Assignment Two Guidelines

Harvard Summer School 2012
Cinema Korea

Assignment Two Guidelines - Portrait with Text
Due Monday July 16 8pm.
Approximate duration: 2 minutes
Work in pairs, one film project per pair will be submitted.


Select a text from the readings in the ELK. This could be a section from a Sijo or Gasa poem.  Use this text as an inspiration for your video. The relationship of the text to the video is open to your interpretation. As an example, you could begin your video with the text in written form to set the tone or mood for your work. Or you could have someone read a poem with related video imagery.  The text can be an integral part of your video or it may have a more tangential relationship.

Choose to create a portrait of a person or a place as the main focus of your video work.

If you choose a to make a portrait of a person, talk to the person first to find out about what they do, write down questions you might ask in an interview or shots you would take that would build the portrait. Plan your video shoot.

If you choose to make a portrait of a place, choose a place such as a temple, palace, shop, restaurant or other specific locale.  Observe the place to see what goes on and take notes on what characteristics might be used to visually (and sonically) describe it. Plan your shoot.

Keep in mind that this is still considered an exercise type of assignment. The purpose of the assignment is to develop your skills in building scenes and telling a story (narrative of non fiction). Most likely you will be working in non fiction.

Stay on course with good photography, focus, composition and lighting.  Try to have people, objects or shots that are moving in each shot.

The faculty will be with you during the excursion so we will be able to discuss the progress of your projects. Work in pairs for this assignment, however begin to discuss your final group project together with your team mates. On Monday July 16th, each team will present their ideas to the faculty. During the excursion we will have opportunities to discuss the development of the final projects.

VEREDAS on-line discussion

Please select and answer THREE of the four questions below about João Cesar Monteiro’s film VEREDAS. Your responses should be at least one full paragraph in length and should thoughtfully examine specific examples from the film.

1. What are some of the different strategies used in VEREDAS to present and explore Portuguese legends and folklore? And what are some of the specifically cinematic means engaged by Monteiro?

2. What are some of the common themes or ideas explored within the myths, legends and folk tales that unfold in VEREDAS? What do we learn about the narrative logic and imagination of Portuguese folklore? In what ways do song and music offer a counterpoint to or extension of the myths gathered in VEREDAS?

3. What do you make of the title VEREDAS, which literally translates as “paths”? What kind of journey is described in the film, and to what purpose? What kind of image does the film give of Portugal? Keep in mind Park Kwang-su’s original inspiration for TO THE STARRY ISLAND, his almost anthropological project to explore the realm of traditional Korean culture. Considered from this perspective, what connections can you make between João Cesar Monteiro and Park’s respective projects?

4. The frightening final story which closes VEREDAS (the dark tale of a couple torn asunder by a despotic landlord who enslaves the young man and sires a daughter with the young woman before driving her out into the wild) makes explicit commentary on the then present-day Portugal, the fall and legacy of the Salazar dictatorship, commented upon through the figures of the priest and landlord and their shared embrace of violence (as well as the carnations on the dinner table which reference the "Carnation Revolution" of April 1974 which took place during the film's production). Thinking about both this final story and VEREDAS as a whole, what kind of argument does Monteiro offer about myths and their relationship to Portuguese culture and history?