EssayAssignment

= Sequence Analysis Essay =


 * Due**:July 14, 2014

Rationale
Close analysis is one of the most effective tools for understanding how film images and sounds can combine to create powerful expressive meanings. This assignment gives you the opportunity to put into practice the new concepts you have been learning about the way film narratives tell stories and have emotional effects on audiences.

Assignment
Write an essay of at least 1,200 words analyzing a ** brief ** sequence from one of the films on the syllabus. How does the excerpt work? What does it do? What effect does it create? What meaning does it create? How does it relate to the film overall? This essay will require you to 1) place your excerpt in the context of the overall film, 2) describe relevant visual, sound, and/or narrative elements in the excerpt, 3) and analyze those elements by explaining their meaning and why they are significant.

Part One: Shot List
Before writing your essay, prepare a detailed shot list that describes every shot in the selected sequence. I will provide you with a template for this. Turn in a hard copy of the shot list with your essay.

Part Two: Essay
Write your essay as an argument explaining how the techniques you analyze function together in the sequence. You will submit a printed hard copy of your essay, which must include at least one screen capture (though you may include more). If your scene is available online, you may include a link to it.

** DO: **

 * Have access to the film so you can watch the scene over and over and carefully take notes.
 * Use specific technical terms from class discussions, your textbooks, and the quizzes.
 * Concentrate on specific visual and aural details in the film. Be sure to link visual and aural details to their effects.
 * Have a thesis statement (!) in the introductory paragraph(s).
 * Be sure that each paragraph supports and further develops this thesis. Your goal is not to analyze the entire film, but to discuss narrowly how the details of this scene express meaning in the overall context of the film.
 * Proofread carefully.
 * Open with a paragraph that summarizes the sequence concisely and generally situates it within the film as a whole.
 * **Include at least one screen capture from the film in your paper.**


 * DON’T**
 * Summarize the plot of the film or focus on the narrative; discuss the details of the narrative only when necessary to support your thesis and the film’s theme.
 * Have a long list of visual details but no analysis of why they were chosen.
 * Have a long list of generalizations without the details to support them.
 * Try to discuss every single visual detail. Instead choose to focus on what is important and what supports your central theme. Be selective. It may help to focus primarily on one element, such as mise-en-scene or cinematography.
 * Get too distracted by special effects; the purpose of this essay is not to focus on camera tricks, but to analyze cause and effect patterns in this clip.

SAMPLE WRITING

 * See Ch. 3 (39-43) of //Film: A Critical Introduction//
 * Student Paper: Scene from Pride and Prejudice by Katelyn
 * Student Paper: Scene from Citizen Kane by Ellen

Sample Thesis Statements
Your analysis essay should make an argument about the way the sequence functions in the film. What does the scene **do** in the movie? Your analysis, then, will explain **how** the scene does what it does.

Essay on //Rear Window//
 * In the confrontation scene at the end of //Rear Window//, Hitchcock uses lighting, camera angles, and point-of-view editing to heighten the tension and suspense.

Essay on //The Big Heat//
 * This scene is especially important because it underscores the duality of human nature. In the twisted moral logic of this noir world, an upstanding member of society reveals herself to be a moral reprobate, and a woman of questionable values redeems herself via an act of murder.

Essay on //Notorious//
 * This scene illustrates how Hitchcock's deft manipulation of film techniques induces the spectator to identify with Alicia as she undertakes her mission [to steal Sebastian's key].