TEXTUAL ANALYSIS - PULP FICTION (Tarantino, 1994)

What's On?

We will plan a written textual analysis of an extract from Pulp Fiction.

You will need to do some RESEARCH to help you produce a 1000 word analysis, which you will hand in on Wednesday 28th September, after the EXEAT.


Task 1
Watch the extract again. As you watch, create a blog of notes where you can jot down your thoughts on any or all of the following:

• narrative
• genre
• presentation of characters
• camera angles, shots and movement
• editing and sequencing
• lighting, shade and colour
• sound
• location and set design
• genre conventions
• target audience of the film

Discuss as a class your initial ideas, and be prepared to add to your notes.

Task 2 -

• In order to understand more about the crime genre in film, read the following information.
• On your blog of notes, jot down  the conventions (or rules) of the crime film that Pulp Fiction follows, and jot down the conventions it subverts (or breaks).
• Discuss as a class.

eg. one convention of the typical crime film is that the living quarters of the criminal will be seedy, dirty, poor. However, in Pulp Fiction, Lance's house seems rather mundane and normal, a regular middle-class house on a regular street.

Final task:

• Watch the extract again. This time, take more focused notes using the handout provided in class.
• Discuss ideas as a class.
• H/W - write a 1000 word textual analysis to be handed in on Wednesday 28th September.

Pulp Fiction - Narrative Structure

Today

We will explore the rather unusual narrative structure of Pulp Fiction, and see what effects Tarantino creates by subverting the linear chrononlogical order we expect in a film.

How?

Go the Tarantino folder, found in IB Film folder in the college folder.
Access the "Pulp Fiction narrative structure document". Read the instructions.
Open the "timeline template" document. Use this to create a linear chronological timeline of pulp fiction.
Send me the completed timeline by mail.

Feedback
After playing around with the narrative structure, discuss the choices Tarantino made. What effects were created by playing with the natural order of time in his film? Think especially about the opening and ending of the film.

Scripting dialogue - Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994)

What's On?

Establishing HOW and WHY Tarantino shapes the dialogue in the opening of Pulp Fiction.

Scripting and performing a table-reading of your own Tarantinoesque dialogue

Task 1

a) Watch the opening scene of Pulp Fiction.

b) Discuss as a class elements of the film that are striking or interesting (camera, sound, features of dialogue, set/costume, mis-en-scene, editing, etc)


(John Travolta as Vincent Vega and Samuel L Jackson as Jules Winnfield)

c) Watch opening scene again, following with the transcript of dialogue.

d) In pairs, make notes on the following aspects:
i) Who are these people and how does the film let us know?
ii) What is surprising/unexpected about their conversation? Why?
iii) What is NOT surprising or EXPECTED about their conversation? Why?
iv) What parts of their conversation - if any - seem important to move the PLOT forwards?
v) What parts of their conversation do not seem to move the plot forwards? What effects are achieved by including them?

e) Feedback in pairs with another pair, then present findings to class.

Task 2- new pairs

Can you do a Tarantino? Provide an opening scene's dialogue, and try and give it a Tarantino flavour.

Set up:
Two characters (who we will learn are gansters, but not immediately) walking towards a subway. One is carrying an old suitcase. (It doesn't contain guns!) They are initially discussing/gently diagreeing on a topic of your choice: (I include some ideas below)
a) their favourite super hero
b) where to get the best milkshake
c) why Kanye West -  - is better than Radiohead. (or any other musical artists)
d) why one prefers make up, the other not

The key is how to try and make your writing sound natural, fluent, amusing, while at the same time revealing more about the characters (background, personality)  in subtle ways. Not easy. Let's experiment...

Quentin Tarantino - Scripting, Narrative and Dialogue

What's On?

• A new unit studying the director Quentin Tarantino to learn more about scripting, narrative and the use of dialogue in film.
• We will focus mainly on his film Pulp Fiction (1994), but will draw on examples from his other work.
• A written textual analysis on a five-minute section from Pulp Fiction - to be submitted 18th August 2011.

Today's objectives

• develop research skills - searching for information, scanning text for information, collating info, summarising info
• know background information about Quentin Tarantino

"You got guns on us. You decide to shoot, we're dead. Up top, they got grenades. They drop them down here, you're dead. That's a Mexican Standoff, and that was not the deal. No trust, no deal."

— Lt. Aldo Raine, Inglourious Basterds

Key words:

• genre - a type of film which follows certain conventions (eg. horror, comedy, western)
• trope - a storytelling device or convention easily recognisable by the audience (eg. For example, that guy in every horror movie who tells his friends "I'll be right back" is most assuredly not going to be back - this is known as TEMPTING FATE )

Task:
Answer the following research questions on your film blog.
Use the post title: Quentin Tarantino, label it: Tarantino, textual analysis, film history

Questions (in YOUR OWN WORDS PLEASE! CUT AND PASTING will lead to mark of zero, and you will have to redo at home)

1)      Name two distinctive features of Tarantino’s films.

2)      How was Tarantino’s education in film different to the normal method of film-school?

3)      Despite the success of Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino’s first film in 1992, it was criticized by many. Why?

4)      What genre do Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction belong to?

5)      Identify three recurring CAMERA ANGLES/SHOTS used by Tarantino. Include a screen shot example of each, with a brief caption about the possible effects created by each (eg. to give a sense of power to audience/character, to disorient the viewer, etc)

6)      Explain USING YOUR OWN WORDS what Tarantino’s Mirror shot is, and possible effects of using it. Include a screen shot.

7)      A recurring trope in Tarantino’s films is the Mexican standoff.

a) Briefly explain what it is.

b) Explain where the term comes from.

c) Examples of two non-Tarantino films that use it (with screen shots of possible).

d) Provide screen shots from two Tarantino films that use it.

8)      A “MacGuffin” is used in Tarantino’s film Pulp Fiction.

a)      What is a MacGuffin? Explain in fifty words.

b)     What is the MacGuffin in Pulp Fiction?

c)      Provide examples fo MacGuffins from two non-Tarantino films, with screen shots if possible.

You can use following website links to help:

Tarantino biography

Tarantino and Crime

Tarantino's trademarks

TV and Film tropes 

Word detective