Marks Lecture

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• Marks Lecture
• Need to have a foundational vocabulary
  appropriate to the analysis and interpretation of
  film.
• includes conventions of camera
  movementframingsoundfocuscolournarrat
  ive
• When you are giving examples to support your
  analysis and interpretation you must be able to
  discuss these examples at this specific level of
  film construction.
• These conventions might be challenged or
  disregarded in films but knowing the conventions
  and being confident with the language of film
  making allows us to acknowledge that the
  conventions have been challenged and will help us
  to explain WHY they have been challenegd.

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• We are considering the relationship between the
  work and its reception by a viewer (in fact a
  particular view you). This is a relationship at a
  micro level.
• The idea of objectivity suggests that there is a
  particular totalising framework through which we
  can find truth.
• This framework is challenged by other frameworks
  which demand that they are closer to the truth.
• Another approach is that there are different
  frameworks that offer partial objectivity but
  there cannot be a complete objectivity.
• Subjective approaches to the reception of a film
  might also be considered as part of this partial
  approach to an understanding of, if not a
  complete or total truth, at least, on the micro
  level, to a truth that fits in with a particular
  view point.

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All interpretation and all analysis is political
in the sense that we have to negotiate our
responses and be able to justify them. We
therefore need to establish the appropriate
examples and theoretical support to be able to
achieve this. PERSONAL OPINION is not what we
are seeking and will not be a convincing way of
negotiating an acceptable response within the
context of the university. Another thing that is
required is that we have to present our ideas in
formats that have been established historically
and that have be used to give credibility to our
ideas. These are not simple found within the
Screen and Media Department but they have been
established throughout the humanities and social
sciences. There are always different
interpretations of the conventions but these are
processes we must learn to obtain an acceptable
grade.
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• The requirements for this paper.
• Research AssignmentThe purpose of this assignment
  is to explore one well-established theoretical
  approach in depth. This will offer you a context
  for the discussions that will challenge these
  totalizing theoretical positions. Choose ONE of
  the following approaches to theory and explain
  what it might involve and how it might be used as
  a theoretical framework specifically in relation
  to a film or other screen media. It is necessary
  for you to explore examples that help support
  your position. This assignment must provide
  evidence of research appropriate definitions,
  discuss some of the leading theorists and
  appropriate texts and discuss the strengths and
  weaknesses in the application of the theory you
  have chosen. An appropriate approach would be to
  consider three or four aspects of the chosen
  theory and develop these in depth rather than
  consider a broad sweep of different elements.
• The five theories that you have as an option
  areMarxism Psychoanalysis Semiotics or Semiology
  Structuralism Feminism Date due Friday 18th
  Augus
• tLength 2500 wrds

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• Requirements for the essay.
• You have to indicate what framework you are using
  to justify your analysis.
• You have been asked to explain what you believe
  this framework entails or involves and how it
  might be useful as a source for your analytical
  focus.
• EXAMPLE
• Psychoanalysis is an intellectual approach
  focusing on the psyche of individuals and how
  this is influenced by society especially the
  family.
• Aspects or elements of films can sometimes be
  understood as either dreamscapes that suggest the
  unconscious and similarly films or aspects of
  films often deal with characterisation and the
  relation of characters with their family.
• These examples alone and the conceptual tools
  offered by psychoanalysis would suggest that it
  has an important part to play in developing a
  particular type of analysis.

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You have also been asked as part of this approach
to provide evidence of research appropriate
definitions, discuss some of the leading
theorists and appropriate texts and discuss the
strengths and weaknesses in the application of
the theory you have chosen. To support your
work further you will need to offer examples of
how your approach might work by analysing a
selected scene from a film. This would also help
to explain what you think are the strengths and
weaknesses of this approach.
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YOU HAVE ALSO BEEN GIVEN A HINT ABOUT HOW TO
APPROACH THIS ASSIGNMENT An appropriate approach
would be to consider three or four aspects of the
chosen theory and develop these in depth rather
than consider a broad sweep of different
elements. So it would ceratainly be useful to
give a brief outline of the particular
theoretical framework you want to focus on but it
is necessary that you select a few concepts for a
much deeper engagement. EXAMPLE Psychoanalysis
developed fro Freudian studies of the unconscious
and its relation to the family and other
theorists such as Lacan,Jung, Adler explored the
unconscious and its relation to the conscious in
other ways using the ideas oflanguage, mythology
and power. A few of the significant concepts
developed by Freud were the id, ego, and super
ego and these could establish the framework for
analysing a particular film.
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Essay structure The essay is structured in a
particular way Introduction which tells the
reader what is happening in the main body of the
discussion and why a certain focus has been made.
It is like a brief map for the discssion. The
main body of the text outlines clearly a strong
and coherent discussion based on what has been
proposed in the introduction. AND THIS IS
SUPPORTED BY REFERENCES TO OTHER THEORISTS AND TO
EXAMPLES FROM A FILM. The conclusion sets out
what has been achieved and what the significant
elements are the make your discussion convincing.
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Just as in films there are particular CONVENTIONS
that need to be recognised in writing an
essay. REFERENCING You will need to italicise
or underline titles of books, journals, films and
with their first mention in brackets include
(author or director and the date of
publication) Example Two Deaths (Roeg,
1995) This should also be included in the
Filmography at the end of the essay properly
referenced. IMAGES SHOULKD ALSO BE REFERENCED
BOTH BESIDE THE IMAGE AND AT THE END OF THE ESSAY
IN THE REFERENCE SECTION.
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The essay should be ORGANISED INTO PARAGRAPHSgt A
paragraph focuses on one important topic and the
discussion in the rest of the paragraph is about
that topic. When the focus changes then a new
paragraph needs to be introduced. THERE SHOULD
BE A CLEAR GAP BETWEEN EACH PARAGRAPH. PARAGRAPHS
SHOULD LINK UP WITH EACH OTHER SO THAT THERE IS
A CLEAR FLOW FROM ONE PARAGRAPH TO ANOTHER.
LINKING SENTENCES ARE A GOOD WAY TO ACHIEVE
THIS.This makes it much easier to follow the
discussion. Example. Although colour plays a
powerful role as synmbol it is not the only
element in the film that contributes to this as
sound has a special impact. The rest of the
paragraph will discuss sound while the previous
paragraph would have discussed colour.
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If a quote is longer than three lines then you
must separate it from the main body of the text
and indent it. EXAMPLE I argree with
Jorholts argument that In Existenz, the
players nervous systems are directly energized
through the umbilical cord connecting them to
the game. Although the game does have a physical
and even painful aspect its thrill is of a
somewhat different kind than the masochist
pleasures sought by the characters in other
similar films (cited in Pisters,200190). As
there is an obvious dependence on the connections
between the game machine and players in all of
the scenes within game-play but as Jorholt
suggests this dependence does not focus on the
painful but pleasurable moments but is more
likely to focus on the motif of dependence.
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Unecessary mistakes. Its is the possessive
form Its means it is. If in doubt ask does its
mean in the context it is. Example Its
tail Should be its tail because it is tail does
not make sense.
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THEIR indicates possession their car THERE
indicates at a particular place the car
there NOT THERE CAR Or THAT CAR THEIR
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FINALLY REMEMBER DESCRIPTIONANALYSISINTERPRET
ATIONEVALUATION
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DESCRIPTION offering the facts of how things
are without any interpretation or
explanation. ANALYSIS establishing the elements
that make up the whole and then observing their
relationships to the whole. (analysis is shaped
by the frameworks that you use to make the
analysis) INTERPRETATION make the meaning of
something based on the analtical components that
you have established. EVALUATION assess of judge
or give a value to. This also would be based on
the analtical and interpretative focus you have
developed.