Film David Bordwell Film Analysis Essay
You have to watch two film:
1. Reassemblage, Trinh Minh Ha
2. Cannibal Tours, Dennis O’Rourke
6-8 pages, not including film stills. Double-spaced, Times New Roman 12pt font, 1”margins.
Here’s the main three things you will do in your paper:
1. You will break down some of the characteristic formal elements of the films
you select and describe how they work to accomplish the director’s purpose
and create the intended effect. You don’t need to cover everything, and in fact
focusing down on particular formal elements or even a single element is
often most effective.
2. You will compare and contrast one film with the other in terms of their form.
Again keep it focused on what serves your argument, not everything is
possible to compare and contrast.
3. The comparison/contrast is in order to create your own an argument that
takes a critical stand, positive, negative, or both, on your chosen films. To the
extent that this paper is a “test,” the test is of your ability to come up with an
argument and to support it with #2 and #3 above. The “test” is not about
whether you can make an argument if you are already told what to say. The
“test” is on whether you can come up with a position yourself. Although it is
your job to come up with an argument, see further advice below.
The following readings concern film form. You should reference one or more.
“The Ontology of the Photographic Image,” Andre Bazin
“Cinematographic Principle and the Ideogram,” Sergei Eisenstein
“The Significance of Form in Film,” David Bordwell
“Unprivileged Camera Style,” David MacDougall
“Mechanical Eye, Electronic Ear and the Lure of Authenticity,” Trinh Minh-Ha
Note that you may, in addition to the above, use any course readings at any time in
your essay, but be sure to use at least one from the above list.
Include “film stills” to help illustrate your point and identify specific parts of the film
you are writing about, using the lecture recordings as source material.
If you don’t know how to make and handle screenshots on your computer, look it up on the Google.
Organization and Writing:
Open the essay with some example from one of the films that raises the issue of
representational politics or exemplifies representational quality. Explain why this is
important and interesting. Briefly explain what you will consider as you look into
this, particularly what films you will consider. State what you ultimately have to say
about this (your argument or thesis), which has something to do with film form and
is mostly likely comparative about the two films. Most likely the argument is about
convincing the reader that one of the films is better than the other on the chosen
criteria.
The body is where you convince the reader to believe your statement of comparison.
It might be best to take your “lesser” film first and describe the film form. Use
description and film stills. Then connect that film form to your critical analysis and
argument. Whenever it seems like a good time, cite one of the readings on film form.
Then, take your “greater” film and do the same. Whenever it seems like a good time,
cite one of the readings on film form.
Finally, re-present your argument now that many things have already been
explained. If you have a tight structure at this point, you might do some focused
“free-writes” with a timer to see what comes up when you reflect on upon your
thesis, almost kind of randomly. Whether that yields anything useful, or just served
as a warm up to get you ready to write, you can then proceed to think through some
meaningful implications about your statement, which may or may not go beyond the
specific films, but would stay on the specific issue or criteria you always had in mind
for this paper.
Quotations/citations:
At the end of a sentence or quote, put in parentheses (Last Name, page #), like: (Eisenstein, page 5) or (Minh-ha, page 2).
For a film citation at end of sentence or under film still put (Title, Director last name) like (Reassemblage, Minh-ha)
You are not allowed to use any outside sources, even if they are very interesting.
The grading rubric is as follows:
6 points: The inclusion of the required “ingredients” as defined in the original paper
assignment. None are missing.
6 points: The connections drawn between these ingredient items are clear, logical,
and persuasive.
6 points: Coherency and grammar on a sentence-by-sentence level. This is simply
raw language ability and logical flow, so be sure to get the help you need, if you need
it, before turning your essay in.
There are an additional 2 of the 20 points available for organic unity, or the overall
way in which the paper makes a coherent impression and all the pieces line up with
that impression.