Practice+Writings+Summer+2013

=Practice Writing 3: Analyzing Editing=


 * [|Atonement Kiss]
 * [|Pan's Labyrinth Pale Man scene (the first 10 shots)]
 * [|Pan's Labyrinth Frog scene (the first 10 shots)]
 * [|The Searchers ending]

Choose one of the clips above and write an analysis of the editing. Your analysis should consist of two parts:
 * 1) Write a shot-by-shot breakdown where you number and describe each shot in the sequence. You can create a table like the one we used in class (see pp. 378-380 in LM), or you can make a bullet list.
 * 2) Write a paragraph discussing how the editing works in the sequence. Draw some conclusions about it. For example, look at the discussion of the Lincoln assassination sequence from //Birth of a Nation// on p. 376 in //Looking at Movies.//

=Practice Writing 2: Analyzing Mise-en-Scene= Write a brief analysis (minimum 250 words) analyzing mise-en-scene in one of the images below. Unlike with Practice Writing 1, this time you should form conclusions and make a point. Support any general claims or interpretive statements with specific details from the image. Your analysis should attempt to answer the question: How do design and composition in the image tell the story, reveal character, and/or express meaning? Consider the image in the overall context of the film.

3.


=Practice Writing 1: Describing a Single Frame of a Single Shot= Write a coherent paragraph of at least 250 words describing one of the images from //Citizen Kane// below. Don't worry about forming a thesis statement or making any type of argument. Also, don't worry about discussing the symbolism of anything in the image. Concentrate instead on translating the image into words. Describe what you see and how people and objects are arranged in the frame. What do you notice about setting, props, lighting, costumes, makeup, and figure (actor) behavior or expression? What do you notice about the composition: the relationship between lines, shapes, figures, light and dark, etc? Don't worry about using any specific film vocabulary. We will learn that later.

1.


2.