Austria in Hollywood:  Immigrants in the Movie Machine
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Instructions for Group Project


Project Topic:

Your project will be a detailed analysis of one film by Billy Wilder. Your choices are Sunset Boulevard, One, Two, Three, or Some Like It Hot; other Wilder films may be selected with permission of the instructor.

The focus of the analysis needs to be how Billy Wilder's film is designed to cross cultural lines. Sunset links up old Hollywood with new Hollywood (crossing generations and cinematic values); One talks about how capitalism meets communism (and maybe even Nazism); Some talks about gender roles and about the haves and have nots (and other kinds of borders!). You will have to show how the film is constructed to take the standard US audience to that other place: how the film introduces a fairly serious assault on "normal American" perceptions, and then makes it palatable, even acceptable, to its audience.

I. Preparing your group presentation:

  1. Find a partner or two (this project is to be done in small groups of 2 or 3 ); select a film that you would like to focus on. Decide who does what when; when you submit the project, you will also each separately send the instructor an email with your assessment of who did what -- so that credit may be given fairly. This means that, in some cases, all members of a group may not get the same grade on the project.
  2. Check out and note down the facts of the film (studio, year, director, writer and the like) on the www.imdb.com links from the class website.
  3. Watch the film once or twice. Take notes during at least one viewing, and check the notes against historical facts and the film itself. Use the "How to Study a Film" sheet for ideas about what you might consider as data to make your case.
  4. Concentrate your efforts particularly on three parts of the movie:
    • the opening sequence, which may include "pre-panels" with the production company's logo, the opening titles with material under it, and the first scenes or sequence of the actual film -- a sequence typically running between 3 and 8 minutes.
    • the dénouement or closing scene: The last scene just prior to the words "The End" and/or the rolling of the final titles, and the final titles (these have grown A LOT since the 1960s)
    • the turning point or moment of crisis, usually located somewhere toward the midpoint of the film.
  5. Taking notes on a film: to figure out what kind of "spin" a film offers, it is useful to make a chart of reference points from film and history for comparison, as a breakdown of the film scenes you are looking at. In the example below, the first column indicates running time on your DVD clock; the second, indicators of historical facts; the third, technical and story-line data; and the final, sound issues. You'll have to watch your chosen scenes several times to figure out the patterns, and these notes will help.

An example of a possible log:


Time History Reference Visual/Storyline Music/Sounds
0:00 Logo is in antique font Paramount logo Paramount theme music: Full orchestra
0:10 X Screen is black Silence
0:15 Landmarks: Paris; Cars =1940s or 50s A dark street in a big city; Wide shot;
bird's-eye view; camera pans, tracks a car
Sudden silence / Gunshots / A scream
0:30 Character and job introduced Title sequence: White letters over dark background with action/
When car reaches the garage, picture
moves into color, at end of title;
Garage sign in "Nazi" script and swastika flag; sign about the
burnt Reichstag on kiosk
Symphony orchestra music; a threatening mood

II. WRITING YOUR PROJECT:

  1. Your group is responsible for posting its project on the class' Blackboard site, as a new thread on the Discussion Board. Title your thread with the film data: [Name of Film]. Dir. [NAME}. Country: Studio, Year. The first lines of the entry should have the names in your group.
  2. The posting has the following parts:
    • An introduction that sets up the problem, as you see it. The problem will, in all cases, be some kind of analysis of how the film "crosses boundaries" between standard US representations of reality and some more challenging viewpoint (often representing more cosmopolitan European points of view), what is different between the two, and why those choices were made by the director for the particular audience.
    • The first part of the presentation should start with a brief (1 paragraph) synopsis of the film and a brief (1 paragraph) synopsis of where the represented event(s) stand -- setting, date, frame within US reality, base situation.
    • After that introduction, you should present three examples from the film (often from the opening, closing, and turning point sequences) that document the film's "spin" vis-à-vis its audience of middle America, making a case for each example by addressing issues like: facts kept in or out, camera angle, framing, lighting, music/sound, camera motion, stereotype representations of characters, places, and events, and obligatory scenes (narrative stereotypes).
    • Close with an analysis of what that point of view and "spin" might be trying to do to the audience's idea of the film. Who in the audience will agree with or reject the particular story told? What was innovative about Wilder's theme or message in the era?
  3. Note that these parts do NOT have to be connected prose; each paragraph can stand on its own. Your grade will depend primarily on the argument you make and the evidence you muster, not on rhetoric (although spelling, punctuation, and the form of the assignment will be taken into account).
  4. When your project is ready, upload it to the class Blackboard site AS TEXT, NOT as an attachment. You can format text with bolds and italics, should you need to, by using HTML commands. When that is done, all the members of your group should write a brief note to the instructor with your name and your assessment of what each person in your group contributed. Include ALL THE NAMES FROM YOUR GROUP on your note.
  5. Others in the class are encouraged to ask questions or react as part of a discussion thread; the instructor will comment online about each presentation, mentioning something done well, as feedback for others to read. Each individual will get his/her own grade and comments.
  6. An "A" project will balance off analysis of historical facts, film story, and film techniques; it will have all the parts listed above, presented clearly, correctly, and grammatically. A "B" project will be weaker in this balance, sometimes overlooking obvious connections and taking a less consistent point of view for analysis. A "C" presentation is perfunctory, not attempting consistently to balance off facts, representation, and technique; it may be missing sections. "D" and "F" presentations show greater defects in these areas.
    "A" = 95; "B" = 85; "C" = 75; "D" = 65; "F" = below 60. A plus (+) or minus (-) can raise or lower a grade from 2 to 5 points.

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