ANTONIONI: readings

Make sure you stop by to get these reading handouts (that I assigned last week) and read at least the section on BLOW UP for class tonight. They are in the box on my desk.

Here are some additional articles and readings for those interested:

Jonathan Dawson's article on Senses of Cinema

Colin Gardner's article on ArtBrain

Notes for a Rather Large Essay on Blowup"

Essay Topics

Your essays are to be standard research essays, 5-7 pages in length, and should comprise an analysis of one film, and a focused discussion of some aspect of its color design and structure. You may choose a film we've already viewed or discussed in class. If you choose something else you need to run it by me first so I have time to see it if I haven't already.

Be creative, original and focused in selecting a topic. If you're stumped for inspiration, re-watch the film and/or do some writing about it. You can focus on technical elements of production design, aesthetics, emotional impact of color, color as a narrative device, or some specific design element such as costumes, sets (art direction), or lighting. Try not to cover too much ground.

Feel free to explore ideas that go against what we've already read or discussed; if you disagree with Bellantoni's take on something, for example, that can be a starting point for formulating your main argument or thesis.

Be creative in use of source material, too. You need to use at least three sources in addition to the film text itself and any DVD extras. You can refer to screenplays, reviews, interviews and scholarly articles or books. The library has a vast assortment of resources. I also have a number of scholarly articles from the Color Film Reader which I can make available to you; I'll list them here this week.

Try to formulate your thesis statement (basically a paragraph that can serve as your opening paragraph) for this week. You can email it to me for feedback. You can also email me if you've having trouble finalizing your topic or have any other questions.

The Green Gown

It's astonishing to me how much buzz there was about this green dress when the film came out. If you do a search on the net you'll find commentary from many sources, although mostly from the worlds of film, fashion and design (in roughly reverse order).

Here are a few I found. I scratch my head reading some of this stuff. Why all the fuss about this dress? Are these people onto something? Is it the color? Discuss! Feel free to bring your own link discoveries into the discussion.

Girl in a Green Dress

Madison Mag

The Guardian: Best Film Costume of All Time??

Popcorn Reel

The Glam Guide: $486 at Nordstrom!

Responses to ATONEMENT

Just to remind everyone; these assignments are due via email before class tomorrow. I would prefer to receive them as soon as possible.

Thanks; hope everyone had a good spring break!

Place Title Here

anyways, about the colors in the village. I think the reds and the yellows are a bit too much at points. this might just be because the colors serve a narrative purpose as well as a thematic one, and that makes it seem a bit heavy handed sometimes. what i was more interested in were the subdued colors of everything else. the yellow-greens, grey-whites, all those dark earth tones, and the faded sky blues.
I'm guess these colors were made like this to make them push back in the visual plain to make those bright reds and yellows even more obvious, and though visually pleasing, mentally abrasive. The light colors also speak to the townspeople's innocence and overall "simple-mindedness". I am unsure of the blues though, they only pop up like a few times and on all sorts of characters.
BLUE!any thoughts on the blue???

E-mail subscription

As I stay up far too late at night, I realized that this might help the rest of the class. It's not about color, but it will help you talk about it! It's sometimes hard to remember to check the blog on regular occasion, so I thought I'd share with everyone the ability to get updates to the blog e-mailed to you. Here it is!

Subscribe to Kino Chroma by Email

Just go there, put in your e-mail (they won't spam you—promise), and you'll get an e-mail in the morning whenever the site has been updated.

Hooray!

Work

I realize this post may only reach those who have actually registered for the blog (just over half the class).

I want to reiterate that when I ask the class to participate in the blog discussion of the reading assignment, that this is not optional! It is an assignment and requirement for the class, just as the reading is, just as registering for the blog is (which nearly half the class also has not managed to do yet).

I also am curious as to why I have only received 8 creative project proposals so far, when this was due for everyone in the class on Monday? So I should have 15 of them by now. This is not just disappointing, but perplexing.

A seminar is an upper-level course requiring a higher level of work than an introductory or core class. If some of you aren't capable of keeping up with the assignments, you might want to consider dropping the class. Failing to keep up with the weekly workload (which is considerably lighter than it is in many other seminar courses) will impact negatively on your grade and your continued progress in the course.