Description:

choose one of these movies to watch and write the essay.
It Happened One Night (Capra, 1934)
Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942)
Operation Filmmaker (Davenport, 2007)
Singin’ in the Rain (Donen & Kelly, 1952)

This is the instructor’s prompt for the essay:

THE QUESTIONS: Your essay should answer ALL of the following questions about your chosen film. If your essay fails to answer any of the following questions, points will be deducted:

A-Analyze the Point of View:
1-What type (or types) of narrator does this film have? Is there no explicit narrator, a character narrator, or a non-character narrator?
If there is a character narrator, which character or characters narrate? Does the movie ever show more than the narrator (character or non) knows? If there is no explicit narrator, are there
instances where story/plot information is delivered to us another way? (i.e. Titles, specific camera shots, etc.)

2-Does this film have first person states, either First Person Perceptual or First Person Mental?
If so, which character(s) does the plot access? Describe concrete examples and tell why there are important. If there are no notable First Person States, then briefly describe how you (the viewer)
align yourself with the protagonist and/or other characters in the film. (i.e. relatable traits, humorous, etc.)

3-Is the point of view omniscient (all-knowing), restricted to a particular character, or somewhere in between? Are there important events that the point of view keeps from us? Does the point of
view ever reveal more than the narrator, if a character, should know (in other words, does the point of view ever cheat)?

4-Are there any flashbacks, flash forwards, or other shifts in time? Why? If not, why do you think time remains linear in the film?

B-Analyze Plot:
5-In terms of Story, what is the earliest event inferred in the film? If no events outside of the plot are inferred, what is the earliest event the film shows us? Why is this event important in
terms of the narrative? (i.e. the Hero’s Journey)

6-Is the plot Chronological or Non-Chronological? If the events are not in chronological order, speculate as to why or what the order suggests in terms of themes or meaning.