5/5/2014
What are the advantages and
disadvantages of digital film making?
5/2/2014
What effect did conglomerates have
on film making? How did the studio change? What types of films were being made?
How did the VHS and DVD effect film
making and viewing? What was cinema like before and after VHS and DVD?
4/30/2014
What
is the significance of including the definition of “Pulp” in the beginning of
the film? What characteristics of Postmodern film can you identify in Pulp Fiction?
Choose at least two and discussion with them with your group members.
In
your groups, discuss elements of pastiche and homage in Pulp Fiction.
How does the use of pastiche and homage contribute to the narrative?
4/28/2014
Where
do
Rosa and Enrique get their information about “El Norte?” What do Rosa and
Enrique expect when they arrive in the U.S.? Does the U.S. live up to their
expectations? Why or Why not?
What did
you think immigrants and immigration looked like before watching El Norte? How
would you compare El Norte’s representation
of immigrants and immigration to other representations in film and media?
4/25/2014
What major issues does Reel Injun address
concerning Native Americans in cinema?
Choose at least two to discuss with your group members.
How does Smoke Signals represent
Native Americans? How would you describe the characters in the film? How are
they conventional or unconventional?
What is
the difference between Native Americans in cinema and Native American Cinema?
Are audiences
interested in seeing Native Americans (and other minority groups) playing roles
in films that are not stereotypical representations?
Why or Why not?
What Jungian archetypes and symbols
can you identify in Star Wars?
What similarities and differences
do you notice in the two shots? How are the two shots defined using film
technique? Why would Lucas model his shot in Star
Wars after
John Ford’s shot in The Searchers?
How does the reemergence of mythology in U.S.cinema differ from the era of the Hollywood Renaissance?
How does Joseph Campbell describe the hero in mythology?
How do the characters in Star Wars fit into Joseph Campbell’s hero description?
4/14/2014
What major reasons do Mast and Kawin list for international productions? What are the differences between international cinema and transnational cinema?
What role does fantasy and myth
play in your reception of Pan’s
Labyrinth?
What conventional Hollywood film techniques did you notice in Pan’s Labyrinth? Is
Pan’s Labyrinth conventional
or unconventional? How so?
4/11/2014
How does Lynch represent characteristics of Post-Modernism visually in Mullholland Drive? Thematically?
How
do you interpret the scene in Mullholland Drive? Consider
Post-Modern elements in your interpretation.
4/9/2014
What role does the setting play in The
Shining?
How does Kubrick show the setting visually? What techniques does Kubrick use?
What camera movements did Kubrick
use in The Shining? How
do these movements add meaning to the narrative or tell the narrative?
4/7/2014
What
cinematic styles or techniques does Scorsese use in Taxi Driver that
fits the description of new American cinema?
What
role does the “city” play in Taxi
Driver? How is it similar or different
from previous representations of the “city” in Hollywood cinema?
What reasons do Mast and Kawin list
for the evolution of the new American cinema? How does the new American cinema
style differ from the old Hollywood style?
What role does the “country” play
in Night of the Living Dead? How
does is it similar or different from previous representations of the “country”
in Hollywood cinema?
4/2/2014
How
did “la nouvelle vague” or the New Wave begin? How is a New Wave film
described?
How does 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her fit into the style of New Wave cinema?
Please give examples
3/28/2014
What binaries,
doubles, or pairings are there in High Noon? Does the
film subvert their expectations? How?
3/24/2014
How did the two
most familiar genres of Hollywood between the years 1946-1965, interplay on the
screen? How were these genres similar or dissimilar? What do they tell about
U.S. culture?
3/5/2014
What major cycles, conventions, and styles became prominent in Hollywood? What purposes did they serve? How do they relate to historical and cultural social conventions?
3/3/2014
What effect do the different versions of music in the opening scene have on both the theatrical and restored versions of Touch of Evil?
2/28/2014
What
effect does The
Jazz Singer have because it is part silent part
“talkie” on its audience?
What message does it give its audience?
2/26/2014
What cinematic techniques and aesthetics were commonly used in experimental French films of the 1920’s?
What
cinematic techniques and aesthetics did you see in Un Chien Andalou?
What
cinematic techniques and aesthetics did you see in Eraserhead that
characterize the film as Surrealist?
2/19/2014
What were the precursors to documentary film? How is documentary film defined?
2/17/2014
How do Sennett's and Chaplin’s
principles of comedy differ in their films?
What examples of Chaplin’s comedic principles
did
you see in
his films?
2/14/2014
How does Touch of Evil fit into the style of Film Noir?
2/10/2014
What differences are there between editing principles in Hollywood vs. the Soviet experiments? Hollywood montage vs. Soviet montage?
2/7/2014
How do Mast and Kawin describe Griffith’s innovations in film? What are Griffith’s innovations regarding narrative, editing, acting, etc.?
What is the context and historical background for Griffith’s
production of Birth of a Nation? Considering the racist context of Birth
of a Nation, how do Mast and Kawin claim that the film remains a
masterpiece of cinema?
1/17/2014
Why study the history of film? (Mast & Kawin)
How is film like/dislike “real” life? (Kasdan & Tavernetti)
