Emmanuel
October 6, 2009 — Lee QuinbyEmmanuel,
Using the model of “I propose. . .” that I wrote about in the Proposals blog, revise your opening statement to indicate that you propose to examine the relationships between a character’s moral value and the construction of that character and values as it is carried forward through such cinematic elements as casting, shot composition, etc. After that, you can use your existing prose to point out the supporting reasons for your working hypothesis that these elements guide viewers’ responses.
The methods question is one I want you to keep working on. Do so by looking at some of the sources you will draw on to see how they have gathered their evidence to support their conclusions. Try to figure out from there what their method of research is. You could also look at some basic textbooks on cinematography for methods of analysis. The key here is to figure how what the cinematic elements tell you—that is, how one interprets certain lighting techniques, camera cuts, etc. Do they always mean the same thing, regardless of viewer and context? Might there be an interaction between these elements and the viewer’s class, gender, race? These are some of the questions that I think would be useful for you to think about at the proposal stage (even if you only have the questions at this point).
