IB Film: Directors Project and Presentation

This six weeks, we are going to explore the idea of intentionality in film. You will choose three (3) directors to study for the six weeks. You may select your absolute favorite director for one paper. At least one of these directors must be from a “culture other than your own,” a phrase that has some wiggle-room in it, to say the least. Ideally, your selection of directors will include at least one person of whom you have never heard, much less studied. Go ahead and pick someone at random if you'd like, or pick a culture and go from there. Branch out.

Step 1: Pick directors

Step 2: Watch two movies by that director

Step 4: Profit!

After you have selected your directors and films, the assignments will be due one per week each Friday on Turnitin.com. The written assignment will be a 250 – 300-word overview identifying the style of a selected director. Your paper should include:

• A VERY short bio (birth/death/country of origin/etc)
• A summary of the director’s style
• Examples from two (2) of the director’s films which demonstrate the director’s intended style
• An analytical commentary on the examples provided
• Some recognition of the effects of era, technology, studio, genre, culture, and/or audience on the director’s style (note: in an ideal world, this commentary would be embedded all along throughout the report)

Due Dates: 

Submit your paper online to Turnitin.com by 11:59pm on the due date.

• Feb 2 - Director One
• Feb 9 - Director Two
• Feb 16 - Director Three

List of Pre-Approved Directors:

Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Agnes Varda *

Akira Kurosawa

Alejandro González Iñárritu

Alfonso Cuaron

Amy Heckerling *

Ann Hui *

Arthur Penn

Bernardo Bertolucci

Billy Wilder

Bimal Roy

Brian De Palma

Cecil B. DeMille

Claire Denis *

Clint Eastwood

David Lean

Elia Kazan

Ernst Lubitsch

Federico Fellini

Francis Ford Coppola

Franco Zeffireli

Francois Truffaut

Frank Capra

George Lucas

Guillermo del Toro

Guru Dutt

Hou Hsiao-hsien

Howard Hawks

Hrishikesh Mukherjee

Ida Lupino *

Jackie Chan

Jacques Tati

Jean Cocteau

Jean Renoir

Jean-Luc Goddard

Jean-Poerre Melville

Joel and Ethan Coen

John Cassavetes

John Huston

John Woo

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Julie Taymor *

Kathryn Bigelow *

Kenji Mizoguchi

Kevin Smith

Louis Malle

Luc Besson

Luis Bunuel

Martin Scorsese

Masaki Kobayashi

Mel Brooks

Miguel Arteta

Mike Nichols

Mikio Naruse

Mrinal Sen

Nora Ephron *

Oliver Stone

Orson Welles

Otto Preminger

Pedro Almodovar

Penny Marshall *

Peter Jackson

Preston Sturges

Quentin Tarantino

Raj Kapoor

Ridley Scott

Ritwik Ghatak

Robert Altman

Roberto Benigni

Roberto Rodriguez

Roberto Rosselini

Roman Polanski

Salvador Dali

Sam Peckinpah

Sam Raimi

Satyajit Ra

Seijun Suzuki

Sergio Leone

Sophia Coppola *

Spike Lee

Stanley Kubrick

Stephen Spielberg

Tim Burton

Vincente Minnelli

Vittorio De Sica

William Castle

Woody Allen

Yasujiro Ozu

Zhang Yimou

...just to name a few. If you have another director you would like to research, let me know.

Note: an asterisk denotes a female director.