Project description
Purpose of Assignment – Write a formal analysis of The Glenn Miller Story by discussing how specific forms of “cinematic language” were used to communicate particular
social and cultural meanings in the film.
See p. 3 for a definition of “cinematic language”.
See pp. 14 -31 for two examples of film analyses written by our authors.
(https://blackboard.merrimack.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-254367-dt-content-rid-613121_1/courses/COM2401CA_SU2014S2/Film%20Analysis.pdf)
user name: qiuq
password:qiuqianchen2
This paper should focus on how the film was made and what the film might mean to audience members as well as the interaction of those two factors.
This paper should not be a critique of the film. This paper should not present your assessment of the film and whether you liked it or not.
Pick one or more of the following areas to focus on in your paper:
• The music of Glenn Miller
o The origins of jazz and big band music
o The Glenn Miller Orchestra
o Miller’s famous arrangements and his pursuit of “that sound”
• Sound design
o How the music was produced for film and portrayed in the movie
o Relationships to music videos that came much later
o What exactly made this film Oscar-worthy material?
o Use of diegetic sound and nondiegetic sound
• Cultural analysis
o Race and gender issues depicted in the film
o The culture of the jazz musician as down and out wayward soul
• Elements of Narrative
o Narrative structure presented in the script
o Storytelling
o Acting and directing
o Historical inaccuracies present in the film
o Motifs for this “band on the road” movie of the 1940s and 50s
o Motifs of the Universal Studios biopic
Length of paper – About 2 to 4 pages (no sources are required but feel free to use a source other than the textbook, my PowerPoint or the film itself – just be sure to
include it on a source list at end if you do).