Word length: 1000 words (+/- 10%)

You may select any one (1) film from the Text List for this assessment. Note: The film you select for this assessment cannot be those used for Assessments 2 or 3.

Writing and publishing film reviews can enhance your professional profile, and may be an item you could add to your professional portfolio.

Task Description

Referring to the Writing a Film Review resource provided in Moodle, write a film review that includes the following elements:

• Introduction: Include the name of the film, its release date, background information and your thesis (your opinion of the filmmaker's goal and whether they succeeded).
• Summary: A concise overview of the content/plot - do not just retell the story.
• Analysis of the film: Analyse the plot in terms of themes, context and messages.
• Creative elements: Describe how the filmic elements (eg. characters, dialogues, costumes, camera work, mise en scène, POV, use of colours, genre, tone, symbols, etc) aids in developing a deeper understanding and resonance of the film's themes.
• Opinion: Support your opinion of the film with scholarly evidence (1-2 sources) and examples from the film.
• Conclusion: Conclude with whether the filmmaker succeeded in his/her goal and make a recommendation to viewers.

You must acknowledge your evidence from the film and research in your review using in-text referencing, and include a reference list using the Harvard (Author-Date) style. Please refer to the guidelines and examples in the CQU Harvard Referencing Guides provided. Written submissions should be in 12 point font with 1.5 line spacing.

The word count allows for a variation of +/- 10%. It excludes the cover page and reference list. It includes in-text references and direct quotations.

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Microsoft Copilot, Chat GPT or other Gen AI agents is as follows: 
•  No Gen AI use at any point during this assessment.

Word Count: The word count allows a +/- 10% variation and is considered from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the conclusion. It excludes the cover page and reference list. It includes in-text references and direct quotations.

This assessment task is assessed based on your ability to:

• Identify and analyse some of the film’s main themes, meanings, and issues
• Identify and analyse the film's main creative elements
• Consider the film's relevance to contemporary social and political contexts
• Effectively use direct textual analysis (paraphrases, quotations and descriptions) and academic sources (1-2 scholarly sources) to support both opinion and analysis
• Express yourself clearly and effectively, writing with correct grammar, spelling and punctuation
• Appropriately acknowledge of all sources using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style

Length: 1500 words (+/- 10%)

You may select any one (1) film from the Text List for this assessment. Note: The film you select for this assessment cannot be those used for Assessments 1 or 3.

This assessment will allow you to 'try out' some Shakespearean literary and/or filmic elements and techniques, then reflect critically about your experiences. Reflective writing is different to essay writing, so please ensure that you have read the resources provided to understand what is required of you. For arts and education students, you can both get creative and experience alternative assessment designs.

Task description

Choose one of the following creative & reflective tasks:

1. ‘Everything and nothing’ by Jorge-Luis Borges supplements the meagre facts of Shakespeare’s life with an ironic reference to “History” and a magic realist encounter with God. Choose a character from one of Shakespeare’s plays and write your own short story in similar fashion. Combine imagination and textual analysis to reveal hidden facets of their personality and story. For instance, you might try to illuminate Ophelia's feelings and actions before her death, or invent a backstory explaining why Iago is so gratuitously evil. The possibilities are endless, but given that “less is more” the word limit of your piece should be similar to Borges’ text (750 words approx.).

Use the literary elements and techniques you have learned in the unit, and incorporate at least three markers of the original Shakespearean work (e.g. themes, issues, setting, point of view, genre, tone, figurative language, etc.). Accompany your adaptation with a 750 word critical reflection on your creative piece with a focus on the specific Shakespearean literary elements and techniques that your story incorporates. If you choose this option, your story should be up to 750 words and your reflection in the region of 750 words, including at least three (3) scholarly sources that support your creative choices.

2. Choose a scene from your chosen film that you believe could be improved with different directorial choices to convey the themes and messages more strongly to a contemporary audience. Using the directorial elements and film techniques you have learned in the unit, write a script for your new scene (or part thereof) incorporating at least three of your own directorial choices (eg. line changes, cuts or inclusions, stage directions, costumes, narrative style, camera work, mise en scene, etc). Accompany your script with a reflective analysis of the specific filmic elements and techniques that your script incorporates and an evaluation of whether your approach was successful in conveying the themes and messages as you intended. If you choose this option, your script should be up to 750 words and your reflection in the region of 750 words, including at least three (3) scholarly sources supporting your choice of techniques. (You may need to refer to the play to source character lines for your film script).

Note: You will be marked on the inclusion of appropriate literary and/or filmic elements and techniques and not the quality or format of your story/script.

3. Shakespeare today is as much a brand and industry as historical figure, and there are many ways to approach his works and the depictions of his life as found in media genres such as: feature films, TV dramas and sitcoms, documentaries, skit shows, podcasts, memes, comics, advertisements, short stories, novels, and of course the plays and poems. Choose a selection of texts and devise your own topic, reflecting on what Shakespeare means in our contemporary culture while integrating some of the themes, issues, and quotations that his plays are famous for. Your piece should take the form of a reflective blog (1500 words) and may include images (screenshots, etc.) Use at least three (3) scholarly sources to support your ideas. 

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Microsoft Copilot, Chat GPT or other Gen AI agents is as follows: 
•  No Gen AI use at any point during this assessment.

Word Count: The word count allows a +/- 10% variation and is considered from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the conclusion. It excludes the cover page and reference list. It includes in-text references and direct quotations.

This task will be assessed according to the extent to which it demonstrates:

• Evidence of appropriate markers incorporated into the task (themes, messages, literary and/or filmic elements and techniques)
• A coherent reflection with analysis and evaluation of the literary and/or filmic elements and techniques incorporated in the task.
• Effective use of a range of academic sources to support the literary and/or filmic elements and techniques incorporated in the task (minimum of 3 credible scholarly sources)
• Clear and effective expression, writing with correct grammar, spelling and punctuation
• Appropriate acknowledgment all sources using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style

Length: 2000 words (+/- 10%)

You may select any two (2) films/plays from the Text List for this assessment. Note: The films/plays you select for this assessment cannot be those used for Assessments 1 or 2.

This assessment will allow you to pull together all the skills you have learned this term in exploring a topic of interest to you in relation to Shakespeare Today.

Task Description
 
Referring to the analysis and essay writing resources provided, write an essay on one (1) of the following topics. You should compare and contrast the films/plays alongside contemporary issues and how they impact on the reading of the film/play in your response.

1. In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech rock songwriter, Bob Dylan, identified with Shakespeare not as writer of "great literature" but as a popular artist primarily concerned with putting on a hit show. As Dylan puts it: 'I would reckon he thought of himself as a dramatist. The thought that he was writing literature couldn't have entered his head. His words were written for the stage.' Use Dylan's speech and any relevant media documents, articles, songs, plus a selection of Shakespeare plays, poems and criticism to write a personal essay on the significance of these influential figures of western culture.
2. In an episode of Rake (ABC TV) Cleaver Green attends a Sydney Theatre Company production of The Tempest, and after the show, drunkenly berates the director about liberties taken with the original play. [Transcript on Moodle] Putting aside his obnoxious behaviour, is there any validity to the criticism? When is Shakespeare no longer Shakespeare?  In exploring this "Ship of Theseus" style paradox, consider films such as 10 things I hate about you and She's the man in conjunction with the original plays the films are based on.
3. Without simply accusing Shakespeare of bigotry (which is anachronistic, too easy, and pointless) discuss the ways in which a selection of his plays explore and unconsciously express issues of identity and social reality (class, race, gender, and sexuality, etc.). Compare and contrast the norms and values of Elizabethan society with western 21st Century preoccupations and practices. Discuss with reference to at least two [2] of Shakespeare's plays and their filmic renderings.
4. Develop an argument on the ongoing cultural relevance of Shakespeare by comparing and contrasting at least two recent popular media texts (for example, All is True and Upstart Crow). How are excerpts and quotations from the original plays appropriated, recoded and otherwise formally and semantically transformed for contemporary audiences.  Discuss with reference to at least two (2) of Shakespeare's plays and at least four [4] scholarly secondary sources.
5. In explaining how Shakespeare "invented the human", Harold Bloom (1998, p. xvii) asserts that his characters 'reconceive themselves... because they overhear themselves talking, whether to themselves or to others. Self-overhearing is their royal road to individuation...' How does Bloom's view relate to other theories of modern human identity or subjectivity (including your own sense of self)?  Develop an argument referring to least three [3] plays with a focus on soliloquies, asides and other passages relevant to the issues. 
6. In the 'Seven ages of man' speech from As You Like it, Shakespeare famously asserts that 'All the world's a stage' and everyone has a meaningful part and purpose, even if life must end with death. Conversely in Macbeth, 'Life's just a walking shadow...a tale told by an idiot signifying nothing'. How can these conflicting attitudes be explained or explored? Compare and contrast three [3] plays (or films) considering their genres, characters, meta-theatrical tropes, and broader themes and meanings.

Task guidelines

• Students may consult with the lecturer to create your own essay topic in relation to the Shakespearean films/plays studied in this unit, and discuss with reference to your two selected plays and filmic renderings. Please email the unit coordinator for approval of your topic. Topics must be approved at least one week before the due date for this option.
• The essay must include in-depth analyses of your chosen films/plays as well as references to a range of scholarly sources (minimum of 4).
• You should compare and contrast the plays and the films in your response.
• Please note that all references need to be academic (i.e. peer-reviewed journal articles and/or scholarly books), obtained using academic databases and/or library resources. Wiki and other non-scholarly references from the Internet will not be counted in the minimum requirement.
• You should acknowledge all sources using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style.
• Please refer to the guidelines and examples in the CQU Harvard Referencing Guides below.
• Written submissions should be in 12 point font with 1.5 line spacing.

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Microsoft Copilot, Chat GPT or other Gen AI agents is as follows: 
•  No Gen AI use at any point during this assessment.

Word Count: The word count allows a +/- 10% variation and is considered from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the conclusion. It excludes the cover page and reference list. It includes in-text references and direct quotations.

The assignment will be evaluated on your ability to:

• Develop a convincing and coherent argument in response to the essay question
• Analyse the chosen films/plays, supported by direct textual and film analysis (paraphrases, quotations and descriptions)
• Effectively use of a range of academic sources (minimum of 4 scholarly sources) to support both argument and analysis
• Express yourself clearly and effectively, writing with correct grammar, spelling and punctuation
• Appropriately acknowledge of all sources using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style