Film Journal + Commentaries ~ Assignment Description

Film journal (5%)
Over the course of the term, students will be asked to keep a journal of informal notes and produce two, more formal written commentaries related to the films seen in the classroom. The film journals should include point-form notes taken in response to each film screened and from the class discussion following. Students should develop their notes into more carefully structured statements soon after each film is screened, while the film and discussion are still fresh in mind. Consideration should be given to formal and thematic aspects of the films.

The commentaries (2 x 10%)
Approximately 250 words (one, double-spaced page), the commentaries are meant to sketch the basic components of a future (and longer) scene analysis. They are meant to be brief and written in sentence form. These commentaries should identify the key themes of the film in question AND the principal formal means through which these themes are expressed.

Of the films we screened in class, choose one that you found particularly interesting and describe the storyline and themes briefly, in a few sentences. This thesis statement should emphasize the points you plan to illustrate in the short formal analysis that follows. The descriptive analysis should identify a scene or sequence of scenes in the film that demonstrate the points you’ve made about form in your opening statement.

For example:City of God is a story of the cycles of violence that define the way of life in a favela of Rio de Janerio. Told from the perspective of Rocket, who survives to tell the tale, the film’s plot adopts a circular structure to mirror the cyclical manner through which violence escalates from one generation to the next. Confirming 'repetition' as the film's principal leitmotif, the story is visualized using circular camera work and cutting.

The opening scenes of the film offer an excellent example of this thematic pattern. As the film begins, we witness preparations for a street party: a quick glint of steel inaugurates a fast sequence of close-up shots taken from different angles showing successive preparations. The knife is sharpened on the steel, then the vegetables are cut, and then we see a chicken being plucked, and another live chicken, waiting its turn at the chopping block. The shots become wider, deeper and longer and begin to move as the live chicken escapes and is chased through winding streets. Cut to Rocket who approaches the action from an opposite route. When the chicken and protagonist meet, the camera circles around to show back and front views of the rendezvous: Rocket and the chicken are stuck in the middle of an armed gang and the police. The camera circles again and we find two new views, of Rocket, this time back and front of a soccer field sometime in the his youth. The story begins again from this point, and retains this circular movement in plot, editing and camera until we meet at the end, at the film’s beginning catching up with Rocket and the chicken in the middle of the standoff that started the film.