Select and watch at least one of the following films: Intolerance (1916), Battleship Potemkin (1925), The General (1926). Then:
In no more than 3-5 sentences, summarize the film as if you are describing it to someone who has not seen it. What is the story that the filmmaker(s) told? Do not give a blow-by-blow report, but convey the main story, characters, and theme(s) so that your fellow students will have a general idea about the movie from reading your reflection. Avoid spoilers when possible!
In 3-5 sentences, discuss the ways the filmmaker(s) chose to tell their story with the knowledge and technology they had at their disposal. How did they innovate? What creative choices were made? Im not interested in whether or not you thought the film was boring, or if you liked the special-effects. Instead focus on the artistic choices that the filmmaker used to tell their story (setting, style, lighting, editing, costumes, make up, etc.) How are these techniques used and how effective were they? Use specific examples to support your statements.
Finally (and most importantly) how does the selected film support, characterize, or exemplify the content covered in class and the assigned readings? (Or not?!) Identify the context in which the film was made. How did the society, politics, and technology of the time influence the creative decisions that were made? How did these factors contribute (or detract) from the story the filmmakers were trying to tell? What were the filmmakers trying to say? What impact did the film have politically, culturally, or economically in their own country or abroad?
