Independent study
Weighting: 25%
This component is based on part 2 of the course (film theory and history), but also draws to some extent
on part 1 (textual analysis). The aim of the independent study is to encourage students to engage in some depth with a cinematic tradition that is unfamiliar to their own culture.
Students must produce a script for a complete short documentary production exploring an aspect of film
theory or film history, based on the study of films from more than one country. The documentary should be targeted at an audience of film students in the 14 to 18 years age range. Among the topics students may choose to investigate are:
• genre
• theme
• direction
• use ofsound
• colour
• editing
• lighting.
The topic should be discussed primarily in cinematic terms. The prime voice of the documentary must clearly be that of the student, who will also act as the narrator, onscreen host and/or voice-over. Students must ensure that any comments or ideas they attribute to celebrities or others, such as experts, are fully supported by detailed references in the annotated list of sources.
EXAMPLE IDEAS
- A study of the development of horror films through cinematic techniques (or their reflections of cultural fears). At SL the study could be of Nosferatu and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
- A study of cinematic representation of adolescence (and/or childhood). At SL the study could be of Cinema Paradiso and Boyz in the Hood
I want everyone to post an overarching theme and the two films they will study.
when do we need to post this by?
ReplyDeleteA comparative study of the evolution of major female characters through cinematic techniques in the films Steel Magnolias and Rome Open City.
ReplyDeleteWhich cinematic techniques?
Deletemise-en-scene, lighting, and sound. Sorry I took so long to get back to you!!! I meant to tell you in person, but I kept forgetting!
DeleteRepresentations of the femme fatale within the two classic noir films, The Naked City and The Third Man.
ReplyDeleteMy documentary explores the various cinematic techniques used by directors in order to create the identifiable character, that exists across cultural boundaries, of the femme fatal in classic noir films. Through the use of cinematic techniques such as lighting choices, clothing and make up design of the mise-en-scene, and uses of diegetic and non-diegetic score used around the female character, the directors of The Naked City and The Third Man create the image of the femme fatal, a classic symbol in the age of film noir in cinematic history, including attractive and dangerous qualities.
DeleteMy documentary will talk about the different visions of the future that directors and cinematographers have and how they portray these visions through cinematic techniques. Utilizing various film elements and aspects including direction, use of sound, editing, and lighting, the creators of Metropolis (Lang) and Blade Runner (Scott) reflect how their viewpoints on the future of our society are hurdling towards dark and unfavorable circumstances.
ReplyDeleteMy documentary will discuss cinematic techniques such as shot length, editing, and sound in order to further exemplify social stratification within a society. The two movies I will use to do this are Ratatouille (Pinkava) and Grand Illusion (Renoir), both movies that take place in French society in, albeit in different time periods.
ReplyDeleteMy documentary will discuss the importance of time in relation to how events pan out, and how that effects the film as a whole. In both of the movies I have chosen, if a single event had occured at a different time, everything would have happened differently. I have chosen to talk about Titanic (Cameron) and Run Lola Run (Tykwer).
ReplyDeleteOK. This is a good topic, but you need to have a framework in which to work--what cinematic elements are you focusing on? Remember, the IS is to be written CINEMATICALLY. It is not an English paper. Remember to use the "recipe" I gave you in class.
DeleteMy documentary will be an analysis of a human characteristic seen in both Hughes's "Thr Breakfast Club" and Renoir's "The Grand Illusion". This characteristic is thr ability for people of different, and sometimes opposing, background to build relationships when forced together. I plan to show scenes showing initial reactions of opposing characters, followed later by scenes of the budding relationships, and finally scenes of the fully matured relationships. The breakfast club depicted many of the social strata that teenage citizens found thensrlvrs in durin the 1980s, as week as class interactions as a whole between the different economic strata. Grand Illusion shows the delicate relationships between thr various countries active in world war I. By doing this I can parallel this human behavior between the two films, and show i's universal quality
ReplyDeleteThis
DeleteAGAIN, as I just told Noah, this is to be written CINEMATICALLY. You are not looking at story or characters or relationships UNLESS YOU CAN DISCUSS CINEMATICALLY. Look at the "recipe" I handed out in class!
DeleteMy documentary is going to be about love and the extents people will go for it as well as how it shapes the film as a whole through costume, mise en scene, etc, in the two films Run Lola Run (Tykwer) and Grease (I dont know off the top of my head :/).
ReplyDeleteRun Lola Run and Grease are two movies separated by twenty years and on the surface two different films that were made for two totally different reasons, but they are more interconnected then most people think, and I’m going to prove that.My documentary will take a deeper and more in-depth look of how the love and emotion between the two main characters in Grease and Run Lola Run develop and blossom through cinematic techniques such as costume, mise-en-scene, and lighting as well as though dialogue, diagetic and non-diagetic sound, and editing.
DeleteMy independent study will basically show the relationship/evolution of the femme fetale as portrayed in many American noir films in the mid-20th to the femme fetale represented by the neo-noir films made in other countries. Females are very reoccurring and important images in noir films, and the jump between “film noir” and “neo-noir” is set by the various cinematic techniques used by directors and cinematographers of the different regions. The films that I will be analyzing for this study include the classic noir film Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder) and the modern Franco-Italian film La Femme Nikita (Luc Besson).
ReplyDeleteRemember, you are only focusing on two films. Also, define your cinematic techniques--i.e. which ones are you examining?
DeleteSorry I was so late with this. I had a hard time finding a second film for my study.
ReplyDeleteFor my independent study, I will be comparing the crime and violence between "Menace II Society" (South Central Los Angeles- Early 1990's) and "City of God" (Rio de Janeiro- Late 1960s-Early 1980s). Since the two films occur in completely different times, I will also analyze how the setting has an impact on the events of the story, and how it changes the circumstances for the characters. Both films involve a main character who is caught up in his bad environment, and struggles to escape onto a positive path.
ReplyDeleteIn my Independent Study, I will compare the meaning of “good vs. evil” throughout the two films Spirited Away and Hotel Rwanda. With Spirited Away containing a background of Japanese culture, and Hotel Rwanda created by American filmmakers in order to present a message about African culture , good vs. evil is used in two different ways to convey two different meanings. In Spirited Away, good vs. evil would be more thought of as “distinguishing between good and evil” where throughout the film, the viewer receives a mixed feeling on whether certain characters are good or not through the certain cinematic shots coinciding with the actions that certain characters take. In Hotel Rwanda, the Hutus are thought of as the evil ones who create conflict and violence on the seemingly good Tutsis. Through the lighting, sound and editing, the filmmakers have created that “good vs. evil” effect to make the audience believe what they want them to.
ReplyDeleteIn my Independent Study, I will compare the analyze the confusion of “good vs. evil” in the societies of the two films Spirited Away and Hotel Rwanda.
DeleteStudy of the representation of poverty in cinema through cinematic techniques in the films Bicycle Thieves and The Pursuit of Happyness. My documentary will discuss techniques such as lighting, shot composition, mise-en-scene (props), and sound in order to understand the perspectives and meanings of the two films. Bicycle Thieves is a 1949 Italian movie set in WWII ravaged Rome and The Pursuit of Happyness is a 2006 American film set in 1981 San Fransisco.
ReplyDelete