solved Choose ONE of the following films to watch and analyze:Â
Choose ONE of the following films to watch and analyze:Â
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) / dir. Behn ZeitlinÂ
In Fabric (2018) / dir. Peter StricklandÂ
Hitchcock (2012) / dir. Sacha GervasiÂ
Lost in Translation (2003) / dir. Sofia CoppolaÂ
We Need to Talk about Kevin (2011) / dir. Lynne RamsayÂ
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) / dir. Ang LeeÂ
Roma (2018) / dir. Alfonso CuarónÂ
Boyhood (2014) / dir. Richard LinklaterÂ
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) / dir. Michel GondryÂ
The Master (2012) / dir. Paul Thomas AndersonÂ
Memento (2001) / dir. Christopher NolanÂ
Her (2013) / dir. Spike JonzeÂ
Spotlight (2015) / dir. Tom McCarthyÂ
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) / dir. Wes AndersonÂ
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) / dir. Wes AndersonÂ
Inherent Vice (2014) / dir. Paul Thomas AndersonÂ
Carol (2015) / dir. Todd HaynesÂ
Slumdog Millionaire (2008) / dir. Danny BoyleÂ
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) / dir. David FincherÂ
Milk (2008) / dir. Gus Van SantÂ
No Country for Old Men (2007) / dir. The Coen BrothersÂ
Juno (2007) / dir. Jason ReitmanÂ
There Will Be Blood (2007) / dir. Paul Thomas AndersonÂ
Brokeback Mountain (2005) / dir. Ang LeeÂ
Million Dollar Baby (2004) / dir. Clint EastwoodÂ
Ray (2004) / dir. Taylor Hackford
The Hurt Locker (2008) / dir. Kathryn BigelowÂ
District 9 (2009) / dir. Neill BlomkampÂ
The King’s Speech (2010) / dir. Tom HooperÂ
Black Swan (2010) / dir. Darren AronofskyÂ
The Kids Are All Right (2010) / dir. Lisa CholodenkoÂ
BlacKkKlansman (2018) / dir. Spike LeeÂ
Vice (2018) / dir. Adam McKayÂ
The Favourite (2018) / dir. Yorgos LanthimosÂ
The Big Short (2015) / dir. Adam McKayÂ
The Martian (2015) / dir. Ridley ScottÂ
Room (2015) / dir. Lenny AbrahamsonÂ
The Revenant (2015) / dir. Alejandro IñárrituÂ
Fences (2016) / dir. Denzel WashingtonÂ
La La Land (2016) / dir. Damien ChazelleÂ
Lion (2016) / dir. Garth DavisÂ
The Shape of Water (2017) / dir. Guillermo Del ToroÂ
Get Out (2017) / dir. Jordan PeeleÂ
Us (2019) / dir. Jordan PeeleÂ
Little Women (2019) / dir. Greta GerwigÂ
Lady Bird (2017) / dir. Greta GerwigÂ
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) / dir. Martin McDonaghÂ
Little Miss Sunshine (2006) / dir. Valerie Faris & Jonathan Dayton
A Star is Born (2018) / dir. Bradley Cooper
Booksmart (2019) / dir. Olivia WildeÂ
Synecdoche, New York (2008) / dir. Charlie KaufmanÂ
Mulholland Drive (2001) / dir. David LynchÂ
The Florida Project (2017) / dir. Sean BakerÂ
Eighth Grade (2018) / dir. Bo BurnhamÂ
Mid90s (2018) / dir. Jonah HillÂ
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019) / dir. Joe TalbotÂ
Uncut Gems (2019) / dir. Josh Safdie & Benny SafdieÂ
The Lighthouse (2019) / dir. Robert EggersÂ
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) / dir. Gurinda ChadhaÂ
Logan (2017) / dir. James MangoldÂ
Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) / dir. Alejandro IñárrituÂ
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) / dir. Marielle HellerÂ
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020) / dir. George C. WolfeÂ
Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) / dir. Travis KnightÂ
American Animals (2018) / dir. Bart LaytonÂ
Boy Erased (2018) / dir. Joel EdgertonÂ
Tully (2018) / dir. Jason ReitmanÂ
Emma. (2020) / dir. Autumn de WildeÂ
The Triplets of Belleville (2003) / dir. Sylvain ChometÂ
ParaNorman (2012) / dir. Chris Butler & Sam FellÂ
Rango (2011) / dir. Gore VerbinskiÂ
Spirited Away (2001) / dir. Hayao MiyazakiÂ
Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) / dir. Hayao MiyazakiÂ
The Farewell (2019) / dir. Lulu WangÂ
Crazy Rich Asians (2018) / dir. Jon M. ChuÂ
Real Women Have Curves (2002) / dir. Patricia CardosoÂ
The Babadook (2014) / dir. Jennifer Kent
Da 5 Bloods (2020) / dir. Spike Lee
Hereditary (2018) / dir. Ari AsterÂ
Midsommar (2019) / dir. Ari Aster
The Duke of Burgundy (2014) / dir. Peter StricklandÂ
Volver (2006) / dir. Pedro Almodóvar
Snowpiercer (2013) / dir. Bong Joon-Ho
The Host (2006) / dir. Bong Joon-Ho
Okja (2017) / dir. Bong Joon-HoÂ
The Fall (2006) / dir. Tarsem Singh
Dunkirk (2017) / dir. Christopher NolanÂ
Persepolis (2007) / dir. Marjane Satrapi & WinshlussÂ
Selma (2014) / dir. Ava DuVernayÂ
An Education (2009) / dir. Lone ScherfigÂ
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019) / dir. Marielle HellerÂ
Moonlight (2016) / dir. Barry JenkinsÂ
If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) / dir. Barry JenkinsÂ
Mandy (2018) / dir. Panos CosmatosÂ
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) / dir. Wes AndersonÂ
***There are almost 100 films on this list so it is quite possibly you’ve seen some (or many) of them. Though it is not required for you to choose a film you have not seen, I would suggest choosing a film you have not seen so you may experience something new.***
Question A:
First, watch your chosen film. I would highly recommend taking detailed notes as you watch to help you in your writings.Â
Look for STORYTELLING – Who is the protagonist? Â What is their objective? Â Â What are their obstacles? Â If you had to break this film down into three sections: Â Beginning, Middle, and End – what would be the three sentences you would use to tell me what is going on?
How does the film effectively use the rule of “Show, don’t tell”? What was particularly brilliant about the storytelling and the film’s use of visual cues? Remember, this is NOT about the acting; “Show, don’t tell” is when the camera moves to show YOU, the audience, something that clues you into something significant. [For example, the very end of Citizen Kane has a brilliant moment of “show, don’t tell” by the last image of the film, which is a close up of the sled burning in the fire…and we finally see “Rosebud”. Â There is no acting involved here…it’s ALL camera work.]
What 2 brilliant moments of ACTING did you see in this film? Â How so? Â What do you think made it brilliant? (Think about emotional availability, movements, gestures, vocal inflection…) How did the actor bring the character to life? Â What made them believable? [If you have chosen one of the animated films from the list, please talk about the voice acting AND the way the animation of the characters helps to enhance the actors’ vocal performances]
How did they use CINEMATOGRAPHY to tell this story? Â Choose 3 different shots from the shot list that you learned last week and choose moments in the movie where you can name the shot, composition, etc. used and why they chose that one. Â How was the story better because of that choice?
What about DESIGN? There are five aspects of design: Â Â
Costume: Choose a character – what does the costume design tell you about this character? Â Think about choice of color, texture of the material, extra bling. Choose 2 outfits and talk about why that choice of costume was perfect for the character.Â
Props: Choose one thing an actor picked up and handled that told you something about their character? Â How did they treat it?
Set: Where was this film set? Â Do you think it was “on location” or they had a Green screen? Â What makes you think so? Â What did the set tell you about the world the characters live in? Â Choose a setting that was perfect – notice a particular detail about the set that you never saw before. Â How did noticing that add to the story?
Sound: Â What sort of music was in this film? Â Think about the instrumentation that you hear. Â How did it make you feel when the movie started? Â Was there ever utter silence? Â How did the music help tell the story? Talk about a moment where you heard music. Â Â What about the choice of songs throughout the film? Â Why did they choose that song? Â Music, lyrics…both? Â What about the sound effects? Â
Lights: Think about the section on lighting, and how it is so important to film. Â When were there moments of backlight, low light, deep color saturation, washed out colors…how did that make you feel while watching it? Â Choose 2 moments from the film where you are now really aware of why they made the choice of lighting that they did. Â
Overall  Opinion:  What have you learned from doing this analysis?  Did you enjoy this film? Would you watch this film again? Why or why not?  Why should other people watch this film?
Question B:
Why you chose this film, what about the film interested you, why this film is important, etc.Â
Why you’re excited to watch this film