Y12- Directors, Authorship & Narrative Structures

WEE K 1 LEARNING OBJECTIVE & KEY QUESTIONS To Understand how Chris Morris uses the reflexive documentary subgeneric form for the purposes of comedy RESOURCES HOMEWORK STUDENT ACTIVITY Students to make notes on authorship and the privileged place of the director within film history. View Brass Eye & compare to clips from his other works (See resources column) Which reflexive conventions are evident in The Day Today & Brass Eye? Identify stylistic conventions of Morris work.

http://www.esfmedia.c None (As students are om/page/Genre+and+A concurrently working uteur+Theory on their practical production pieces) The Day Today (d. Chris Morris, 1994) Brass Eye (d. Chris Assess the work of Morris, 1997) Morris as an auteur Jam (d. Chris Morris, within the context of 2000) TV My Wrongs (d. Chris Morris, 2003) To assess the work of Four Lions (d. Chris Morris within the Morris, 2010) context of reception theory. Is any of his All 5 films are in D82 comedy in appropriate? What See does the word http://condor.depaul. taboo mean within edu/dtudor/DOCUME the context of filmic NTARY MODES.htm comedy? for discussion and definition of Reflexive Form

210th Jan

To discuss the importance of enunciation in storytelling Explore the breakdown between media forms in defining modern day auteurs (Mention Jonathan Glazer etc) A convention of PostModernism Distinguish between The Story, Narrative & Plot (Use student notes on wiki from previous teaching of this text)

The Fall (d. Tarsem Singh, 2006) http://www.tarsem.org / - /reel Also see The Cell & his TV commercials using his website http://www.esfmedia.c om/page/Genre+and+A uteur+Theory (Definitions of auteur theory)

Class to read Mithilas EEsee student activity column. (Remember this is a live EE and should be treated sensitively given that the student in still in school) It did receive an A.

Some useful notes on The Fall (http://www.esfmedia. com/page/Case+Study+The+Fall) & http://www.esfmedia.c om/page/Narrative,+St ory+%26+Plot (Definitions of story, narrative and plot) Use of Mithila Majithas

Watch the opening sequence from The Fall. Compare to Singhs advertisements using his website. Which stylistic features are recurrent? Class to read Mithilas EE on The Fall. (Judge academic context and make use of key points in teaching of the film) Use towards end of filmmaybe at the end.

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Continue discussion of Post-Modern conventions by discussing non-linear narratives and the Death of the Author (Barthes) Also use definition of Patrick Philips (5 Main features of PostModernity) Define neohistoricist approach Compare to Epilog (Tykwer short film)

EE which addresses enunciation in The Fall Run Lola Run (d. Tom Tykwer, 1998) http://www.esfmedia.c om/page/Postmodern+ theory (Use 5 key bullet points as questions)

Homework- What other modern films make use of PostModernism? Pick one key scene from a film, which exhibits PostModern conventions and explain how they are employed. How are we to make sense of meaning?

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For students to consider feminist film theory (2nd Wave) applying to

Raise the Red Lantern (d. Zhang Yimou, 1992) http://www.esfmedia.c om/page/Chinese+Cine

Split class into 4 groups and ask students to analyse the film using one of the 4 choices (Directors Intention, Plot, Reception of the Text & Editing/NeoHistoricism. Read Run Lola Run and postmodernism or Run Lola Run and Philosophy Each group to summarise key points in each article. Read 1st sense of Cinema article which contains teachers diigo notes. Students

Chinese film ma(Raise the +5th+Generation+Film Red Lantern)? makers (Key articles) For students to consider the importance of institutional censorship and political propaganda?

For all students to consider what constitutes useful research from useless

Stanley Kubric: A Life in Pictures (d. Jan Harlan, 2001) http://www.esfmedia.c om/page/Stanley+Kubr ick-

to use notes as guiding questions during class discussion. To what extent does feminist film theory (2nd Wave) still apply when studying a Chinese film like Raise the Red Lantern? Why was this film banned in China? How is the narrative structured around the 4 wives? Students to take notes based on documentary conventions used as part of A Life in Pictures

research? How to write a rationale for DVD documentary based research.

+A+Life+in+Pictures kubrickfilms.tripod.com /index.html

For students to understand the fundamental shift in the Auteur debate during the 1970s? To place Citizen Kane within the context of Classic Hollywood Cinema of the Golden Era For students to relate some

Citizen Kane (d. Orson Welles, 1941) & accompanying Documentary(The Battle for Citizen Kane Citizen Kane by Laura Mulvey (Encompassing Kael v Bogdanovich debate) http://www.esfmedia.c om/page/Citizen+Kane http://www.cinematog raphers.nl/GreatDoPh/ toland.htm http://www.youtube.co

* Watch Rashomon and respond to Ning forum?

What differentiates useful research from useless research within the context of the Independent Study process? How did the revisionism of Herman Mankiewiczs role in Citizen Kane challenge the notion of authorism presented by Cahiers du Cinema and Andrew Sarris? How is the story told in Citizen Kane. Who enunciates and why? Why does Greg Toland make

TOK issues (Arts- AOK) to the study of Citizen Kane

m/watch?v=ezcj4kAF3 w8 (Toland minidocumentary)

repeated use of low tilted camera positions during the film? What is the jigsaw a metaphor of? Is Citizens Kane position as Number 1 film of all time justified? How is quality defined in film? (TOK- Quality criterion) Do you agree with the canonisation of film?