Feminist Film / Media Studies

For this assignment please write an 800 to 1000 word analysis addressing the following:

1 - do a BRIEF synopsis of the film and put the film in CONTEXT (writer, director, place, year...)

2 - select a scene in the film that demonstrates a key moment, and take image grabs frame by frame

3 - use key ideas or concepts in FEMINIST THEORY, FEMINIST FILM THEORY, or FILM THEORY (readings we have done in class, or outside scholarly readings) to critical read the filmic construction and larger meaning of this scene

4 - explain the film's message as you "read"/understand it, using your shot by shot analysis as evidence to support your claims

This assignment is due MONDAY, JUNE 30 at NOON!

!!! Be sure to use key terms and concepts in your essay, and note the works you cite in your analysis.

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Here's an example:

The Piano is a film directed by Jane Campion which tells the story of "a highly charged love triangle of English colonizers", according the Campion ("The Making of the Piano, Campion", 135). This film won the best director award from the Australian Film Institute, an Oscar for best screenplay in 1994, and at the 66th Academy Awards she was the second woman ever to be nominated best director, according to wikipedia.

I think that this film is very much about the idea of the gaze - the power and pleasure exchanged in looking and being at (as theorized by Laura Mulvey in "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema". Mulvey writes:,

The gaze is... [block quote from reading here]

Mulvey's idea of the "male gaze" can be seen at work in the sequence "The Photograph", in which Ada must take a photograph with her new husband, Stewart.

The first image of the scene is a wide tracking shot. The image is very blue, reminding us that this is a re-telling of the classic Bluebeard tale.

Continue reading "Assignment: Category 4. Shot by Shot Analysis" »

Posted by Rae at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For this assignment, please do a feminist analysis of a movie poster of your choice. You can scan the cover of your favorite DVD in the FMC (instructions posted on the wall, front row, station against the wall), or borrow an image from the Internet.

This means, in your reading of this images considering CONTEXT (the who, what where, why, and how), CONTENT (what the POSTER tells the story of, and the story of the film [if you've seen it]), and FORM (framing, composition, color, etc).

Please post an 800 to 1000 word analysis to this blog by NOON on Monday, June 23.

Here's an excerpt of an example:

This image is the DVD cover of Women Behind the Camera, a documentary about women cinematographers in the U.S., Canada, China, France, Germany, India, India, Iran, Mexico, Russia, and Senegal. The film's website proclaims that the film shows women behind the camera from "other countries in a way never seen before". The film's director, Alexis Krasilovsky, is a documentary filmmaker, film scholar, and professor at Cal State Northridge.

The film is really important in that it shows women behind the camera as we've never seen before...

The film's form.... think framing, composition, rhythm, pacing of editing, etc...

Posted by Rae at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Post in Category 2. Media Watching blog post (5 points)
Post by NOON on Wednesday, 6/18

Details: In a 150 to 300 word post, consider some of the following questions:

How do you watch films (media)? Are you an avid theater goer? Do you have cable TV with all the film channels? Do you watch DVDs on a laptop while you ride the bus home? Do you download off itunes and watch on a video Ipod?

Do you only watch "Hollywood" feature films? Do you watch indie short films online? Do you attend screenings on campus, or film festivals in town?

What, in your opinion, might be the connection between who you are and what you watch. How might what, how, and where you watch media affect your reading/understanding of the material?

Feel free to link us to anything you are watching online!

Continue reading "Assignment: Blog Post on Media Watching Habits" »

Posted by Rae at 1:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

PLEASE
Post under Category: 1. Introduction / Top 10 List [to receive credit]

!!! Post an introduction to yourself – remember this is a public blog, so don’t reveal details of your “real� identity if you don’t feel comfortable doing so. If this is the case, create an alias (so that your real name and/or x500 are not displayed). [see instructions below]

Assignment Details:

Post your introduction to the class. This could be your “top 10� list of the films you love to watch repeatedly, or the films you detest the most. Feel free to post links to the film’s website, photos or anything that let’s us know about what you are watching, reading, listening to, and/or thinking about.

If you have a personal blog, link us!

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REMEMBER, if you don't want your real name / x500 listed below your entry, create an alias display name:
1. Click on “Log into UThink� (on the top right).
2. Sign x500 and pw.
3. Click on the link to your x500 (on the light bluish grey bar, very top right of the screen)
4. Enter your chosen alias in the “Display Name� field
5. Save changes

Posted by Rae at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)