What Makes a Hitchcock a Hitchcock? Exploring the Auteur Theory
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| Summary: | Working in groups or individually, students will choose from a list of Hollywood directors and view three films by that director. Applying their knowledge about generic conventions, students will analyze the artistic style, narrative form, and thematic content of these three films and will write a final paper indicating what elements are indicative of that director's cinematic "signature." Students will have the option of giving an in-class presentation for extra credit. |
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| Age Group: | High School |
| Concepts: | artistic style, narrative form, thematic content |
| Curricular Goals: | The primary concepts which are taught in the unit that this project is a part of are narrative form, artistic style, and thematic content–mostly as it applies to genres. This project gives students an opportunity to expand their knowledge about these three concepts by applying them in a different context: not just to films of a similar genre, but to films by the same director. In addition to this goal, this project gives students a chance to view some great Hollywood classics that they might not normally have sought out on their own. |
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Project Directions (day by day):
See the attached handouts, specifically the project guidelines handout for more detailed information.
About one-third or halfway through this unit, introduce the students to the final project requirements. On that day (or the next), have students decide which director they would like to study and, if applicable, who they would like to work with on this project.
About one week later, make the first film analysis due. The second analysis should be due the week after that; the third analysis should be due the week after that. After the due date for the final analysis, you should have two computer lab days in which you discuss how you should go about writing the paper and give students time to actually write it. The paper should be due near the end of the unit.
Set aside one day in your unit where students can make 5-7 minute in-class presentations about their director for extra credit.
Grading:
See the attached grading criteria sheet. I highly recommend developing a grading rubric for evaluating the subjective portions of the project.
Author's Notes:
Because some of these films can occasionally be difficult to find in some areas, I recommend that you keep a library of films by the selected directors (see the handout for this project) on hand so that students can check them out from you.