Assignments

GC2Y 2000 Global Horror, Spring 2018

Section 04: TR 3:30-5:15 p.m., Arts & Sciences 345

Film Availability

This chart provides links to our class's required films that are available from Apple (digital purchase and/or rental), Amazon (digital purchase, rental, and/or streaming), FilmStruck (streaming), Internet Archive (free download and streaming), Netflix (streaming), GCSU Library (4 hour reserves), and/or YouTube (rental). Check Can I Stream It?, a clearinghouse of film and television streaming sites, for availability to purchase films from Amazon, rented on disc from Netflix, or stream on services like Cinemax, Crackle, Encore, Epix, HBO, Hulu, Google Play, Movies Anywhere, Showtime, Starz, Vudu, and XBox. Check Drew's Script-O-Rama and The Internet Movie Script Database for screenplays and transcripts to use as a a helpful reference for dialogue; however, if you write about the film, you should verify dialogue from the film itself.

 

Film Availability

Beyond the Black Rainbow

Apple | Amazon | YouTube

The Curse of Frankenstein

Apple | Amazon | YouTube

The Devil's Backbone (recommended)

Apple | Amazon | YouTube

The Exorcist

Apple | Amazon | GCSU | YouTube

Freaks

Apple | Amazon | GCSU | YouTube

Halloween (recommended)

Apple | Amazon | GCSU

The Haunted Castle aka The House of the Devil

Archive

Haxan (91 min) or

Haxan: Witchcraft through the Ages (77 min)

Apple | Amazon | Amazon Prime | YouTube

The Host

Apple | Amazon | YouTube

Kwaidan

Apple | Amazon | GCSU | YouTube

Nosferatu

Apple | Amazon Prime | Films on Demand | GCSU

The Phantom Carriage

Archive | YouTube

Quarantine (recommended)

Apple | Amazon | YouTube

The Ring (recommended)

Apple | Amazon | GCSU | YouTube

[REC]

Apple | Amazon | YouTube

Ringu

In Class Screening

Rosemary's Baby

Apple | Amazon | GCSU | YouTube

Shivers

Apple | Amazon Prime | YouTube

The Tenant (recommended)

Apple | Amazon | YouTube

Tenebrae

In Class Screening

In Class Activities

1. Defining the Horror Genre

Let's break into small groups today in order to begin to learn each others names, breakdown our understanding of the long Cherry article on the horror genre, and apply the horror form and function to The Phantom Carriage. Break into six groups of four students, discuss the questions below, and report your findings to the class.

 

Here are the groups:

  1. Cherry, "The Horror Genre: Form and Function," pp. 1-14
  2. Cherry, "The Horror Genre: Form and Function," pp. 14-36
  3. Cherry, "The Horror Genre: Form and Function," pp. 36-51
  4. Cherry, "The Horror Genre: Form and Function," pp. 1-14
  5. Cherry, "The Horror Genre: Form and Function," pp. 14-36
  6. Cherry, "The Horror Genre: Form and Function," pp. 36-51

Here are the questions:

2. Understanding a Film Movement

Let's break into five groups to analyze some scenes from Waxworks, Nosferatu, Metropolis, and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in order to concretize our understanding of German Expressionism as well as to practice closely reading film. Here are the groups and scenes:

  1. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: Caesare abducts Jane (45:00-49:00)
  2. Metropolis: the revolutionary crowd (2:15-2:19)
  3. Nosferatu: Orlok on the ship (49:00-52:00)
  4. Nosferatu: Orlok drains Ellen (1:15-1:20)
  5. Waxworks: Spring-Heeled Jack (1:18-1:23)

Here are the questions:

  1. Describe the style of the production (lighting, staging, camera angles).
  2. Describe the style of acting (the way the actors perform the characters).
  3. Describe what happens in the scene (dialogue, action, conflict)
  4. What is the main idea of the scene and how is that idea expressed via style and plot?

3. Graphics and Sound

Let's break into eight groups to briefly review the elements of graphics and sound detailed in The Anatomy of Film for the previous films we watched; and then we'll discuss the graphics and sound of today's film, The Curse of Frankenstein. Groups should describe the graphics or sound of their assigned film using the questions on the film analaysis page.

 

Here are the groups:

4. Analyzing a Film Using Cultural Studies

Cultural studies is an interdisciplinary practice concerned with analyzing representations, institutions, and systems of cultural, socioeconomic, and political power, especially with regard to gender, sexuality, race, class, and colonialism. A cultural studies approach examines the signifying practices of "how the world is socially constructed and represented to and by us in meaningful ways" (Barker 8), identifies the underlying ideology and hegemony of the representation based on who controls the cultural production, and explores how groups (especially subordinated ones) are produced as subjects. It employs the philosophies of Marxism (capitalism, commodity fetishism, class conflict), structuralism (systems of relations and binary oppositions that, through language, form the deep structure of the human condition), poststructuralism (the instability and undecidability of meaning, how discourse conditions meaning and controls who can speak, the anti-essentialism of the human condition, the plurality and diversity of knowledge), psychoanalysis (the conflict between the rational ego, the socially conscience superego, and the unconscious id), and the politics of difference (identity politics based on gender, race, and colonialism). Today, let's examine one of our class's recent film from these various intellectual points of view. Break into five groups; each group will read Freaks through a key concept and specific lens (this pairing is arbitrary for the purposes of our group work; any concept works with any lens). Here are the groups and questions:

  1. Materialism and Marxism: Who controls the cultural production of the film and how does that influence the representation of freaks and normal people? How does that influence the flim's class conflict between freaks and normal people? How might the concept of commodity fetishism apply to circus freaks?
  2. Representation/Articulation and Structuralism/Culturalism: How does the film represent the historical meaning of carnival sideshows and circus freaks? Describe the film's pattern of representation of the binary oppositions of normalcy/abnormalcy and human/monster. How are freaks articulated; how are normals put together?
  3. Power/Popular Culture and Poststructuralism/Postmodernism: Describe the underlying ideology and hegemonic processes of carnival sideshows and circus freaks in popular culture. How does the film deconstruct or undo the hierarchical binary oppositions of normalcy/abnormalcy and human/monster?
  4. Texts/Readers and Psychoanalysis: Describe the social meaning of the freaks engendered by their images, sounds, objects, and practices. Compare and contrast the social meaning of those cultural codes for audiences then and now. Describe the psychoanalytic conflicts in the love triangle of Hans, Frieda, and Cleopatra in terms of id/ego/superego, the unconscious, and and libido.
  5. Subjectivity/Identity and the Politics of Difference: Compare and contrast how are circus freaks and normal people are produced as subjects. With whom do the circus freaks identify; with whom do the normal people identify? How does a freak's gender affect her social role and status; how does a normal person's? How are the freaks subordinated as a class of people?

5. Camera, Editing, Mise-en-Scène

Let's break into groups to practice analyzing camera, editing, and mise-en-scène in each of Kwaidan's ghost stories. Here are the groups:

  1. "The Black Hair" (Abbey Evje)
  2. "The Woman of the Snow" (Robin Lehmann)
  3. "Hoichi the Earless" (Mikaela Smoak)
  4. "In a Cup of Tea" (Amanda Brennen)

Each group should discuss one or two notable camera shots, editing sequences, and mise-en-scène using the terminology from the film analysis page and/or Bernard F. Dick's "Film, Space, and Mise-en-Scène" chapter.

6. Psychoanalyzing Horror

Let's apply the concepts of psychoanalytic film theory to our course's films by breaking into six groups and discussing the following issues from Richard Allen's "Psychoanalytic Film Theory" and Steven Jay Schneider's "Introduction: Psychoanalysis in / and / of the Horror Film." Answer as many of the following questions you can and report back to the class. The class will discuss the issues your group did not have time to address.

 

Here are the questions:

Here are the groups:

  1. [Rec]
  2. Ringu
  3. Kwaidan
  4. The Curse of Frankenstein
  5. Freaks
  6. Nosferatu

7. Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and Horror

Since the Learning Beyond the Classroom Project is fast approaching, break into your LBTC groups and confirm your project timeline. After briefly catching up with your group project business, turn your focus to applying psychoanalytic feminist readings of horror from today's articles by Creed and Freeland. Brainstorm a horror film that has a self-evident monstrous-feminine, uncanny, and/or gender ideology. Then imagine how Creed and Freeland would interpret the film.

8. Ecocriticism and Horror Films

We have looked at horror films around the globe through the lens of genre criticism, psychoanalytic criticism, cultural studies, and feminism and genre studies. Today, let's apply ecocriticism. Here are the questions from Charles E. Bressler's "Ecocriticm":

Here are the film groups:

9. Avant-Garde Film and Exam Review

Today's group activity will be in two parts. First, to prepare to view and discuss the science fiction avant-garde film Beyond the Black Rainbow, let's break into groups and analyze some short clips from longer films that can be considered experimental as well as one short film. Here are the clips:

Here are some questions to start your discussion:

Second, to prepare for the essay exam, return to your groups and collectively compose a study guide entry for either a film or article, or, if you have time, both:

If you compose an entry for a film, note the key characters and their traits, core conflicts, themes, horror issues, and film elements. If you compose an entry for an article, note the key questions and issues, concepts and conclusions, and pertinent quotations.

Article Summary

Written Summary

You will write an article summary and post it to GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Article Summary two days before we are scheduled to discuss the article so I have time to read your response before class. The article summary should

Informal Presentation

You will also be responsible for a brief, informal presentation. The presentation should introduce the essay by defining key points and terms (without simply reading your written summary) and broaching issues for class discussion.

Due Dates

  1. Your written assignment will be due in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Article Summary on two days before we are scheduled to discuss an article. Summaries will be penalized one letter grade for each day, not class period, that they are turned in late. It is your responsibility to check the sign up schedule and complete the assignment on time.
  2. Your brief, informal presentation will be due on the day we discuss the essay in class. This date is approximate for we will sometimes fall a day behind. Failing to present the article to the class without providing a valid absence excuse will result in a two letter grade penalty.
  3. I will return your graded assignment to you in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Article Summary approximately one week after we discuss the article in class. Due to GeorgiaVIEW limitations, I am unable to return graded assignments to you unless and until you submit them to the Assignment dropbox.
  4. For example, we are scheduled to discuss Carroll's "Metaphysics and Horror" on Tuesday, 1-23. Therefore, someone's summary will be due in GeorgiaVIEW on Sunday, 1-21. In class on Tuesday, 1-23, that student will informally present the main ideas of Carroll's essay. I will return the graded article summary to her the following week in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Article Summary. Here's how to calculate your course grade.

Sign Up

Note: Due to the campus closure, the January and February due dates have changed.

Note: Freeland has been moved from Tuesday, 3-6 to Thursday 3-8

 

Written Due

Date

Oral Due Date

Reading

Student

S, 1-21

T, 1-23

Cherry

1

S, 1-28

T, 1-30

Carroll

2 Kamalar Williams

T, 1-30

R, 2-1

Telotte

3 Lauren Butera

S, 2-4

T, 2-6

Doherty

4 Benjamin Austin

T, 2-6

R, 2-8

Kavka

5 Sara Spain

S, 2-11

T, 2-13

Barker

6 Mikaela Smoak

Balmain

7 Mary Dugan

T, 2-20

R, 2-22

Lim

8 John Bills

McRoy

9 Robin Lehmann

Danks

10 Taylor Adams

Kee

11 Dail Adaway

S, 3-4

T, 3-6

Allen

12 Abbey Evje

Schneider, "Introduction"

13 Amanda Brennan

Schneider, "Manifestations"

14 Jacob Cain

T, 3-6

R, 3-8

Creed, "Film...Uncanny"

15 Cameron Larson

Freeland

16 Melanie Tanner

Creed, "Monstrous-Feminine"

17 Eva Kubler

T, 3-13

R, 3-15

Tyson

18 Kayla Watson

Williams

19 Alexus Taylor

T, 3-27

R, 3-29

Butler

20 Landry Rushing

Reyes

21

S, 4-15

T, 4-17

Bondanella

22 Madi Brillhart

Clover

23 Michelle Gibson

S, 4-22

T, 4-24

Bressler

24 Jordan Roberts

Alaimo

25 Amanda Wiggins

S, 4-28

T, 5-1

O'Pray

26 Jessica Aguirre

Film Response

Written Summary

You will respond to a film and post it to GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Film Response on the day before we are scheduled to discuss the film so I have time to read your response before class. The film response should

Informal Presentation

You will also be responsible for a brief, informal presentation. The presentation should discuss the highlights of your response (without simply reading your written summary) and broach issues for class discussion.

Due Dates

  1. Your written assignment will be due in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Film Response on the day before we are scheduled to discuss the film. Responses will be penalized one letter grade for each day, not class period, that they are turned in late. It is your responsibility to check the sign up schedule and complete the assignment on time.
  2. Your brief, informal presentation will be due on the day we discuss the film in class. This date is approximate for we will sometimes fall a day behind. Failing to present the response to the class without providing a valid absence excuse will result in a two letter grade penalty.
  3. I will return your graded assignment to you in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Film Response approximately one week after we discuss the article in class. Due to GeorgiaVIEW limitations, I am unable to return graded assignments to you unless and until you submit them to the Assignment dropbox.
  4. For example, we are scheduled to Haxan on Tuesday, 1-23. Therefore, someone's film response will be due in GeorgiaVIEW on Monday, 1-22. In class on Tuesday, 1-23, that student will informally present the main points of her response. I will return the graded film response to her the following week in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Film Response. Here's how to calculate your course grade.

Sign Up

Written Due

Date

Oral Due Date

Film

Student

S, 1-21

T, 1-23

The Phantom Carriage

1

S, 1-28

T, 1-30

Haxan

2 Melanie Tanner

T, 1-30

R, 2-1

Nosferatu

3 Taylor Adams

S, 2-4

T, 2-6

Freaks

4 Sara Spain

5 Kamalar Williams

T, 2-4

R, 2-8

The Curse of Frankenstein

6 Amanda Wiggins

7 Jessica Aquirre

T, 2-13

R, 2-15

Kwaidan: The Black Hair

8 Abbey Evje

Kwaidan: The Woman of the Snow

9 Robin Lehmann

Kwaidan: Hoichi the Earless

10 Mikaela Smoak

Kwaidan: In a Cup of Tea

11 Amanda Brennen

W, 2-21

R, 2-22

Ringu***Note the due date

12 John Bills

S, 2-25

T, 2-27

[REC]

13 Jordan Roberts

14 Madi Brillhart

S, 3-11

T, 3-13

The Exorcist

15 Benjamin Austin

16 Dail Adaway

S, 3-25

T, 3-27

Rosemary's Baby

17 Kayla Watson

18 Michelle Gibson

S, 4-1

T, 4-3

Shivers

19

20 Mary Dugan

S, 4-15

T, 4-17

Tenebrae

21 Cameron Larson

22 Eva Kubler

T, 4-24

R, 4-26

The Host

23 Alexus Taylor

24 Jacob Cain

T, 5-1

R, 5-3

Beyond the Black Rainbow

25 Landry Rushing

26 Lauren Butera

Comparison/Contrast Essay

We have looked at a number of early horrors films (The Phantom Carriage, Haxan, Nosferatu, Freaks, The Curse of Frankenstein, Kwaidan) with a variety of horrors (death, witches, vampires, freaks, Frankenstein's monster, ghosts) from a variety of countries (Sweden, Denmark, Germany, United States, United Kingdom). For the first formal paper, you will compare and contrast how horror functions in two films. You have two choices of approach.

Your paper must use textual evidence from the films such as but not limited to dialogue, title cards, shots, soundtrack, and camera angles. Option A must also cite the text of one or more in class articles. Before you draft the paper, you will submit a thesis statement and outline, which will be reviewed by your peers. The mandatory first draft of your paper will be reviewed by your peers and graded by your professor. The optional second draft grade will replace the first draft grade.

Parameters

Peer Response

Goals

The two main goals of our class is for you to learn multiple intellectual approaches to horror films and to develop a global perspective regarding the culture of horror films, and the course approaches these outcomes through analytical and research writing. Peer response sessions extend the writing process by allowing you and your peers to engage in direct oral and written dialogue about matters of analysis and research, with the ultimate goal of improving your formal papers. You have the opportunity to revise your Comparison/Contrast Essay and your Research Paper based upon comments by your peers and professor. You will provide constructive criticism to other members of the class as will they to you. Here are the peer response templates for the Comparison/Contrast Essay and the Research Paper.

 

Note: If a group member does not submit her paper to the GeorgiaVIEW discussion board in a format your computer can read, such as Word, at least two days before the peer response session, the rest of the group is not responsible for responding to her paper.

Comparison/Contrast Peer Response

Here is the peer response process for the Comparison/Contrast Essay:

  1. On Tuesday, February 20, writers upload their papers to both
    • GeorgiaVIEW > Discussions > Comparison/Contrast Peer Response > Group #
    • GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Comparison/Contrast Essay Draft 1
  2. Read, take notes on, and prepare to respond to your group members' papers before the peer response class.
  3. For the peer response session, either bring your laptop or paper print outs of the papers. Your peer response group will elect a secretary to record the group's collective response to the Comparison/Contrast peer response sheet for each writer. You group will spend about 15-20 minutes reviewing each paper, providing feedback on Style and Gramma, Thesis and Controlling Idea, Comparison and Contrast, and Organization. If groups have time, you can also response to Voice, Successes and Weaknesses, and Quality and Creativity. The secretary will upload the completed sheets for each paper to GeorgiaVIEW > Discussions > Comparison/Contrast Essay > Group #.
  4. After your paper is reviewed by your peer response group, and before the end of class, submit a bullet point list of 3-5 things about your paper that you plan to revise, based upon your peers' feedback. Submit to your peer group's GeorgiaVIEW discussion board. Failure to submit will result in a one-third letter grade deduction off the final paper.
  5. If you miss the peer response session or do not read your peers' papers before the peer response session, you must complete a peer response sheet for each of your fellow group members. Failure to do so will result a one-third letter grade deduction for the final paper grade.

Here are the groups:

Research Essay

Here is the peer response process for the Research Essay:

  1. On Tuesday, April 10, writers upload their papers to both
    • GeorgiaVIEW > Discussions > Research Peer Response > Group #
    • GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Research Essay Draft 1
  2. Read, take notes on, and prepare to respond to your group members' papers before the peer response class.
  3. For the peer response session, either bring your laptop or paper print outs of the papers. Your peer response group will elect a secretary to record the group's collective response to the Research peer response sheet for each writer. You group will spend about 15-20 minutes reviewing each paper, providing feedback on Style and Gramma, Thesis and Controlling Idea, Research, and Organization. If groups have time, you can also response to Voice, Successes and Weaknesses, and Quality and Creativity. The secretary will upload the completed sheets for each paper to GeorgiaVIEW > Discussions > Comparison/Contrast Essay > Group #.
  4. After your paper is reviewed by your peer response group, and before the end of class, submit a bullet point list of 3-5 things about your paper that you plan to revise, based upon your peers' feedback. Submit to your peer group's GeorgiaVIEW discussion board. Failure to submit will result in a one-third letter grade deduction off the final paper.
  5. If you miss the peer response session or do not read your peers' papers before the peer response session, you must complete a peer response sheet for each of your fellow group members. Failure to do so will result a one-third letter grade deduction for the final paper grade.

Here are the groups:

Learning Beyond the Classroom Project

The article summary compels you to read actively and to abstract informally the key ideas from an article. The film response compels you to view actively and to respond informally to significant scenes and meanings of a film. The comparison/contrast essay requires formal, drafted, reviewed, and revised analysis of film. The learning beyond the classroom project allows you to work in small groups to apply your understanding of film in creative or critical ways beyond conventional essays. You will record your project outside of class, and we will discuss your project inside of class.

 

Film Option (Creative): Create a 3-5 minute horror film that applies the style and/or themes of two films studied in class. Along with the film, submit a one page explanation of how your film emulates the styles and mimics the issues of the in-class films.

 

Podcast Option (Critical): Record a 20-30 minute podcast episode that discusses one or two horror films not studied in class. Be sure to address such issues as film style, film elements (shots, scene, camera, lighting, etc.), conflict, character, and theme.

Parameters

Sign Up

Project Due Date

Discussion Due Date

Group

Students

T, 3-13

R, 3-15

Group 1

1 Madi Brillhart

2 Mary Dugan

3 Sara Spain

T, 3-13

R, 3-15

Group 2

4 Jessica Aguirre-Montoya

5 Jordan Roberts

6 Mikaela Smoak

T, 3-27

R, 3-29

Group 3

7 John Bills

8 Jacob Cain

9 Abbey Evje

T, 3-27

R, 3-29

Group 4

10 Ben Austin

11 Eva Kubler

12 Cameron Larson

T, 3-27

R, 3-29

Group 5

13 Taylor Adams

14 Dail Adaway

15 Landry Rushing

S, 4-1

T, 4-3

Group 6

16 Amanda Brennen

17 Alexus Taylor

18 Kamalar Williams

S, 4-1

T, 4-3

Group 7

19 Lauren Butera

20 Robin Lehmann

21 Amanda Wiggins

S, 4-1

T, 4-3

Group 8

22 Michelle Gibson

23 Melanie Tanner

24 Kayla Watson

Research Essay

While the first formal essay required you to compare and contrast the portrayal and themes of two films, the second formal essay involves both your own film interpretation and the integration of scholarly horror film criticism. You will research, analyze, and interpret a horror film or horror film issue in a formal, peer reviewed, and revised 7-9 page essay that incorporates at least 4 sources from an accompanying 8 source annotated bibliography. Your interpretation of a horror film should make an overarching claim about the, employ film analysis to prove its interpretation, and use scholarly research to support its analysis and ideas. Alternatively, you could explore an issue relevant to many horror films, analyzing a number of exemplary horror films and integrating relevant secondary sources to support the discussion. For example, you could write about the psyche of the killer in Dario Argento's Tenebrae with the aide of secondary sources on Argento films or you could write about the portrayal of gender and sexuality in gialli and use films by Dario Argento, Mario Bava, and Lucio Fulci with the aide of secondary sources on the giallo genre.

 

If you interpret a film, the film should be researchable, that is, you should be able to find sufficient scholarly sources that analyze the film. Because peer review of books and journals takes a couple of years, this precludes films released in the last five years and mandates the research of films that inspire scholarly criticism. You cannot research films that you wrote about in your comparison/contrast essay.

 

Your research should be scholarly, that is, you should find scholarly, peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and books using the university library's databases rather than Googling periodicals and blogs. Initially, you should find 10 scholarly sources to determine if your film or issue is researchable. Then, you should annotate 8 sources to determine which are the most helpful for your project. Finally, you should integrate into your paper 4 sources that help you analyze the film/issue and prove your argument.

Research Proposal and Source List

While the comparison/contrast essay required you to submit a thesis statement and outline, the research project necessitates that you submit a research proposal that includes both

  1. a paragraph that formulates your research question, issue, or idea, and
  2. a list of 10 potential sources
    • The working bibliography should be styled in MLA Format and compiled using the Literary Research Methods page.
    • Approximately half of the sources should be scholarly books from the GCSU and USG libraries and approximately half should be scholarly journal articles from databases like Academic Search Complete.
    • While other professors might consider encyclopedias, newspapers, magazines, and website study guides to be appropriate for college level research, I deem academic books and peer reviewed journal articles the only appropriate sources for scholarly research. Therefore, you should not submit primary texts (i.e., films), encyclopedia entries, magazine articles, newspaper articles, book reviews, websites, study guides like Sparknotes and MasterPlots, or student paper mills. While you may use reputable periodicals and websites to help support the claims and analysis in your research essay, they do no not count as scholarly sources.

As good writing habit, you are encouraged to write a thesis statement and outline before drafting your paper, but you are not required to submit them for this paper. Keep in mind that you may conference with your professor at any time for direction on your project.

Paper Draft and Annotated Bibliography

At the same time you submit your paper draft, you will also submit a draft of your annotated bibliography, i.e., the research that you used to prepare for the paper. An annotated bibliography is an MLA styled works cited list of scholarly books, book chapters, and peer-reviewed journal articles that provides a 75-100 word summary of each secondary source's argument as well as how the secondary source interprets and illuminates the meaning of the primary text, i.e., the film. Do not simply summarize the topic, provide the article's overall thesis or the article's main idea as it relates to your research question. I recommend answering the following questions:

  1. What question, issue, or topic is the source investigating?
  2. What is the source's thesis or conclusion regarding the film or film issue?
  3. How does the source help your understanding of the film or film issue?

In terms of formatting, I suggest submitting the annotated bibliography either as a separate document using this template or including your annotated bibliography after your Works Cited page.

Paper and Annotated Bibliography Revision

Your paper will be reviewed by your peers; your paper and annotated bibliography will receive feedback and a tentative grade from your professor. You may revise your paper and annotated bibliography. If you choose to revise, you must include a revision statement (a paragraph or bullet points noting what issues you worked on in your second draft) and highlight major changes in your essay and bibliography.

Parameters

Essay Exam

You have summarized articles, responded to films, compared and contrasted representations of horror in films, podcasted about horror films or created your own horror film, and researched horror films. For the final assignment, you will be examined on the global horror films and film theory we have collectively studied on the syllabus after the Comparison/Contrast Essay was due (Week 7 February 27 through Week 16 May 3).

Films

Film Theory

In class on Thursday, April 26, we will generate topics from which the questions will be generated. The topics will be posted here on Tuesday, May 1.

Topics

In order to prepare for the in class, closed book essay exam, I strongly recommend that you create a study guide based upon your annotations of the film theory articles, your notes on the films, and your class notes. For each film, note the key characters and their traits, core conflicts, themes, horror issues, and scenes. For each theoretical article, note the key questions and issues, concepts and conclusions, and pertinent quotations. This guide will look very similar to an annotated bibliography. After creating the study guide, I suggest applying various readings into the comparative topics, noting that not every reading will be appropriate for every topic, and constructing potential comparative thesis statements. Although you will not know the exact questions, you can practice putting different readings into comparison and contrast, and this will help you prepare for the actual essay exam.

 

In the 135 minutes of exam time, you will write three thesis-driven essays, from a choice of five or six questions, spending about 45 minutes writing each essay, and comparing and contrasting articles and films. Bring your own blue book or notebook paper.

Parameters

 

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