A Successful Midterm Exam

Here's the Criticism Skeleton developed in class...following this plan will insure midterm success.

Paragraph One: Introduction: Be sure it is devisive (consider using an anecdote, narrative, specific example, quotation, allusion or other innovative approach) entertaing, previews your thesis and states it.

Paragraphs Two to Three: Background: Provide a brief synopsis of the film (I said BRIEF) and provide your reader proper information for any points you plan to develop to support your point. For example, if you want to say that It's a Wonderful Life is an indictment of the banking system of the 1930s, you MUST provide some context to that point. In other words, what was going in with the banking system at the time?

***Preliminary research and notes to make such a point can be developed overnight between the movie period and exam period.

 Paragraph Four to ?: Support: Use SPECIFIC reference and detail from the film to connect to your point. (In other words, if you are making a claim that Romero was using Night of the Living Dead to comment on the hopelessness of the civil rights movement in the wake of MLK's assination, point to Ben's death at the hands of a white militia, but also point to his struggles with Mr. Cooper and how he is forced to retreat into the basement. THEN connect it back to your theme!

FI midterm guide 09

Film Institute
Midterm Winter 2009

1. How does sound dominate the first 20 minutes of both movies?

2. How does a lack of traditional sounds dominate the first 40 minutes
   of both films?

3. Why did both directors choose to hold the shots of seeming
   nothingness for so long?

4. Why start 2001 with several minutes of nothing? Is Kubrick a
   genius or a madman? Make your case for either.

5. Why begin a science fiction with the sequence of 2001? Describe Kubrick’s
   motives? What do you believe he hopes to gain?

6. What is the symbolism of the bone? How is that symbolism accentuated
   by the action and cinematography?

7. What is the symbolism of the monolith in 2001? How does it
   fit or not fit the purpose of this introduction?

8. Retro-futurism is a term that describes the “old” view of the future popular during
   the 1950s. Think Tomorrowland at Disney, or The Jetsons, or
   old comic books. How does each film express this concept?

9. What seems to be the warning each film provides about machine/human relationships? How does each express this warning?

10. What seems to be the warning each film provides about the relationship between health and technology? How does each express this warning?

11. Defend the position that Wall-E and 2001 are two films with similar themes and values,
    but one is optimistic in its view of humanity, while the other is
    pessimistic.

12. Compare and/or Contrast the
    themes of both films. How are the ways in which the filmmakers
    communicate the themes similar and/or dissimilar from one another.
    Be sure this answer addresses the themes of both films and provides
    specific reference to a couple of the following components:
    Symbolism, Cinematography, Music, Visual effects, Characterization

13. Write a short critique of one of the films focusing on one aspect or specific component.