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ENG 344
Film Studies
Opportunities
marshall.edu/filmstudies
Students must complete at least 15 credits in approved Film Studies courses with a minimum GPA of 2.5. Other requirements include:
- English 344: Introduction to Film Studies.
- 12 additional credits, other than ENG 344, in courses that focus primarily upon film or related art forms.
- Students must complete coursework in at least 3 academic departments or schools.
- No more than 9 credits in any one department or school may count toward the minor.
- At least 9 credits must have been completed at Marshall University. Students may utilize up to six credits in Film Studies coursework completed at other accredited institutions with the approval of the Director of Film Studies.
- No more than 3 credits in independent study are allowed.
- 6 of the 15 credits toward the minor must be in courses numbered 300 and above.
- No courses that count toward the minor may be taken on a credit/no credit basis.
Digital Humanities
marshall.edu/dh
Digital Humanities
DH 201 Intro to the Digital Humanities
TR 3:30-4:45
ENG 263 Intro to Digital Literary Studies
TR 12:30-1:45
dh survey
What makes a good thesis?
Thesis
Your thesis statement should:
- be specific
- be supported by evidence in the film
- be interesting and not immediately obvious
- offer a unique interpretation that the viewers may not see right away
You will receive feedback on your thesis via MUOnline some time tomorrow afternoon.
Controlling Idea
Developing Your Thesis
Your thesis is the controlling idea of your paper. It is the single statement that the evidence in your paper supports. It is the central idea your entire argument and system of observations about the text are built around.
Making a Claim
It needs to develop an interesting position you can support or defend.
Determining Scope
Determines Scope
Every paragraph following either supports or elaborates on the thesis.
Providing Structure
It lets the reader understand the structure of your ideas. It allows the reader to see the goal or aim of your paper.
A good thesis...
Your Thesis
"Do the Right Thing" - Ashley Clark
Reverse Shot, July 2013
- makes a unique interpretation,
- makes a claim,
- determines scope,
- provides structure
identify the thesis
Introduction
How does Clark engage with their introduction?
What is interesting or engaging about your films? How do you connect to them personally?
Introduction
Your introduction should introduce the films to the reader in a creative way. Mention the title and state the directors. Also, you need to introduce your thesis statement and the points you will be making about how you connect these films.
Draft Thesis
Developing the Body
Just as Vittorio De Sica uses the characters in the pawn shop to represent the pressures of economic anxiety in post-war Italy in Bicycle Thieves (1948), Spike Lee uses the character of Clifton (John Savage) to represent the presence of gentrification as an additional tension in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood he creates in his film Do the Right Thing (1989).
Close Reading
editing
mise-en-scene
During confrontation between Clifton and Buggin' Out, the camera cuts back and forth between the two rapidly as the argument intensifies. The editing keeps the camera close. Clifton is presented in a close up, as if to emphasize the fact that he is alone on the street. Buggin' Out is covered in a medium shot showing his friends crowded around him encouraging the confrontation. As one onlooker claims Clifton was "even talking about your mama," the camera cuts back to Clifton--enabling the viewer to realize simultaneously with the character that he is trapped in an impossible argument.
Clifton is immediately represented as separate from the neighborhood by his wardrobe. Busily pushing up the street, head down ignoring his surroundings, Clifton wears a Larry Bird jersey. The tall, blond Celtics player from Indiana stands in contrast to the African American sports heroes represented by other jerseys in the film. Characters from the neighborhood are seen wearing Magic Johnson and Jackie Robinson jerseys. Mike Tyson is displayed prominently in a mural, identified as "Brooklyn's Own." Just like the conflict over American Italian head shots in the Sal's, Clifton's Larry Bird jersey underscores his conflict with the other residents in his neighborhood.
Close Reading
sound
cinematography
The camera serves to heighten the tension surrounding the scuffed Jordan. Lee's camera first shows a reverse zoom that emphasizes the mark on the shoe. Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito) is shot from an extreme low angle, highlighting and exaggerating his reaction to the damage. Lee then uses a long dolly shot to demonstrate the distance between Buggin' Out and Clifton--as if Clifton hadn't lost a step after bumping into Buggin' Out. Clifton committed a grave infraction from Buggin' Out's perspective, but, as the camera shows us, he hasn't slowed down at all.
As he yells after Clifton, Buggin' Out's voice is allowed to echo on the empty street. This booming echo emphasizes the power the Buggin' Out has in this neighborhood, as his voice brings his friends running. The overlapping dialogue as the chorus of onlookers chimes in adds to the mounting tension. Statement is layered over statement, each one purposefully adding fuel to Buggin' Out's anger.
Just as Vittorio De Sica uses the characters in the pawn shop to represent the pressures of economic anxiety in post-war Italy in Bicycle Thieves (1948), Spike Lee uses the character of Clifton (John Savage) to represent the presence of gentrification as an additional tension in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood he creates in his film Do the Right Thing (1989).
Bicycle Thieves
mise-en-scene
editing
As Antonio (Lamberto Maggiorani) waits for the release of his bicycle, he watches one of the pawn shop employees store the linens he had to give up. The man climbs an immense scaffold of shelves up, up, up, twenty feet in the air before he tosses Antonio's wedding sheets on to a pile of identical linens. The image of all of these bed linens--each something so intimate to the owner--stacked so high and being handled so impersonally makes the viewer consider all of the family's who faced difficult decisions. Each set of sheets represents a moment of sacrifice for the community. And each set represents someone taking economic advantage of the situation.
De Sica ends the previous scene with Maria making the decision to trade the wedding linens for the bicycle. Her resolve is powerful as she stomps into the kitchen to wash them before delivering them to the pawn shop. This act, prepping and cleaning, is done forcefully and without joy. One more chore on jammed into the day. De Sica doesn't let the action end. Instead, he dissolves from the image of Maria dumping water on the linens to the image of her, unseen, struggling to pass them through the small window of the pawn shop. This dissolve connects the two moments. Maria is not just trading something valuable for money. She is trading her labor, her time, her effort, her raw, boiled hands. These linens aren't just a commodity, they are a part of the home she is building for her family.
Close Reading
sound
cinematography
As Maria and Antonio go about there business, the soundtrack is filled with the quiet murmur of indistinct voices. Sitting just below the score is the impression that behind Maria and Antonio, waiting at these windows, are a line of unseen people. Waiting for their turn to trade something they need for a small portion of its value.
As Maria (Lianella Carell) makes a deal with the pawn broker for her wedding linens, De Sica uses an interesting frame-within-a-frame composition. Maria is stooped, doing her business through a tiny window. The majority of the frame is smoked glass--opaque, impenetrable. The tiny metal frame of open window she speaks through takes this powerful, decisive, dynamic character and compresses her. Visually, she is trapped in a little box as she negotiates with a man who as all the advantages.
Your Conclusion
Conclusion
Why do your movies matter? How does your analysis of them help the reader?
Your conclusion should summarize your main points and bring your essay to a close for the reader. A good conclusion also makes a connection for the reader—explaining how the information they read in your essay is useful to them in some way.