In this first English II assignment, we were given a task to compare any two types of English movies in the two given options- James Bond films and Horror/ Thriller films. The comparison or contrast should be compiled in an essay form.
Aims and Accomplishments:
The main objective of this assignment is to understand the concept of a film genre. Not only to have the ability to understand a film genre, we should demonstrate the skills to compare, contrast, analyse and communicate the information clearly in written form.
What are the practical ways to achieve these outcomes?
To get the idea of a movie genre, we certainly should expose ourselves with it first. Watch more than one movies of the same type to get the big picture of how do the story lines go, what are the significant parts of the stories and what are the audiences expectations. Movie genre is very important for the initial marketing of a film and it helps the audiences to make their pick.
To demonstrate the ability to analyse movies, one could start with finding similarities or differences in two films of the same category. For instance, both How To Train Your Dragon and Big Hero 6 in animation movie category shares the same concepts of having an adventurous boy as the main character who has a strong bond with a fictional creature. Then, get into details of the similarity or difference found as a guide to compare or contrast the two movies in a critical way. The whole process of comparing movies requires critical thinking skill in which one should be able to logically and deeply understand the connection between ideas. By having all the information and evidences, it is easier to present them in texts.
Learning Process:
I am neither a James Bond fans nor a horror movies addicts unfortunately. Therefore, I have to admit that this assignment did not interest me much at first. However, it gives me a chance to learn about things that I have never thought I would before. The starting might seem sad but the process was quite fun.
So I decided to pick James Bond film to focus on. Leafing though the movie list and the story summaries, I found that James Bond movies had actually lasted for almost 50 years and the newest one is about to released in this year. There must be something really interesting about it to have the potential of maintaining its popularity for such a long period. The main character was played by several different actors so to make it easier, I chose two films with the same main actor- which were Goldeneye (1995) and Die Another Day (2002) played by Pierce Brosnan. Those from the 50's would not be my choice because the way of presenting seemed so so old.
And it's movie time! I managed to watch the two selected movies in two days time and I started to analyse the story lines on the following day to look for relevant points for the comparison. I personally think that comparing movies is simpler to be focused on than contrasting because there are way too much contrast between the two movies that I would rather leave them aside.
Week before submission, Ms Cassie gave us chance to show our progresses to ask for advices and suggestions. My points for the draft were fine so I could just continue improving on it and writing the citation.
And here is the outcome!
Reflection:
As an overall, what I have learned most from this project is the general knowledge in different types of movie categories and the importance of them. I learned to make reviews on films and put in my own thoughts rationally into an essay. I could say that what I am good at is my ability to summarize the story plots and characters in a movie as a whole. Meanwhile, I am somehow weak at analysing small details as I am big picture thinking type. I think this can be improved in the future by exposing myself to more books and media to enhance my sensitivity to things or people surrounding myself. Effective learning strategies proven are doing tasks step by step and check for the mistakes in every step taken.
Last but not least, TGC capabilities learned are:
Last but not least, TGC capabilities learned are:
Discipline Specific Knowledge
- I am able to complete the task given following all of the important requirements. Also, knowledge in movie genre is obtained. I am able to demonstrate basic skills in categorizing movies and doing formal movie reviews.
Lifelong Learning
- Extraction and wise utilisation of information provided in the assignment brief were done independently.
Communication Skills
- I could logically present my analysis of movies into proper written language so as to show the viewers my research, idea synthesis and review.
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