Sunday, May 31, 2015

Woody Allen: Without Feathers Test; Annie Hall

After our test today on Without Feathers and comedic techniques, please read the sample script from the film Annie Hall.
please review the Annie Hall materials below:
Further information about Annie Hall can be found here at IMDB.com.
Annie Hall Script
Annie Hall explanation/film history

Often cited as one of the best 100 films of all time, Annie Hall won four Oscars:
Best Actress: Diane Keaton
Best Director: Woody Allen
Best Picture: Charles Joffe
Best Screenplay: Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman
Woody Allen was also nominated for Best Actor.
As you watch the film, note the following:
--This plot is an archetype of the Romance plot: boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back after much ado.
--Much of the humor revolves around the film's Diegesis (the world of the film). Note when the script breaks this convention and what the effect on the viewer is at those moments.
--Woody Allen is a fan of silent film (particularly slapstick) notice when the film becomes quiet, when physical comedy is presented to us as reality, and scenes that include silly physical jokes or chase scenes. These are all homage to the yesteryear of film.
HOMEWORK: None. 

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Comedy Techniques and Love & Death (1975)

Why do people laugh?
  • Incongruity or Non sequitur. Humans are rational (supposedly) and laugh at anything that breaks a pattern or does not logically follow.
  • Farce or physical humor (often pratfalls, slapstick, hurting people, etc.) What doesn't kill us makes us laugh.
  • Superiority vs. inferiority (we laugh at those weaker or in a worse situation than us)
  • Mistaken identity (using aspects of feeling superior or inferior, when the true identity of a character is revealed, this also includes surprise--so we laugh)
  • Absurdity (if it doesn't make sense, and we are logical people, we laugh)
  • Surprise: humans may laugh when startled to release adrenaline. It's part of our monkey brain.
  • Hyperbole: an exaggeration
  • Understatement: Often used at the end of a paragraph or idea, an understatement reverses the importance of the subject matter.
How can writers use these techniques in their writing? Like everything else, choice allows us to skillfully craft our work for a desired effect.

As you watch the film today, please find an example of each type of comedy in the film.

HOMEWORK: Complete your reading of Without Feathers

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Poetry Projects & Without Feathers

Please complete your poetry projects today in the lab. I've given you this extension, so today will be our last day to prepare these in class.

Please upload your documentary to YouTube and submit your URL to the COMMENT section below.

If you finish early, please complete the following:
  • Without Feathers (reading up to page 107)
  • Prepare a piece to read at our Coffeehouse: Thursday, May 28 at 7:00 in the Ensemble Theater
Without Feathers:
  • A Brief, yet Helpful, Guide to Civil Disobedience: People were protesting the Vietnam War when Woody Allen wrote this book. Even this serious topic is humor-fodder for writers. The allusion to The Trojan Women is referring to a Greek Tragedy (see: God) about the women of Troy banding together to protest the Trojan War.
  • Match Wits with Inspector Ford: In the 70’s books such as 5-Minute Mysteries were very popular. The idea was that the author gave you a very short mystery or crime. The answer to the “riddle” was in the back of the book. A fan of whodunits will enjoy this parody.
  • The Irish Genius: This is a parody (similar to Lovborg) but dealing with the poet William Butler Yeats. Yeats was an Irish culture fanatic and wrote “Irish” lyrics celebrating Gaelic and Irish legends. His poems drip with allusion and Allen plays around with this idea by providing fake “footnotes.”
  • God, a Play: Poking fun at Greek Theatre, Allen is also joking about writers and the process of writing a play and the challenges of performing it. Allen was a playwright before he became a film writer. So you can assume the Writer character is partly autobiographical. Of course, the character of “Woody” is also Allen’s alter-ego in the play. Enjoy the absurdist ideas of the piece. By the way, the machine reference in the play is a reference to: Deus Ex Machina (or God from the machine) referring to a contrived ending of a play (a God comes down and fixes the characters’ problems).
  • Fabulous Tales and Mythical Beasts: Bestiaries were an old fashion (Medieval) form of the nature guide. They were all the rage in the 1500’s.
  • But Soft, Real Soft: There is a scholarly debate over who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays. Many critics say that Marlowe (another Elizabethan playwright) wrote Shakespeare’s work. Others say Queen Elizabeth or Francis Bacon wrote the plays. Probably, odd as it may seem, Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare’s plays. The title refers to a line from Romeo and Juliet.
  • If the Impressionists Had Been Dentists: The Impressionist painter Van Gogh kept close correspondence with his brother Theo. Later a song and a movie were made from Van Gogh’s private letters. The title tells the rest of the joke.
  • No Kaddish for Weinstein: Kaddish is a Hebrew prayer of mourning usually recited at a person’s grave. Woody Allen often jokes about Freudian Psychoanalysis or therapy. He is using a comic technique of the non-sequitur (or surprising a reader by saying something unrelated to its subject or something that makes no sense or is nonsensical.)
  • Fine Times: An Oral Memoir: Another parody of a book review and autobiography of a fictional character. This one is about Flo Guinness, a speakeasy owner in the 1920’s. Alcohol was prohibited (illegal) in the early 1920’s and later repealed. Guinness is the name of a popular beer. Allen references many famous 1920’s musicians and people.
  • Slang Origins: The English language has so many weird expressions and sayings. Allen pokes fun at them in this “essay.”
HOMEWORK: Complete your film projects if you didn't complete these in the lab. Complete Without Feathers

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Poetry Projects: Day 5; Woody Allen: Without Feathers

Please complete your film documentary projects today in the lab. If you do not complete your project, please complete it on your own time at home, etc.

If you finish early today, please begin reading the Woody Allen collection: Without Feathers. As you read, please use the following to help you understand what you are reading.

As you read his collection Without Feathers, understanding "the joke" can be helpful with a little background. Those of you who read widely will probably find more humor in his work. See the information below to help you figure out what you're reading and what Allen is poking fun about.

Much of Allen's humor requires a little knowledge about form, content, or knowing a little bit about his life (or the life of a Jewish New Yorker intellectual). To help you, please refer to his bio and this page for explanation of some of the allusions and humor in Woody Allen's book.
  • The title: Refers to Emily Dickenson’s poem: “Hope is a thing with feathers.” Ergo, if you have no feathers, you have no hope.
  • Selections from the Allen Notebooks & The Early Essays: Both these essays parody the publishing industry’s love affair with memoir, creative non-fiction, and publishing a well-known author’s private writings after they have died. Hence, the humor of these weird insights into the famous “Woody Allen” journals. Traditionally, creative essay form always used the same form: the word “ON” and then the subject of the essay.
  • Examining Psychic Phenomena: The supernatural is always a good subject to parody. In this case, a review of a newly published “non-fiction” book on Psychic Phenomena. Look up Psychic Phenomena on the internet to see the sort of thing Allen is parodying.
  • The Guide to Some of the Lesser Ballets: When you attend an opera or ballet, inside your program you often get the story synopsis. Since opera is usually in another language, and ballet is hard to follow if you don’t know the story, these sorts of program notes are helpful in interpreting the performance. Allen, of course, is poking fun.
  • The Scrolls: A few years before the book was published, the Dead Sea Scrolls were uncovered. In the early 70’s this sort of thing caused a lot of controversy between religious scholars and scientists. They wondered if these scrolls were part of the Bible. Allen is also Jewish, so the humor relates to this fact as well.
  • Lovborg’s Women Considered: The playwright Henrick Ibsen (the guy who wrote A Doll's House and is considered the Father of Modern Drama) is the bane and love of many literary scholars and theatre students. Woody Allen is poking fun of the field of literary criticism (scholars who write about books, authors, and their “private” lives).
  • The Whore of Mensa: Allen is parodying the hardboiled detective novel made popular by writers like Dashielle Hammett (The Maltese Falcon). Think of Humphrey Bogart as the narrator and you’ll have the idea. Mensa is a national program/club – entry into which is based on I.Q. The idea then of whores who intellectually stimulate their johns is a very funny idea.
  • Death, A Play: Allen was a philosophy major in college. He is also interested in psychology. The two main philosophical ideas this play refers to are existentialism and Nihilism. Existentialism is a type of writing or the study of answering the question: what is the meaning of life? Existentialism tries to explain what the meaning of life is. Some people believe we are alive for a reason, others are Nihilistic, and say that there is no point in our existence--that there is no purpose to our lives. Kleinman is representative of everyman. He represents all of us. We sometimes don't know what our purpose in life is (Kleinman doesn't know his purpose in the play, for example). By the way, we are all being "stalked" by death, just as Kleinman is being stalked by the maniac. Death is the great equalizer. All living beings are going to die. Along with LOVE, DEATH is one of the most common themes in literature. Woody Allen made this play into the film: Shadows and Fog.
HOMEWORK: Read Without Feathers: pp. 7-106. Complete your poetry film project.

Monday, May 18, 2015

Poetry Project: Day 4

Before we return to the lab to continue working on our film poetry projects, let's complete our reading of T.S. Eliot:

Preludes
Rhapsody on a Windy Night and a short animated film based on the poem (and a popular Broadway song).

HELP:


Organization for the project:

Have you:
1. Chosen a poet?
2. Researched this poet's life/work?
3. Taken notes on your poet?
4. Written a short 1-2 page (at most) script about your poet?
5. Found a single poem from this poet to record?
6. Found images or video clips to import into Movie Maker that go with your notes/script?
7. Recorded your Voice Over(s) (either on iPhones, cell-phones, or microphones--realize you have to convert these files to sound files Movie Maker can use!)
8. Uploaded sound files?
9. Organized or edited your film? You will want to include a title/heading in your credits
10. Added end credits: copyright, authorship, directing credits, voice-over credits, etc.

Work on any # in the lab that you have not yet accomplished.

HOMEWORK: None. Work on project so that you are not falling behind!

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Film Documentary Project: Day 3; T.S. Eliot

IN THE LAB: Poet Film Documentary Project

Some help if you need it:

Making a film in Windows Movie Maker

Making a podcast in Adobe soundbooth:

Video:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96ZzJQlkyRI


Using the script you were supposed to have completed last class (see previous post), you may record your VOICE OVER using our microphones or your own equipment (similar to your film projects in Journalism), or...

Continue to use the time in the lab today gathering images/resources and inputting these into a MovieMaker project. Use the JPG's and GIFs that you find to assist your voice over in creating a short documentary about your chosen poet.

You will also want to choose 1 poem that this poet wrote and perform (read and record) that text as well. Your video project should include your voice over script (see previous post) AND a poem by the author that you perform.

If you did not complete your script, do that first. Realize that you are falling far behind and catch up!
  • Work on your poet film documentary today in class.
  • You may also use the time in the lab to write creatively. See previous poetry prompts, or the prompt above and try writing a draft of a poem.
During PERIOD 8: Please collect the poetry collection: Prufrock & Other Poems by T.S. Eliot. Then come to the classroom (238) and let's take a look at his poetry.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (read by the author) and some analysis of the poem by Shmoop.
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (read by Anthony Hopkins)
Portrait of a Lady
Preludes
Rhapsody on a Windy Night and a short animated film based on the poem (and a popular Broadway song).

Continue reading on your own. Find examples of the literary/poetic devices in the remaining poems.
If you do not finish today, please complete as homework.
 
HOMEWORK: Complete anything you haven't completed in class/lab today. Write poetry.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Poet Film Documentary Project

Please turn in your homework: Drawing evidence from the poems in D.H. Lawrence's collection, write a paragraph review of D.H. Lawrence's poetry: what is his style? What did you notice about his style? How does Lawrence use poetic crafting techniques in his poetry? (look for imagery, style, meter, stanza form, diction, tone, theme, figurative language, etc.)

Let's complete the following poems from the collection:
  • "Fish" (pg. 46)
  • "Bat" (pg. 50)
  • "The Mosquito" (pg. 52)
  • "Hummingbird" (pg. 54)
  • "Pomegranate" (pg. 55)
  • "Medlars & Sorb Apples" (pg. 56) 


POETRY PROMPT: Using your list (created last class) of animals that disturb you, or that you don't generally find lovely, write a poem about the beauty or importance of that animal. You may also choose a flower, fruit, shrub, or tree and research its meaning. Use that meaning as a metaphor/symbol in a poem. Use D.H. Lawrence's poems as a model.

IN THE LAB: Poet Film Documentary Project

Using the script you were supposed to have completed last class (see previous post), you may record your VOICE OVER using our microphones or your own equipment (similar to your film projects in Journalism), or...

use the time in the lab today gathering images/resources and inputting these into a MovieMaker project. Use the JPG's and GIFs that you find to assist your voice over in creating a short documentary about your chosen poet.

You will also want to choose 1 poem that this poet wrote and perform (read and record) that text as well. Your video project should include your voice over script (see previous post) AND a poem by the author that you perform.

If you did not complete your script, do that first. Realize that you are falling behind and catch up!

  • Work on your poet film documentary today in class.
  • You may also use the time in the lab to write creatively. See previous poetry prompts, or the prompt above and try writing a draft of a poem.

HOMEWORK: Complete anything you haven't completed in class/lab today. Write poetry.

Friday, May 8, 2015

Poetry Project: Day 2; D.H. Lawrence

Period 7: please research and read about the poet and his/her poems that you have selected to research.

All poets can be found at this websiteThe Poetry Foundation.

Begin researching and taking notes about the details of your author's life. Who is he/she? Where did he/she live? What is he/she known for? What influences or philosophy or historical events helped shape this poet's work? What themes does the poet seem to favor in his/her poetry?  How does this poet fit into the period in which the author wrote, and how does the poet influence poets AFTER he/she wrote? What happened to this poet? What major works/awards/books did this poet create/achieve/obtain? What other interesting things about your poet's life and work did you find interesting or important?

Write your notes into a 1 page script. You will be using this script for the next step in the project. Complete this script by the end of 7th period. If you finish early, feel free to write a poem. Keep all drafts in your portfolio for now.

At the end of period 7, please turn in your 1 page script.

HOMEWORK: Complete anything of the above that you have not finished in class.

Period 8: Please take a few minutes and learn about D.H. Lawrence before we pick up his book and read it. Return to room 238 after you pick up the book "Snake" and we'll read the following poems together:
"Snake" (pg. 44)
"Fish" (pg. 46)
"Bat" (pg. 50)
"The Mosquito" (pg. 52)
"Hummingbird" (pg. 54)
"Pomegranate" (pg. 55)
"Medlars & Sorb Apples" (pg. 56)

D.H. Lawrence: Please read the poems "From: Love Poems & Others--1913" and from "Amores (1916)" through "From: Tortoises" (pages 1-43).

Drawing evidence from the poems from these pages, write a paragraph review of D.H. Lawrence's poetry: what is his style? What did you notice about his style? How does Lawrence use poetic crafting techniques in his poetry? (look for imagery, style, meter, stanza form, diction, tone, theme, figurative language, etc.) Turn this analysis in Tuesday as homework/participation credit.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Williams (con't); Introduction to the Poetry Project

William Carlos Williams:
The Last Words of My English Grandmother
This is Just to Say (pg 586)
To a Poor Old Woman
Nantucket
The Young Housewife
The Dance
A Sort of Song
The Sparrow

IN THE LAB: Continue writing your poem drafts.  Just as you would summarize or highlight the important moments of a novel or longer, short story--use parts in your poem, as Williams and Stafford do. You have two options:

A. Create your own story. Choose a character, a setting, a theme, etc. Then consider your plot. What happens in the beginning (inciting incident, rising action, etc.) Start by summarizing the important parts of your story and breaking them into at least 3 parts (you may break your story into as many parts as you'd like, as long as you have a minimum of 3) Ex. i. Beginning, ii. middle, iii end or i. morning ii. afternoon  iii. evening, or i. birth ii. childhood, iii. adolescence, iv. young adulthood, v. adulthood, vi. middle age, vii. old age, etc.

B. Borrow a well known story from someplace else. Use a fairy tale, or favorite short story, or film, or well-known classic novel, and take the most important scene(s) from the story and break the story into at least 3 parts. Basically, you are doing the same as A above, but using source material from outside of your own creation. Consider: Historical events, myths, legends, fairy tales, Bible stories, or any thing else your audience would be familiar with. Avoid choosing stories that only you have read. borrow ideas from English/Social Studies classes, etc.

C. Extra credit poem draft: "The Last Words of my English Grandmother"--write the last words of someone you know who has passed, OR write the last words of a fictional character. Write the first words a child says to parent. Make a poem of it!

C. Extra credit poem draft: "This is Just to Say" is a refrigerator note. Write a FOUND poem of your own.

C. Extra credit poem draft: Williams often writes TO his subject. Choose a subject and address it: speak to a city, a person, a thing/object, an idea, or action.

Period 8: please choose one of the poets on the sheet going around the room and begin researching and reading this poet's work.

All poets can be found at this websiteThe Poetry Foundation.

Begin researching and taking notes about the details of your author's life. Who is he/she? Where did he/she live? What is he/she known for? What influences or philosophy or historical events helped shape this poet's work? What themes does the poet seem to favor in his/her poetry?  How does this poet fit into the period in which the author wrote, and how does the poet influence poets AFTER he/she wrote? What happened to this poet? What major works/awards/books did this poet create/achieve/obtain? What other interesting things about your poet's life and work did you find interesting or important?

Write your notes into a 1 page script. You will be using this script for the next step in the project.

HOMEWORK: Complete anything of the above that you have not finished in class.

D.H. Lawrence: Please read the poems "From: Love Poems & Others--1913" and from "Amores (1916)" (pages 1-12).

Drawing evidence from the poems from these pages, write a paragraph review of D.H. Lawrence's poetry: what is his style? What did you notice about his style? How does Lawrence use poetic crafting techniques in his poetry? (look for imagery, style, meter, stanza form, diction, tone, theme, figurative language, etc.)

Monday, May 4, 2015

Wallace Stevens & William Carlos Williams; Poetry Project

Today, let's continue our reading of poetry with these poets.

Wallace Stevens: (and his poems)
Peter Quince at the Clavier (pg. 559)
Sunday Morning
The Snow Man
Anecdote of the Jar
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
The Planet on the Table read by Bill Murray

William Carlos Williams (and his poems):
Danse Russe (pg. 576)
January Morning
The Last Words of My English Grandmother
This is Just to Say (pg 586)
To a Poor Old Woman
Nantucket
The Young Housewife
The Dance
A Sort of Song
The Sparrow

IN THE LAB: Write a poem draft as you would summarize or highlight just the important moments of a novel or longer, short story--using parts as Williams and Stafford do in much of their poetry. You have two options:

A. Create your own story. Choose a character, a setting, a theme, etc. Then consider your plot. What happens in the beginning (inciting incident, rising action, etc.) Start by summarizing the important parts of your story and breaking them into at least 3 parts (you may break your story into as many parts as you'd like, as long as you have a minimum of 3) Ex. i. Beginning, ii. middle, iii end or i. morning ii. afternoon  iii. evening, or i. birth ii. childhood, iii. adolescence, iv. young adulthood, v. adulthood, vi. middle age, vii. old age, etc.

B. Borrow a well known story from someplace else. Use a fairy tale, or favorite short story, or film, or well-known classic novel, and take the most important scene(s) from the story and break the story into at least 3 parts. Basically, you are doing the same as A above, but using source material from outside of your own creation. Consider: Historical events, myths, legends, fairy tales, Bible stories, or any thing else your audience would be familiar with. Avoid choosing stories that only you have read. borrow ideas from English/Social Studies classes, etc.

Finally, please choose one of the poets on the sheet going around the room and begin researching and reading this poet. All poets can be found at this website: The Poetry Foundation.

HOMEWORK: None.

Gerard Manley Hopkins
A.E. Housman
William Butler Yeats
Edwin Arlington Robinson
Paul Lawrence Dunbar
Amy Lowell
Carl Sandburg
H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)
Marianne Moore
Claude McKay
Archibald MacLeish
Edna St. Vincent Millay
e.e. cummings
Jean Toomer
Langston Hughes
Countee Cullen
W.H. Auden
Theodore Roethke
Robert Hayden
Muriel Rukeyser
William Stafford
Dylan Thomas
Gwendolyn Brooks
May Swenson
Amy Clampitt
Denise Levertov
Robert Bly
Allen Ginsberg

About this course!

This course stresses understanding the characteristics & techniques in the literary genres of fiction, poetry, and dramatic writing. This course will continue to build on students’ reading and writing skills begun in previous creative writing classes. Readings and discussions of works by major writers in the field will be examined as inspiration and models of fine writing. This educational blog is designed for the use of the students at the School of the Arts in Rochester, NY.