Film 150
Introduction to Film
Spring 2018
Critical Essay #1
For this first critical essay, your options are pretty unlimited. However, keep in mind everything that we’ve discussed in class, particularly the ways in which visual narration serves to show how a story is told by directors, rather than simply discussing the story line of a particular film. Be sure to discuss more than simply what happened plot-wise. A critical essay of this kind requires an in-depth analysis of filmic qualities, incorporating what has been discussed in Giannetti’s Understanding Movies. For this reason you should plan to quote from Giannetti often in your essay. He is our scholar, the one who supports the statements we make in the essay.
Topics can include an analysis of a particular trend that you have noticed in the films that we have seen and discussed so far. If you like, you can analyze a particular film or pair of films (two is plenty for a paper this size), evaluating in terms of how gender, racial, or political ideologies are portrayed cinematically. Feel free to analyze a film that isn’t on our list. However, the focus of this particular paper should relate to some topic we’ve brought up in class or has been mentioned in the reading. This essay will be worth 20% of the final grade.
Please feel free to talk to me about this essay if you have questions or are having trouble getting started.
Format:
- The essay should be between 3 and 5 pages, typed double-spaced, with one inch margins all around. Number your pages.
- Underline and center the title of your essay at the top of the page.
- Staple your pages together and number them.
- No late papers please—there’s simply no time.
- While you are required to quote from Giannetti, you will notneed to include a works cited page at the end of this essay.
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