Assignment

1. For your assignment you will chose one film that sticks out to you throughout the semester (it can be generated from your film dossier, a suggestion from me, one we screened for class, or one of your own favorites) research and write a 7-9 page double-spaced analysis in 12 point Times New Roman font.

2. You can focus on a specific film and its theoretical possibilities, enter into conversation with a specific theorist and his/her conclusions, or even generate your own film theory grounded in our readings and class discussion.

3. You also need at least 3 academic sources that you find inside/outside of class to support or complicate your argument. You need to show me why and how you are interacting with the theorists we discuss this semester.

I have included the course book and other readings that should be helpful. The two film options to write on is Black Swan (2010) or Get Out (2017).

Inform me on what film is chosen.

1. In assigning grades to papers for this course (longer or shorter), there are certain things I am always looking for: a strong and specific arguable thesis (something someone could disagree with!), a coherent and consistent development of that thesis, an engagement with the texts you are writing about and an awareness of your writing voice, thinking creatively about a film's ideas and techniques, ability to do close reading and work with quotations, organization and sense, and (within reason) error-free writing. I will not be asking you to primarily interpret the film in your writing, nor am I interested whether you liked the movie or not. Rather, the assignments will ask you to identify and focus on the specific film elements (such as composition, camera placement or editing patterns) through which theory is generated. I also will not accept late papers. Extensions may be granted for extenuating circumstances, but if you turn the paper in late, you get a zero.