SJC Film Visual Analysis Picture & Shots Provided 500 Days of Summer Discussion
I’m studying for my Film class and don’t understand how to answer this. Can you help me study?
reference this book:
(Looking at Movies (Sixth Edition)
Dave Monahan
Watch the film and take notes about the theme of the film and its overall visual style. Select a short sequence of shots that you think are especially important or significant to the theme of the film, to the characterization, to the overall visual style of the film, etc. (Length of time can vary; the clinic scene from Juno is about as long as you need.) Write an essay of about 1000-1200 words in which you examine the key visual elements of the film – its mise-en-scene and its cinematography – and explain their thematic significance. The significance of the sequence forms your thesis statement. The essay should assume that the reader is at least somewhat familiar with the film being analyzed, which makes a full plot summary unnecessary, just enough to introduce the film in the first paragraph and where necessary to help clarify the context of the scene being analyzed. I repeat: focus on the film’s visual style: its mise-en-scene and its cinematographic style. Do not address the film’s editing style; that’s for later this term. (It would be useful to take a film where you are not aware of the editing.) No outside research is permitted for this assignment; your only resources are the course materials I have provided (the textbook, the VTs, the PowerPoints, etc.)
VIII. Summary: GROCHOWSKI RULES (note that these are all don’ts – things to avoid)
GROCHOWSKI RULE #1: Don’t announce what you are going to do.
GROCHOWSKI RULE #2: Don’t use the first person (I, we, etc.) and don’t use the 2nd
person (you, your, yours).
GROCHOWSKI RULE #3: Don’t use “in conclusion” or its variants.
GROCHOWSKI RULE #4: Don’t write about the making of the film.
GROCHOWSKI RULE #5: Don’t define the film terminology you are using.
GROCHOWSKI RULE #6: Avoid using clichés, and never use “in today’s society.”
GROCHOWSKI RULE #7: Don’t use the abbreviation etc.
