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Note: You must work on this assignment independently. To avoid academic dishonesty, do not collaborate with a classmate on your report!

Your report should be a two-to-three page essay (700-900 words). Develop your report on the notes that you made regarding the elements of film and how they were used by the filmmaker to create a distinctive visual style.

Arrange your paper as a formal report, one that has a brief introduction that summarizes your findings and a body that develops, explains, and justifies them. Your introduction should identify the film, its director, genre, date, and the principal performers. Be brief-most of your discussion should be on the film.

In the paper's body, focus on two or three scenes in detail. Discuss the elements of film that were most significant in their visual impact and cite specific examples which support your statements. It can also be revealing to trace a particular element's use throughout a film, particularly if contrasting or recurring treatments of the element project a sense of form or growth. Each paragraph should discuss a major point you are trying to make. Do not try to tell absolutely everything you saw-focus on aspects which are truly worth mentioning.

• Typewritten (computer or typewriter) double-spaced on 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper
  
• Do not use erasable paper--correct with Liquid paper or correction strips
  
• Use one-inch margins at the top and on the sides, slightly larger at the bottom
  
• Put your name and the page number in the upper right-hand corner of each page, one line above the first line of text and justified against the left margin (or use a header on computer)
  
• Include a cover sheet. It should have a title, centered almost halfway down the page. In the lower right corner, list your name, the course, and the date
  
• Please staple your paper in the upper left corner to hold materials together. (Do not crimp the corners or use report covers, paper clips, etc.)
  
  

Carefully proof read your paper before submitting to check for typographical errors, misspellings, and errors of grammar, punctuation, or expression. Reading the paper out loud is a good way to check for mistakes.

Check out Writing Tips for Reports!

If you're considering using film for your perception report, listed below are some filmmakers/pictures you could consider using. This list is by no means definitive; it's merely a list that I made up off the top of my head. If you come up with something on your own, keep in mind that it should be a film, not a movie (popular entertainment) unless it has some extraordinary filmmaking involved. If in doubt, run it by me first.

Current theatrical releases (check with me first)

On video:

Most anything from Alfred Hitchcock (except Psycho and North by Northwest)

Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (Part 1)

Martin Scorcese's Age of Innocence

Quentin Tarentino's Pulp Fiction

Sam Mendes's American Beauty

Cohen Brothers' Oh Brother, Whereart Thou?; Raising Arizona; Barton Fink; Hudsucker Proxy; Fargo; The Big Lubowski

Kenneth Brannaugh's Dead Again

Bob Fosse's All That Jazz

Jane Campion's The Piano

Milos Foreman's Amadeus

Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove

Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries

Fritz Lang's Metropolis (silent)

John Ford's Stagecoach

John Houston's Treasure of the Sierra Madre

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Last modified: December 5, 2001