How does the medium that each director uses help him to make his point?

You are expected to use ONLY course materials (the films, Fabe’s book, assigned readings, the recommended textbook, lecture slides and notes) to help you answer the questions. These are the only sources that you are permitted to use for your answers. Do not use any other sources, print or online.

You must properly cite your uses of the texts, including but not limited to quotations. Please use either Chicago or MLA style. All exams will be checked for plagiarism.

If you wish to cite the lectures you can mark them in a footnote or parenthetical citation by the video number and time code (eg., Module 4.3, 15:38). If you are doing MLA style citations, you do not need to include the lectures in your works cited list.

*TIP: When using texts in your answer, you are looking to support your claim. This does not necessarily mean finding a moment in which the author says something directly about the film you are discussing. Instead, this might mean looking to her on a certain topic (like on editing, or a type of shot, or a definition of modernism, etc. etc.). Just because the author doesn’t write about the specific film you are discussing, this does not mean that she doesn’t have anything to say that will support your claim.

*ESSAY PROMPT!
We watched two examples of Russian cinema this semester: Serge Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (1925) and Alexander Sokurov’s Russian Ark (2002). Despite the filmmakers’ shared geographic origin, Eisenstein’s film differs significantly from Sokurov’s. First and foremost, Battleship Potemkin was shot on film, whereas Sokurov’s Russian Ark was shot with digital video.

Please write an essay comparing Battleship Potemkin with Russian Ark.

In your answer, explain how the filmmaker explores the specific formal, material, and aesthetic qualities of the medium in which he worked (film for Eisenstein, digital video for Sokurov) and how these choices affect the viewer’s experience.

In your essay please explain the differences between film and digital video.

What is possible or necessary in one medium that isn’t in the other?

How does the medium that each director uses help him to make his point?

Please draw upon the course texts and detailed analysis of specific scencixes in supporting your answer.

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