During the course of the semester, you will be reviewing four ethnographic films from the Macalester A/V media services department + giving a presentation/review of a selected film. You can choose which four you wish to use with the caveat that it should be roughly in the same time period or genre as films we are screening that week, with the caveat that you cannot write a review of a film we're screening in class.
For each film you will be required to write a three (3) page review essay of the film due on Fridays at 3pm. The beginning of your essay should begin with the production notes:
Title:
Production Year:Director:
Producer:
Camera operator:
Anthropological consultant:
Other salient production staff:Distributor:
Geographic location:
Time period:Format:
Length:
The rest of the essay should detail:
Think very carefully about what the filmographer was trying to say through the film. How did they manage this? If you wish, include storyboards in your essay to illustrate how film techniques were used to express their perspective.
Film Presentation (5%)
For seven of course weeks, there are accompanying "sub films" that complement the main film that we're all screening. You will be required to give a critical presentation on one of the sub films.You can do this either alone or with a partner. Partnered presentations should be 15 minutes in length; solo presentations 10 minutes. You can screen segments of the film for illustrative purposes, however measure your time, you do not want to spend more than 5 minutes total screening the film.
As one suggestion on how to present, pretend that you are the filmmakers and that you are trying to sell your film to a critical anthropology crowd. Why should we buy your film, or award it the prestigious McCurdy Award for Best Ethnographic Film? You should address the following issues:
Alternately, if you are Evil™, you may elect to be negatively critical of the film. You must still tell us what it's about, but can show why it failed to do the job that it tried to do.
Presentations should be accompanied by a 2-3 page individual review of the film
.These reviews are due in class on the day of the presentation.
Each presenter will be graded individually based on their presentation + report
so make sure your presentation format gives equal time and content.
Recommended Ethnographic Films
Recommended in the sense that other students have screened them and found them interesting enough to write a good paper about.
Pre-War and Wartime:
Ainu Bear Ceremony (1931) by N. G. Munro
Night Mail (1936) by Harry
Watt and Basil Wright
Man of Aran (1934) by Robert Flaherty
1950s:
Childhood Rivalvry in Bali and New Guinea (1952) by Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead
1990s:
Bitter Melons (1991) by John Marshall
On the Ropes (1999) by Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen