Practice+Writings

What
You will write three short analytical pieces, each due on a Monday. You should turn in a printed copy.

Why
One of the challenges of analyzing film is to put our observations into words, but doing so enables us to go deeper with analysis. The goal of these practice writings is to apply film concepts to specific, concrete examples. These practice writings will allow you to focus on very specific elements of film analysis before writing the longer sequence analysis essay.

=Practice Writing 3: Analyzing Editing=
 * [|Road to Perdition: "I'm Glad It's You"]
 * [|Road to Perdition: "You Would Like to Apologize?"]
 * [|His Girl Friday: Meeting Bruce]
 * [|Chinatwon: Evelyn's Last Stand]

Choose a segment of at least 10 shots from one of the clips above (unless the entire clip is less than 10 shots; then use the entire clip) and write an analysis of the editing. Your analysis should consist of two parts: > Example of shot description:
 * 1) Write a shot-by-shot breakdown where you number and describe each shot in the sequence. For each shot, describe the content, camera distance, camera angle, camera movement, and shot length. You can create a table or you can make a bullet list. (See below for an example.)
 * 2) Write a paragraph or so discussing how the editing works in the sequence. Analyze how the sequence manipulates the three attributes of editing: collage/graphic qualities, tempo, and timing (see Film 193-201). Then draw some conclusions about the sequence.
 * Shot 1: Close-up of Frodo's face, slightly low angle, no camera movement, 3 s.
 * Shot 2: Close-up of Gollum's face, high angle, no camera movement, 4 s.

= Practice Writing 2: Analyzing Mise-en-Scene = Write a brief analysis (minimum 300 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. State a thesis at the beginning of your analysis and then support your claim with specific details from the image. Your analysis should attempt to answer the question: How do design and composition in the image convey story information, reveal character, express emotion, or suggest theme? Consider the image in the overall context of the scene and the film.

=A=

=B=

=C=

=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 //Chinatown// 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.

After describing the image, write a second paragraph relating this image to the film as a whole. How does this particular image represent the film? =A.= =B.= =C.= ==