Reflective Narrative
JAPN 310 was a class dedicated to Japanese Cinema, its history, and in in-depth look prominent directors of both the present and the past. In this class I was able to develop a taste for some of the minute details that goes into film making, as well as different styles that helped define many famous directors of the time. Every week we were required to write a two-page minimum reflection about the movie we watched in class. The refection allowed me to reflect upon Japanese history, cinematography, and different cultural aspects. It was also a valuable time to compare how Japanese movies are made vs. modern-day American blockbusters. Aside from the weekly reflection, another valuable portion of the class was group discussions. The group discussions varied from week to week, but each discussion offered a chance to discuss different views and opinions about the previous week's movie. Our final project was an essay in which we were required to create an outline, a research title, and a short explanation of how we aimed to support our thesis. For my essay I chose to write a difference and comparison between three very different, but also very prominent Japanese directors in the post-World War II era. This was my favorite assignment because it allowed me to pool the knowledge I learned in this class into a single assignment. Before taking this class I had little knowledge about Japanese cinema, or cinematography in general. This essay allowed me to see my progression and allowed me to reflect upon what I learned throughout the class.
This class allowed me to strengthen my attention to detail. This is mainly because much of the cinematography that we were required to identify were things that the average person might look over when watching a movie, such as camera angle, character progression, etc. The assignments in this class really tested my knowledge and allowed me to build up a great attention span. Many of the movies we watched were very lengthy, and missing a scene could mean the difference between a good reflection and a bad one. This helped me understand the deeper meanings to be found in each of the movies we watched.
This class allowed me to strengthen my attention to detail. This is mainly because much of the cinematography that we were required to identify were things that the average person might look over when watching a movie, such as camera angle, character progression, etc. The assignments in this class really tested my knowledge and allowed me to build up a great attention span. Many of the movies we watched were very lengthy, and missing a scene could mean the difference between a good reflection and a bad one. This helped me understand the deeper meanings to be found in each of the movies we watched.