Unsupervised Lesson 12 Jan - Feminist Reading of Fight Club

A feminist reading of fight club - Work sheet from Naamah Hill

Extension Articles

What do feminist critiques of Fight Club say? - Choose a couple of responses from this site - some are quite short.
Fight Club: A generation of men raised by women
'That little bitch Marla Singer - A cultural critique of sexism in Fight Club 
A Generation of Men raised by Women - Gender constructs in Fight Club
Fight Club.... for Feminists?
Unmarked Men: Feminism in Fight Club

Unsupervised work for the week beginning 10 Oct

Central Theme - Poverty

You need to explore how the film deals with the theme of poverty.

1. Start by reading the page in your booklet that looks like this:

At the bottom of the page are four questions that I would like you to answer.

2. Download the word document below.  It has a series of statements about the theme of poverty and how is is portrayed/ represented in the film.  Under each statement you need to develop the statement by referencing to specific scenes, moment etc.  I have done the first one for you to give you an example. You can print the document and write in the boxes by hand or do it on the computer.

Poverty in City of God - Worksheet from Naamah Hill

Representation in City of God

As well as understanding the central themes we need to talk about the issues of representation.

There are five key areas that we will need to look at:

• Gender
• Drug Culture
• Youth Culture
• Place 
• Ethnicity

In order to have a good understanding of these areas I would like you to choose one of them (not gender - see below) and prepare a presentation.  Base your presentation around four key questions:

1. How is/are ______ represented?
2. What would be good scenes to talking about ______? Why?
3. What might be challenging about  _______?
4. What messages might the audience take from this film about ___?

I have already done one on Gender to give you an idea:

City of god gender from Naamah Hill

If you do a bit of a google search you will probably find powerpoint done by students in past years.  You can use these as a base for your own work but don't just copy them..... You will present your powerpoint to me on Friday!

Unsupervised for the Week beginning 26th Sept

Complete writing up five sources for your annotated catalogue - Due in on Friday.
Start rewatching City of God - the DVD is in the back room and also on the Macs in Student resources.

Unsupervised for the week beginning 19 Sept

Research and write up 5 more possible sources.  Remember that you need to have more the 20 sources - they more you research the better your final presentation will be.

Unsupervised for the week beginning 12 Sept

By the end of the week you will need to have watched one focus film and taken detailed notes on scenes that relate to your area of study.  You need to think about camera, mise en scene, editing, sound as well as performance.  I will want to see your notes on Friday.

Unsupervised Lesson 16 Jan

Today you will need to write an essay. You must refer to both films we have been studying - La Haine and City of God.


The stylistic choices made by filmmakers define not just the look but also the meaning of the film.’ How far is this true of the films you have studied for this topic? 

• Consider how camera work, editing, mise en scene, sound and performance have been used. You don't have to talk about every thing but you should talk about 3 -4 areas and give specific details e.g The choice of shot sizes and angle and how they make us feel about the characters (low angles of Lil Z = we don't like him, Mid shots of Rocket which emphasis the positive relationships he has with other = we like him, Hubbert if often in the middle of the shot which highlights that he is the leader and we look up to him), pace of editing (slow in La Haine to highlight the boredom of the characters)
• Try to use formal language.
• Plan out what you are going to write and then HAND WRITE you answer so I can see if you are writing long enough - should be a minimum of 4 pages. There is a planning template below.
• If you are away you are still expected to do this and hand it in on Tuesday.
• Remember to structure it as an essay with an introduction, conclusion, paragraphing, good spelling and sentence structure.

Essay 2 from Naamah Hill

Unsupervised Lesson 5 Dec

In the last class you looked at the opening scene of  La Haine and how micro elements were used to communicate to the audience. Today you need to choose three other scenes from the film and analyse them for the use of micro element. You will need to choose scenes that you think are important/significant. When you write about them you need to talk about specific features of sound, editing, cinematography and mise en scene (using the correct terms) and try to explain the effect they have on the audience (what do they make us think/feel, what is the director trying to say about representation, key issues, themes etc).  I want the analysis to be strong - like the video essay you saw on the first scene (rewatch in in the post below)
You can use the note sheets provided in class or write up on the computer - this would allow yoy to do screen grabs.

This will be due in on Tuesday, along with your Final Catalogue!

Unsupervised Lesson 7th Nov

Other themes in City of God from Naamah Hill

City of God Theme statements from Naamah Hill

Unsupervised Lesson 17 October

1. Make sure your individual presentation on an aspect of City of God is complete (in a digital form) and handed in to me.  They will be posted on the blog.
2. There was a homework task set in the last lesson (500 words on the theme of power and reading/ answering questions on a article in your City of God booklet). Please check that you have done this.
3. Read the 'Social and Historical Context' section of your City of God booklet and complete the activity.
4. Choose one of the six questions at the back of your booklet in full - bullet points are fine but I want the whole page covered in ideas and writing big is not allowed!

I have included extracts for 3 and 4 below in case you have forgotten your booklets.
 

S and h context from Naamah Hill

 

Questions from Naamah Hill

Unsupervised Lesson 3rd Oct

There are four research tasks outlined below.  As a group you need to decide who is going to do each task. Try to pick one that is going to extend you!

You will have two weeks to complete this task and it needs to be in an electronic form as I will be posting them on this blog.  Try to make it informative and visual.

DUE IN ON 17th Oct - at the start of the lesson

The Film

Your job is to research, prepare and deliver a presentation about the film.  You will need to complete the following:

·         Plot summary of the film

Character profiles (with pictures) of all the key characters and the role they play in the film

•  Key Production information (Dates, key personal, Production Companies, Budget, Funding, Marketing etc)
• Information about the awards won by the film
•   A summary of the way in which this film was viewed by critics (including quotes from reviews – you will need to look at a range of reviews from different sources)
•  The influence this film has had on audiences and film making in Brazil

The Director

Your job is to research, prepare and deliver a presentation about the key creative people behind the film, in particular the director Fernando Meirelles, the co director Katia Lund, the author Paulo Lins and the producer Walter Salles. You need to cover the following in your presentation

• Basic Bio information of each person and how their background might have impacted on the film.
• Other films they have work on (comment on how the are similar/different to City of God)
• Their filmmaking/writing style and how City of God reflects this (maybe watch/analyse a key scene).
•  Meirelles as an auteur and evidence of his style from the film.
•  Any critical acclaim key personal have received and why.

The Setting

This film is set in a place and time that will be unfamiliar to most of the class.  Your job is to research, prepare and deliver a presentation about Brazil in the 1960’s to early 1980’s and about the real City of God.  You need to cover the following areas:

• How City of God (the place) came into being 
•   The role of men and women in this society and at this time 
• The  Education system
• The place of Religion
•  Economic Situation
• Police and Crime
•  Demographic profile of Brazil and the City of God
•  The other, more positive representation of Brazil (and how the film challenges this)

You can use the film as a source of information to help address some of these areas.

The Characters

Your job is  to prepare a presentation on the key characters from the film.Choose 4 of the following characters Lil Ze, Rocket, Carrot, Benny, Knockout Ned, The Tender Trio (treat as one).

You will need to include the following:

• Images of the characters so we can clearly identify them – you may need images of when they were young and old.
• Explain their story – what happens to them across the course of the film, what are the key events that happen to them and how does their story end?
• Explain the relationships they have with the other key characters in the film (Lil Ze, Rocket, Carrot, Benny, Knockout Ned, The Tender Trio and any others that you think are important)
•  Choose one key scenes connected with each character and explain what happens in the scene and why you think the scene are important.
•   Explain how they connect with the central themes of the film – power, poverty and conflict. 

Unsupervised Lesson 26th September

Please see PowerPoint on Emotional Response for work for the unsupervised 26/9 session. I will be checking the task has been completed fully on the Weds - Thank you!