FAMST 96 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Fourth Wall, Mockumentary, Thesis Statement
9 May 2018
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Department
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Professor
Analysis should be both global and localized
Consider overall structure of and narrative logic of the film from beginning
to end
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Entirety of the plot
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Identify important stylistic details (editing, cinematography, mise-en-
scene, sound, etc.) and examine their role in the narration
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Contextualize examples within the larger structure of the film
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Use appropriate terminology and correctly deploy relevant concepts
covered in the readings in class discussions
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Major areas for improvement
Arguments should be concrete and explicit
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Develop your claims beyond identifying narrative and stylistic
patterns ---> what is the effect of these strategies in the specific scene
analyzed/the film's narration as a whole?
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Organize your ideas and so each section focuses on a specific
theme/concept
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WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF THE CONCEPTS YOU ARE POINTING OUT IN THE
FILM?
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Jeff is the one telling how the incident went down
Importance of his perspective?
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Select a limited number of relevant examples and analyze them carefully
Establish a clear connection between each example and the point it
is meant to illustrate
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Explain how this example is relevant to the overall structure of the
film
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Be mindful of syntax
Speak in a straightforward manner
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Cross cutting between reenactments and mockumentary
Setting up and dismantling knowledge of the story
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"through a complex narration, the film takes the audience on a
journey of doubt" ….. The spectator has to create their version of a
"truthful" and logical story through their own judgement
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Each section of your paper should:
Focus on a specific sub-argument
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Relate directly to and support your thesis statement
Avoid tangents and cut anything that isn't directly tied to thesis
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Include a clear topic sentence that established the main idea of the
section/paragraph
Topic sentences should articulate your sub-arguments and be
placed near the beginning of each paragraph
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Suggestions
The length and context of each section paragraph should be manageable
Limit number of observations included in each section
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Limit summary
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Provide a detailed explanation/analysis of the most relevant
points/examples for each section
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Foreground analysis over description
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"the film primarily uses self-consciousness to undermine and layer the
information it presents"
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DIG DEEP IN LOOKING AT THE CREDIT SEQUENCE•
The film is constantly calling truth into question and the credibility/validity of
the narrators we are given
Breaking of fourth wall
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Contradiction between narration and image
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Claims that narrators make that something might be false "that NEVER
happened"
Version of events
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Obvious that narrators are contradicting what we're seeing
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Also pointing to the fact that something happened
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Up to the audience to believe either what they see, what they
hear, or create a narrative of their own and rely on it as truth
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Causes the audience to question the validity and truthfulness of the
story that they end up creating
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Opening ssequence creating a flaunted gap (gilloolying someone)
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Say why certain moments selected for evidence are important -- don’t just
mention them
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Section 4 Notes
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
1:03 PM
