2 panoramic portrait— using a collection of found, visual imagery describe a physical environment, object or human subject without showing us the subject in its entirety or directly; consider emotional and utilitarian aspects of the space or object or the public and private persona of a human subject, and graphic and descriptive values when choosing images (15%).
additionally, students are asked to write a ’statement of intent’ discussing the theme and formal considerations of the panorama, to be submitted with the project (250 words, typed and double spaced) (10%)
3 group research project—on an influential sound artist (15%); additionally, each group member must hand in a list of points covered in each individual presentation AND the references (internet and literature) used in the research presentation (5%), due the day of the presentation.
Students can choose to complete assignment 4 or 5 (NOT BOTH). Each will be evaluated at 25% and the total marks will be adjusted to calculate a 100% grade.
4 sound archive: collect sounds that communicate something of the subject of your panoramic picture; be it of personal significance, aesthetic character or social or political nature of the space or object, or the interests, tastes or emotional character of your human subject: the collection can include voice elements and musical phrases but not traditional musical sources (15%). as with the panoramic project students are also required to hand in a ’statement of intent’ describing the theme and formal considerations of the sound project.
5 CINEMATIC ART: STATEMENT OF PHILOSOPHY + FILM ANALYSIS (25%)—
Cinematic Art: Statement of Philosophy
(the beliefs, principles or aims underlying your practice as a filmmaker/critic)
With reference to one or more favourite films write a 750-1000 word paper discussing the artistic value of the cinematic arts. The paper will include a statement of philosophy (10%) that draws support from a descriptive analysis of your chosen film or films (15%).
Before beginning ask yourself some general questions:
• What distinguishes art from artifact in cinema?
• What values do films hold for their audience?
• What social and or cultural value does cinema have more generally speaking?
Next:
• Consider what types of films you tend to respond to and make a list of films that have evoked a strong response.
• Consider why? Were you moved by the story? Was it dynamic? Beautiful? Emotionally affective? Thought provoking? Were the character and conflict well drawn? Was the acting strong? Was the setting evocative? Consider the role played by mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing and sound in developing theme and story in these films.
After that:
• Write short statements about the films that come to mind in your inventory: What did you respond to and why: What aspects of the film encouraged your strong response: mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, sound…?
• Next, write an extended scene analysis (or scene analyses) describing the elements you’ve identified as affective, analyzing the patterns in your descriptions and interpreting the significance of the patterns you’ve discovered..
Finally:
• Sketch a statement that outlines your belief in the individual and collective value of cinema based on the conclusions of your analysis. (i.e. Your evaluation of the value of the film should be supported by the descriptive analysis and interpretation.) The statement should include an introduction to the film to be analyzed.
