Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Spielberg Scenes

Listed below are 10 iconic scenes from Spielberg films. Working in groups of three, you will be responsible for recreating the scene you select.

GROUPS

#1 - Brielle, Zoe, Tony, and Adrian - War of the Worlds: Basement Scene

#2 - Logan, Courtney, Lauren, and Tyler S. - Close Encounters: UFO Scene

#3 - Mikaela, Soler, Jill, and Trevor - Saving Private Ryan: Wade’s Death

#4 - Dom, Maddie, Tori, and Jordan - ET: Dinner Scene

#5 - Tyler M., Troy, and Nick - Jaws: Town Meeting

#6 - Paula, Brianna, and Chloe - ET: Dinner Scene

#7 - Matt, Thomas, Tiffany, and Isaiah - Catch Me if You Can: Substitute Teacher

#8 - Gabbie, Vince, Ethan, and Ryan - Saving Private Ryan: Wade’s Death

  • All dialogue must be included in your recreation.
  • Camera shots and angles must be approximated.
  • Do your best to recreate special effects. 
  • Wardrobe and production values need not match the clip
    • For example, you do not need to find period-correct WWII uniforms. However, be creative! Find an appropriate substitute.

Option #1: Substitute Teacher, Catch Me If You Can (Easy)

Option #2: First UFO Encounter, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Difficult)

Option #3: Dinner Insults, E.T. (Easy)

Option #4: Dinner Insults, Hook (Easy)

Option #5: Town Meeting, Jaws (Easy)

Option #6: Beach Scene, Jaws (Difficult)

Option #7: Dinner Debate, Jurassic Park (Difficult)

Option #8: Explanation of the Ark, Raiders of the Lost Ark (Easy)


Option #9: Wade's Death, Saving Private Ryan (Difficult)


Option #10: Basement Tension, War of the Worlds (Difficult)

Dueling Jaws

Recently we watched two of Spielberg's earlier masterpieces, Duel and Jaws. Duel essentially made Steven Spielberg famous and paved the road for Jaws, which is the unofficial sequel to Duel. Jaws has also been described as "Duel on the water." There are a number of similarities between the films from plot to imagery to the respective monsters and even a sound effect at the end of each film.



Your assignment: In a well crafted paragraph or two, compare Jaws to Duel. This is due by the end of class Monday, 3/23!  In what ways are they the same? Do you think Spielberg's work on Duel better prepared him for an undertaking such as Jaws? If you were not in class for Duel, there is a link to the full film below. Yes, there are commercials.


Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Jurassic Park/Super 8 Writing Lecture

The Jurassic Park / Super 8 Essays are due on St. Patty's Day: Tuesday, March 17th. 

I'm looking for typed hard copies, people.


The Video:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B54yLx0ceah4UHZ0QUNFS0h1ZWs/view?usp=sharing

A Picture of the Board:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B54yLx0ceah4cUpFOHNBWURRLXM/view?usp=sharing

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Indiana Jones and the Film Review of Doom: Due 2/24

In class we have been watching the Indiana Jones trilogy as an introduction to a unit on the work of Steven Spielberg. Yes, there are only three Indiana Jones films. These films are widely accepted as some of the greatest adventure films of all time, though some may beg to differ.

I want you to kill all the gophers on the course.


Read the following two film reviews on Raiders of the Lost Ark. The first is a review by embittered film critic Pauline Kael who rips the movie apart. The second link is to an extremely well written review by an amazing human being, Roger Ebert, who loved the film. You may use these two examples, or any other reviews, as a guide on what to include in a typical film review. Remember, yours will be much shorter.

Pauline Kael
Roger Ebert

For your assignment, you are to write a 750 word review of any one of the three Indiana Jones movies. (You also have the option to review the trilogy as a whole if you watched all three...or you can choose to review Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Follow the Crazy Man to the Alien Skull Shrine) Reviews are to be submitted in hard copy (please, no emails) by the start of class Tuesday, 2/24.


What do you mean I can't email it?