English and History Assignment

1

Unit 3 Assignment Sequence: Film Analysis Paper

This unit will require each of you to write a 5-6 page (double spaced) analytical paper wherein you defend a strong and original thesis claim pertaining to a particular film. Your argument should be anchored in “close readings” that draw on formal and aesthetic elements in the film; additionally, your paper must reference at least three reputable, scholarly sources (scholarly websites, journal articles, academic books, credentialed reviews, etc.).

Genre	Purpose	Audience	Role	Rhetorical Situation
Film Analysis	Present a convincing argument about a popular film.	Your peers and instructor; the PIT Journal	Humanities Scholar	You’ve watched a popular film and gotten an idea for an argument that you want to make about the film. To ground this argument in evidence, you rewatch and study the film and read what other critics and scholars have written about the film or related themes. You pull this evidence together into a concise, well-written, and carefully edited paper.

The Film:

Mad Max: Fury Road (Miller, 2015) -- fantasy/action, R

Formal Film Elements: “The Big Four”

1. Mise-en-scene : Refers to the ways in which moments of the film are “staged” in front of the camera. Think about how and why the image that you are seeing at any given moment has been engineered to look the way that it does.

2. Cinematography : If mis-en-scene refers to what is staged in front of the camera, cinematography refers to the manipulation of the camera itself. Think about how movement and use of the camera affects and conditions your viewing of a scene.

3. Editing : Refers to the coordination that takes viewers from one shot to the next. Think about how one shot is linked up with the shots that come before and after.

4. Sound: Refers to the aural dimensions of film: sound effects, music scores, voice capture, etc. Think about how what you hear works alongside what you see and about whether sound is diegetic (internal to the world of the narrative, like an actor’s voice in a conservation) or extra-diegetic (external to the world of the narrative, like an orchestral score or a voiceover).

1.) [Feeder 3.1] Film Summary & Thesis (due Friday 4/7 by 5 PM)

- Write a brief (2 page double-spaced maximum!) summary of your film that covers major plot points, themes, and anything else that caught your interest.

- Then, in 300 words or fewer, write a separate paragraph in which you develop ideas for a thesis argument. Somewhere in this paragraph, try to state a 1-2 sentence thesis and underline that statement like this.

2.) [Feeder 3.2] Anatomy of a Scene (due Tuesday, 4/18)

- On the model of the “Anatomy of a Scene” clips that we’ll watch as a class (see this Youtube channel), compose a voiceover narration for a 3-5 minute clip or scene in your film.

- At minimum, this voiceover narration must refer to 3 of the 4 “Big 4 Film Elements” (mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and sound). Focus your voiceover on Formal Film Elements rather than film summary and background about actors, the director, or plot.

- Feel free to pause the film and talk while it is paused if need be, but the full clip that record should be no more than 8 minutes maximum.

3.) Rough draft: (due for in-class Peer Review on Thursday 4/27)

Write a rough draft of your 5-6 page (double-spaced) paper. Your paper should include a proper heading, be double-spaced, and adhere to MLA format. Additionally, your paper must include the following:

· A clearly stated thesis in the introduction paragraph.

· Reference to the scene that you analyzed for F3.2. (Feel free to re-use material from your voiceover narration.)

· At least 2 still-frame images from your film (put these at the end of your paper, between your last sentence and the Works Cited).

· Reference to at least three reputable, scholarly sources (scholarly websites, journal articles, academic books, credentialed reviews, etc.).

Please refer to Unit 3 Project Rubric (in Sakai Resources) for full grading criteria for the paper.