According to the checklist provided in Writing About Movies, on pages 39–50, write a one-paragraph formal analysis of a sequence from a film.
Use one of the films from the following modules:
Write about only one (1) film for this assignment.
Here is the example I did using a sequence from The Plow that Broke the Plains (1936).
This sequence comes late in the film, after the Great Plains area had been settled and after the Great War had spurred a demand for wheat that the region was equipped to sell to the world. The film suggests that this boom led to over-developing the region for industrial farming.
This montage sequence begins with shots of smokestacks spewing smoke, suggesting industrial activity, and of silos filling with grain, suggesting a booming crop. The montage shots of factories and farms are followed by a shot of a stock ticker machine. The three shots indicate that industry, agriculture, and finance are all booming during this time. These images are underscored by upbeat jazz music in the soundtrack.
About halfway through this thirty-second sequence, the pace of the cuts accelerate and the music becomes higher pitched. Both signal something is about to go wrong. In fact, at the end of the sequence, the stock ticker machine, which was spewing out ticker tape, is pulled to ground. This represents the stock market crash of the late 1920s.
Following this sequence, the film depicts the effects of the Great Depression and takes a more somber tone.