Assignment:
TITLE: REVIEW - Your Film Title Here (Italicize, underline, or quotes)
A. ABSTRACT:
1. What is the basic plot?
2. What are the major influences in the plot (these are possibilities)?
a. Neo-colonialism
b. Ethnic Nationalism/Social Darwinism
c. Capitalism & materialism
d. Manifest Destiny
e. Ethnic & gender Self-determination
f. Mal-distribution of wealth
B. MEDIA:
1. What type of film is being presented?
a. Action
b. Comedy
c. Documentary
d. Docu-Drama
e. Drama
f. Pop Culture
2. What was the story filmed in?
a. Black and white (usually a statement film)
b. Color
c. Both (black and white often used to authenticate the storyline)
3. Did music have an important role?
a. Was it used passively in the background or as an integral part of the scene?
b. Was it classical, jazz, hip-hop, country, r&b, rap, r&r, latin, middleeastern?
4. Were there special effects or unusual camera angles?
a. Explosions, gunfire, other sound effects
b. Computer generated graphics
c. Panoramic views
d. Close-ups
e. Use of light - natural/artificial, shadows
5. What type of dialogue occurred?
a. Academic/Scientific jargon
b. Contemporary/Slang
c. Obscene/Scatalogical
d. Foreign accent/Foreign language
e. Subtitles
f. Elizabethan
g. Southern drawl/Brooklynese
6. What type of actors were used?
a. Well-known stars
b. Unknowns
c. Did the story need a recognized actor to make up for a lack in the subject?
d. Was the story-line strong enough to be accurately portrayed by anyone?
e. Was the bottom-line the amount of money that the director hoped to make by using stars in his cast?
C. CONTENT:
1. Discuss three pivotal scenes and their significance.
2. What are the major issues in these scenes?
a. Political
b. Economic
c. Technological
d. Social/cultural
D. BIAS:
1. Has the director made similar films like this one?
2. Did he present a story slanted along inclusion, exclusion, or omission of these topics?
a. Ethnicity
b. Gender
c. Class
d. Religion
e. Politics
3. Was there conflict among the characters based on the previous question, and was the conflict intensified, resolved, or left open for interpretation?
E. EFFECTIVENESS:
1. How did you feel about the movie?
2. Why did you feel this way?
F. HISTORICAL CONTEXT / FACTUAL BACKGROUND:
1. Why was this film possible and profitable?
2. Is the film based on historic events?
3. Source of historical confirmation?
4. Does the film present any concepts and values from the past that are a part of today's culture; why or why not?
Readings:
Grapes of wrath
By John Steinbeck