English 4950: Cool Old Movies

Spring 2019

Film Genre Group Work Assignment (20%)

This assignment has two aims: first, to supplement the whole class's range of reference concerning the era we’re studying, and second to give you additional practice in writing concisely (but thoroughly) about film.

For this project you’ll watch three and review two of the movies in the genre assigned to your group.

· Movies can be found in the “Media Gallery” section of Canvas, collected into playlists under each genre’s name

· Each group of n students will have n+1 films available (with one exception I’ll talk about in class), so your first step should be to negotiate amongt yourselves to make sure that each movie in the collection will be covered by at least one review.

Your work will be shared on the Canvas “Pages” section, on individual Pages.

· To upload your work to Canvas, click the “Pages” tab in the left column. This should take you to the “Genre Work Gateway” page, where there is a list of genres. Click the one you’ve been assigned and you’ll be taken to a list of names; click on your name and you’ll be at your page. Click “Edit” on the right to begin uploading/adding material. Feel free to rename / enhance / decorate your page, but make sure it remains identifiably yours.

What your page should ultimately include:

· A capsule summary of each of your three films

o This should be a concise, 30-40 word account of the plot—one or two pithy sentences of the sort that would appear in a newspaper summary or a film guide

o It should follow this format: Title (date, genre): synopsis. For example:

Sullivan’s Travels (1942, comedy): In order to gather material for a new film, a prominent film director disguises himself as a hobo and hits the road, where he finds romance, adventure, and danger.

· 600-word reviews of two of your films

o 600 words ≈ one single-spaced typed page

o You should try not only to give a more complete summary of the film's plot but also to offer some observations about its relevance to our generic or cultural or theoretical concerns in class

o Remember that reviews traditionally take an angle on their subject: they were invented to help patrons decide whether or not a particular movie was worth their time and money.

· One still frame or one short clip (<1 min) that illustrates some key feature of the genre, with a short caption describing why it contributes to our understanding of that type of film.

o Screen captures should be sufficient for frame illustrations; the clipping process is something I’m still looking into—I’m not sure how easy it is on Canvas.

o Many of the illustrations in the Maltby book, Hollywood Cinema, can serve as examples here

o Make sure that everyone in your group posts a different frame or scene

· Optional, if you can’t resist: additional trivia about your films--its stars, directors, production history; its connections to other movies we’re studying. This kind of material can be found on the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) or the Turner Classic Movies website (www.tcm.com).

Other considerations

· You should plan to have your work completed by the class meeting for which it has been assigned.

· You will be expected to be able to contribute to the class discussions on that day, based on your advanced expertise in the genre

· I’m happy to look over reviews and other materials in advance

WESTERNS	ROMANCE	MELODRAMA	SERIES	FILM NOIR	WAR	CAPRA
W FEB 20	W FEB 27	M MAR 4	W MAR 13	W MAR 20	W APR 17	W APR 24
Dragotto	Burkemper	Burnes	DeBoer	Bowles	Davis	Barringer
Miller	Chaney	Chowning	Hines	Brown-Schnurr	Dickens	Bowen
Redel	Cloutier	Noblitt	Presley	Dubois	Gibbs	White
Struckhoff	Weaver	Waller	Riordan	Graham	Johnson	Williams,C
	Williams,I	Wamhoff		Hardy	Loomer