Journal #2 Due next Tuesday

Don't forget that your second journal is due next Tuesday. It needs to be posted to your blog by class time on October 2. Woot woot.

If you've lost your goldenrod-hard-to-lose-since-it's-so-bright handout, here are the directions:

Film review. Due Oct. 2.

Write your own review of a film of your choosing (remember that for journals 2 and 3 you MUST choose films from either of the following lists, and at least one of them must be either from before 1960 or a non-American film: www.time.com/time/100movies/ (then click on “see the complete list”) or www.rogerebert.com/greatmovies.)

Select a film that genuinely interests you or puzzles you – a movie that you want to think about and examine more carefully than usual. Since this will be a critical review, you need to go beyond a simple statement of your likes and dislikes. Be prepared to use what you’ve learned about film technique and history so far to illuminate this film. We will look at sample reviews so you have a better idea of what you should have in yours. You must turn in at least one page of notes of your film with your review.

For the love of all things holy, don’t even think about plagiarizing someone else’s review. You will receive a zero not only on this journal, but the entire journal assignment, essentially dooming you to fail the quarter. You will want to gather the following information for your review, even if you don’t use all of it:


The basics
o What is the title of the film?
o Who directed the film?
o Who are the main actors in the film?
o Who wrote the screenplay?
o Who was responsible for photography?
o Who produced the film?
o Who wrote/played/sang the music?
o If you plan to mention any technical aspects of the film, you should find out the name of the people responsible for those aspects (such as editor, costume designer, and so forth).

Description/summary of the film
o What other movies is this movie like?
o Who are the main characters?
o What is the setting of the film?
o What is the main situation or source of conflict?
o Summarize the plot (without the ending!) in no more than five sentences. REMEMBER:
Your reader wants to know enough about the movie to make decision about going to the movie, but not so much that there’s no need to go.

Your analysis of the film
Literary aspects
o Characterize the plot/story of the movie. Is it involving, convoluted, simplistic, realistic, unbelievable, highly unlikely, well-structured, unresolved? (Add to this list if you need to).
o How would you characterize the dialogue? Do people talk this way in real life? (Or if realism was not a goal of the movie, was the dialogue amusing, poetic, or moving?)
o What themes do you see in the movie?
o Do you notice any symbols that recur in the movie?
Dramatic aspects
o Describe the acting. Did you believe that the actors were the characters?
o Describe the sets, costumes, makeup and lighting if these elements of the film’s design are significant.
Cinematic aspects
o What did you notice about the film’s cinematography? Did the director employ a lot of camera movements? Close-ups? High or low angles? Distorted lenses? Special visual effects?
o What did you notice about the film’s editing? Where there quick cuts? Lengthy shots? Other transitions?
o What did you notice about the film’s sound effects and music? What did they add to the overall effect of the film?

Citizen Kane & Kubla Khan

Kubla Khan, or a Vision in a Dream. A Fragment. is a famous poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which takes its title from the Mongol and Chinese emperor Kublai Khan of the Yuan dynasty. Coleridge claimed he wrote the poem in the autumn of 1797 at a farmhouse near Exmoor, England, but it may have been composed on one of a number of other visits to the farm. It also may have been revised a number of times before it was first published in 1816.

The poem's opening lines are often quoted, and it introduces the name Xanadu (or Shangdu, the summer palace of Kublai Khan):

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

Coleridge claimed that the poem was inspired by an opium-induced dream (implicit in the poem's subtitle A Vision in a Dream), but that the composition was interrupted by the person from Porlock. Some have speculated that the vivid imagery of the poem stems from a waking hallucination, albeit most likely opium-induced. There is widespread speculation on the poem's meaning, some suggesting the author is merely portraying his vision while others insist on a theme or purpose. Others believe it is a poem stressing the beauty of creation.

However, it is important to remember that inspiration for this poem also comes from Marco Polo's description of Shangdu and Kublai Khan from his book Il Milione, which was included in Samuel Purchas' Pilgrimage, Vol. XI, 231. When he declared himself emperor, the historical Kublai claimed he had the Mandate of Heaven, a traditional Chinese concept of rule by divine permission, and therefore gained absolute control over an entire nation. Between warring and distributing the wealth his grandfather Genghis Khan had won, Kublai spent his summers in Xandu (better known now as Shangdu, or Xanadu) and had his subjects build him a home suitable for a son of God. This story is described in the first two lines of the poem, “In Xanadu did Kubla Khan/A stately pleasure-dome decree” (1-2). The end of the third paragraph gives us another close-up view of Kubla. At his home, Kublai had on hand some ten thousand horses, which he used as a means of displaying his power; only he and those to whom he gave explicit permission for committing miscellaneous acts of valour was allowed to drink their milk. Hence the closing image of “the milk of Paradise.” (54)

For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

Of course, a reading of the entire poem is good for the soul.

In Orson Welles' famous film Citizen Kane, the main character's vast, Byzantine estate is called Xanadu — and was based on real-life newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst's resplendent home (Hearst Castle) at San Simeon, California. Charles Foster Kane is also refered to in the movie as the "American Kubla Khan".

(Source: Wikipedia...can you believe it?)

Nike/Mohicans

Here's the commercial Rohan and a few others were talking about in class today. It uses the same music from the Last of the Mohicans clip we watched in class today. Video game or not, it is a nice example of the overlap between nondiagetic and diagetic sound.

Elapsed Time

Piano/Drums Stop Motion

Don't forget, Journal #1 is due TOMORROW.

Journal #1 needs to be posted to your blog by tomorrow's class time.

Click HERE to read a sample journal entry written by Mr. Klobuchar.

Stop Motion

http://imdb.com/title/tt1029391/

Tony vs Paul info:

A stop motion battle between two friends turned enemies.

1. The video took two months to film and edit.
2. The music is available here: http://www.myspace.com/christopherlee...
3. Nothing is fake and no green screens were used. The only computer animated part was the letters falling on the page.
4. Yes, we really did jump all those times.
5. I edited it with Final Cut Pro
6. The camera we used was a Canon GL1 with both digital stills being taken, and footage being shot.
7. It was filmed in Massachusetts in the following towns: Arlington, Medford, Upton, Gloucester
Written & Directed by: Paul Cummings & Tony Fiandaca
Starring: Paul Cummings & Tony Fiandaca
Edited by: Paul Cummings
Music by: Chris Donovan

Film all in one shot

The movie I was trying to remember in class yesterday that is 96 minutes of one continuous shot is Russian Arc.

Cyber Bullying/Commenting

Remember that this blog is an extension of our classroom, so every comment that you write needs to follow our established class rules around the words Work--Respect--Belong.All of your comments and posted images need to be appropriate.

Also, posting comments as someone else is also considered cyber bullying. Be respectful!

Shift Happens

embedding a video

I'm going to embed a video. Woot.

Embedding a Video/Elements of Film Assignment

Find a clip from one of your favorite films on the internet and embed it in your blog. Then write a blog posting about two of the elements we've discussed from the Language of Film PowerPoint and how they apply to your film clip.

So far, we've talked about:

• Restricted/Unrestricted narration
• Mental Subjectivity
• Subjective point of view
• Authorial point of view
• neutral point of view
• The Classical Hollywood Cinema structure
• photography
• extreme long shot
• long shot
• medium shot
• close up
• extreme close up
• high angle
• low angle
• oblique angle
• Setting
• Costume and makeup
• Lighting

Today we'll talk more about elements of cinematography. Have fun with this! Be sure to cite where you got your video clip.

Parent/Student Letter

A reminder: If you haven't done so already, please remember to bring in your signed parent letter.

So far I have one.

Congratulations, you've set up your blog!

You need to do a few things today:

1. Comment on THIS blog posting with the URL for your blog. I'll create links on this blog to each person's blog in class. That way, you can easily navigate around class blogs, leaving comments as you go.
   
2. Make a post on your blog that uses an image AND a link. I want you to get used to incorporating these elements on your blog. Be sure to credit each photo you use. Your post should be about one of your favorite films and should include SOME outside review of the film. You'll need to do a little research (not a google search) to find a review of your film. Consider this a mini-practice for your first journal assignment. This is due on your blog by tomorrow.


3. Work on your user profile. Remember, no last names or personal information here.


4. Ask a few people what their URLs are. (I'll get the links up and running tonight.) Leave comments on their blog.


5. If you've finished all of those tasks, feel free to start working on some research for journal assignment 1, due Sept. 18.

For help on how to create a blog

Click here: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~hatt0047/blog.doc