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Film Clip Exercise Assignment: (A) Description; (B) Shot by Shot Analysis and Annotation ; and (c) Close Reading You can get help here at the Yale film analysis website I will ask you to choose a clip totally from 15-20 shots from any of the films we have seen in class thus far (and only those films). You may choose to discuss any self-contained part of the film (a scene or sequence) as a clip except for those parts we have already discussed in class. If we have looked at a scene or sequence in class and talked about it, in other words, don't do your assignment on it.
Please read the following explanation carefully to the end of this webpage.

Choosing the scene or sequence is up to you and is part of the assignment (your paper will be evaluated partly on the basis of the clip you choose). I recommend that you do NOT chose a scene in which little or nothing is happening formally. For example, a scene at a dinner table with lots of shot-reverse-shots will probably not give you much to discuss.You'll want to chose a clip of
scene or sequence that is long enough to form a significant unit and short enough to read it closely in itself and also in relation to the film as a whole. That means your clip should be no less than fifteen shots but no more than twenty shots. Please put your last name in the title of all word documents you email me. Be sure also to put your name in any attached documents and please
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number the pages. Finally, please make sure that the document may be printed out correctly before sending it. Please email me your completed film clip analysis and close reading to richard.a.burt@gmail.com or send it via pando.com. For part three, please consult the paper guidelines. This exercise should take you around 4-6 hours to do. If you don't know the difference between a scene and a sequence, you are probably in the wrong class. In any case, here are the definitions provided on the Yale film analysis website: SCENE / SEQUENCE A scene is a segment of a narrative film that usually takes place in a single time and place, often with the same characters. Sometimes a single scene may contain two lines of action, occurring in different spaces or even different times, that are related by means of crosscutting. Scene and sequence can usually be used interchangeably, though the latter term can also refer to a longer segment of film that does not obey the spatial and temporal unities of a single scene. For example, a montage sequence that shows in a few shots a process that occurs over a period of time. For an example of the final product (I did this one for a class on Renaissance-related films), click here. This clip is longer than what you need to use. For excellent film clip assignments by former students, click here and here. For a poor clip assignment, click here. A few notes: When first mentioning a film, give the title first, then director and year of releases in parentheses as follows: Run, Lola, Run (dir. Tom Tykwer, 1996). Also, refer to characters by name with the correct spelling and the actor's name in parantheses--as in Veronica Franco (Catherine McCormack)--when you first mention them. You can find this and other information at the internet movie database, www.imdb.com. Email me your film clip analysis to rburt@english.ufl.edu. If the file is too large to send me by email, sent it to me by pando (you can get pando for fre at www.pando.com). Please put your name in your word document title as well as in the subject heading of your message. Be sure to put your name in the attached document. Please send your attached document as a microsoft word doc.

The Film Clip exercise is in three parts. Please do all

three parts separately (don't mix up descriptions of scenes with annotations on scenes and analysis of them), read the assignment carefully and closely. All three parts must be completed for you to receive
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credit. For an example of the final product, click here. This clip is longer (includes more shots) than what you need to use. For clips by students, click here and here.

Part One. Brief Description of Film Clip

Write your name on your paper. Choose a film clip from one of the films we hve viewed thus far, name the film, and describe the clip briefly (a few sentences). If possible, please use a DVD and give the time your clip begins and the time it ends. On your DVD player, you'll see that the chapter number, hour, minutes, and seconds. It looks like 00:00 at the beginning.

Part Two. Analysis / Shot by Shot Description

You must capture a image from the DVD of each shot and insert it into your text. I require screen captures because they actually help you "read" the film

as well as give your reader more information. It's like writing about a poem from memory without being able to quote any lines versus having the poem in front of you and being able to quote lines from it.
If you don't already know how to do this, you'll have to learn how to do it or get a friend to do it for you. I don't offer technical assistance on this exercise, so please do not contact me to help you with technical issues. On most pcs with Windows XP, you can hit "p" when playing a DVD and a screen capture will be taken. The capture will show up in your "My Pictures" folder as a jpeg image. you can insert into a word document and hit left click on the image to resize it (you'll usually want to reduce the size). When the foramt picture box opens, click on "size" and then reduce the number in the height box until you get the size you want (usually "2" does it). You'll need a computer with a DVD player or media player that plays DVDs. Here is a website with directions for windows media player. http://labnol.blogspot.com/2005/11/capture-still-images-from-windows.html If you google "DVD image capture," numerous links will show up for websites with commercial and free DVD image capture or screen capture programs. For example, http://www.free-screen-capture.com/free-screen-capture/screen-capture-program/dvd-imagecapture.html WARNING: I have no idea if this particular program works or is virus free. On macs, you can use snap 'n drag to capture images. You can drag and drop the capured images to your desktop. It's free. You may download it here:
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http://mac.softpedia.com/progDownload/SnapNDrag-Download-6469.html Give the following information ABOUT EACH SHOT. (Don't just give the name of the

shot--as in long shot, close up, etc.) If you don't know what a shot is, you are probably in the wrong class. In any case, here is the definition provided on the Yale film analysis website:
SHOT A single stream of images, uninterrupted by editing. The shot can use a static or a mobile framing, a standard or a non-standard frame rate, but it must be continuous. The shot is one of the basic units of cinema yet has always been subject to manipulation, for example stop-motion cinematography or superimposition. In contemporary cinema, with the use of computer graphics and sequences built-up from a series of still frames (eg. The Matrix), the boundaries of the shot are increasingly being challenged. Use a table with columns and rows with a list of categories including the time of the movie each shot begins and ends, the length of the shot (how long it lasts), a description of the shot, and an annotation (comment, explanation, information) on the shot. For an example of the final product, click here. Or use a list with the same categories. In the description column, describe in detail the mis-en-scene (who and / or what is in the shot). Give the length of each shot in seconds, camera angle, lighting, focus (shallow? deep?), and state whether the camera moves (if so, in what direction or directions and how quickly) or remains stationary. Describe special effects, if any. Descibe film stock: Black and white ? Color? Change from one film stock to another? Celluloid? Digital? CGI? Describe sound track: (silent, music [diegetic or extra-diagetic], ambient noise, voice-over, etc). DON"T FORGET ABOUT SOUND! In the annotations column, comment critically on how the shot is working,

what it is doing. Don't summarize the plot or quote dialogue.

Part Three. Analytical Essay

Give a 3-5 page close reading of your film clip. This is an essay, so have a thesis and avoid plot summary here. The idea is to write a short essay on this film clip in itself and in relation to the film as a whole. Your thesis should address the clip in its primarily in its entirety but also in how it relates to the film. Please do not discuss each shot in succession (that
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was the point of part two). Part Three is a synthesis of your analysis in Part Two. Note: All parts of the final project must be completed for you and turned in on time to receive credit. All parts of the course must be completed and turned in on time to pass the course.

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