FOUNDATIONS – MOVING IMAGE ARTS
Director Research #1 - Paper
Length: Two to Three pages
Total Possible Points: 100
Due: Week Four
Click here for full grading rubrics. Summary below.
Your instructor will assign you a director to research. Each of you has a different director. All research
findings will be shared and available to everyone.
For the first two assignments, you will research basic elements of the director's background to
contextualize him/ her historically and culturally. Most importantly, you will identify your director's
characteristic themes and style. You will also provide a brief statement on how your director may affect
your own creative work.
A complete paper will include the following elements:
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director’s name and dates;
a brief (eighty words or less) bio of the director. Be sure to include highlights of the director's
arttistic career as well as his/her personal life.
a filmography including the person’s roles as Producer or Screenwriter if these credits exist;
a brief annotated list containing at least five contemporaneous directors. In the annotation briefly
explain the connection to your director.
a brief annotated list of five contemporaneous historical events or periods which may have
influenced the director personally or the director's body of work or individual films. In the
annotation, briefly explain that connection to your director. (Note: "A contemporaneous event is
something that happened in the larger society. It does not refer to events solely in the director's
personal life, such as a marriage or a divorce. If the director served in (or protested against) the
Vietnam War, the War itself would be appropriate as an event.")
a short synopsis of one characteristic film directed by your director. Be sure you have viewed it in
its entirety. Try to use a feature length film. Be sure to include two examples each from the film of
characteristic elements of your director's themes and style.
a three to seven paragraph analysis of what you can use of this director for your creative work.
Be sure to discuss artistic aspects of his/her finished work and not just his/her work process.
a citation list of research resources at least one of which must come from a list of books,
periodicals and journals supplied by the instructor. In other words, you will have to go to a library.
Be sure to indicate any information that is not commonly known that you have provided in your
paper and link it to your Works Cited page. See the Library link below for help in doing this.
You may insert up to two photographs in your document.
Assignment Writing Help
To get started, try these resources, both from your library:
1. How to use the Library's resources:
http://www.lib.colum.edu/cirt/filmhistory/intro.htm
2. How to find film reference material:
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Find Film Books
Find Film Articles
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
3. Links on how to evaluate and cite sources, get help w/ grammar and punctuation; how to avoid
plagarism and Library tutorials.
General Research Tips
Submission Instructions
Upload as either .doc or PDF document to Moodle using the file naming convention:
last name_director1_date(ddmmyy)
example: obama_director1_031511
Checklist
Your name is at the head of the first page.
You have included all the items listed above.
You are submitting at least a second draft.
The rewrite is proofread and spell checked.
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Director Research #2 Presentation
Length: 8-10 minutes
Total Possible Points: 100
Due: Week Six
Click here for full rubrics grading expectations. Summary below.
For this presentation you will be researching a director whom you will choose from a
list provided by your instructor. You will be exploring the same 3 aspects of that filmmaker's
career that you focused on in Director Research Paper #1.
Main Objectives
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To
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develop research skills
increase our exposure to a wide range of directors
consider the significance of style and approach in relation to filmmaking
continue to develop a sense of our own style and approach to filmmaking
develop presentation skills
PRESENTATION GUIDELINES
This is a presentation, not a paper. You will do the same kind of research you did for
Director Research Paper #1, and you will present your analysis and your conclusions in
class.
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You'll have up to 10 minutes to cover all the important information.
You may use notes, but you should not read your presentation from start to
finish.
PowerPoint slide shows and photos are always helpful, but not required.
Any visual materials you intend to project on the screen should be on a
flashdrive--including clips.
You will want to show some clips--as a way to demonstrate your observations
about your director's thematic choices, stylistic choices, or to make comparisons
with your own work as a filmmaker.
Be sure and have your clips on your flashdrive. Don't just bring the DVDs
to class.
At the time of your presentation, you will need to present a typed list in hard
copy to your instructor of your sources with the title, the author, and the
publication dates for each source (as well as url for any internet source).
Be prepared to answer questions about your director from your instructor and
your classmates.
PLEASE NOTE: You will upload your Works Cited List to Moodle following the usual
method.
Like all of the Director Research assignments this semester, this presentation is
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designed in part as an opportunity to develop research skills, important for academic
work, but also for your work as a filmmaker, whether you are a screenwriter, a
production designer, or a director. You will need to visit a library to successfully
complete this assignment.
PART 1: Significant Films
Using your research, identify at least three films considered to be your director's most
significant films. Be prepared to speak about each of the films--the development
process, the success (or failure) of the film, the major players involved--and explain why
the films are considered the director's most significant.
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Whenever possible, you should use the words and ideas of at least two other
writers (in addition to yourself!) to help you demonstrate the critical response to
these films, and to help you to justify why the films are considered the director's
most significant. You may read their words out loud, or you may put them on the
screen.
PART 2: Film Analysis
Watch one of the films considered to be the director's most significant--a film you have
NOT seen before. Present an analysis of your director's choices when it comes to the
film's elements--you could focus on those you are most interested in, editing, for
instance, or the production design, or the cinematography--and the themes that the film
explores.
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If possible, use the words and ideas of at least two other writers in this analysis,
quoting them, or putting their words on screen to help you illustrate the director's
choices, and to comment on those choices. (Ideally, these writers will be different
than the writers you included in your discussion of the director's significant films.)
PART 3: Style and Approach
Using your research talk about your director's style and her or his approach to
filmmaking. The choices a director makes are what lead to style, especially when the
director makes the same kind of choices again and again, in film after film. The
approach to filmmaking is the way the director goes about developing, planning,
shooting, and editing her or his film.
And then think about your OWN style and approach to filmmaking in relation to your
directors:
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Are you interested in the same themes, the same kinds of stories? Or do you
prefer to work in a different genre, focused on different questions?
Do you approach the filmmaking process in a similar way, or do you go about it
quite differently?
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What can you learn from you director about filmmaking? What kind of advice
might your director give you if you had the chance to talk with her or him?
Help with Research
To get started, try these resources, both from your library:
1. How to use the Library's resources:
http://www.lib.colum.edu/cirt/filmhistory/intro.htm
2. How to find film reference material:
Find Film Books
Find Film Articles
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
3. Links on how to evaluate and cite sources, get help w/ grammar and punctuation; how to avoid plagarism and Library tutorials.
General Research Tips
Submission Instructions
Upload your Works Cited List as either .doc or PDF document to Moodle using the file naming
convention:
last name_director2_date(ddmmyy)
example: obama_director1_030911
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Homage Paper/Proposal
Length: six to ten pages
Total Possible Points: 25 for this section; total of all sections 100
Click here for full grading expectations; summary below
Proposal & Bibliography 25%
First Draft 10%
Feedback Exchange 10%
Final Paper 40%
Oral Presentation 15%
Due: Week Eight
Part 1 - Proposal & Bibliography
The first part of this paper is similar to research paper #1. For this paper, you choose
the director you want to research and model for your final film. If you are not choosing to
direct a final film, you should select a director whose work you admire and would like to
learn more about. After all, directors make decisions about all craft areas and you'll
learn how the craft you might be interested in exploring relates to the larger picture.
The first part of the paper will include the following elements with which you are now
familiar:








director’s name and dates;
a brief (eighty words or less) bio of the director. Be sure to include highlights of the filmmaker's
artistic career as well as his/her personal life.
a filmography including the person’s roles as Producer or Screenwriter if these credits exist;
a brief annotated list containing at least five contemporaneous filmmakers. In the annotation
briefly explain the connection to your director.
a brief annotated list of five contemporaneous historical events or periods which may have
influenced the director or the audience in contextualizing the director's body of work or individual
films. In the annotation briefly explain that connection to your director.
a short synopsis of one characteristic film worked on by your director. Be sure you have viewed it
in its entirety. Try to use a feature length film. Be sure to include two examples each from the film
of characteristic elements of your filmmaker's themes and style.
a three to seven paragraph analysis of what you can use of this director for your creative work.
Be sure to discuss artistic aspects of his/her finished work and not just his/her work process.
a citation list of research resources at least one of which must come from a list of books,
periodicals and journals supplied by the instructor. In other words, you will have to go to a library.
Be sure to indicate any information that is not commonly known that you have provided in your
paper and link it to your Works Cited page.
You may insert up to two photographs in your document.
Part Two - Focus: Topic & Thesis
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Find the focus to design your topic. This starts with choosing a topic. A topic is a specific aspect of your
filmmaker's work that you will be researching. For example: the use of POV shots in the films of Alfred
Hitchcock. You are not doing a biography of your chosen filmmaker or a book report for the Final Homage
paper.
After you have your topic, you will develop a thesis (your interpretation) about it to argue. First ask a
question or a series of questions you would want your research and subsequent paper to answer. The
answers to one of these questions will become your thesis. Click here for further explanation of topic &
thesis.
In one sentence make a draft of your working topic. Then in one paragraph describe the thesis of your
paper. This may and probably will change as your research progresses. in the same paragraph describe
3-5 aspects of your thesis that you will discuss in your paper.
Part Three – Resources
Compile a working bibliography as a list which should include scholarly sources. You should also include
films and interviews if any exist. Dig deep.
Review the style and citation page on Moodle.
Part Four – Motivation
Write a half to one page statement of why you chose this director and what he or she means to your
creative work.
Submission Instructions
Upload as either .doc or PDF document to Moodle using the file naming convention:
last name_proposal_date(ddmmyy)
example: obama_proposal_111510
Checklist
Your name is at the head of the first page.
You have included all the items listed above.
You are submitting at least a second draft
The document is proofread and spell checked.
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