Project Scene Analysis (EXTRA CREDIT)

Scene Analysis Project  Instructions

This project  is to be a scene analysis.

You will work on this project with your new group (name of the film is the name of the group – found via the group link on blackboard).

This project  is to be a scene analysis.  Please choose 3 scenes from your film.  However, your scenes should not be scenes that were specifically discussed in class.

It will be a multi step project

• Step 1 — Choose a film (all who choose the same film will be part of the same group)
• Step 2 – Group Chooses three Scenes – Professor will give the ok to one of them.
• Step 3- Group works together to come up with a completed worksheet for project and submits that worksheet with all of the group member’s voices included
• Step 4- Working from class and professor feedback, group completes project.  It is recommended that one person narrate the presentation unless someone in your group has editing skills and can edit together multiple group members partial presentations.  Your presentation should be approximately four to eight minutes but no more than ten.

For the worksheet:

Use your worksheet as a roadmap to create a scene analysis — an annotated video using presentation apps such as Voicethread, Screencastify or recording yourself in front of a computer.

This presentation should follow from your thesis and give an analysis of the scene.

You are to look closely at the scene and determine which elements of film are the most important in moving the story forward and eliciting emotion.  Look at the mise en scene, cinematography, editing and sound (if you choose a silent film, do not discuss sound as it is often hard to find the original soundtrack that accompanied the film).  Decide which elements are crucial to this scene.  Be specific!  Which aspects of mise en scene or cinematography?  The lighting, the framing, the depth of field, the movement within the frame etc.  Use the worksheet to consider everything, and then decide what is important.

Craft a thesis that includes these elements and what they are doing for the scene (what emotion are they eliciting)

PLEASE AVOID TALKING ABOUT THE ACTING AND DIALOG.  It is a given that these generally convey a majority of the information and emotion.  Look at the more subtle choices of the filmmaker which reinforce the information and emotion.

Remember you are focusing on explaining WHY these elements are important rather than what they are. Please don’t spend your time describing your scene.

You may assume that you are writing the paper for a reader who is familiar with the story of the film and familiar with basic film terminology.  You need not spend a lot of time summarizing the film or defining a dolly shot etc.

Your scene can be as short as a minute but I would not choose a scene much longer than 3 or 4 minutes.  If you have chosen a scene that doesn’t particularly drive the story forward and/or has little emotion, you may want to consider a different scene.

Remember, stay focused on your scene.  If you would like to discuss this in the context of a film movement or overall theme of the film GREAT please do so in the conclusion.  The majority of the presentation should be on the analysis — which elements and WHY they are important.

Guided Instructions

1. Pick a scene
2. Watch the entire film again
3. Why is this scene important to the overall story?
4. Watch the scene 2 to 3 times
5. Consider the mise en scene, cinematography and editing (and sound for sound films only):

• mise en scene
  • setting
  • costume
  • makeup
  • props
  • acting (expressions gestures etc)
  • movement within the frame
  • use of space
  • lighting
  • weather
• cinematography
  • framing
  • shot choice (ls, ms, cu)
  • angle
  • movement of camera (if any)
• editing
  • how the shots relate to one another
  • did anything specific drive the cut
• sound

1. Use your thesis to get the project started. (The filmmaker uses setting, props, and movement within the frame to highlight the alienation of the main character in this scene. This reinforces the theme throughout the film of the main character’s isolation and alienation in a post-apocalyptic world.)
2. : Your introduction should include:
   1. The name of the film and the director
   2. Your thesis statement
   3. A VERY brief description of where this falls in the film. VERY BRIEF.  Remember your audience, we have seen the film.
3. Discuss in detail the aspects of mise en scene, cinematography and or editing that you mentioned in your thesis.
4. Conclude your project with a summary: (As seen by his use of framing in the scene with car, costumes to quickly identify the cop and…)

Rubric