The Response Paper What to do and what to expect

Due date: September 29. Size: approximately 1500 words. Percent value: 15%. Goal: to master the material and develop/demonstrate critical thinking.

How to start 1. Choose a readily available Russian film made before 1945 (look it up on Internet Movie Database if you want to know more about it).Internet Movie Database 2. Watch the film more than once. 3. Choose an aspect to think and write about, for example:  Character;  plot and ideological content;  themes and motifs;  details and imagery;  formal and technical aspects (the way it is filmed).

Suggested Movies Evgenii Bauer, Dying Swan, After Death, Twilight of a Woman’s Soul Yakov Protazanov, Aelita Aleksandr Dovzhenko, Earth Sergei Eisenstein, Strike, Battleship Potemkin, October, Alexander Nevsky, Ivan the Terrible. Vsevolod Pudovkin, Mother, Chess Fever Dziga Vertov, Man with a Movie-Camera Grigorii Aleksandrov, Happy Guys, Volga Volga, Circus

What to look for Camera: panning, travelling, close-up. Film effects. Composition of the shot. Cutting between shots. Recurrent themes and motifs. “Situation rhyme.” Do not retell the plot unless you need it for the analysis.

What will be evaluated Knowledge of the material (the film and its context); critical thinking and originality of analysis; coherence of organization; quality of language (English or French); neatness of presentation.

Physical presentation of the paper Typed double-spaced in 12 pt Times Roman with 1" margins; all pages numbered and author identified; initial page with all pertinent information: student name, number, course number, name of professor, title of paper; film title(s) underlined or italicized.