English 1102
Dr. Weedman

CINEMATIC ANALYSIS ESSAY (1,500+ words—20%)

In order to successfully complete this multimodal essay, you must develop your own unique and interesting interpretation of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, which is supported by a close visual analysis of the film’s cinematic elements. Your goal in this essay is to show how Hitchcock and his collaborators use the technical language of cinema to both construct a narrative and make an artistic or social statement.

* You need to consider how the film’s cinematic elements (for example, editing, lighting, camera movement, costuming, music, production design, etc.) convey a significant idea or theme.

* Make sure that you closely analyze, at least, two to three specific scenes from the film to back up your assertions.

* You must also include, at least, two screen captures from the film that provide strong visual evidence of your observations.

How to analyze a film? 1. | Watch or re-watch your film with specific questions in mind. | 2. | Marshal basic ideas, names, and scenes. Depending on the complexity of film, this requires additional viewings. | 3. | Identify and consider most important ideas. | 4. | Return to the film to locate specific scenes and cinematic elements related to the major ideas. |

Principles of analyzing a scene

1. | Offer a thesis or topic sentence indicating a basic observation or assertion about the film or scene. | 2. | Offer a context for the scene without offering too much summary, but enough to where the reader knows what is occurring at that moment in the film. | 3. | Provide specific evidence (for example, quote a specific line, or include a screen capture). | 4. | Then follow this example with some combination of the following elements: | | * Discuss what happens in the scene and why it is significant to the work as a whole. | | * Consider both what is explicitly shown and what is implicitly conveyed. Make sure to consider the subtleties of the cinematic elements and the ideas expressed. | | * Assess how it is shown or conveyed, considering how the image/sound choice, the ordering of ideas, etc. contribute to the meaning of the scene. | | * Explain what it means, tying your analysis of the scene and its