Prompt

Using either Bonnie and Clyde or Eyes Wide Shut, analyze the filmmaker’s use of mise-en-scène in order to establish the setting of the film and to communicate story information.

Your analysis should engage at least two of the following elements of mise-en-scène that we covered in class:

You may wish to answer the question: “how do these elements of mise-en-scène work in the service of the narration and contribute to the plot of the film?”

Review the Mise-en-scène outline for an overview of these concepts and Spadoni, chapter three, for more detailed descriptions.

Rubric

I will evaluate your paper on the following criteria:

Outside sources are not required for this assignment, but please cite the page number when referencing any passages from the textbook. For example:

According to Spadoni, referential meaning is “everything that the film visibly and audibly presents to us” (19).

or

Although I didn’t like the film, I will resist evaluating the film in favor of analysis. Instead I will focus on “looking at film as a system of relationships and try to develop persuasive arguments about what that system is doing” (Spadoni 32).

Your paper should be about four-to-five pages in length and must be submitted as a hard copy in class on the date specified on the syllabus.