Assignment Paper

Description
In this course, you will be required to write and submit a Final Essay. Using the content covered in the
course as well as your own independent research, you will write about the following topic in 1500–2000
words:
In consideration of the influence of technical and aesthetic advances in film language that occured during
the span of this course, compare a film shot during cinema’s early days to one of a similar style and genre
shot during the more polished studio era of the 1930s. Be sure to consider how progress made by the likes
of Méliès, Porter, and Griffith, as well as the influence of Soviet montage, German expressionism, and the
coming of sound helped shape later filmmakers’ approaches to camera work and editing when telling their
stories. Note: In your comparison, feel free to either examine two entire films or two individual scenes from
these films.
You must refer to and properly cite at least three outside sources in your work. Citations should be in MLA
style. Your Final Essay is due by the end of Module 14.
RESOURCES
Academy of Art University Library: Online Resources:
http://elmo.academyart.edu/find-resources/online_articles.html
Academy of Art University Library: MLA Citation Guide:
http://elmo.academyart.edu/reference-help/mla_citation_guide.html
SUGGESTED FILM-DEDICATED WEBSITES FOR RESEARCH
http://www.movingimagesource.us/research/guide/type/23
http://filmstudiesforfree.blogspot.ie/

http://www.filmcomment.com/

GUIDELINES FOR WRITING
Your Final Essay should illustrate similarities and differences that you can describe in specific detail. Use
verifiable examples from similar scenes in both films. (Providing web links to clips that demonstrate your
findings is very helpful.) After examining what is the same and what is different in your films, think about the
reasons for these similarities and differences. Once you’ve chosen the early film you want to compare, look
to the course modules covering Edison’s early work, the Lumière brothers, and Georges Méliès, and
consider how new advances, tools, and aesthetic approaches by the likes of Griffith, Eisenstein, Gance,
Ince, and the German expressionists between the 1890s and the 1930s might have influenced the other
director’s decisions in making the later film.
For example, perhaps in the early film you choose, a moment between two lead characters was shot in a
wide, stage-like long take, as we saw in a film like Queen Elizabeth. However, in a 1930s studio-era movie
of the same genre, a similar moment was shot with full dialogue, some close-ups, and a moving camera. It
will be your job to compare the aesthetics of each story moment and then examine if and how time and
technology influenced those aesthetics. Be sure not to concentrate on story or plot, as those are the
screenwriter’s tools. Here we are focusing on how the director took the words on the page and made them
cinematic. Let us know if you have any questions, and have fun with it