Cinema Class
Watch a film from the Film Viewing Master List – for this week’s Discussion Board assignment, it can be from either the 1890s-1900s or 1910s. You must then answer 2 questions that relate to the topic and the film you watched from the list provided. Take a little time after you watch your film to search on the web, read other sources, consider the questions, watch other films or clips, talk to people about the film, consider it in historical context and think about your personal views on the assignment. Then, when you are ready, you mustPost your answers to the Discussion by Saturday11:59PM. Answer each question in a couple of paragraphs or so. Use specific details to make your points and be prepared to elaborate on them during the discussions if others ask further questions about what you wrote. To get the full points, you must clearly put the film title at the very top, clearly number and separate your answers, state a clear thesis about your opinion, cite specific examples from the film you watched or real world experiences – preferably your own – to bolster your ideas, correctly use any outside research to further prove your opinions, and make sure you correctly employ the terms and concepts from the textbook and online lectures to back up your points. You should do some outside research to fully think through and competently answer the questions. You must describe any outside information and provide specific links about where to find it (a website, article, film or video clip on YouTube, news story or explain how it is a personal experience or how it happened to someone you know, etc.). You must type your answers directly into the dialogue box for the Discussions – NO attachments are accepted in this class.
Below are the questions, you can pick two and answer each with 2 full paragraphs:
1. Discuss how this film was made – does it seem like the camera was just set up once and left running or are the shots more complex? Focus on a scene and analyze how well you think it was shot.
2. Is the subject matter boring or exotic? Does it seem like this was something people wanted to see during that era, or does it lack excitement. Discuss a specific scene.
3. Discuss the acting in the film – is it realistic or stylized and exaggerated? Pick out one scene and analyze the actor and their performance for that era.
4. Think about the editing of this film – are the shots just connected basically to tell a story or do you feel like the filmmaker is trying to create more complex ideas and feelings. Focus on a scene and analyze how well you think the images were connected.
5. Do any special visual effects seem sophisticated for the time, or did you find them poorly done? Analyze one scene.
6. Is the film abstract and experimental or realistic? Analyze a scene and discuss how you feel about this kind of approach to the subject matter.
7. Was the comedy silly and lowbrow or sophisticated? Did the film seem to have a deeper meaning or artistic merit, or was it just entertainment. Discuss how you feel about that by focusing on a scene.
8. Analyze the attitude of the filmmaker – does it seem old-fashioned, progressive, amoral, uptight, etc.? Pick out a scene and discuss.
9. Were the sets elaborate or simple? Discuss how realistic they were and if they were effective or not, focusing on one scene.
10. Did the film have a direct political message or a hidden allegorical or symbolic meaning to you? Point out a specific scene and discuss.
These are the choices of movies you may pick from below:
The Girl and her Trust 1912 D. W. Griffith
Voyage to the Moon 1902 Georges Méliès
The Great Train Robbery 1903 Edwin S. Porter
The Birth of a Nation 1915 D.W. Griffith
Intolerance 1916 D.W. Griffith
Broken Blossoms 1919 D.W. Griffith
Les Vampires 1915-16 Louis Feuillade
Cabiria 1914 Giovanni Pastrone
Fantomas 1913 Louis Feuillade
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The 1919 – Wiene, Robert
The Immigrant 1917 Charles Chaplin
The Cheat 1915 Cecil B. DeMille
Male and Female 1919 Cecil B. DeMille
Tillie’s Punctured Romance 1914 Mack Sennett
The Perils of Pauline 1914 Louis J. Gasnier and Donald MacKenzie
The Masquerader 1914 Charles Chaplin
Max, victime du quinquina 1911 Max Linder
Mabel at the Wheel 1914 Mabel Normand and Mack Sennett
The Music Lover 1903 Georges Méliès
The Tramp 1915 Charles Chaplin
The Vagabond 1916 Charles Chaplin
