Assignment #3 - Intro to Screen Studies

300-400 words

Vittorio De Sica’s “The Bicycle Thief” is revered as one of the foundation stones of Italian neorealism – the post-war Italian philosophy of filmmaking. Explain why “Bicycle Thief” is one of the crown jewels of neorealism with regard to narrative, location, actors, dialogue and camerawork.

While researching your response consider the following quote from “Bicycle Thief” screenwriter, Cesare Zavattini: "My fixed idea is to deromanticize the cinema. I want to teach people to see daily life with the same passion they experience in reading a book." Cesare Zavattini

(NOTE: Each response should be formal. Include your full name. Remember - you are not texting me. Capitalize appropriate letters. Use punctuation, spell check, etc. The assignment is DUE ON THURSDAY by 8 P.M. Any late entries will not be counted - you will receive a zero for the assignment. You can either post your assignment or you can print out a hard copy for me and hand it to me at lecture on Tuesday. I will not accept any hard copies at discussion on Friday.)

Assignment #2 - Intro to Screen Studies

300-400 words.

Howard Hawks is known for his pacing. In his screwball comedy, "Bringing Up Baby" a breathless sense of narrative pacing is crucial.

Pick a scene involving one of the manic exchanges between stars Cary Grant (David) and Katherine Hepburn (Susan) and describe (using prompts from the Reading a Film Sequence hand-out I gave you) how the use of CAMERAWORK, EDITING and CHOREOGRAPHY help screenwriter, Dudley Nichols' rapid fire dialogue come to life. Give examples - camera angles, rhythm of cuts, movement of characters, etc. How do the three formats work together to create a frantic repartee and subsequently move the story along?

(NOTE: Each response should be formal. Include your full name. Remember - you are not texting me. Capitalize appropriate letters. Use punctuation, spell check, etc. The assignment is DUE ON THURSDAY by 8 P.M. Any late entries will not be counted - you will receive a zero for the assignment. You can either post your assignment or you can print out a hard copy for me and hand it to me at lecture on Tuesday. I will not accept any hard copies at discussion on Friday.)

"Metropolis" assignment

WATCH METROPOLIS (restored version) for lecture and discussion. (Movie can be found on Netflix Instant Play.)

ASSIGNMENT: (2 parts)

(NOTE: Each response should be formal. Include your full name. Remember - you are not texting me. Capitalize appropriate letters. Use punctuation, spell check, etc. The assignment is DUE ON THURSDAY by 8 P.M. Any late entries will not be counted - you will receive a zero for the assignment. You can either post your assignment or you can print out a hard copy for me and hand it to me at lecture on Tuesday. I will not accept any hard copies at discussion on Friday.

PART ONE: (200 words)

Using 2 TERMS discussed in last week's section (pages - 3 -69) explain how "Metropolis" director, Fritz Lang uses one of the following methods - lighting, editing or cinematography - to draw the viewer into his futuristic city. For instance - if you think his use of lighting successfully conveys a futuristic city, a term that you could use would be backlighting.

PART TWO: (100 words)

"Metropolis" is heavily stylized. It features artificial aesthetics, abstract and disproportionate dimensions. Lang’s cinematic vision, clearly expressed throughout "Metropolis," is said to have influenced many well-known filmmakers including George Lucas, Ridely Scott, Francis Ford Coppola, the Wachowski brothers and Stanley Kubrick. In 100 words describe how a film of your choosing was influenced by "Metropolis" in terms of cinematic style (lighting, set design, camera angles, etc.).