Zuby University Moonlight Film Interpretive Analysis Essay Available Films: Screening: Juno (Reitman, 2007Screening: Ex Machina (Garland, 2015)Screening: C

Zuby University Moonlight Film Interpretive Analysis Essay Available Films:
Screening: Juno (Reitman, 2007Screening: Ex Machina (Garland, 2015)Screening: Casablanca (Curtiz,1942)Screening: It Happened One Night (Capra, 1934)

Screening: Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954)

Screening: The Graduate (Nichols, 1967)Screening: Moonlight (Jenkins, 2016)Screening: Rashomon, (Kurosawa, 1950)Screening: Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967)Screening: Singin’ in the Rain (Kelly & Donen, 1952)

pick any for both.

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Assignment: Preliminary Analysis DUE ASAP

Details:Purpose

The purpose of this assignment is twofold. First, you will identify a major theme of a 214 film and write a thesis related to that theme. Second, you will conduct a close formal/aesthetic analysis of one shot from the film. The goal is to connect film style to film narrative and to analyze how film style communicates information that relates to film narrative. Close formal analysis is a crucial building block of any sophisticated film analysis. These planning stages are important early steps in the writing process.

1) Skills/Knowledge: As a result of completing this assignment, students will be able to:

Synthesize, condense, and express an original argument of film analysis through writing a thesis statement.
Identify specific elements of film style in a single shot of a film using the vocabulary of film studies.
Critically analyze how film style relates to film narrative. d. Interpret how film style communicates in relation to film narrative.

Assignment Requirements

1) Part One: Thesis

Develop a thesis about the film researched for the Annotated Bibliography assignment. This thesis should take the form of a one or two sentence statement, and it should clearly express a central theme of the film. The scope of the thesis should be appropriate for a 1200-word essay, and it should avoid evaluative language.
Example: “Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941) recounts the life story of Charles Foster Kane through multiple—and often contradictory and unreliable— character testimonies. Through its narrative structure, the film comments on the fundamental inability to understand the complexity of a human life, and in refusing to present the point of view of Kane himself, Citizen Kane never answers the central question of who Kane really was.”

2) Part Two: Shot Analysis

Choose one shot—yes, a single shot—from the film you’ve chosen, and compose a thesis statement and short analysis (150 words) that connects style to narrative. Consider how that shot connects to the broader theme(s) that you identified in Part One. Think of this stylistic analysis as providing a specific example to support your main thesis.
Include a screencap in your submission.
If you don’t know how to make screencaps, use VLC — it is a free video player with simple screen shot controls: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html.
Alternately, you can do a Google Image search to try to find your shot.

Example

“The blocking in this shot from Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941) establishes the unequal power relations among the characters, and it reinforces the film’s refusal to provide access to Kane’s interior character and point of view. Kane’s mother and Thatcher occupy the foreground of the shot, where they are signing the documents turning over legal guardianship of Charles to Thatcher. Their position in the frame indicates their power over Charles’s future. Kane’s father occupies the mid-ground, indicating his relative impotence in the decision-making process. In the background, seen in deep focus through a window, is Charles himself. While Charles’s position in the background indicates his lack of control over his future, the composition of the frame draws attention to him. The lines of the image converge on Charles, and his position in the center of the frame indicates his centrality to the narrative. Even though the narrative is focused on Charles, he lacks power over his future.”

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Prof Text:

In the first part you’re tasked with writing a thesis statement (for an essay). Your thesis statement should just be about one or two sentences. Through this short paragraph you should make an argument about a film. Ideally, you should use the same movie you used for your Annotated Bibliography. Hopefully, you can utilize some of the research from your bibliography assignment.

There’s an example of a well written thesis in the instructions for this assignment on Canvas. Use that example as a model to write your own thesis.

The second part is a Shot Analysis. For this section you need to choose one shot—yes, just a single shot—from the film you’ve chosen, and write a short analysis (150 words) of the image. Again this needs to be a shot from the actual movie — and NOT a marketing or production still.

Your analysis should deconstruct the image. Include a thesis statement and a discussion about how the shot connects to the broader themes of the film. Make sure to use the vocabulary of formal film analysis (i.e. terms from the textbook) and accurately describes the aesthetic elements of the shot.

There’s an example of a well written shot analysis in the instructions for this assignment on Canvas. Use that example as a model to write your own analysis.

Make sure to include the image from the film with this assignment.”

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Assignment: Interpretive Analysis Essay Due 12th of June Final.

Details: Purpose

The purpose of this assignment is to produce an essay that critically analyzes a course film by synthesizing what students have learned this quarter about how film comments on the human condition and how film style and narrative communicates this message. The synthesis of research, critical analysis, and close textual/formal analysis in this essay is one of the primary skills needed in all Humanities writing, and the argumentative and writing skills required for this assignment will be essential for succeeding in your post-graduate career(s).

Skills/Knowledge: As a result of completing this assignment, students will be able to:
Critically analyze a film by understanding how it communicates through formal and narrative techniques.
Relate film to topics in the humanities.
Conduct research specific to the field of film studies.
Synthesize research, critical analysis, and close textual/formal analysis into a cohesive argument about the relationship of a film to the human condition.
Create a strong example of persuasive scholarly writing.

Assignment Requirements

1) Develop a topic and argument of your choosing, but consider the following questions: What are the central meanings of the film and how does the film create them? How does the film use style and narrative to produce these (potential) meanings? In making these meanings, how does the film relate to and provide commentary on the humanities and the human condition? Use our previous assignments (Annotated Bibliography; Preliminary Analysis) as examples of how to begin writing this essay.

2) Requirements for the essay:

Compose an argumentative essay related to the film you researched and wrote about in the previous assignments.
Include a thesis that makes a strong and clear claim about the meanings of the film. It should look something like the following: “Boyz n the Hood (Singleton, 1991) draws on techniques of neorealism, including location shooting and the casting of nonprofessional actors, in order to provide a harsh commentary on the black experience in 1980s South Central LA.”
A title that clearly and accurately reflects the content and argument of the essay.
A strong title should clearly indicate the topic of your essay, and it should include the title of the film you’re analyzing. Be as specific as possible here.
Pay attention to organization. The essay should be logically structured, with each body paragraph providing support for essay’s central thesis. Each paragraph should feature smooth transitions and clear topic sentences.
Research/Sources: Use everything at your disposal to make your argument more persuasive. You will find it helpful to refer to lecture/discussion notes, PowerPoints, and class readings. The strongest essays will also refer to the outside research performed for the annotated bibliography.
Consider all of the major units we explored this quarter: the humanities, context, style, narrative, and meaning. The strongest essays will find ways to incorporate all of these topics in a clear, focused manner.
Length Requirement: 1200 words. Please include a word count on the first page.