HU121: Unit 8 - Assignment Questions A & B

Assignment Question A:

Describe the sound design of this film. Select one or two scenes to discuss at length. How did the sound (the sound effects, the music, etc) add to the scene? Did it make it funnier? More descriptive? Did it add specific meaning to it? Your discussion should be at least one page in length, double spaced using 12 pt. font and 1 inch margins. Submit your assignment using the link above.

Assignment Answer A:

Assignment Question B:

For this paper, you get to be the director of a new film.  In this case, you are to take an existing film from the list below and re-cast the leading actors and actresses’ and the supporting actors and actresses’ parts for an updated version.  Since you are casting different actresses and actors for the key roles in the film, you will need to address the issue of wardrobe/costumes.  How will you update what the characters wear in the film for the new version?  Finally, you must also update the film’s score to make it more marketable to today’s audiences.  If other changes are needed (for example, 12 Angry Men only has men on the jury), you should discuss those too. Your paper should be 750 words minimum.

Your essay must include an introduction, at least three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Film Choices:

• 12 Angry Men (1957) Criterion - 11/22/2011
• All About Eve (1950)
• Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
• Casablanca (1942)
• Chinatown (1974)
• Double Indemnity (1944)
• Dr. Zhivago (1965)
• It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
• It Happened One Night (1934)
• Midnight Cowboy (1969)
• Nashville (1975)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
• Rear Window (1954)
• Rebecca (1940)
• Some Like It Hot (1959)
• Taxi Driver (1976)
• To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) 

Helpful Hint:

It may be useful to rent the original version of a film not on the list and rent the updated version for comparison.  Examples of recently updated films include King Kong 1933/2006 and The Pink Panther 1963/2006.  

For a list of remakes, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_remakes

Your grade will consist of the explanations you provide for your remake, your use of evidence from and references to the original film, and the overall quality of your essay. Do you have an introduction and conclusion? Do you use transitions within and between your paragraphs? Is your essay free of grammar and spelling errors?

Discussion Answer B:

Links:
Composer Michael Giacchino
SHE & HIM

Sam Rockwell

Anne Hathaway

Phillip Seymour Hoffman

Jack Black

Phillip Baker Hall

Assignment Questions:

Critical Thinking Questions (300 to 400 words): Rear Window. Submit your assignment using the link above (due on Sunday of this unit; 20 points).

1. Discuss the sound design in the film. How did the score create mood? Give examples of scenes and explain how the mood would have changed with a different score.
2. Discuss the pacing of this film. How does the pacing create tension? Give examples.
3. Hitchcock often uses a plot device called a "macguffin." Was there a macguffin in this film? What is a macguffin? Explain this in your own words. (A macguffin is defined in our text on pg. 34).

Assignment Answers:

1. Hitchcock did something different with Rear Window than what is usually done with most films and uses very little sound. Part of this is due to the distance that Jeff is away from everyone and everything. One of the many times the "score" created a mood is when the music was being played in another apartment was so beautiful, that distracted Lisa while she was in Thornwell's apartment looking around for clues to the murder. With a different and more literal score like the one in The Birds, for example, would have taken all intimacy out of the film.
2. The pacing for Rear Window is very slow, but done very literally because he tension is created by slowly giving us hints and clues to everyone's story but not giving full details until the end when everyone is revealed and our imagination has been through all the scenerios. For example, there are clues about Thornwell killing his wife but we aren't sure until he is attacked by Jeff so it doesn't get out.
3. Hitchcock's macguffin for this film was Mrs. Thornwell's wife's wedding ring is  because she wouldn't take it off for any reason and is the first major clue the to surface and needs to be given to police for them to investigate the crime further. A macguffin is an object in a film the drives the action. For example, in Back To The Future, part II, the sports almanac Marty puchases (in the future) is the macguffin because all action is to recover it from Biff (in the past) before he uses it.

Week 5: HU121 Film In Society (Rear Window)

Discussion Question:

Select one scene or sequence from Rear Window and discuss how Hitchcock used mise-en-scene to create suspense in that scene or sequence. Describe the scene. How was it framed? Where were the characters placed in relation to the camera and to each other? Was it open or closed framed? Was there music or other sound effects? How did all these elements come together to create suspense (or humor, or fear, or sadness, etc)?

Discussion Answer:

The scene that came immediately to my mind after reading this discussion question was the scene where the girls hunt around for evidence of Hanna Thornwell. Lisa has enters into the apartment, after no luck searching in the garden, through the window and begins searching there. The closed frame shot, taken from afar, as if from Jeffs point of view. Their are no sounds effects in the scene just the soft music being played the band in another apartment. Together all these elements heightened the anxiety being experienced by Jeff and Stella, as well as the fear being experienced by Lisa. 

Assignment Question

1. Discuss the sound design in the film. How did the score create mood? Give examples of scenes and explain how the mood would have changed with a different score. 
2. Discuss the pacing of this film. How does the pacing create tension? Give examples.
3. Hitchcock often uses a plot device called a "macguffin." Was there a macguffin in this film? What is a macguffin? Explain this in your own words.

Assignment Answer:

1. In Rear Window, there is very little sound due to the distance that Jeff is away from everybody else. There was music played in another apartment that was heard and even distracted Lids while she was in Thornwell's apartment. With a different score like the one in Birds, for example, would have taken all intimacy out of the film.
2. The pacing for Rear Window is very slow. The tension is created by slowly giving us hints and clues to everyones story but no full details until the end when everyone is revealed. For example, there are clues about Thornwell killing his wife but we aren't sure until he is attack Jeff so it doesn't get out.
3. Thornwell's wife's wedding ring is the macguffin in Rear Window because she wouldn't take it off for any reason. A macguffin is an object in a film the drives the action. For example, in Back To The Future, part II, the sports almanac is the macguffin because all action is to recover it from Biff before he uses it.