Assignment F2

• See either one pre-1950 feature film starring Buster Keaton (such as THE GENERAL) or any combination of Keaton shorts adding up to at least 60 minutes (such as THE PLAYHOUSE, SHERLOCK JR.). Do not see LI'L ABNER (in which Buster appears only very briefly), INDUSTRIAL BUSTER (which is sometimes available at Best Buy and fascinating but irrelevant to this course) or THE BUSTER KEATON STORY (a biopic which is very interesting but neither directed by nor starring Keaton himself).

• At the top of your assignment, put your name and the number 1 (for page 1). Under that, put the sentence, "I have watched all of __________________," substituting the name of the film (or films) for the blank line. Don't put this statement unless you have in fact watched all of the film(s). (Remember that film titles must appear IN CAPITAL LETTERS. Don't put quotations marks around the titles of films, but type the title of the film ALL IN CAPITAL LETTERS.) Viewing the complete film(s) and putting the "I have watched" statement will earn you 5 points.

• You may now earn up to an additional 15 points (for a possible total of 20) by writing about Keaton and his work. Don't summarize any plots — you should assume that I've already seen the film(s). Instead of telling me what it is (or they are) about, tell me what you thought about Keaton and his work. For example, did you like Keaton as a comedian? As a film-maker? Why, or why not? Whether or not you liked Keaton and his work, did you think that what you saw was good? Again, why or why not?

• Important Cautionary Note: Like last week, you should keep in mind that, if you see a film or combination of films made before 1928, it's likely that there will be a musical soundtrack and possibly some sound effects which were added later, and which were not created or supervised by Keaton. Again, go ahead and leave the volume up while you watch, but don't comment on the music and/or sound effects when you write your assignment.

• Be sure to comment on Keaton both as a comedian and as a film-maker, and on the material you viewed both as comedy and as film. Also, for this assignment, answer these questions: Who was a better comedian, Chaplin or Keaton? Why? Who was the better film-maker, Chaplin or Keaton? Again, why? For the purposes of this assignment, you should consider that the films you saw by Chaplin and Keaton were representative of their overall body of work — even though they might in fact not be. Remember, this is not a research paper. I'm interested in what you have to say, not in what you can learn by reading up on the film-makers.

• Go back to the "My Criteria for Quality in Film" page which you created for F1. Based on your viewing of this week's film(s), add two new general conclusions. These statements should be numbered (3) and (4). (Be sure to print the entire page, including your first two 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. Put your name and a page number at the top of every page (including the "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 or films outside of class time, so you should be sure to leave yourself enough time to view the necessary films, think about them, 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, know that I rarely give full credit to students who turn in less than three double-spaced typewritten pages, and remember that I will expect each F assignment to be at least somewhat longer than the previous one. If you devote one full page of writing to the film(s) you saw this week, one full page to comparing and contrasting Chaplin and Keaton, and one page to your "My Criteria" list, you'll be turning in a three-page assignment — and it'll probably be too short to really do justice to the prompts!

• As I grade your papers, I will be looking for the following elements: evidence that you are paying attention in class, evidence that you are reading the textbook, 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 and in the textbook, 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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