Analyze ONE of the following films
• Brazil (1985) by Terry Gilliam [on Swank]
• Double Indemnity (1944) by Billy Wilder [on Swank]
• Drive by N. W. Refn (2011) [on Swank]
• Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock (1960) [on Swank]
• Temblores/Tremors (2019) by the Guatemalan director Jayro Bustamante [on Kanopy]
consider the following items and questions:
.Title of film:
. Director and Year the film was made:
. What is the setting of the film? Time and place:
. What is the first view that you see? Why is it significant?
. What are the names of the main characters, and notable secondary characters in the
film?
2. What is the basic plot of the film?
3. What is your thesis about this film? Use the following 8 slides to support your thesis,
which should be relatable to as many of their general topics as possible. Be sure to
unfold your thoughts and explain what you see/hear in the film.
• What are some narrative techniques used in the film? (Voiceover, flashback, subjective
perspective…)
• What are some recurring themes, motifs or intertexts (allusions to other films,
literature, culture in general) in the film?
• What are the important questions raised by the film?
• What about history? Is the historical context important?
• Does ideology hold a prominent place? (Consider things like social constraints, women’s
and men’s place in society, capitalism, the law, politics, race, class, etc.)
1. Take notes on the cinematography of the film:
2. What are some remarkable stylistic features or the look of the film?
3. How is the camera deployed (shots in perspective, framing, depth, panning, travelling
shots, close-up, off-screen space)?
4. How are the principal characters framed, especially the first time when you are
introduced to them?
5. What is the lighting like? How are the shots composed in a specific setting
