Course Evaluation

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Cleveland Film Fest

We'll be going to the Cleveland Film Fest on Tuesday, March 25th.  You will have some choice (but not absolute choice) about which films you see.  I will need to buy tickets in blocks of ten minimally to get the group rate that will allow us to see all the films.  In order to know what you might like to see -- you should go review the films that will be shown on that day.  The website allows you to read about the films and view trailers.  Come to class (after spring break) ready to vote on your favorite choices!

http://www.clevelandfilm.org/schedule/daily

JOURNAL ENTRY PROMPT: Responding to Ethnocentrism Reading

After talking in your groups and identifying the "rub" of the "alien" in these films -- what has been more *difficult* for you to process so far?  The formal or stylistic elements of storytelling in non-American films?  Or the actual cultural practices they depict?  Give concrete examples and reflect on why this is -- and what it means if the same thing is true for others in your home culture?  For others in other places?

Sample Video Essay

This student video essay didn't have the same perimeters as yours (it was a single student's production, not a group production, so it didn't require as much contextual information as yours will) but it is helpful in that it includes a single sequence (or dramatic beat) and it mashes the film up with the contextual information and filmic analysis that the student so helpfully provides.

JOURNAL ENTRY PROMPT: 10 Canoes

TEN CANOES makes a number of statements about storytelling.  Many of these "statements" are direct; many of them are indirect.  Some of these "statements" are articulated verbally; others are made through the formal means of the film. Some of these "statements" pertain to the storyteller, some pertain to the storytelling process, some pertain to the story itself and others pertain to the audience.

Try to collect as many of these "statements" as you can -- by describing them in your journal.  Make connections between these statements and some of the ideas we've been talking about in our class.

(You may have to watch the film a second time in order to write this journal -- but it will be time well spent!)

(Remember, a good story requires patience.)

Assignments

In this class there are five assignments that you can use to demonstrate your learning.  Four of the five assignments are ongoing throughout the semester. The fifth assignment is a group assignment that will require you to prepare and research together throughout the entire semester.

Film Quizzes
Reading Quizzes
Course Journals
Community Involvement
Video Essay Final Project

REPEATABLE FREE WRITE: Visual Tropes

What visual tropes did you see in this film?  (Describe them carefully.)

Were they tropes that you recognized from other films, or were they developed in a unique way in this film?  

How do those visual tropes work with the THEME or the BIG IDEAS of this film?

Overview of Group Project: Video Essay

In four-person groups, you will develop a video essay that deals with the tensions of seeing “there” from “here” -- in relation to a particular film.  Your video essay should integrate readings, ideas, discussions from our class into an elegantly crafted, filmically engaging video, 5-10 minutes long.  

Along with your group, you will submit a Group Film Proposal during the third week of the semester.   Once you integrate my feedback into your proposal, you can proceed in developing the project.  While you will have some input into group selection, I will select the groups.

At midterm, you will propose the particular scene from your film and explain the contextual material that you will use to frame your video essay. Your midterm proposal will receive a grade separate from your final video essay grade.  

At the close of the semester, your video essay will be shown in class and your group will answer questions about it.   Groups will evaluate the contributions of their members at the midpoint and the end of the semester. 

You can see an example of a student video essay from this class here.  The requirements for this essay were different than your requirements (fewer contexts of meaning had to be researched and referenced), but the constraints (of choosing a particular scene / sequence & of adding commentary) are the same.

Group Film Proposal

Your group film proposal should include the following elements:

1. The name of the film you will analyze.

2. A list of important contextual factors that make your film worth examination.

(these might include a film movement that informs the making the film, the "national cinema," the ethnic group(s) portrayed in the film, the context of the film's production, the context of the film's distribution, an issue or several issues that the film deals with, a particular aesthetic achievement that the film has been noted for or the oevre of the filmmaker)

3. A bibliography that lists resources related to the various contextual factors

4. a timeline for accomplishing the project

5. a rough division of labor for the members of the group

See your syllabus for the Group Film Proposal due date.

Scene Proposal

By mid-term, you should have COMPLETED the reading and researching phase of this project.  At this point in the semester you will have sufficient CONTEXTUAL information to inform the script that you will write and edit together with the scene that you choose.

You should turn in the following materials at this time:

1. Identify which scene you will be analyzing: please give me the exact time beginning and ending of the scene.

2. A description of the content and formal devices which make up the scene.

3. A paragraph describing elements of the scene that connect to the overall film's production values, plot, themes, content and style.

4. An outline of the major ideas that have emerged from your contextual research.  This outline should connect these contextual variables to the scene you have chosen.

5. Each group member will be required to submit a log of their contributions to the group at this time.

6. A plan for completing the project and the various roles of each of the group members.

Much of the content of your project should be finished by this point in the semester.  You will still need to make choices about how to convey your information in the video essay, but we will address these choices in class.

REPEATABLE FREE WRITE: What worked? Why?

One of my favorite ways of starting a film discussion is by asking the question:  What about the film WORKED for you? 

My second question is often: What about the film didn’t work for you?  

And a favorite THIRD question is:  What do you think the director HOPED TO ACCOMPLISH by making this film?  

Sometimes bringing those three answers together produces some interesting reflection

REPEATABLE FREE WRITE: (When You Don't Really Like the Film)

What about the film bumped you out of the narrative flow?  

Was it the IDEAS in the film?  Was it the EXECUTION of the film?  Was it something INSIDE OF YOU?  

How could this same film have worked better without the bumps?  

Would it still achieve the same aims?  

Do you think that the director knew (or even wanted) you would be bumped out?

REPEATABLE FREE WRITE: Art, Culture & Business

In this class we look at films in three distinct ways:  as art, as cultural expression / conversation, as a business process.  

Do a little research on the film you just watched.  How does it work in each of these three ways? 

REPEATABLE JOURNAL ENTRY: Film Viewing Terms

You can always write a journal entry that summarizes a movie or reading that we have assigned for class.  

Be sure that you write about the movies or readings in a personal way, though too.  

Don’t JUST summarize them.  Let me hear about them in YOUR voice and find out what really STUCK for you. 

FIRST PROMPT: The Tube With A Hat

In this class we’ll regularly look at films in three distinct ways:  as art, as cultural expression / conversation, as a business process.  

When you think about the film we watched in class THE TUBE WITH A HAT -- how do these three ways of seeing alter your perspective of the film?