TCF 311 Exam #3

Exam #3 will cover

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.

Preparation

Choose a fictional, scripted, narrative television program that you have access to in digital format: 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 DVD, you may use a Mad Men episode on reserve in the Phifer Reader Room or bring a flash drive to Dr. Butler and he'll provide an episode of M*A*S*H or Three's Company as an MP4 video file.

Also, the following programs may not be used: 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 DVD (or digital file). In effect, you are creating a storyboard of your scene (as on pp. 301-305).

    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 is free frame-grabbing software, may be downloaded for free (for Windows and Mac). A VLC tutorial is over here.

    A video file from Mad Men 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 diagram of the camera positions used in this scene--as in the chapter 9 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 4:45 p.m., Monday, December 19, 2013, and will be worth a total of 10 points.


Email contact: jgbutler@gmail.com
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Last revised: 27 August 2019 21:27:24