Assignment F4

• See a pre-1960 feature film you haven't seen before by a great director. If you'd like to see an American film, consider seeing something directed by Frank Capra, George Cukor, John Ford, George Stevens, Preston Sturgess, Billy Wilder, William Wyler. If you'd like to try another foreign film, consider Ingmar Bergman (Swedish), Luis Bunuel (Spanish), Claude Chabrol (French), Federico Fellini (Italian), Akira Kurosawa (Japanese), Lina Wertmuller (German). These are suggestions, but not a comprehensive list of possibilities. For a much more extensive list, you might want to look here. (Note that many directors were active both before and after 1960. Make sure you see a pre-1960 film, make sure it's a film you haven't seen before, and make sure it's a feature. Don't, for example, see Bunuel's UN CHIEN ANDALOU, which is a short, not a feature.)

• At the top of your assignment, put your name and the number 1 (for page 1). Under that, put the sentence, "I watched all of ____________," substituting the name of the film you viewed for the blank line. Don't put this statement unless you have in fact watched all of the film. Viewing the complete film and putting the "I watched" statement will earn you 5 points. (Remember, all film titles should appear in CAPITALS, every time you mention a film by name.)

• You may now earn up to an additional 15 points (for a possible total of 20) by writing about the film you saw. Don't summarize the plot — you can assume that I've seen it. Instead of telling me what it's about, tell me what you thought about it. For example, did you like the film you viewed? Why, or why not? Whether or not you liked it, did you think that it was a good movie? Again, why or why not? (It's a good idea to discuss how many and which of your "Criteria for Quality in Film" the movie you've viewed meets, and which it doesn't meet, to help justify your evaluation.)

• Part 2: Okay, now assume that the movie you viewed for this week's assignment is representative of its director's overall career. From your viewing of this film, see if you can identify several (at least three) specific things this director does differently than you've seen in the work of other filmmakers. In other words, it's time now to see if you can identify specific things which the director brings to the table. Imagine that your director has a personal theme, and that this theme is evidenced in the film you've viewed. What, then, is your chosen director's theme?

• Now go back to your "My Criteria for Quality in Film" page. Based on your viewing of this week's film, add two new general conclusions. These statements should be numbered (7) and (8). (Be sure to print the entire page, including all of your previous criteria statements — which you may edit, if you'd care to.) Don't forget to save this page to your hard drive for later use.

• Your film assignments are to be typed or wordprocessed. Handwritten assignments will not be accepted. Use a 12-point font. Double space, and leave 1" margins at the left, right, top and bottom of every page. Do not justify your right margins. Be sure to put your name and a page number at the top of every page (including, if you choose to submit an expanded version of it this week, your "My Criteria" page).

• Putting these assignments off until the last possible moment probably won’t work very well. Each of them requires you to view an additional film outside of class time, so you should be sure to leave yourself enough time to view the film, think about it, write a first draft, and then edit and revise. That’s more work than some of you are going to want to do — but it’s the way to get a good grade in this course!

• Be sure to spell the names of directors, actors, screenwriters and other people correctly. Always CAPITALIZE the titles of films.

• There is no set length requirement for these assignments. However, you should remember that I'm looking for you to show me evidence that you're actually thinking about the film you saw this week, about the things you've learned so far in this course, and about the assignment. I rarely give full credit for F4 to someone who turns in less than four double-spaced typewritten pages, and I rarely give a grade higher than a C to someone who is still turning in work littered with spelling, grammar and punctuation errors.

• As I grade your papers, I will be looking for the following elements: evidence that you are paying attention in class, references and comparisons to other films you have seen (in or out of class) and especially to films you have previously written about, use of the film vocabulary introduced in class, clear presentation of your opinions, reasonable explanations and justifications to support those opinions, and college-level writing skills (spelling, punctuation and grammar).

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