Do not use stretch spacing of letters.

Film Essay ~ guidelines
I M U S T AP P R O V E Y O U R C H O I C E B E F O R E Y O U C AN P R O C E E D Step 1 of 4: Submit your film choice
Step 2 of 4: Submit your chapter/time/title list (aka “ctt list”)
Step 3 of 4: Submit your index
Step 4 of 4: Submit your Film Essay
due to the large number of students I teach each semester my response to your emails may be delayed around due dates
N O T A T R AD I T I O N AL R E S E AR C H P AP E R . C I T E Y O U R O W N I N D E X .
D O N O T P AS T E O R P AR AP H R AS E F R O M T H E I N T E R N E T .
E S S A Y W I L L B E G R A D E D W I T H Y O U R F I L M’S W I K I P E D I A P A G E O P E N .
 STEP 1 of 4:
Submit your film choice: Choose a commercially available full-length film (approximately 90 minutes or more) that you have
or can obtain on DVD or via streaming service, other than ones covered in class or previously covered in my other music classes.
If you have taken MUS 213, you must write an essay on a different film. Submit a list of 3 films in order of preference.
I MUST APPROVE YOUR CHOICE BEFORE YOU CAN PROCEED. PLEASE READ MY COMMENTS ON THE
ESSAY STEP 1 CANVAS ASSIGNMENT PAGE. IF YOU PROCEED WITH A CHOICE THAT I HAVE NOT
APPROVED, IT WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
The following titles are NOT available: The Greatest Showman, A Walk to Remember, Remember the Titans, The Notebook, Mean Girls, Frozen, Moana, The Great Gatsby (2013), others.
 STEP 2 of 4:
Submit your chapter/time/title list (aka “ctt list”):
SUBMIT ONLY A LIST OF CHAPTER TITLES FOR THIS STEP. SAVE THE DETAILS OF EACH CHAPTER FOR STEP 3. PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT IN TABLE OR CHART FORM.
If you are working from a DVD:
List the chapter number, starting time of chapter, and chapter title. Chapter titles are usually available on the dvd scene selections menu. If there are no descriptive titles listed, create a title name for each chapter yourself by describing the scene. Be sure to include all chapters.
If you are working from a streaming service:
Break up the film into 5-10 minute intervals and give a number and title to these divisions just like chapters. Creating 10-20 chapters is average, but you can have as many as needed. You are essentially “dividing” the film so you can “conquer” this assignment, just like chapters in a book, as if it were a book report. This will function like a table of contents when you eventually create your index. These “chapters” and “titles” can be edited and adjusted as you create your index:
1 0:00
2 6:19
3 13:42
(continue until all chapters are listed, ie, Atonement has 20 total chapters)
Briony’s Play
Two Figures By A Fountain Close Relations
 STEP 3 of 4:
Submit your index: Make a copy of your ctt list doc; rename it “index”. Insert observations directly into your new
doc. Watch the film several times, taking notes on sounds you hear, songs, lyrics, dialogue, other descriptions AND make note
of the time that these things occur. INDEX MAY BE AS MANY PAGES AS NEEDED.
START FROM SCRATCH: DO NOT SUBMIT OR WORK FROM AN INDEX PREVIOUSLY SUBMITTED BY ANOTHER STUDENT
BE ADVISED: THIS STEP MAY TAKE THE LONGEST!!! BEGIN WELL IN ADVANCE OF THE DEADLINE. THE GOAL OF THIS STEP IS TO DEVELOP ENOUGH MATERIAL TO WRITE THE ESSAY.
Think of the kind of details you will need; start interpreting as soon as possible.
* Ask yourself…is the music fast/slow? happy/sad? loud/soft? How would you describe it? How does it make you feel? * Do you know the title of the song/performer?
* Are you hearing a source sound (typewriter clacking, bee buzzing, phone ringing, doors closing, gunshots, purr of a spaceship, breathing of an astronaut, applause, noise from an audience, crumbling paper, elk running, water running, rain, sprinklers, birds, crickets, etc.)? You may actually experience “source sound overkill” when you start noticing every opening door, or every other insignificant non-musical or non-dialogue noise. You can then highlight the more important source sounds, leaving out the less meaningful ones.
* Where is the scene taking place? What is happening with the characters? What is occurring in the scene?
* As you make the transition from index to essay, you may find it useful to index some non-musical details in order to put your musical/sound observations into context:
1 0:00
Briony’s Play
2 6:19
Two Figures By A Fountain
(BEE BUZZING)
strings play Briony theme
Briony sees Cecilia and Robbie by the fountain, clarinet plays tremolo on strings
Briony gasps, bass plays one note; harp plucks, strings swell
3 13:42
Close Relations
opening logos 0:25 sound of birds
0:29 (TYPEWRITER LOADING) 0:40 (TYPEWRITER CLACKING) 0:50 England 1935
1:28 piano, typewriter, strings
piano plays Briony theme (pedal tone; arpeggios; melody)
THE TRIALS OF ARABELLA by Briony Tallis
3:00 door closes, music ends on 2 chords 3:19 sound of birds, dog barking, bee buzzing
Briony and Cecilia laying on the lawn, talking
sound of Robbie pushing wheelbarrow
4:26 Briony rehearsing her play with her cousin Lola and Lola’s twin brothers 5:29 Briony: Prologue…
7:54 piano plays Briony theme (pedal tone; arpeggios; melody)
8:55 Cecilia plucks a piano string
9:35 We see the scene Briony just saw: Cecilia and Robbie walk out to the fountain
bee buzzing continues subtly
11:07 Robbie accidentally breaks the vase Cecilia is holding
11:43 source sound of water: Cecilia jumps into the fountain to retrieve the broken vase handle 13:02 piano plays Briony theme (pedal tone; arpeggios; melody)
Things that will help you (if available):
1) watch the film with the English subtitles ON
2) watch the film with the director’s commentary ON (sometimes on DVD or film’s official website)
3) watch all of the bonus segments/documentaries (sometimes on DVD or film’s official website)
4) you may preliminarily research your film online at Wikipedia.org and Imdb.com, but DO NOT simply paste this information into your essay!! DO NOT!! Even if these sites may help you get started, you will still need to support your discussion by citing your own index. NO PASTING DIRECTLY FROM WIKI ~ it is the first place I will look!
SKIP AHEAD TO THE SONG LISTING IN THE CLOSING CREDITS and look these up on Youtube.com
There are always songs used in the film that do NOT appear on the published CD soundtrack.
LISTEN TO SAMPLES of the film soundtrack at Amazon.com
– on the Amazon.com page scroll down to Listen to Samples and compare to places you have indexed on your DVD
– identify music by recording artist and title at various times in the film, which you can then use when you discuss the soundtrack. – you may reference the themes of the film score directly, or you may find it helpful to put titles of songs and compositions in “quotations” or italics (NOT BOTH!!), and be sure to capitalize where appropriate
– you may create a separate list of composers/performers/song titles, and paste into the index as you identify them.
IFYOUCANNOTidentifysongs,youmaysimplydescribethesoundofthemusictothebestofyourability. Filmswillsometimesonlyfeature1or2 popular songs, and the rest of the film may actually be various combinations of source sounds and instruments used sporadically. This is actually the film score! You may have to think beyond the obvious song-oriented music. Find creative ways to describe the sounds you are hearing. Listen for the repetition of sounds you may not consider to be music. How do they affect the drama of the film?
If you truly think you are hearing only one song throughout the film, talk about how the song is used. When does it first appear? When it does usually/unusually reappear? When you last hear it? Is it linked to any of the emotions, fear, anxiety, or suspense? Discuss the presentation of each song/sound, how it effects or contributes to the overall feeling of the film. How effective would the film be without the song or sounds?
Your index is your “research” step and will take more time than you realize. The goal is to develop enough material to write the essay. Try to spend some time on this every day. THIS IS FUN.
 STEP 4 of 4:
Submit your Film Essay: Do NOT resubmit the chapter/time/title list or index with the essay.
The required pages of the essay do NOT include your chapter/time/title list or index, both of which are due before the essay is submitted. Write a 3 page essay, get onto the 4th page for full credit, you can go longer as needed.
Printed letter size should be no larger or smaller than Times New Roman 12 point, double spaced
Do NOT INFLATE point size by using larger fonts (ie. Arial, Courier, Calibri, etc).
Do NOT REDUCE the point size to make the essay fit – just cut out some information. Do NOT use margins larger than 11⁄4 inch. Do NOT use stretch spacing of letters. Do NOT add blank lines between paragraphs. Indent the beginning of paragraphs. Maintain the tense.
IN YOUR FIRST PARAGRAPH, briefly identify the film, director, composer and/or various music artists (do not give biographies). Do not repeat the title of the film, name of the director, or name of the main composer in the essay; refer to them with the appropriate pronoun if necessary. IMMEDIATELY BEGIN an in-depth discussion of the music and sound you have noted in your index. You MUST discuss music and sound throughout EACH paragraph. As you were asked to do in your index, please reference the chapter titles in bold and put titles of songs and compositions in “quotations” or italics (NOT BOTH!!). Do not use the words “film”, “movie” or “chapter”. It is UNDERSTOOD that you are writing an essay on the film/movie of your choice and the bold words are chapters. Write in the affirmative voice – do not use statements like “in my opinion”, “it seems”, “I believe”, “I think”, “I thought”, “I feel”, “I felt”. It is UNDERSTOOD that this is an essay about your beliefs, thoughts, and feelings. Just state your opinions as if they are facts and keep yourself out of the essay. Your index functions like a book you might refer to/cite from if you were writing a research essay. You may actually translate phrases from the index directly into paragraph form, citing the facts you have observed with your own interpretation of their meaning or usage:
Director Joe Wright brings Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement to the big screen with a well-crafted orchestral score by Dario Marianelli. In addition to the piano playing of Jean-Yves Thibaudet, period recordings of Puccini and Debussy are featured. Ironically, the score begins not with a musical instrument, but with the source sound of a typewriter. In Briony’s Play, this represents the literary nature of Briony Tallis, who is working diligently on her play, The Trials of Arabella. These sounds quickly develop into the Briony theme, as a pedal tone on piano rhythmically complements the percussive nature of the typewriter. Arpeggios soon follow, and represent the restlessness of the characters.
Two Figures By A Fountain begins with a bee buzzing and tremolo on strings, which underscore Briony’s perceived moment of tension as she witnesses an awkward exchange between Cecilia and Robbie. Briony gasps, bass plays one note; harp plucks, strings swell, and again, piano plays the Briony theme (pedal tone; arpeggios; melody). Later, Cecilia plucks a piano string, and we then see what Briony just saw from another perspective: Cecilia and Robbie walk out to the fountain, and the buzzing bee connects the segments in time.
In Close Relations…
This is not a traditional research paper. DO NOT write an essay with wall-to-wall quotations of film critics and internet reviews. No formal citations are needed; it is understood that you will be “citing” your own index with the primary source being the film itself. Highlight major points you wish to make, then add details. You may, but do NOT have to, write about each chapter. Essay may, but does NOT have to, be in time/chapter order. You may incorporate the chapter titles into the body of the sentence when appropriate. Every film is different, so arrange the information in the most logical fashion.
You may also divide your information into 3 areas (for the 3 required pages of the essay). For example, romantic-comedies usually have:
1) songs at the beginning of the romance
2) songs during the problem or challenge encountered in the relationship
3) songs at the resolution of the problem (ie, music accompanying the ‘happily ever after’ scenes) Action films usually have:
1) source sounds of guns, knives, kicks, crashes, explosions, etc.
2) songs/musical scoring supporting the action or a song for each of the characters who enter a scene 3) songs/sounds/silence that contrast the action, like a romantic interlude or break from the action.