Exam #2 will cover:

• Chapters 7-11 (mise-en-scene, videography and cinematography, editing, and sound),
• Allan on music television,
• Butler/Goldmark on animated television, and

Exam #2 will not cover:

• Chapter 12 or Appendix II (these will be covered in Exam #3)

There will be short-answer questions and essays on a television program you have chosen in advance. It will be closed book, but you will be able to use the scene breakdown you prepare in advance.

Remember: Screenpedia.org contains the discussion questions we covered in class. Specific Screenpedia pages are linked to from the JCM 311 Outline of Topics: bit.ly/j311f18.

Preparation

Choose a fictional, scripted, single-camera, narrative television program that you have access to in digital format: video file, streaming, DVD, iTunes, and so on. Do not select an animated show or a nonnarrative program such as a game show, sports program, or reality program. If you are unable to obtain a TV show on your own, you may use a Mad Men episode on reserve in the Phifer Learning Commons.

Also, the following programs may not be used: One Mississippi, Stranger Things, The Andy Griffith Show, The Cosby Show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Friends, Northern Exposure, Seinfeld, Roseanne, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Designing Women, That 70s Show, Dick van Dyke Show, and Grey's Anatomy.

Before the exam, prepare the following in word-processed format:

1. An illustrated decoupage (a shot-by-shot description) of a single scene (5 points). List every shot in your scene and identify what type of framing was used (long shot, medium shot, etc.; see the abbreviations in the textbook). Describe any significant action in the shot, using the characters' (not the actors') names. Include only the most significant dialogue; do not include every line. The illustrations for the decoupage must be made out of frame grabs obtained from your video. In effect, you are creating a storyboard of your scene (as on pp. 264-267).
   
   You may wish to use this Word document as a template for your decoupage (right-click or control-click it to download).
   
   VLC media player, which includes frame-grabbing software, may be downloaded for free (for Windows and Mac). A VLC tutorial is over here.
   
   A video file from Mad Men scene is available, if you choose to analyze it.
   
   For example, the descriptions of the Northern Exposure scene would look like this:
   1. LS exterior of Maggie's house, night.
   2. MLS interior. Maggie makes dinner for Joel.
   3. MCU Maggie talks to Joel about the night before. "Last night you were so different..."
   4. MCU Joel responds.
   5. And so on . . .
2. A single diagram of the camera positions used in this scene--as in the chapter 10 diagrams and the decoupage of the car commercial we did in class (4 points). Identify which shots are done from which camera positions.
3. The episode's credits: producer, production company, director, writer, principal cast (actors' and characters' names; 1 point). Remember, The Internet Movie Database (us.imdb.com) and TV.com contain most of this information. You must list the credits for your specific episode, not the entire series.

The material above must be turned in by 4:30 p.m., FRIDAY, October 19, 2014, in my mailbox in the JCM office (400 Phifer), and will be worth a total of 10 points.

Copyright © 1994-2024 Jeremy G. Butler.
Email contact: jbutler@ua.edu

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Last revised: 27 August 2019 21:25:55
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