. Utilize the library resources to gather research related to a film. b. Critically read sources in order to assess their credibility, argument, and value to

your research. c. Summarize the historical, artistic, cultural, and industrial context of a film.

Assignment Requirements

1) Part One: Film Context Summary a. Choose a film from the syllabus and write 150-350 words that provide general

context for that film. (Richard Maltby’s essay on It Happened One Night in Film Analysis is a great example of how to discuss film context.)

b. Along with the sources you use in your annotated bibliography, you may also use sources with more general information—such as imdb.com and wikipedia.org—as long as you clearly cite these sources.

c. The goal here is to provide a general overview of the film, including important production, stylistic, cultural, and historical contexts. Example:

i. Boyz n the Hood (Singleton, 1991) premiered on July 2, 1991, and it went on to earn two Academy Award nominations (Best Director and Best Original Screenplay). Boyz was director John Singleton’s debut film, and at the age of 24, Singleton was the youngest person ever to be nominated in the Best Director category (Ridley). NYU Professor Manthia Diawara argues that Boyz fits within a broader movement of 1980s and 1990s Hollywood cinema that he terms “new black realism.” For Diawara, the cycle of films of which Boyz is a part “are about Black males’ initiation into manhood, the obstacles encountered that often result in death and separation, and the successful transition of some into manhood and responsibility toward the community” (608). Singleton echoes these claims, and he cites as inspiration for Boyz a desire to represent, in a realistic way, the lives of young black families in South Central LA in the 1980s: “It’s a story that a lot of those cats used to make in the ‘80s, in the suburbs, but made in the ‘hood. I loved the pictures, but none of those people looked like me. So me and my friends would catch the bus up to Hollywood, and we’d go see the movies, and we spent the whole time going down Vermont talking about the movie we would make. And the movie that we would make would always be something like what I did with Boyz N The Hood” (Singleton, qtd. in Ridley). The late Roger Ebert declared Boyz to be “an American film of enormous importance,” and history has borne out Ebert’s prediction. The film screened at the Cannes film festival, currently holds a 96% “fresh rating” on Rotten Tomatoes,

Film 214 Dr. Ayers

and has been selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.

2) Part Two: Annotated Bibliography

a. Find at least TWO credible sources that discuss your chosen film. Use the JFK library’s databases and book collection to find your sources. You may also use our textbook—Film Analysis—as a source.

b. Your sources should ideally be peer-reviewed, but if they are not, be sure to indicate why they are credible sources.

i. See Film Analysis 1020-1022 for more on evaluating sources. c. At the beginning of each annotation, include a bibliographic entry for the source

in Chicago or MLA format. d. Each annotation should be 150-350 words in length and should include the

following: i. An explanation of why the source is credible, i.e. they published in Film

Analysis, they are a professor at a university, the source is peer-reviewed, they write for the New York Times (a credible publication), etc.

ii. A summary of the main argument(s) and idea(s) of the source. iii. At least TWO key quotes from the source. iv. A description of why this source is valuable to your research and/or how it

provides crucial context for the film. e. Example:

i. Diawara, Manthia. “Black American Cinema: The New Realism.” In Critical Visions in Film Theory, edited by Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White, 594-609. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, [1993] 2010.

1. Manthia Diawara is a Professor of Cinema Studies at New York University. This essay comes from an anthology of important film essays, edited by two prominent film scholars. Diawara’s narrative and aesthetic analysis locates Boyz N the Hood (1991) within a larger movement of 1980s American film that he terms “new black realism.” These films “provide alternative ways of knowing Black people that differ from the fixed stereotypes of Blacks in Hollywood. The ideal spectators of the films are those interested in Black people’s perspectives on American culture. White people and Whiteness are marginalized in the films, while central positions are relegated to Black people, Black communities, and diasporic experiences” (598). Diawara argues that the narrative of Boyz uniquely addresses black spectators through its use of narrative time and aesthetic realism: “These films [of new black realism] produce an effect of realism by creating an overlap between the rite of passage into manhood and the narrative time of the story” (606). This source is valuable because it provides important information for understanding independent black cinema of the 1980s and 1990s. This source also provides crucial historical, cultural, and aesthetic context that is necessary for fully understanding Boyz N the Hood.

Film 214 Dr. Ayers

Criteria for Success 5=Exemplary, 4= Proficient, 3=Acceptable, 2=Marginal, 1=Unacceptable, 0=Absent Film Context Summary: 5 4 3 2 1 0 Utilizes sources for support of the summary 5 4 3 2 1 0 Establishes context for the production of the film 5 4 3 2 1 0 Establishes historical and cultural context for film 5 4 3 2 1 0 Establishes artistic context for the film 5 4 3 2 1 0 Summary is 150-350 words in length Annotated Bibliography Source #1: 5 4 3 2 1 0 Bibliography format is correct (Chicago or MLA) 5 4 3 2 1 0 Source is credible 5 4 3 2 1 0 Clearly identifies the credibility of the source 5 4 3 2 1 0 Clearly identifies the main argument(s) and idea(s) of the source 5 4 3 2 1 0 Annotation includes two quotations from the source with citations 5 4 3 2 1 0 Describes why this source is valuable to your research 5 4 3 2 1 0 Annotation is 150-350 words in length Annotated Bibliography Source #2: 5 4 3 2 1 0 Bibliography format is correct (Chicago or MLA) 5 4 3 2 1 0 Source is credible 5 4 3 2 1 0 Clearly identifies the credibility of the source 5 4 3 2 1 0 Clearly identifies the main argument(s) and idea(s) of the source 5 4 3 2 1 0 Annotation includes two quotations from the source with citations 5 4 3 2 1 0 Describes why this source is valuable to your research 5 4 3 2 1 0 Annotation is 150-350 words in length General: 5 4 3 2 1 0 Writing is free of typos, spelling errors, and grammatical errors _________ Total Score (out of 100) Extra Credit: Up to 5 points for each additional annotation (up to 10 points)