Question 1: What are the four related ways we can define the term narrative?

• a narrative is a story
• a narrative is a type of movie
• a narrative is a way to structure fictional or fictionalized stories presented in narrative films
• a narrative is a broader concept that both includes and goes beyond any of these applications

Question 2: What are the three basic types of movies? Describe the main differences between them?

• Narrative: mostly fiction movies that tell a story of fiction
• Documentary: movie of recording real life, educating the viewer, or presenting social/political analysis
• Experimental: Personal, not commercial movies, that don’t really have a conventional plot

Question 3: What are documentary theorist Bill Nichols’s six modes of documentary filmmaking?

a. Expository, Observational, Poetic, Participatory, Reflexive, Performative

Question 4: What are Fred Camper’s six characteristics that most experimental films share?

• Experimental films are not commercial
• Experimental films are personal
• Experimental films do not conform to conventional exceptions of story and narrative cause and effect
• Experimental films exploit the possibilities of cinema
• Experimental films critique culture and media
• Experimental films invite individual interpretation

Question 5: What is genre? How does genre effect the way movies are made and receive?

a. Genre is the categorization of narrative films. We might like one genre more than the other so as a viewer one film could be more appealing than another. Due the genre of the movie, formulas could be made for the movie to follow.

Question 6: What are the six sets of conventions used to define and classify genre?

a. Story Formulas, Theme, Character Types, Setting, Presentation, ans Stars

Question 7: How does animation differ from other three basic types of movies?

a. Animation looks different than the films because of the different mechanisms used to make them. The cinematic language in animation is the same as the other three.

Question 1: How and why do we differentiate between form and content in a movie, why are they relevant to each other?

a. Content is what the film is about and Form is how the subject is expressed or experienced. They are relevant to each other because you have to have both. You need content to provide the subject and you need form to provide the methods and technique to present it to the audience. They work together to create a narrative.

Question 2: In what way do movies use patterns to convey meaning?

a. Patterns provide structure for the familiar and the unfamiliar and repeating the content of the film by use shot patterns to convey the state of mind of the character, relationships of characters, and event he meaning of the film to the audience.

Question 3: What is the difference between realism and antirealism in a movie, and why is verisimilitude important in both?

a. Realism in film is an action or a subject that is rooted in reality and antirealism is a subject or an action that is rooted in the magical or supernatural. Verisimilitude is the appearance of being true or real. Verisimilitude is important in both because if something feels real then the audience is more likely to be more engaged with the film.

Question 4: What is meant by cinematic language? Why is it important to the ways that the movie communicates with viewers?

a. Cinematic language is the accepted methods, systems, or conventions by which the movie is communicating with the audience. It is important because cinematic language because it allows the viewer to be able to understand the meaning that the film intended.

Question 1: How is the experience of seeing a movie different from a play? Reading a book? Viewing a painting or photograph?

a. A major difference between seeing a movie and viewing other media is through the power of editing, you can add layers by including different shots to create moods such as tension. You can also use shots to add importance to objects such as close ups.

Question 2: What do we mean by cultural invisibility? How is this different from cinematic invisibility?

a. Cultural Invisibility is the cultural morals and prejudices that go unnoticed in film, it is used to allow the audience beliefs to solidify. While, cinematic invisibility is the techniques that filmmakers use that are hidden when watching a film.

Question 3: What is the difference between implicit and explicit?

a. Explicit meaning is everything on the surface of the film, such as the images, the characters, and the plot of the movie. The Implicit is the meaning of the film or what lies below the surface of the film.

Question 4: What are you looking for when you do a formal analysis of a movie scene? What are some other alternative approaches to analysis, and what sorts of meaning might uncover?

a. When you are doing a formal analysis of a scene, you should be looking for a theme or what was the purpose of that scene? You can find this by looking at the way the scene was shot, the dialogue, or even the tone of the scene. If you look at other lens such as a feminist lens, you can uncover more of a specific meaning as well more about a director’s views on subjects like political views.

This watchlist will be updated throughout the semester

• Leon: The Professional
• Moonlight
• Snowpiercer
• Inglorious Bastards
• Trainspoting
• Revolutionary Road
• Roma
• Super Dark Times
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Good Will Hunting
• The Departed
• The Prestige
• The Truman Show
• Luce
• Shutter Island
• Arrival
• Juno
• Little Monsters
• Eighth Grade
• Hot Summer Nights

Article: Reflection on It’s A Boy! Meghan Markle And Prince Harry Welcome A Baby To The Royal Family

https://www.npr.org/2019/05/06/717612721/its-a-boy-meghan-markle-and-prince-harry-welcome-a-baby-to-the-royal-family

Congrats to Megan Markle and Prince Harry to the birth of their boy. It felt like this pregnancy took forever. It is always interesting to me how much we are invested into the lives of the royal family. I think it is from the connection we had from colonial times.

End of the year paragraph

I have honestly love poetry a little bit more. I use to hate poetry, and I guess it was the way it was taught because you make it more enjoyable to learn about. By far the hardest assignment to do was the final paper, I could not into it at all. My favorite assignment was the found poem. I believe that this class enriched my writing and how I see world. Thank You Mrs. Kolb!

Connection to the World: Home and the immigration crisis

In class, we read this poem recently called Home by Warsan Shire and that got me thinking about the US immigration crisis. I have always been one to allow immigration and Warsan Shire’s poem is solid prove of these people go through to get to point b. I hope that someday in the future we can put aside our differences and provide refuge for these immigrants escaping their homes.

Article: Reflection on The Mississippi River Has Been Flooding For 41 Days Now

https://www.npr.org/2019/05/03/720043317/the-mississippi-river-has-been-flooding-for-41-days-now

This article is about the severe flooding in the Mississippi River. The river broke into downtown Davenport Iowa and Illinois and is slowly creeping up to the record of 1993. Being in Missouri, I understand the struggle of the river being flooded. Growing up, I always saw flooding and what that does to people. I hope everyone down in Iowa and Illinois is safe.

Question: Write down lyrics to one of your favorite songs. How are are these lyrics poetry? How could it be analyzed?

Right before my eyes
I saw the whole world lose control
The whole world lost control
Before my eyes uh-huh
I fell through the floor
I couldn’t take it anymore
I can’t take this anymore
It breaks my mind uh-huh

These lyrics are poetry because technicality all writing is some form of poetry, but these lyrics convey a deeper emotion about the destruction of the world from a bystander’s perspective.

Quote:“Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.”

Poetry is a way to show the world in a flowery language and detail. You can also use poetry to see the normal world in a different perspective.

Connection to the World: Network

The film Network is a film before it’s time. The news has slowly losing respect in the industry and that is do the fact that the news has turned into a source of entertainment. Network challenges this idea with class using satire to talk about the downfall of television and news in general.

Article: Reflection on Soul Searching after 16 year old’s Suicide

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/05/02/711408784/soul-searching-after-a-16-year-olds-suicide

In the article Soul Searching after 16 year old’s Suicide, Marc Silver talks to Safeena Husain, founder and director of Educate Girls, a nonprofit group in India that encourages families in rural areas to send their daughters to school and keep them in school. I honestly thought this article would be something completely different, then what is actually is about. This article was a little more insightful about how important education for women in India. So important that someone would kill themselves because they did bad on a test and wouldn’t be able to continue their education. I hope that someday, the education of women will be valued.

Question: Do you have preconceived notions about poetry? Do you remember reading any poems that you despised or enjoyed before college?

I have never really like poetry. Especially in high school, because we read a lot of poetry in my AP literature class and my teacher didn’t really make it interesting to learn at all. I kinda enjoy now because of the way I am learning it in English Comp II.

Quote: Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful. -Rita Dove

Rita Dove quote about poetry is true, that most simple is the most impactful. In class, I observed that at the most simple poetry has more meanings compared to more strict structure in poetry.

Connection to the World: Satire

One of my favorite literary elements in all literature is Satire. Satire is defined as
the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. The poster child is Saturday Night Live. Some examples of that is Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump.

Article: Refelction on Peter Mayhew, Portrayed Chewbacca The Wookiee In ‘Star Wars’ Movies, Dies At 74

https://www.npr.org/2019/05/02/719841314/peter-mayhew-portrayed-chewbacca-the-wookiee-in-star-wars-movies-dies-at-74

Growing up, I have distinct memories of watching Star Wars: A New Hope with my brother. It was on VHS and A New Hope was the only one we had. I remember that my brother was Chewbacca, for Halloween one year. I grew up on these movies. To hear that the man Chewbacca, a major part of my childhood, died is heartbreaking. Rest in Peace Peter.

Question: How many years ago was Othello was written/performed? How does it feel modern?

415 years ago, Othello was written and performed, but it still feels modern today. This is because of the social issues of race and jealousy are still modern day issues. We have all have moments where we all related to each of the character.

Quote: “The point of Othello among other points, is that it is impossible to know another human being.”

This quote is so true. In Othello, a lot of the problems could be solve with proper communication and getting to know a person on a personal level. Iago’s character though is completely different.

Connection to the World: Movie versus Stage production: Othello edition

This week I decided to do a contrast of Othello versus the movie version of Othello (1995). In a movie you can do more things visually compared to a play. For example in the movie Iago flicks a black king chess piece and a white queen chess piece into a well to symbolize that the Desdemona and Othello will be buried at sea together. Another thing that the movie does different than a play is you can tell a lot easier what is an aside and monologue. There is a lot of differences between both, but these are some differences.

Article: Reflection on Florida Approves Bill Allowing Classroom Teachers to be Armed

https://www.npr.org/2019/05/02/719585295/florida-approves-bill-allowing-classroom-teachers-to-be-armed

The article Florida Approves Bill Allowing Classroom Teachers to be Armed, discuses the recent bill the that allows Florida teachers to have guns in the classroom. I think that teachers should not have guns. Teachers could have other ways to protect themselves and their students such as a taser or pepper spray. I understand that we need to be able to protect ourselves, but I think there could be other ways that aren’t so violent.

Question: How does it feel to read Shakespeare? Try reading it silently and then aloud. How is it different?

I am really lucky, I had never really have a problem reading Shakespeare. I know that reading out loud and to yourself are totally different. You have a better understanding of the rhythm of the text if you read it out loud comparing to silently.

Quote: “Shakespeare knew the human mind, and its most minute and intimate workings, and he never introduces a word, or a thought, in vain or out of place; if we do not understand him, it is our own fault. ” – SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

In my opinion, Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers in history. His writing was so ahead of his time, including radical social ideas and concepts. I have always like Shakespeare. I feel that everyone should read him, to insight on the culture of the time and the amazing story telling.

Connection to the world: Shakespeare in today’s media

Even in modern day media the influence of William Shakespeare is very prevalent. With many movies being either an adaption of one plays or even a direct direction of his play. Some examples of these adaptions are The Lion King, 10 things I Hate About You, O, West Side Story, Ran, and even She’s the Man, are all adaptions of one of
William Shakespeare’s works. You can even find quotes or references in television shows like Brooklyn 99 and Sons of Anarchy. William Shakespeare believe it or not is everywhere so I find it important to learn as much as we can.