Assignment F6

• See Orson Welles' CITIZEN KANE. (You may have seen this movie before. If so, see it again!)

• 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 CITIZEN KANE." Don't put this statement unless you have in fact watched all of the film. Viewing the complete film and putting the "I have 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. Don't summarize the plot — I've seen it (probably 50 times!). Instead of telling me what it's about, tell me what you thought about it. For example, did you like CITIZEN KANE? Why, or why not? As always, comment on at least three of the five areas we're focusing our attention on: acting, script, cinematography, editing and directing.

• Part 2: As I've mentioned in class, this film is often considered to be the best motion picture ever made. You may or may not agree with that assessment, but there it is! From your viewing of this film and others you've seen (both for this class and in the course of your movie-viewing life), see if you can identify several (at least three) reasons that KANE is treated so reverentially by film critics and historians. What do you think? Is this the best movie ever made? It is a great film? Why, or why not? (Remember, this is not a research paper. I already know what the film historians and critics say. What I'm interested in here is what conclusions you can draw.)

• Part 3: Now go back to your "My Criteria for Quality in Film" page. For each of your 10 criteria, write a paragraph explaining whether or not CITIZEN KANE meets the criterion and explaining how it does or why it doesn't. At the end of this part of your paper (which this time around may well be longer than one page), write a conclusion. Based on your criteria for quality in film, is CITIZEN KANE a quality film? Explain your answer to this question clearly.

• 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.

• 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 for F6 to someone who turns in less than five double-spaced typewritten pages.

• 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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