“Capturing Lightning in a Bottle:” How to Write About Film

Prologue I: How to Become a Director First Wave: Apprenticeship Second Wave: Film School Third Wave: Video Fourth Wave?? Outliers: The Writer/Director

Prologue II: The Tools of the Artist To review from last week, what are the three main tools that a director has at his or her disposal? 1. Camera placement (long shot, mid-shot, closeup, POV, bird’s-eye view, etc.) and movement (pan, tilt, dolly, crane) 2. Editing – how to get from one shot to another and from one scene to another 3. Mise-en-scene (everything else)

Form Influences Content What are the ways in which a film is put together have an impact on the viewer? Or in other words, how does the director’s use of non-verbal elements help to tell the story?

Example 1: Hitchcock (of course…) The Man Who Knew too Much (Alfred Hitchcock, 1956)

Example #2 The Untouchables (Brian De Palma, 1987)

Example # 3 Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)

Comparison Bullitt (Peter Yates, 1968) The French Connection (William Friedkin, 1971)

Elements of the Film Review Introduction with thesis Body paragraphs with references to one or two elements Comparisons are excellent Conclusion - recommendation

What’s Eligible and What’s Not Cabat’s Hierarchy of Movie Watching 1.Films seen in the theater 2.Films seen on DVD or streamed, uncut in proper aspect ratio 3.Films seen on cable without commericals (Turner Classic Movies) 4.Films seen on cable or network with commercials Eligible: Films Seen as Close to Their Original Format as Possible 1.American narrative films 2.Foreign narrative films Not Eligible: 1. Documentaries (yet) 2. Animation (sorry) 3. Short films 4. Anything originally made for TV

Let’s Give It a Shot Film:______________________ Brief Summary_______________ Element 1__________________ Element 2____________________ Conclusion/Recommendation__________

What You Will Be Responsible For… One review (due Session 3) One “review review” (due Session 5) Final anthology piece (due Session 9) Short film (due Session 11) Blog posts (details to follow) Attendance and participation