Nonfiction Video Production—Spring 2006

Analysis of a Scene Presentations

Schedule:

2 students each day (TBA):

Tuesday, February 7

Thursday, February 16

Thursday, March 2

Tuesday, March 7

Thursday, March 9

Tuesday, March 21

5 points

For this assignment, you will research and view a nonfiction film, analyze one of its scenes, and then present your analysis to the class in a brief 15-minute presentation.

The purpose of this assignment, in part, is to turn the in-class screenings over to you as a means of increasing our knowledge of the styles, approaches, and authors that exist in nonfiction film history. You may choose any film you like, as long as you haven’t seen it before and it falls under the nonfiction heading.

Once you’ve seen your chosen film, choose one scene that sticks out as particularly important to the overall story or aesthetic. Then, analyze this scene, in terms of editing style, point of view, cinematography, evidence presented, its role in the overall argument/storyline, etc. What you include in this analysis is up to you, but some of the following questions might get you started:

• What feeling is the scene intended to provoke in the viewer? How does it do it?
• Whose point of view is presented in this scene? What techniques does the film use to convey point of view?
• How does the shooting style/cinematography contribute to the point of view presented in this scene? Is it static, simple, lush, roving, high contrast?
• Describe the pacing or editing style. How does it contribute to our understanding of the story being told or argument being presented? What appears to be left out through editing?
• Why is this scene important to the “bigger picture” of the film? Does it represent a turning point, a revelation for a key character, an important piece of evidence?

Once you’ve completed your analysis, prepare a 15-minute talk in which you present the film and your analysis of the scene. Be sure to give us some background and description of the film as a whole, and then show us the scene (or an excerpt from it, if it’s long) and present your analysis.

Along with your presentation, you’ll turn in a typed outline (no more than a page, in sentence form) of your presentation (due the day you present).