Homework: Japanese Film Analysis- Paprika
By this point in the course, you have developed a competence in formal analysis. Now, we increase the scale of your analysis: the analysis of a complete film. In your first paper, you analyzed a shot and a scene. For your second 4-6 page paper, you are asked to evaluate one film in its entirety.
In short, you must select a film seen (in whole or in part) during class lectures or screenings (Monday screenings or online assignments) and write a paper about ONE DIMENSION of that film that you find interesting. There is no question to answer; rather you have to decide what in the film is worth writing about. You create the question and the answer. It helps if you can decide what approach you are taking. Some common approaches are:
1) Formal analysis: An element of film form (for example, lighting, mise-en-scene, or camera movement). For example, the use of wide-screen in Kurosawa's High and Low or the use of color in Masumura's Giants and Toys.
2) Representational analysis: A single element which is represented in a distinctive way. For examplee, the question of truth in Rashomon, economic growth in Masumura's Giants and Toys, or revenge in Miike's Audition.
3) Auteurist analysis: A pattern, tendency, or element that is important in the context of a filmmaker's body of work. Remember, for example, the still image in Ozu.
4) Feminist analysis: The representation of gender and sex, with special attention to cinema's alignment of the camera with conventional, gendered ways of seeing/looking and being seen/being looked at. For example, the portrayal of women in genre films like Tampopo or Audition.
5) National and/or Historical analysis: how national identity or history is portrayed through film
6) Genre analysis: How a film participates, advances, or deviates from its genre or genres.
Since we are still learning and you are not professional film critics (at least, not yet!), there are a few guidelines to follow:
a) Dedicate at least two-to-three paragraphs to a formal analysis about a shot, scene, or scenes that supports the argument of your paper. (basically a condensed version of what you did for Paper One)
b) Be sure to reference three critical or scholarly sources.
c) Your paper should also situate the film next to two other films. In other words, depending on your approach, make some reference to other films that support your argument and that highlight by similarity or contrast the point you are trying to make.
Format your homework according to the following formatting requirements:
i) The answer should be typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides.
ii) The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the homework, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
iii) Also include a reference page. The Citations and references must follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.