Professional Documents
Culture Documents
(Structure)
Lesson Objectives
In this lesson, the student will:
Consider having your strongest areas early on, but save a good strong one for the end
as well. This way, your weaker discussion comprises the middle section, but you know
you have already built up some confidence (and your listener's interest) early on.
As you prepare, remember your notes can only be short prompts, rather than written
passages. Put them in the order you want to discuss them, and you are all set. If you
put your notes on cards that have a single word or short phrase on them to remind you
of the next section you want to cover, you give yourself two really important advantages:
1.
You assure yourself that you will be speaking in oral paragraphs, rather than
proceeding in a shot-by-shot manner. The card should say something like "film
noir cinematography," as a reminder to discuss the cinematographic elements
in the entire extract that reveal an influence from film noir.
2.
You can actually experiment a little with structure. Keep your first card and
last card in the same place, but then shuffle all the middle cards randomly. You
should be able to do a practice presentation at any time, in any order. You
might, quite accidentally, discover an order to the presentation that works
better than your original plan.
Be sure to have a card that has names and dates you might have trouble memorizing.
This is not a memorization task, and having such a card is not considered malpractice.
Be sure you know how to pronounce names correctly, especially if they come from a
culture that is foreign to you. Poor pronunciation is not only disrespectful, but it also
highlights your lack of professionalism and care.
Practice a few times before the recording day arrives. Make sure you do not go over the
10-minute maximum. Be sure you use formal diction and you speak slowly and clearly.
Speakers tend to speed up when nervous, so take that into account. Practice continuing
on, despite making a mistake. Take a deep breath, count to three, and pick up where
you left off.
Practice like it is the real thing. It will be, soon!
Notes
You may use notes for the Presentation, but only as a memory aid to help remind you of
all the topics you wanted to cover. The reading of prepared passages or pre-written
Presentations is absolutely forbidden. You should know the material so well that a quick
glance at your notes triggers a whole set of insights and connections you can then
deliver without reading them. Think of it as if you were a teacher delivering a minilecture on the extract you have chosen. No one likes to be read to from a podium. What
an audience wants is to be engaged by someone who really knows what he or she is
talking about. Anyone who is literate can read, but only a Film scholar can draw out
ideas in the moment, without using a script.
Research and Analysis
Shot-by-shot analysis may form a part of your Presentation, but you may not carry out
your analysis entirely in this manner. In other words, you must not go on like this, "In the
first shot we see... Then, in the next shot... Now, after that shot, we cut to..." You may,
indeed, need to discuss a sequence of shots briefly, in order to make some valid point
about editing rhythm, for instance, but you must not structure your entire Presentation
along these lines. The proper way to handle the structure is to find an aspect to discuss,
such as lighting, and then make all the relevant points about lighting for the entire
extract. Think of the organization like oral paragraphs, with each one unified by a
specific topic area.
Outside research is not required for this task, but is encouraged, especially for making
points about sociocultural context. If you do consult any sources in your preparation
(even the special features on the DVD) then, you must acknowledge them on the cover
sheet, which you will fill out during the wrap-up of the course. You will also acknowledge
sources when you upload.
Although you should play the extract again for yourself right before you start recording
just to get everything fresh in your mind, the playing of the film must not form any part of
your Presentation. Do not hit the "play" button at all. Your instructor and your future
examiner will only hear you. There will be no video aspect to what you submit. You have
to be able to make your points without pointing at a screen.
Extract Selection
The first step is to select your film from the list of three. If you have time, watch all three
before you make your selection. If not, maybe take a quick look at the Internet Movie
Database to see which one grabs you. Or, you can trust your instinct. Or, throw a dart at
the list. It is up to you.
Watch the film a few times, each time taking some general notes about the interesting
aspects. You might make a list of possible-five minute extracts, so watching with a
stopwatch could come in handy.
Evaluative Interpretation
Your Presentation needs to be coherent (hold together as a unit), incisive (go beyond
surface details), insightful (be original and knowledgeable), and detailed(work through
specific examples). It needs to be an evaluative interpretation of the extract, one in
which you not only discuss what it means but also, how and why it is effective at
achieving its intent.
Sociocultural Context
Your Presentation needs to place the extract (and the entire film) in a
broadersociocultural context.
How does it fit in the director's larger body of work, if you are discussing it
through the lens of auteur theory? How so?
Audience Response
Your Presentation needs to discuss audience response at the time of its release
and/or subsequently. There are a variety of audience types, and you have been
studying them in your theory lessons. Put that knowledge to work here. There are the
casual viewers, the fans, the reviewers, the critics, and the scholars, and each one
might offer differing responses to the extract. Remember, some films are initially hits or
failures, but then audience response changes over time. If you can bring those
responses to your discussion, usually as a result of research, then you will be able to
satisfy this criterion.
Simple Description
Your Presentation must only contain negligible simple description. This is the only
"negative" criterion in the markband, in that it identifies what you should not do. That is,
you should avoid making comments that simply describe, as opposed to comments that
analyze and evaluate. Assume your examiner has seen the film several times, knows it
really well, and does not need to be told details of the plot, or other simple descriptions
such as these. If you must describe, do so quickly and just to establish the context for
your point, then get right to it. Ten minutes go by very quickly, and you cannot afford to
waste time with simple description.
Simple Description
Your Presentation must only contain negligible simple description. This is the only
"negative" criterion in the markband, in that it identifies what you should not do. That is,
you should avoid making comments that simply describe, as opposed to comments that
analyze and evaluate. Assume your examiner has seen the film several times, knows it
really well, and does not need to be told details of the plot, or other simple descriptions
such as these. If you must describe, do so quickly and just to establish the context for
your point, then get right to it. Ten minutes go by very quickly, and you cannot afford to
waste time with simple description.
Rationale
Finally, your Presentation also needs to include a rationale for the selection of the
extract. This is where your "I" comes in. "I chose this extract because..." Out of all the
five-minute extracts in this two-hour film:
your name
the audio track. Your mobile devices often will have a sound recorder as well. Do a few
tests, and make sure you have levels set appropriately for clarity.
Make sure you will not be disturbed for at least 10 minutes.
Find the audio file (you might need to export it first), and get it ready for upload.
Also, remember you are not allowed to actually play your extract during the
Presentation. If you need to refer to specific shots and scenesas you shouldthen be
sure to provide enough specific detail such that your instructor will know exactly to what
shot you are referencing.
Formal Requirements
Just so you have them all in one place, here are the formal requirements for the
Presentation.
It must be apparent the student is only using notes as a memory aid and not
reading from a prepared document.
The student must identify him- or herself prior to beginning, according to the
established formal opening.
Evaluated Requirements
The additional evaluated requirements are based upon the descriptors in the
markbands for this task.
The student provides a thoughtful rationale for the selection of the extract.