Midterm Project (due on 5/10)

Film of WKW

Spring 2011

Midterm Project

For your Midterm paper (6-8 pages, double-spaced, 12 pt.), specify and analyze in depth one cinematic technique (narrative, character, cinematography, and music, etc.) on your own choice.

The paper should cover at least two films from Days of Being Wild, As Tear Goes By, and Chungking Express. It is recommended that you compare and contrast between two or more films we’ve covered. A good example would be “Chasing the Metaphysical Express: Music in the Films of Wong Kar-Wai,” which is listed as one of the reading for Chungking Express.

Quotations from at least two readings assigned for class, and at least one reading excluded from the syllabus are required. For only sources, they must only be quoted if they could be classified as academic journals.

Your midterm paper is due on May 10^th  in-class.  

week4.k.w

"Wong Kar-Wai has opened up a new emotional dimension in Hong-Kong cinema, [...]. His use of music is characteristic of this approach, which aims the whole time to bring out an unstated emotion. Unlike other Hong-Kong directors, Wong Kar-Wai never uses Chinese music, because in his films the sound-track never illustrates a precise, real context, but evokes a purely referential, even interior world (Lalanne, 30)."

 

In "CHASING THE METAPHYSICAL EXPRESS: MUSIC IN THE FILMS OF WONG KAR-WAI," Jean-Marc Lalanne profoundly analyzes the role of music in WKW's films, giving examples from films like Chungking Express, Days of Being Wild, Happy Together, Ashes of Time. Although we've only watched a couple of them, the significance of the usage of music in WKW's films is already obviously presented.

His comment on the interaction between music and the characters remarkably fits to Chungking Express, in terms of the young waitress's relationship with her beloved song, California Dreaming:

"The interaction between music and the characters is expressed visually just as much as symbolically. In Wong Kar-Wai's films the characters create their own sound environment. They hear and above all listen to music. Music exaggerates their narcissistic impulses, brings out their natural sensuality and consolidates the fantasy worlds that they invent for themselves. Music creates pockets of fiction within the overall fiction of the story, mini-narratives for the characters (31)."

Some similar comments could also be found in both Brunette and Teo's writings on Chungking Express.

Read through all there readings for Chungking Express, and investigate how music is mapped out in the film and how it contributes to the overall meaning of the film, in consideration of WKW's other stylistic choices of cinematic elements.  You can always refer to any films/shorts that we have watched in class or anything else of your own interest.

* Keep in mind that week4.k.w is designed to be a shorter/similar version of our midterm paper. An assignment sheet will be ready next Thursday.

* Chungking Express is available on netflix (although not for instant watch). Our library also has a VHS copy with English subtitle aviable at the 4F circulation desk, and there are players right next to it.

Athens Film Festival

Post your response for both your selection of the feature film and the category of shorts here.
Approximately 300 words of each.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Class Cancellations for 2011 Athens International Film+Video Festival: 4/21 (Thursday) and 4/26 (Tuesday)

Athens annual film festival is coming!!
Since one of the goals of our w.k.w. class is to get you familiar with filmmakers outside the States, film festival is always the best way to start!! Therefore, I will be canceling our class on 4/21 and 4/26 for the festival.

Please go to at least one feature film (see p.2~p.11 of the festival program) and one category of short films (p.12~p.32) presented during the festival week.

Post your response (around 300 words for each) under the topic of "Athens Film Festival" by the end of next week (4/30).
We will talk about Chugnking Express on 4/28, so make sure you finish the readings and post your weekly response before you come to class next week.

enjoy!

week3.k.w

In "Images from the Inside," Jean-Marc Lalanne, giving voice-off example from Chungking Express like "In 48 hours, I was going to fall in love with this women," commented on how WKW's use of voice-off "[refuses] to allow complete involvement in what is being lived through, [and in such a refusal] lies the film-maker's most profoundly nostalgic outlook. Because true nostalgia, the saudade, is not a nostalgia for the past (which is a fairly sterile feeling) but rather the nostalgia for the present, the melancholic awareness that the present is always what is in the process of coming apart, of ceasing to exist" (24).

A similar comment was also made in Brunette's article on Days of Being Wild. "[In Days of Being Wild, the] unceasing desire to capture the present moment, for whatever reason, is always defeated, as the present is always already gone as soon as we begin to look for it" (20).

Yuddy's initial come-on line to Li-zhen, "One minute before 3:00 P.M. on April 16, 1960," the loud ticking of a clock, the frequent hammering of the rain, a woman cleans a clock over and over again, etc, altogether became a set of running motif in the film, interlacing with the theme of the implacable impossibility and hopelessness of love.

Read through both Brunette and Teo's comments on the development of those romantic (heteroerotic/homoerotic) pairings set in Days of Being Wild, and WKW's use of clock/time. Consider in what way(s) the two aforementioned techniques complement each other by sorting out the relationship set between them. You can try to develop your idea by analyzing how the concept of time/clock embedded within one particular pairing in the film. Jean-Marc Lalanne's "Images from the Inside," which provides a comprehensive overview of the characteristics of WKW's films, might also be helpful for you to develop your thought.

p.s. Days of Being Wild is available on netflix for instant watch. Our library also has a DVD copy of it.

[youtube] Australian interview with Wong Kar-wai

This interview might be helpful for your week2.k.w post. They talked a lot about As Tears Go By.
 
This interview covers a lot of information about WKW's films starting from his very first one, his earlier career before becoming a director, and also some artistic choices he's made in his career. 

Australian interview with Wong Kar-wai Part 1 of 6
Australian interview with Wong Kar-wai Part 2 of 6
Australian interview with Wong Kar-wai Part 3 of 6
Australian interview with Wong Kar-wai Part 4 of 6
Australian interview with Wong Kar-wai Part 5 of 6
Australian interview with Wong Kar-wai Part 6 of 6

week2.k.w

In his "Tears, Time, and Love: The Films of Wong Kar-wai," Peter Brunette mentioned that "the central critical debate around As Tears Go By concerns its relation to the dominant tradition of Hong Kong genre films. Is it primarily another example of a generic gangster film, in the tradition made famous by John Woo and others? Or is it an altogether new beast, an art film from Hong Kong that bears the unmistakable imprint of an auteur interested in moving beyond genre?" (3)

David Bordwell was brought up to represent the generic camp while Chuck Stephens represents the antigeneric group. Read through their arguments for each of their standpoints and consider how you'd categorize WKW's As Tears Go By. To support your argument, provide examples from the film in terms of narrative, any type of filmmaking techniques, etc. It might help you sort out the examples you need by comparing As Tears Go By with some other gangster films you've seen before. 

p.s. As Tears Go By is available on netflix. Our library also has a VHS copy of it.

week1.k.w

Several stylized choice in wkw's films have been mentioned in class this week (refer to our readings for week 1 on dropbox if you need). Try to specify a single trait, provide example(s) from the shorts and elaborate how you identify with this specific characteristic. You can also compare and contrast wkw's filmmaking techniques with some other filmmakers with whom you're familiar if that helps.

Refer to the following links to re-watch the shorts you need:

The Hand (from Eros)
(no subtitle embedded. check out the library copy if you're looking for subtitle)

The Follow (The BMW commercial collection, The Hire)

There's Only One Sun (Commercial for Philip Aurea)

I Travelled 9000 km To Give It To You (from Chacun son cinéma, the Cannes festival 60 anniversary special collection)

Six Days (music video for DJ Shadow) 

Hua Yang De Nian Hua

Clip excerpted from 2046

Clip excerpted from In the Mood for Love

Comments and Concerns

Comments or Concerns?

Let me know what you think about the class especially if there's something that you wish to know more but I accidentally skipped through!

You can always email me or bring it up in class.