Final Film Project

American Cinema requires you to produce a final project which is due at the end of the semester. This project involves:

Choosing one of films listed below. These were voted by The American Film Institute as the top five greatest American Films that set the standard and marked the excellence of the first century of American Cinema.

The films are:
1. Citizen Kane
2. Casablanca
3. The Godfather (Part I)
4. Gone with the Wind
5. Lawrence of Arabia

Writing a paper of between 750 and 1000 words explaining why you think the AFI felt that the film you choose is one of best of the 20th Century.

You should structure your final project to address the issues listed below and draw on any other concepts you have learned throughout the semester to show your mastery of the diverse aspects of American Cinema taught in this course.
When completing your final project you should:
1. Identify where the film you choose stands on the chronological time line of American Cinema and appraise its uniqueness.
2. Use correctly technological and critical language of motion pictures.
3. Recognize and describe the specific effects that cinema technology and techniques had in placing this film in the top five.
4. Analyze and elucidate specifically the effect that this film has had on American popular culture.
5. Distinguish and appraise the possible effects that this film had on the economics of the film industry
6. Determine which genre that the film fits into and its possible connection with cultural and social tensions.
7. Qualify the significance of the film by explaining why it should be considered one of the top five.