Film as Literature
The Great Director Project
As a part of learning about film, you will research and present information about a great director via a
PowerPoint presentation. As this project is worth 10% of your grade, you will be expected to be in attendance on the day of your presentation.
Note: Some of the great films by our great directors are rated “R.” You DO NOT need to view the film in its entirety to select your clip, and the clip you show must be school appropriate. If you have any questions, please see me.
Timeline
Monday, February 3: Introduce Assignment; Drawings for directors and presentation dates
Tuesday, February 4: Meet in the classroom (we will eventually go to a lab)
Thursday, February 20: Presentations – extra credit for volunteers (6)
Monday, February 24: Presentations (6)
Tuesday, February 25: Presentations (6)
Wednesday, February 26: Presentations (6)
Thursday, February 27: Presentations (6)
*Presentations must be no fewer than 6 and no longer than 7 minutes in length.*
The Research/The Grade (100 points/10% of your grade)
 Provide biographical highlights of your director’s life, including his/her beginnings, education, and how she/he became involved with film (10).
 Provide a list of five film titles your person has directed as well as a 1-3 sentence summary for each of the mentioned films (10).
 Discuss the distinguishing characteristics of your director’s style as well as favorite techniques your director employs (10).
 Explain any honors your director has received (5).
 For your director’s “great film,” briefly describe the plot and go over the cast (5).
 Present a 1:30-2:00 clip from the great film (4).
 Discuss the significance of the clip to the movie as a whole (8).
 Discuss some of the filming techniques the director employs in the clip (8).
 Discuss the critical reception of the director’s great film in general and summarize one critic’s article on the film (do not use Rotten Tomatoes) (10).
 Present the information in a clear, organized manner and meet the time requirements (10).
 Turn in a hard-copy of your presentation AND upload it to turnitin.com (10).
 Include a bibliography that is properly formatted as part of your presentation (10).
Some helpful websites include…
 imdb.com
 movieclips.com
 filmsite.org
 filmjournal.com
 bfi.org.uk/sightandsound
 classicfilmguide.com

Great Directors and Film
1.
Woody Allen – Annie Hall
2.
Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
3.
Mel Brooks – Young Frankenstein
4.
Tim Burton – Edward Scissorhands
5.
James Cameron – Terminator
6.
Frank Capra – It’s a Wonderful Life
7.
Coen Brothers – Fargo
8.
Francis Coppola – Apocalypse Now
9.
Sofia Coppola – Lost in Translation
10.
Michael Curtiz – Casablanca
11.
Jonathan Demme – Silence of the Lambs
12.
Clint Eastwood – Unforgiven
13.
Nora Ephron – When Harry Met Sally
14.
Milos Foreman – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
15.
Jodie Foster – Home for the Holidays
16.
Amy Heckerling – Clueless
17.
Alfred Hitchcock – Rear Window
18.
Ron Howard – A Beautiful Mind
19.
John Hughes – Breakfast Club
20.
Stanley Kubrick – The Shining
21.
John Lasseter – Cars
22.
George Lucas – American Graffiti
23.
Baz Luhrmann – Moulin Rouge
24.
Penny Marshall – Big
25.
Mike Nichols – The Graduate
26.
Christopher Nolan – Memento
27.
Arthur Penn – Bonnie and Clyde
28.
Roman Polanski – Rosemary’s Baby
29.
Sydney Pollack – Tootsie
30.
Robert Redford – Quiz Show
31.
Ridley Scott – Thelma and Louise
32.
Martin Scorcese – Raging Bull
33.
Steven Spielberg – ET
34.
Oliver Stone – JFK
35.
Quentin Tarantino – Pulp Fiction
36.
Peter Weir – The Truman Show
37.
Billy Wilder – Sunset Boulevard
38.
Ed Wood – Plan 9 From Outer Space
39.
Robert Zemeckis – Forest Gump
40.
David Zucker – Airplane!