Interim Online Review 16/02/2010

Hey Aj,

Another thin two week's work - and one story idea. It's a shame you missed the workshop, as I think your classmates and I could have done much to revitalise your narrative. Currently, you don't have a story - but rather a series of mundane events - put simply, a character gets drunk, crashes and ends up in hospital.

The End.

So what?

See what I mean?

You could enliven the story by reversing the timeline - start with an old woman in a hospital bed, and through a series of flashbacks we realise that she was a witch; likewise you could play some fun games with famous witches; for instance, the musical Wicked is an imagining of the Wicked Witch of the West's past - before the events made famous in the Wizard of Oz; perhaps your witch got drunk and crashed her broomstick because she didn't get the part in the famous movie?

The key making this both witty and original is to consider her back-story - that is, the events running up to her stay in hospital - and then revealing them in a more innovative and interesting way - I'd suggest non-linear. I'd also suggest that you pull your finger out and start doing some actual work on this, because what is very clear is that your take on this unit so far is deeply superficial and underwhelming and you have about 3 weeks to turn that around.

Regarding the essay - see the following 2 posts for general advice re. how to approach it, and importantly, how to cultivate a more formal writing style.

“1,500 word written assignment that analyses critically one film in terms of the relationship between story and structure; you should consider camera movement, editing, and the order of scenes”


While the essay questions asks you to analyse one film in terms of the relationship between story and structure, you are nonetheless expected to contextualise your analysis – and that means you have to widen your frame of reference to include discussion of other, related films and associated ideas – and also the ‘time-line’ within which your case-study sits.

So, for example, if you are focusing on a scene in a contemporary film which makes dramatic use of montage editing and quick-fire juxtaposition of imagery (the fight scenes in Gladiator, the beach landings in Saving Private Ryan, the bird attacks in The Birds…) no discussion of this scene would be complete without you first demonstrating your knowledge of the wider context for your analysis – i.e., the ‘invisible editing’ approach as championed by W.D. Griffith, and the alternate ‘Eisensteinian’ collisions adopted by Russian filmmakers (and now absorbed into the grammar of mainstream movies). In order to further demonstrate your appreciation for the ‘time-line’ of editing and its conventions, you should make reference to key sequences in key films – ‘The Odessa Steps sequence’ from Sergei Eistenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (as in scene in the Cutting Edge documentary, but also viewable here in full

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps-v-kZzfec

Also – if further proof were needed of the influence of this scene, watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH1tO2D3LCI&feature=related

The Cutting Edge documentary, as shown on Monday 15th Feb, is viewable on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJcQgQHR78Q

If you choose to quote from any of the ‘talking head’ sections (Ridley Scott, Walter Murch etc.), in support of your discussion, ensure you put the documentary’s original details in your bibliography (as opposed to the You Tube url). For official title and release date etc. visit

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cutting-Edge-Magic-Editing-Region/dp/B0009PVZEG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1266311784&sr=1-1

Put simply, whatever film you choose to discuss, you will need to link it to its ‘ancestors’ and also, where appropriate, to its ‘children’ – i.e., what influenced it/what it influenced.

Regarding the ‘language of editing etc.’ the following site is useful – if ugly!

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/gramtv.html

I suggest you use it only as a starting point for focusing your research parameters – not as the fount of all knowledge (it isn’t!).

Something that keeps coming up is how to cite websites using the Harvard Method:

GO HERE!!!!! IT’S GOT ALL THE ANSWERS!

http://www.ucreative.ac.uk/index.cfm?articleid=25881

Thanks for the advice phil, yes i was kind of stuck on the story idea a bit. thanks for the ideas for the story, i am going to rethink the story and see what i can come up with quickly. would you say it was unwise to make the witch a young women rather than old one?