Documentary film

The word ‘documentary’ was derived from the French word ‘documentaire’ which means the documentation of any subject in the world. The name of the documentary film was especially given originally by British writer and film director John Grierson in the year 1925 only after watching the second film of Robert Flaherty, ‘Moana’.
In fact the documentary film should totally be based on the actual realities of the subject matter. This type of film should have no elements of imagination and dramatization as in the fiction films.
Writer and director John Ford has opined that a documentary film is the presentation of realities in a creative manner.
In the world history of cinema the first ever documentary film was made (written, edited and directed) by an American film director Robert Flaherty. The first documentary film was named “Nanook of the North” which was first released in Los Angeles in the year 1922 AD.
Nanook was the head of an Eskimo family who lived in the snow-capped mountains of the Hudson Bay of north east Canada. In the year 1919, Robert Flaherty had gone to that location with his wife to spend their holidays. The place had no house, no cultivation, no hotel neither any other facilities. But he found Nanook and his family struggling to live in the very cold and snowy place. Nanook had a very poor condition. He used to prey on walruses, a mammal. He had 4-5 children along with his wife and they kept 7-8 dogs with them. He had a spear and a chopper as his equipment for preying Walruses. The family had a sledge which was pulled by those dogs travelling from one place to another. Nanook used to construct an Igloo with the pieces of snow.
In the year 1919 AD, Flaherty picturized a few scenes of Nanook. Since the equipment were of primitive stage and the camera could be loaded with a very short length of negatives, he took it to Hollywood and whatever he had picturized, edited and kept safely in the years 1920,1921 and 1922 he went to the Hudson Bay again and again to finish the shooting. The footage of the documentary was edited by him and released in USA which was later distributed all over the world. As we know all the shooting equipment was of primitive stage, yet the quality of the film looks no less than a film shot in present time. Till the time of release of ‘Nanook of the north’, almost all films used to be picturized inside artificially constructed studios with tantalizing and twinkling lights and with highly decorated sets. The war films, mythological, social stories, religious and historical films were all picturized inside the studios not only in Hollywood, but also in England, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, etc.
Therefore, the release of ‘Nanook of the North’ made a great effect historically, being the first film to be shot outside the studios, in outdoor locations. ‘Nanook of the North’ in fact, showed a new path to the filmmakers of the world to shoot films outside, which can present more realities of life.
When Flaherty was shooting and editing the film, he did not know his film was made in the genre of documentary films. It was the British writer and director John Grierson who named such a kind of reality based film ‘A documentary Film’, but only after watching Flaherty’s second film ‘Moana’ in the year 1925. After that the making of such documentary films speedily grew in the world.
If cinema is the most powerful, effective and useful media of mass communication, the stream of documentary is definitely the best way of such powerful, effective and useful medium to the people (audience), society and the nation. We can picturize each and every aspect of the society in a documentary film in a real sense. To realize the mental conscious, to educate the people and society giving all kinds of information, the hazards of superstitions, the unequal feeling of class and untouchability, to show the real level of our mental standards and to uplift the thinking of people is very much easy by showing these things in a documentary film.

Not only that, to the five the information of the works of development and construction works, to teach the people regarding the scientific ways of agriculture, health, sanitation or the feeling of nation building is possible making documentary films. It is also useful for preserving our cultural, religious, historical and architectural aspects. We can promote the tourism values by making the documentary films. We have natural prides like higher and higher snow-capped mountains, flora and fauna, hills, arable Terai, beautiful hills, green forests where varieties of birds and animals living inside- we can picturize the properties not only to show and inform our countrymen but to the outer world also in a documentary film. The developments of the industries, education, communication and transport system as well.
In fact, we can make documentary films in almost all subjects existing in the world. It could be made in a very tiny thing to a very huge subject also. Most of the documentary film makers of the world take the following subject to make their documentary films -
• Industries
• Profession
• Tourism
• Scientific developments
• Education
• Sports
• Health
• Agriculture
• Biographical
• War and peace
• Political system
• Art and culture
• Commerce and trade
• Construction and development works
• Nature, wild life
• Important events, incidents, accidents, natural calamities, festive occasions, etc.

Some example of classic documentary films of yester year
• Nanook of the North (1992) - Robert Flaherty, U.S.A.
• Moana (1925)- Robert Flaherty, 1925
• Berlin: Symphony Of A City, 1929- Walter Ruttman, Germany
• The Drifters (1929) – John Grierson, U.K.
• Turksido(1928) – Victor Turim, Russia
• The Earth(1929)- Alexander Dovzenko, Russia
• The General Lime(1929)- Sergei Mikhailovitch Eisentein, Russia
• The People Of Niece(1929) – Jean Vigo, Italy
• Louisiana Story(1946-1948)- Robert Flaherty,U.S.A
• The Glass(1958) – Bert Haanstra, Netherlands(Holland)
• Night And Fog(1955) – Allen Resnais, France
• Hearts And Minds (1974) – Peter Daris, USA
• The Hour Of Furnaces (1968) - Fernando Solanes And Octario Gelino( Argentina)
(Duration: 4 Hours 20 Mins, 11 International Awards Winner)

नेपाली भाषा

एकाइ (क)
नेपाली भाषा

१.१ नेपाली भाषाको संक्षिप्त इतिहास
नेपाली भाषाको इतिहास कस्तो छ ? भन्ने कुरा बुझ्नुभन्दा पहिले भाषा भनेको के हो ? यसको अर्थ र विशेषताका बारेमा संक्षेपमा बुझ्नु जरुरी छ ।
भाषा
भाष् धातुमा अङ्+टाप(आ) प्रत्यय जोडेर बनेको शब्द हो । यसको अर्थ व्यक्त वाणी भन्ने हुन्छ । मानव उच्चारण अवयद्वारा उच्चरित सार्थक ध्वनि भाषा हो । अर्थात् भाषा भनेको मानव उच्चारण अवयव (अङ्ग)द्वारा उच्चरित यादृच्छिक र परम्परित वाक्प्रतीकहरूको व्यवस्था हो, जसले मानव समुदायमा भाषिक सम्प्रेषणको काम गर्दछ ।
भाषाका विशेषता
भाषाका आफ्नै मौलिक विशेषता हुन्छन् । ती मूलभूत विशेषता निम्नलिखित छन्–
१) भाषा यादृच्छिक हुन्छ–
यादृच्छिक भनेको चयनको स्वतन्त्रता हो । कुनै पनि भाषामा कुनै वस्तु वा भावको सोझो वा तर्कपूर्ण सम्बन्ध कुनै शब्दसँग रहेको हुँदैन समाजको इच्छाअनुसार स्वेच्छिक सम्बन्ध हुन्छ । जस्तै– अङ्ग्रेजीमा ग्रेप, नेपालीमा अङ्गुर र बङ्गालीमा दाख शब्दले एउटै फललाई सङ्केत गर्छ ।
२) भाषा वाक्प्रतीकको व्यवस्था हो–
वाक् भनेको बोली हो भने प्रतीक भनेको कुनै वस्तुलाई चिनाउने चिह्न हो । जस्तै ‘पानी’ शब्द आफैमा पानी होइन तर त्योे वास्तविक पानीलाई चिनाउन प्रयोग हुने प्रतीक (चिह्न) मात्र हो । अतः भाषा वाक्प्रतीको व्यवस्था हो ।
३. भाषामा सिर्जनात्मकता हुन्छ –
भाषामा सिर्जनात्मकता भनेको कुनै व्यक्तिले परिचित भाषामा कहिल्यै नसुनेको र नबोलेको नयाँ–नयाँ वाक्य पनि बनाएर प्रयोग गर्न सक्दछ ।
४ भाषा मानवीय र सामाजिक वस्तु हो–
मानवेतर प्राणीले भाषाको प्रयोग गर्न सक्दैनन् अतः भाषा मानवीय वस्तु हो । कुनै पनि व्यक्तिले भाषा सामाजिक सम्पर्कबाट मात्र सिक्छ र समुदायमै प्रयोग गर्छ । यसर्थ भाषा सामाजिक वस्तु हो ।
५ भाषा एउटा व्यवस्था हो–
भाषा आफैमा व्यवस्थित हुन्छ । व्यवस्था भनेको नियमबद्धता हो । भाषामा ध्वनिदेखि वाक्यसम्मका व्यवस्थाको निरन्तरता हुन्छ । भाषिक व्यवस्थामा ध्वनि, व्याकरण, अर्थ र शब्दभण्डारको व्यवस्था हुन्छ ।
नेपाली भाषाको ऐतिहासिक पक्ष
भाषाको उत्पत्ति कहिले भयो भनेर किटान गर्ने कुरामा भाषाविद्हरूबीच मतैक्य पाइदैन । यस सम्बन्धमा लामो बहस चलेपछि फ्रान्सको भाषाविज्ञान परिषद् र जर्मनीका वैयाकरणहरूले अनिर्णित बिषयमा बहस नचलाउने निर्णय समेत गरेका थिए । जे होस् मानव समाजको अस्तित्वको सुरुवातदेखि नै भाषाको सुरु भएको नकार्न नसकिने हुनाले यसको विकासक्रमको खोजी गर्नुपर्ने महसुस गरियो र उन्नाइसौं शताब्दीको सुरुमा संस्कृत र अन्य भाषाको तुलनात्मक अध्ययन थालिएपछि भाषाको वैज्ञानिक अध्ययन सुरु भएको मानिन्छ ।
विश्वमा बोलिने भाषाहरू हाल ४०००–७००० का बीचमा रहेको बताइए तापनि सुरुमा थोरै मात्र भाषा अस्तित्वमा थिए । कालान्तरमा भाषाका विभिन्न परिवारबाट छुट्टिएर धेरै सङ्ख्यामा रहन गएको मानिन्छ । वर्तमान विश्वव्यापीकरणले गर्दा द्विभाषी तथा विविधभाषी हुदै प्रभावी भाषाले कमजोर भाषा लोप हुँदै जाने तथा नयाँ भाषा बन्ने क्रम पनि बढिरहेको पाइन्छ ।
संसारमा अनेकौ भाषा बोलिन्छन् । ती भाषाहरूका बीच भाषिक समानता र  ऐतिहासिक सम्बन्ध रहेको पाइन्छ । यस्ता भाषाहरूको तुलनात्मक अधययन गरेर समान विशेषताका आधारमा भाषाहरूलाई एउटै समूह वा परिवारमा राखेर ती भाषाको माउ भाषा देखाउनु नै पारिवारिक वर्गीकरण हो ।
भाषामा वर्गीकरणका थुप्रै आधारहरू छन्– देशका आधारमा, महादेशका आधारमा, धर्मको आधारमा, काल (समय)का आधारमा, भाषाको संरचना (योगात्मक र अयोगात्मक) आदिका आधारमा वर्गीकरण गर्न सकिन्छ ।
यस्ता थुप्रै आधारहरू भए तापनि तीन मुख्य आधारमा वर्गीकरण गर्ने गरिन्छ–
१) पारिवारिक वा वंशगत वर्गीकरण
२) संरचनात्मक वा आकृतिमूलक वर्गीकरण
३) भौगोलिक वर्गीकरण
उपर्युक्त तीन आधारमध्ये पारिवारिक वर्गीकरणमा भाषिक र स्थानिक समानतालाई आधार मानेर गरिएको वर्गीकरणमा निम्नलिखित दश परिवार छन्–
१) भारोपेली २) द्रविड
३) मलय पोलिनेसियाली ४) ककेसियाली
५) आष्ट्रिक ६) जापान–कोरियाली
७) युराल–अल्टाइकेली ८) चिनियाँ–तिब्बती
९) अमेरिकाली १०) अफ्रिकाली



भारोपेली परिवार र नेपाली भाषा
संसारमा सबैभन्दा बढी भाषिक परिवार भएको भाषा भारोपेली हो । यसको नाम भारतेली र युरोपेलीको सङ्क्षेपीकृत रूपबाट बनेको मानिन्छ । अङ्ग्रेजीमा यसलाई इन्डोयुरोपियन भनिएको पाइन्छ । यस भाषाका वक्ताहरूको मूल थलोका रूपमा मतैव्य पाइदैन । ब्रान्देस्ताइनले यसको आदिमस्थलका रूपमा युराल पर्वतमालादेखि दक्षिणपूर्व अवस्थित किर्गिज मैदानलाई लिएका छन् । उनको मतलाई तुलनात्मक रूपमा अलि प्रामाणिक मानिन्छ । यस परिवारमा पर्ने भाषालाई सतम् र केन्तुम दुई वर्गमा वर्गीकरण गरिएको पाइन्छ । ‘सय’ जनाउने शब्दका सुरुमा ‘स’ ध्वनि हुने भाषालाई सतम् र ‘क’ वा ‘ह’ ध्वनि हुने भाषालाई केन्तुम वर्गमा राखिएको पाइन्छ–
सतम्
केन्तुम्
भाषा
सय सङ्ख्याबोधक शब्द
भाषा
सय सङ्ख्याबोधक शब्द
अवेस्ता
सतम्
ग्रिक
हेक्टोन
संस्कृत
शतम्
ल्याटिन
केन्तुम
प्mारसी
सद्
गोथिक
हुन्द÷सुन्द
रुसी
स्तो
आ.अङ्ग्रेजी
हन्ड्रेड
हिन्दी
सौ
जर्मन
हुन्डर्ट
नेपाली
सय
फ्रेन्च
केन्ट
भारोपेली परिवारका भाषा दुई (सतम् र केन्तुम) वर्गमा रहेका छन् । सतम् वर्गमा अल्बानियाली, आर्मेनियाली बाल्टेली, सलाभेली र आर्य–इरानेली शाखाहरू छन् भने केन्तुम वर्गमा केल्टेली, जर्मनेली, इटालेली, ग्रिसेली र तोखारेली पर्दछन् ।
भारोपेली परिवारको सतम् वर्गअन्तर्गत आर्य–इरानेली शाखाको पनि तीन उपवर्ग छन्– इरानेली, दरद र आर्य । यही आर्य–इरानेलीको आर्य (संस्कृत,प्राकृत, अपभ्रंश र आधुनिक) भाषाबाट नेपाली भाषा जन्मेको पाइन्छ ।
संस्कृत भाषालाई आर्यभाषा भनेर चिनिन्छ । आर्य भाषा संस्कृतको उत्पत्ति इ.पू. १५०० मा भएको मानिन्छ । यसका भाषाको विकास तीन चरणमा भएको पाइन्छ–

History of Nepali Cinema

Cinema halls
Kathmandu talkies (Kathmandu Chalachitra Ghar)
Touring talkies
First movie (in Nepali language) – Satya Harishchandra, 14th September 1951
• Release – 1951
• Starring – Prem, Kanta, Sheela, Sandow, Pariyar
• Director – Sangh Rathi
• Producer – TP Chaurasiya, SP Mookarji
• Banner – Bihar National Movietone

Directed by – D.B. Pariyar
Made in Kolkata
First movie made in Nepal – Aama, 7th October 1964
Produced by the Information Department of the Nepalese Government

Maitighar – first movie made under a private banner (Sumanjali PVT. LTD) in 1966
Starring – Mala Sinha and Chidambar Prasad Lohani
Royal Nepal Film Corporation (Estd. 1971)
Mannko Baadh – first film under RNFC.
• Release date – February 18, 1974
• Starring – Salyan KC, Sushma Shahi, Mina Singh, Jagannath Timilsina, Hari   Prasad Rimal, Subhadra Adhikari, Bhairav Bahadur Thapa, Basundhara Bhusal, Nir Shah, Himalaya Lohani, Gopal Bhutani
• Director – Prakash Thapa
• Cinematographer – Baikuntha Man Maskey
• Story – Shreedhar Khanal
• Script writer – Prakash Thapa
• Dialogue – Pradip Rimal, Laxminath Sharma

Kumari – the first colour film made (1978)
• Release date – February 18, 1978
• Starring – Salyan KC, Chaitya Devi, Gautam Ratna Tuladhar, Keshav Manandhar, Anand Thapa, Laxmi Shrestha, Shaitoremi Singh
• Director – Prem Bahadur Basnet
• Cinematographer – Shyam Mohan Shrestha
• Story – Bijaya Bahadur Malla
• Script writer – Prem Bahadur Basnet
• Dialogue – Pradip Rimal

Basanta Shrestha - choreographer
Paraalko Aago – Pratap Subba, under Devkota films
Jaar -1941
Learning phase for Nepali technicians – (approx. 2021 BS to 2030)

History Syllabus BFS-1st Year

History of Nepal
FS : 313
Full Marks : 100
Pass Marks : 35
Tech. Hrs : 160

Curriculum of the History of Nepal for Bachelor’s of Arts in Film Studies
I Year

A: Political History - Marks : 50
B: Socio-Culture History - Marks : 50
_____________________________________________________________________________

A: Political History
Marks : 50
Course Contents

Units Lect. Hrs

I. A) Background 15
a) What is History ?
b) Origin of Nepal – the Kathmandu valley
c) Antiquity and nomenclature of Nepal
d) Geographical influence on the history of Nepal

B) Early History 15
a) Lumbini
b) Lord Buddha
c) Gopal and Mahishpala dynasties
d) Kirat Dynasty


• Ancient and Medieval Periods 20
• Lichchhavi Rule with special reference to Mandeva, Amsuvarma and Narendradeva.
• Malla Period – trend of political history
• Brief history of Simroangarh and Khasa Malla Kindom
• Short History of Baisis and Chaubisis

• Modern Period ( 1743 – 1850 ) 15
• Unification of Nepal ( 1743 – 1816 )
• Post-Unification Period ( 1816 – 1846 )
• Rana Period ( 1846 – 1950 )

• Recent Period (1951-1990) 15
• Post Democracy Experiment (1951-1960)
• Panchayat System (1960 – 1990 )





B: Socio-Cultural History
Marks : 50
Units Lect. Hrs

• Habitational Sites       15
• Habitational sites of ancient period
• Fortification of the capital towns and suburb areas
• Expansion of towns and urban development
• Comparative study of the palace structures, with special reference to the Malla Palaces and the Rana palaces.

• Social Life 10
• Peoples
• Social Structure
• Family System

• Nepalese Social Habits and Culture 10
• Food and Drink
• Dress and Ornaments
• Manners and Etiquette
• Superstitions beliefs
• Entertainment

VIII. Social Evils: Changes and Reforms 15
• Sati System
• Slavery
• Position of Women
• Caste System and Untouchability
• Marriage system: Polygamy, Polyandry and Widowhood

IX: Socio-Cultural Studies: Fain and Festivals 15
• Syncretic tendency of the Nepalese Society
• Ethnic and Socio-Cultural Features of the Nepalese Society
• Dashain
• Tihar
• Holi
• Teej
• Lohsar
• Chhath
• Rato Machhendra Nath Yatra
• Gaijatra
• Ghatu
• Bisket
X. Seminar :  Student has to present a seminar paper in the class as directed by the
  concerned teacher/advisor. 15
Text Books

• Rishi Kesh Shah, Ancient and Medieval Nepal
• Rishi Kesh Shah, Modern Nepal, 2 Vols
• T.R. Vaidya, Advanced History of Nepal
• Vidya et.al. Social History of Nepal
• Mary Anderson, The festivals of Nepal

Semiotics of Cinema

Generally, in the simole words, the literary meaning of ‘Semiotics’ is the study of signs and symbols and (the study) of their meaning and use pertaining to the art of cinema.
The study of cinema as an art – the study of cinematographic expressiveness – can be conducted according to methods derive from linguistics because cinema is also a specific language.
The ‘language’ indicates language in general viz – English, French, urdu, Japanese etc., that is, the human linguistic capacity – and their “language system” is the social aspect of language, where as “speech” is utterance, the actual practice, of a language system.
When approaching the cinema from the linguistic point of view, it is difficult to avoid shuttling back and forth between two positions” the cinema as a language; the cinema as infinitely different from verbal language. One must not forget their cinema tells us continuous stories; it “says” things that could be conveyed also in the language of words, yet it says them differently. There is reason for the possibility as well as for the necessity of adaptations.
Still photography – a close relative to film, or else some very old and very distant second cousin – was never intended to tell stories- whenever it does, that is imitating the cinema, by deploying the successively that film unfolds in time. Even if the photography wants to tell a story it becomes cinema where two juxtaposed photographs when go from one to two images, is to go from image to language.
The film montage – whether its role is the triumphant one of yesterday or the more modes one of today – and the film narratives – a triumphant now as it was in the part are only the consequences of the current of induction that refuses not to flow whenever two poles are brought, sufficiently close together and occasionally even when they are quite far apart. The cinema is language, above and beyond and particular effect of montage. It is not because the cinema is language that is can tell such fine stories but rather is has become language because it has told such fine stories.
The semiotic of cinema can be conceived of either as a semiotics of connotation [to suggest something in addition to the main means (connoting disapproval or derogatory) an idea suggested or implied by a word in addition to its main meaning]
Any kind of same scene filmed in two different light would produce a different impression and so would be the same technique used on a a different subject.
We know since the observations of theoretician like Bela Balazs, Andre Malraux, Edgar Morin, Jean Mitry and many others that the cinema was not a specific language from its inception. Before becoming the means of expression familiar to us if it was a simple means of mechanical recordain, preserving, and reproducing moving visual spectacles whether of life, of the theatre or even of small mise-en-scene which were specially prepared and which in the final analysis remained theatrical – in short a means of reproduction. Even the pioneers of “cinematographic language” – Milies, Porter, Griffith – could not have cared less about formal research conducted for its own sake; they cared little about the symbolic philosophical or human “message” of their films. But with the fast growth of cinema as a populat art of mass communication, now a days, the basic figures of thhe semiotics of cinema – montage, camera movements, scale of shots, relationship between the image and speech, sequence and the lasrge syntagmatic units (grammar fules) have become the whole same in “small” films and in “big” or as a semiotics of denotation (to be a sign or symbol of something, to indicate something, to mean something).
The study of connotation brings us closer to the notion of the cinema as an art.
The art of cinema is located art: the property aesthetic orderings and constrains – versification ( the art of writing verse), composition, tropes [ a word or phrase used in a way (gfigurative), or metaphor] in the case; framin, camera movements and light “effects” in the second-    served as the connoted instance, which is superimposed over the denoted meaning. In cinema the semiotics of connotation are represented by the meaning of spectacle reproduced in the image, or of the sounds duplicated by the sound track.
As for connotation, which plays a major role in all aesthetic languages, its significance is literary or cinematic “style”, genre (the Epic, the western and, “symbol” (philosophical, humanitarian, ideological, and so on ), or “portic atmosphere” – and its signifier is the whole denotated semiological material, wheter signified or signifying.

SPACE

SPACE
(क्षेत्र, स्थान, एक ठाउँ देखी अर्को ठाउँ सम्मको दुरी, लम्बाइ)

• While composing the cinematography, whatever is composed inside the frame (whatever we can see on the screen) is known as space. Actually, space is limited in cinema and the director has the responsibility to utilize the space to its full capacity.
• When a cinema is made, its space (length or the time period) has a specified place. Whether the cinema is based on a huge novel or a short story – both have its own length or the time limit. When a novelist sits down to write, he has no restrictions to set any time-limit on the story neither does a story writer. He can intensify a small incident into an entire story, but in cinema the length and time of the story must be taken into account as the lengths of a standard movie in the western world and eastern world are 1hr and 30 mins and 2hrs and 30 minutes respectively. Hence the director will have to fit the story in the mentioned time frame. This is called cinematic space.
• When we talk about the space in cinema, it could also be understood as the location where we shoot. Whenever the location for the shoot is selected, the director will have to make sure to have enough space to picturize the scene the way he wants it.
• The space shown while shooting any shot or a scene of a movie has a very important meaning as well as necessity. The director needs to give a lot if importance on determining the space where the shot needs to be taken from the entire set or the location. ECU, BCU, CU, MCU, MS, MLS, LS, ELS etc. show the different spaces in a shot. Their composition or the shot sizes/image sizes have their own meanings and necessities. That is why space is important in filmmaking.

Time

There is a big difference between the original time described in a normal novel or story than the time shown in cinema. The time shown in a story is naturally longer as the duration of daily activities and actions of a person. When we picturize the time in a film, it is necessarily shorter than the real time of life because of the compulsion to describe the story in a shorter period because a story must be told in a fixed duration. Therefore the real time has to be shortened in a film. But the reduced time in cinema is also regarded as real time which is also called the cinematic real time or the plastic time. Moreover, the time shown in the film should resemble with the real time or the natural time. Therefore, the cinematic time is regarded as real time by the audience.
What is important to note is that whenever we show the events which take certain duration in our daily lives, we must picturize those times in a compact, effective, interesting and the most believable way, and the audience must be convinced that the time shown in the film is real time.
In some of the films, the story told could be related to some definite period and some stories might be told related to some ordinary (common), indefinite or uncertain period. For e.g. if we say some definite period, we must understand the time described, like the ‘Rana period’, event of the Lichchhavi period, the reign of Amshuverma or Chandra Sumsher, time of Bhimsen Thapa. We may also point out the year, month or the dates of the events. Similarly when we talk of the uncertain time we can take the events, which may happen at any time.

Stages of Script Writing

Stages of Script Writing

• One Liner – Lining up the main events, giving number in order (घटनाक्रम)
• Treatment– Little developed or elaborated description of the scenes, giving scene numbers to the event.
• Screenplay (film script) – A detailed non-technical drama format where scene numbers, location or set, characters, time, main properties and rough dialogues are mentioned
• Shooting script – shooting script is the blueprint of the film. A detailed technical breakdown (shot division) of the scenes, sequences and each and every shots with polished dialogues, actions, image sizes, camera movements, camera heights, angles, artists, movements, lighting, day, night, morning, evening,  location, sets, properties, sound instructions, makeup, get up, dress and all kinds of requirements well described. Shot No, Scene No

Story

Plot
(Idea, aim, motto, theme, premise, goal)

Single line
Small, short story
Big, lengthy story
Short novel
Big treatise
Drama (short, lengthy)

Structure and Genre

From the starting point of a story till it’s ending point, it has got many elements of ascending, descending and fast moving build ups which is called the ‘structure of the film’. While writing the film script, we divide those different phases into many parts in a planned way.
This kind of planning and division make an ideal structure of a film mainly into three parts which could be shown in the following format.

        Act I (page 1-30)            Act II (page 31-60)             Act III (page 61-90)
      Beginning    Middle End
      Introduction    disturbance, struggle, conflict     pre-climax             resolution

   Inciting Incident Point of No Return

According to the above format of a film script, it is generally written within 120 pages where the Act I (the beginning part) contains 30 pages; Act II (the middle part) contains 60 pages and the Act III (the end part) contains 30 pages. But the duration (time) could be little less or little more than the above mentioned time and pages.
In the beginning part (act I), the characters of the story, place, time, situation and the economic and social background, etc. are introduced whereas in the middle part (act II) contains the introduction of the ‘Antagonist’ and the main problem of the story is inserted into it. As well, in the 2nd part the elements of disturbances, the struggle, inciting incident, conflict and the point of no return are also included. And in the end part (act III) of the structure, ascending and descending points of the conflicts, the crisis, catharsis, pre-climax, climax and resolution are included.
In this type of internationally accepted structure of the film another important subject has got a deep relation; that is; the film genre.
We all know that film making is a work of art and any kind of creative art has got the quality of its own origin, its own features and own qualities. Having such different origin, features and qualities every film looks different than other. Accepting this fact, the international film world has named the different kind of characters of film as ‘Genre’. We can cite few examples of different genres as the epic film, historical film, literary film, science fiction film, horror film, neo-realist film, western film, war film, new wave film, etc.
And the different kinds of film also have their own types of build-up and structure which also have included the traditional pattern of the film structure. Though the different types of genres have their own kind of structure, they are all bound to remain according to the internationally accepted pattern structure of a film regarding the time frame and the construction of the ascending, descending of the events and incidents of its dramatic format.
It is important to note, as the structure of the film allows making the structure little less or little more in terms of the length (duration) of a certain part like Act I, Act II and Act III, the film director is also free to adjust the contemporary and the modern happenings (or, changed situations because of the new and modern development) in the structure of the Genre films as well.
To explain it more clearly, we can change only a little timing of any part of the structure; or, we can adjust and write the 30 pages story either within 28 pages 32 pages even. Likewise, we can bring a little change while presenting the genre film making more timely and contemporary because of the changes brought by the modern scientific or any kind of development appeared in the society, the developed consciousness of the people and understanding their all kinds of situations.
In fact, the film structure and the film genre are co-related, they go together; and one cannot exist without the other.

Surrealism

Surrealism
(अतियथार्थवाद)
Surrealism tries to express what is hidden in the mind by showing objects and events as seen in the dream. It was a movement in French art and literature of the 20th century (and onwards), that aimed at drawing upon the subconscious and escaping the control of reason or any preconceptions.
The surrealist films of the avant-gardists wanted to depict internal moods and status of mind by means of a short of hallucination (रित्तो, loose, wander in the mind).
Halls without lines, uncertain fights of steps, dark and endless corridors in which tragic shadows wander aimlessly. Doors open, curtains billow, hands stretch out and veils float on misty water. These are not intelligible illustrations to a story, but the confused associations arouse by the dark impressions of a sinister tale.

Luis Bunuel (Spanish born director – (1900-1947) creative career – 1932- 1947, 15 years)
He Studied philosophy and literature in Madrid University. He knew English and Spanish language very well. From his early days he was highly interested in surrealist painting and literature. So, he came to Paris to work in the field of surrealism in the year 1923 and became the assistant of Jean Epstein, a follower painter of Salvador Dali, the world famous surrealist painter and writer. Later, Bunuel was associated with Salvador Dali. Bunuel first of all jointly made a film named “Un chien andalou (1928) with Dali, which became highly remarkable. Since Bunuel had a great command in English and Spanish language, the warmer brothers of the U.S.A hired him to work as the translator of the warner’s films to be released in France, Mexico and Spain.
Bunuel’s films in Paris
• L’amour fou
• Marquis de sade
                   Spain
• Tierra sin pan(1933)

Bunuel’s full length surrealist film- L’age D’or (1930), France
He has made some documentary films associating with warner brothers also. After the death of Luis Bunuel the surrealist films have been made in Mexico till 1970 from the 60s.

New wave film

New wave film
(चलचित्रमा नौलो धार, नवधार, नौलो धारा)
Nauvalle vague
(नोभाल् भाग्)
Origin from France after watching neo realism films by:
Alexander Astruc
Auteur theory (in French)(अचियर्स थ्योरी)
Author’s theory (in English) (अथर्स थ्योरी)
Camera – stylo (क्यामरा स्टैलो)
Camera – pen (क्यामरा पेन)
Andre Bezin (अन्द्रे बाजी) – film critic
Cahiers du cinema (film journal)
Claude Chabrol (क्लड स्यब्रोल)
Francis Truffaut (फ्रास्वाँ त्रुफो) – 400 blows (1959)
Allen Resnais (एलेन रेने) – Hiroshima, Mon amour (1959)
Jean Luc Godard (जँ ल्युक गोदार्ड) – Breathless (1959)

Suitable characters were casted in these films
Studios were not used. Real locations were used as far as possible.
No extravagant lights or sounds.
Grammar has been breached.
Continuity, screen direction, rule of third, etc. were not used.
Jump editing was used. Yet no jerk was felt.
Hand held shots, small crew members, small equipment

Neo-realism

Neo-realism in cinema
(चलचित्रमा नवयथार्थवाद)

Ceazar Zavattini – key theoretician of neo-realism
Vittorio De-sica – Two Dozen Roses (1940)
Luciano Visconti – Obsession (1943)
• The earth(1948)

Roberto Rossellini – Rome: open city (1945)
Paisa (1946)
Germany: year zero (1947)
Questions:
Why is neo-realism totally different than other kind of film?
OR

What are the qualities and features of Neo-realism in a cinema?
• The neo-realist film makers did not use the experienced, trained and famous film artists in their films. Rather they used new people to play the characters choosing from the same locality where the story belonged
• Most films were made post WWII to show the economic condition of European countries especially Italy.
• They did not picturize their films using artificially constructed film studios; instead they shot their films outdoors, in real locations where the incidents had taken place.
• They did not use the tantalizing and twinkling lights as in the commercial films. Rather they used the available or the natural lights
• The Neo-realist film makers did not use the bombastic and literary dialogues. They used simple, colloquial and natural words in their films.
• They used only the soft-volume background music and effects, but not the high sounding one.
• They did not overdramatize their films with artificial conflicts.

Films of Vittorio De – Sica
• Two Dozen Roses(1940)
• Teraza Venerdi (1941)
• Children Look At Us (1943)
• Door To Paradise (1944)
• Shoe Shine (1946)  [Script Written By Ceazar Zavattini]
• Bicycle Thief(1949)
• Miracle In Milan (1951)
• In Discretion (1952)
• Umberto-D(1952)
• Station Termini (1953)
De- Sica directed made 18 neo-realist films

Montage theory

Montage theory of Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein
Montage = mounting over shots while editing
   = joining the shots
Montage is a conflict of shots (for Eisenstein)
Montage is a thought process = sensual growth of thought

Conflicts

• Intra – shot conflict (conflict within a shot) :
 Conflict of image size, camera movement, camera height, camera angle, lighting, the dialogues, music, effects, actions of the character(s), duration, screen direction, distance, the nature of colour
• Inter – shot conflict (conflict between two shots or among many shots)

The similarity between Russian montage and the modern montage sequence ends, once it has been admitted that both use stings of rapidly following shots.  The modern montage sequence, as most commonly used is merely a conventional way of presenting a series of facts which are necessary to the story but which have little emotional significance, do not merit detailed treatment.
Montage was used by early Russian directors as a synonym for ‘creative editing’ as is still used in France to denote simply ‘cutting’. The term montage sequence as used in British and American  studios means something more specific and limited; it refers to the quick impressionistic sequence of disconnected images, usually linked by dissolves, superimpositions or wipes and used to convey passage of time (lapse of time), change of place or any other sense of transition.
But for Eisenstein, the story merely provides a convenient structure upon which to build on exposition of ideas; to him, it is the conclusions and distractions which can be drawn from the actual events which are of first interest.

According to S.M. Eisenstein there are five kinds of montage -
• Metric Montage – montage according to the length of the shot, tension could be added and reduced by adding and reducing the length of the shot with mathematical work. Measured with metres.
• Rhythmic Montage – movement in the rhythms of the shot. In this montage feeling is important. गतीशील, छन्दात्मक, लयात्मक, पीडा, वेदना र कष्ट। Character अथवा पात्रले बन्दूक तर्स्याउनु ठुलो कुरा होइन – तर त्यसबाट उत्पन्न हुने पारीणाम (कष्टकारक अनुमती, important हुन्छ).
• Tonal Montage – structure of a tone in a shot. Black, white, red, faded (घुर्मैलो), brown, dark, light; clear (सङ्लो), etc.
• Over tonal Montage – overtones of music to create a feeling. It is the 4th dimension – no time and no place is of importance – to feel something, to understand something, is over tonal montage.
• Intellectual Montage – shots having two opposite meaning or various meanings when joined together, may give a different meaning can be seen with our eyes. But the meaning derived from their fusion can’t be seen. It can only be felt or realised.            For example:
• Peak + bird = sing
• Mouth + baby = cry
• Ear + door = to listen, to spy
• Knife + heart = sorrow, trouble, etc.

Film Theory

What is cinema?
Cinema is a medium of mass communication. It could be seen with a big gathering of people. It is one of the most effective, powerful and popular audio visual form of art. It is not only a form of entertainment but also a form of presenting important information and preserving cultures and traditions. It is the most powerful and effecting way to get a person’s mind to relay information.
SHOT
Whenever the camera is opened and whatever visuals it picturizes till the camera is stopped is called a shot. There is no hard and fast rule regarding the length of a shot. The shot could be of 3 or 5 frames or of 10 to 15 minutes long. A single shot is the smallest unit of a film. When a shot is joined with other shots, it makes a scene. When scenes are joined together they become a sequence and a set of sequence joined together make a complete film.
Shot + shot + shot= scene
Scene + scene + scene = sequence
Sequence + sequence + sequence + a film
Shot Size/ Image Size
There are three main kinds of shots:
1. Long shot (LS) – to establish a scene, environment, situation, position of the character/characters and objects, properties/background, etc.
Types of long shots: Extreme long shot (ELS), Long Shot (LS) and Medium Long Shot (MLS)
2. Mid Shot (MS) – To show the actions and behaviours of the characters.
Types of mid shots: Medium shot (MS) Over the Shoulder (OS) and Over the Shoulder ¾ (OS ¾)
3. Close up (CU) – To show the mood, to show the details, identify the character
Types of Close ups: Extreme Close-Up (ECU), Big Close-Up (BCU), Medium Close-Up (MCU), Close-Up (CU)
The Camera Movements
• Static Shot (St. Shot) (Camera Doesn’t Move)
• Panning Shot/ Pan Shot (Right To Left Or Left To Right)
• Titling Shot (Tilt Shot) (Up To Down Or Down To Up)
• Trolley Shot (Track Shot):
Front to Back
Back to Front
Profile Tracking
Angular Tracking
Vehicle Tracking
Straight and Round Tracking

• Zoom Shot (Zooming Shot) : Variable Focal Length
Zoom In, Zoom Out
• Hand Held Shot
• Focus Shot
• Swish Pan
• Crane Shot: All Kinds Of Movements
• Dolly Shot
• Crab Dolly
• Vinten Dolly
• Spider Dolly
Arial Shot: Helicopters, Planes, Balloons, Drones
Camera Angles
• Frontal Angle
• Back Angle
• Profile Angle
• Semi  Profile Angle
• High Angle ( Above Eye-Level)
• Low Angle
• Top Angle (90֯ Upward From Object)
• Ground Angle
• Normal Angle
• Angular Angle

The Cut
• Continuity cut
• Cut away
• Cut back(to continuity cut)
• Match cut

Continuity in a film
• Physical continuity: looks, position, properties (props), background, location, lighting (day, night, morning, evening, etc.) physical actions, etc.
• Psychological continuity: mood, sometimes a scene cannot be completed in a given time due to various reasons. In such cases, while resuming or re-shooting the scene we need psychological continuity

To Maintain the Continuity

• Continuity sheet
• Camera report
• Dress man’s report
• Make up man’s report
• Hairdresser’s report
• Still photography


Imaginary line (काल्पनिक रेखा)
 Also known as rule of 180֯

Screen direction

(If an actor has entered the frame from left and exited from the right, in the next shot he should enter from the right again to maintain screen direction.)

The use of the clapboard

For shooting:
• To picturize the scene number, shot number and take number
• For negative sorting ( OK and NG)
• For making rushes (dailies, workprint)
• Pilot sound transferring from ¼ magnetic tape to 35 mm magnetic tape
• Assembling shots and scenes in order
Editing purpose
• To identify the shots to find out the “Not Good” shots when needed
• To make the advertising materials (trailers, teasers, etc.)

• Scene number
• Shot number
• Take
• Remarks
• Indoor/outdoor
• Production title
• Day/ night

Terms used for remarks
• POV - point of  view
• SLT - silent
• OV – over voice
• RTK – retake
• INS – in shot

Film Structure

Film Structure

• Beginning
• Introduction
• Inciting incident
• Middle
• Turning point
• Struggle
• Point of no return
• conflict
• End
• Pre climax
• Climax
• Resolution

The Opening
Before writing the story or the script of a film, the subject, place, time, characters and other backgrounds become necessary to be explained. Those necessary elements of introduction are mostly shown to the audience in the beginning of the film. Although some films are started from any point of the film structure, or any incident like the situation before the struggle starts or from the middle of the main conflict, or a film could be started before the antagonist decides to attack the protagonist. Moreover, some of the film directors even start to tell the story almost from the end of the main incident. But, from whatever situation the film starts, the audience must be informed regarding the characters, the place, time and the subject and the total situation of the beginning of the story.
To be particular, the film is mostly started with introducing the characters, place, time and the subject which is called ‘The Opening’ in the cinematic language.
It is suggested that, with whatever situation the film may start, the opening should be simple and calm because the audience does not like to bear the burden of high tension, heavy struggle, big dramas or deep sorrows in the very-very beginning. Such kind of opening of a story degrades the value and the interest in the film.
Nevertheless, ‘the opening’ of film should be very much movable, attractive and interesting to hold the attention of the audience.

The Planting
To make the script move fast in an interesting and to develop it forward, it needs to have different types of incidents and activities. Otherwise the story and script could remain stagnant and boring. To make a plan to include the different types of incidents and actions to move forward, is called ‘the planting’ in a film script.
In the story of a film no incident or activity can happen itself or in an automatic way. In all cases, to take forward the story the film actors (characters) should have to go into action themselves actively. For this, the basic background of the characters like the spendthrift, greedy, savage, foolish, dull, neat and clean, gentle, brilliant, optimist, pessimist, attractive, repulsive, dauntless, timid, etc. their action and behaviours could be based in their own habits, thinking ability, intention or goal, etc.
When the screenplay writer plans and manages to include the incident according to the background of the different characters to move forward the story is called ‘the planting’. No writer can develop further the script without planting the above dramatic characters. Therefore, ‘the planting’ has an important role while writing the film script.
But it is necessary that the writer must select and pant the actions of the characters making the incidents only suitable, believable and helpful to the main goal of the story.

Inciting Incident
Whenever the protagonist is busy to reach his goal and working in a peaceful manner, the antagonist enters in the field having his own goal and disturbs the protagonist. But the protagonist continues his work trying peacefully to convince the antagonist. When the protagonist simply denies the antagonist’s proposal or does not agree to stop his works, the antagonist tries to make the protagonist strongly excited and angry or is inflicted pain which makes him totally annoyed and is pinched to become totally disturbed.
In such condition the protagonist could be very much disturbed and his works start destroying. Such acts of the antagonist are considered to be the ‘Inciting Incident’. Then the story turns to a new point as the protagonist is compelled to start taking action to the antagonist because he does not want to leave his goal. This kind of ‘Inciting Incident’ makes the script interesting because it starts a strong conflict in the film.
But for the script writers it is very important to note that the element of ‘Inciting Incident’ should be used in the beginning of the structure of the film, i.e. at least till the length of the script reaches 30 minutes in the beginning or till the end of the film or around the pre-climax and the climax of the structure.
In fact it is advisable that the elements of ‘Inciting Incident” should be kept after the starting of the disturbances or ‘inflicted pain’ by the antagonist. It could be used within the middle act (act II) within the 60 minutes of the film structure, or, in the beginning of Act II.
 The Deepening
Most of the films made in the world are basically based on the story of human relationships or the relation of a person with other people of the society and nation. Those types of relations carry the affection, love and the envy, hatred, revenge and related kind of subjects.
In any kind of cinema the things are not at all presented in the same manner, they bear the quality of different expressions

CONFLICT
The story has been considered as the main element of all films and it definitely has always a goal of itself. To fulfil and to justify the goal of a story, one or more characters are created in it. The main character called the ‘protagonist’ starts working in the beginning peacefully and positively to achieve the goal.
It is important to note that in a society, every person may not have the same kind of working style, same kind of thinking and same kind of desire and goal in his life. Some people may have negative type of thinking and attitude too.
Such kind of negative character called ‘antagonist’ starts disturbing and opposing the good deeds of the ‘protagonist’.
The protagonist tries his best to continue his work as usual even though he is disturbed. He peacefully tries to justify and continue the antagonist. Still the antagonist does not stop disturbing; rather he inflicts pain to the protagonist increasing the ways of disturbances. As the pain is inflicted to the protagonist, the situation of ‘conflict’ is created in the scene.
There are two types of conflict- Internal conflict and External (outer) conflict. The dilemma which arises inside the heart and mind of the character is supposed to be the internal conflict whereas the origin of fighting physically is taken as the External conflict or outer conflict.
In the absence of conflict, the script cannot move further. Therefore the situation of conflict has a big importance while writing a script.

Film genre

Film genre

• Epic
• Fables (दन्त्यकथा), folk stories (लोककथा), hearsay (जनश्रुती)
• Historical film
• Literary film
• Comedy films (silent before 1927)
• Comedy films ( with sound after 1927)
• Science fiction
• Gangster films
• Horror, thriller, suspense, murder mystery films (Alfred Hitchcock, U.K. and Claude Chabrol, France)
• Western films – John Ford, USA
• Famous artists of western films – John Wayne, Charlton Heston, Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Randolph Scott, Joel Makia, Clint Eastwood
• Other western directors – Howard Hax, Budd Bewitcher, Anthony Man, Raol Walsh, Fritz Lang, Nicholas Ray, Arthur Penn, Sam pekinpa, etc.
• The famous NINE western films that John Ford picturized in a single location in different years; at monument valley, located between Arizona, Utah and California:
• The iron horse (silent)
• Stage coach (1939)
• My darling clementine (1946)
• Fort Apache (1948)
• She wore a yellow ribbon (1949)
• Reo Grande (1950)
• The searchers (1956)
• The man who shot Liberty Valance (1962)
• Chien Autumn (1964)
• Some famous John Ford films :
• Straight shooting( silent)
• Three bad men (silent)
• Drums along the Mohawk (1939)
• Three godfathers ( 1948)
• Wagon masters (1950)
• The horse soldiers (1959)
• Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
• Two road together (1961)
• Training films
• Newsreels
• Documentary films
• War films
• Cartoon/ animation films
• Adventure films
• Intellectual films
• Traditional films (commercial films)
• Ad films
• Underground films
• ISM – Oriented films
• Idealism (आदर्शवाद)
• Naturalism (प्रकृतिवाद)
• Realism (यथार्थवाद)
• Neo – realism (नवयथार्थवाद)
• Surrealism (अतियथार्थवाद)
• Shadowism (छायाँवाद)
• Expressionism (अभिव्यक्तिवाद)
• Impressionism (प्रभाववाद)
• Deconstruction (विनिर्माणवाद)
• Alienationism
• New wave (नौलोधारा, नवधार)
• Materialism of S.M. Eisenstein

Film as an Art

Film is a medium of art. It is the combination of literature, art and science. But is quite interesting to note that cinema was born only after all the other art forms had already existed in the world. Therefore, cinema has borrowed elements from all the existing art forms, hence called the borrowed art. Some borrowed art forms from other media:

• Painting – colours, sketches and lines, composition, framing, perspective and depth
• Literature – the art of writing words, dialogues, language, similes, metaphors, different isms (वादहरु), psychology and philosophy, etc.
• Drama – acting, mime, pantomime, different backdrops, set design, physical actions and behaviour, limitations of space and sets, delivery of dialogues, lighting, patterns, etc.
• Music – singing, dancing, background music, musical notes and effects, rhythms, etc.
• Architecture – set design, backdrop motifs, texture, etc.
• Science – photography, lighting, processing, printing, intensity controlling, editing, dubbing, sound transferring, animation, mixing, colour correction, projection, exposition or picturizing the visuals, etc.

Elements of Transition

• Fade in: from a dark scene to clear visuals
• Fade out: from a clear visual to a dark scene
• Dissolve: to join the last few frames (3/4/5 frames) of the running shot with the first few frames of the next shot.
• Superimposition: The placement of one thing over another, typically so that both are still evident.
• Bleach in: from a totally white screen to the clear visuals
• Bleach out: from a clear visual to a totally white screen
• Wipe: to remove a visual to immediately next visual
• Freeze: to stop a moving frame
• Focus play: to blur the clear vision, clean vision to blurriness(focus), to be used for flashbacks and flash forwards
• Swish pan: quick camera pan so that the resulting image is badly blurred

Basic Film Theory

The main three elements of communication in cinema:

• Pictorial communication – what the spectator sees on the screen is not the action of the scene as it took place in front of the lens at the moment of shooting, but its optical interpretation as fixed on the final film 

Camera movements, camera angles, height, lights, colours, textures, image sizes, framing and its limits, sceneries, actions of the artists, etc.

• Textual communication (dialogues) – the dialogues or the speech must be economical and be balanced with other elements in the film; that the style employed by the dialogue writers must be light rapid and off hand; to match the quick movements of the actions and the cuts from speaker to speaker.

• Aural communication – sound is the means of giving life to the dead pictures. Sound was born in 1927 with the American film “Jazz singer” directed by A. Scotland (of USA). Before 1927 all films were silent. ( 324 words in the first film with sound)

Background music, effects, dialogues and commentaries (when recorded) are the elements of sound.

Zeroing in on Science Friction

Background » From Physics to Fiction

As a physics major in the 1960s, Goshgarian and a few friends were drawn to their English professor, the late James Hensel, whom he calls “the teacher of all teachers.” Goshgarian named a character in Elixir for Hensel, and another is named for former WPI president Harry P. Storke.

“We were literature geeks in an otherwise science geeky kind of place,” Goshgarian says. “In the afternoon, after classes were out, we would meet up in Jim Hensel’s office to talk about everything from Charles Dickens to Tolstoy to Albert Einstein.” The young Goshgarian put his writing talents to use as an editor of Tech News and the Peddler, and started an offbeat humor magazine called Absolute Zero.

“I was reading science fiction by the pound,” he says. By his sophomore year, Goshgarian knew that he would work with words rather than atoms. “I liked words. I could see them and manipulate them. I could not see atoms, didn’t quite believe in them.” After earning a master’s degree and doctorate in English, he joined the English faculty at Northeastern University.

In the early 1970s Goshgarian’s department head challenged him to create a new elective to boost enrollment. He saw his chance to teach quality science fiction as a reputable literary form. Some 30 years later, his courses are popular and well-respected, although parents occasionally balk, “My child is taking what?” In addition to science fiction, Goshgarian teaches a detective fiction class and has developed courses in horror fiction and modern bestsellers. He also offers a graduate-level creative writing seminar.

Required reading for Goshgarian’s classes ranges from Edgar Allen Poe to Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clark and Dean Koontz. A centerpiece of the science fiction curriculum is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Discussions are supplemented with movies and guest speakers, which have included best-selling authors Stephen King, Tess Gerritsen, Robert B. Parker and Michael Palmer.

Goshgarian wants his writing students to learn “the ability to look at another person’s writing the way a carpenter looks at a house–to study the architecture of it, the freshness of the language, the narrative thrust that keeps the story going. And to see that the bones have flesh on them, that you have characters who are interesting and aren’t cardboard cut-outs.

“My goal is to make them better readers, too. That’s the secret of good writing. We do a lot of close reading. That’s what Jim Hensel taught me, way back at Worcester Tech.”

The Penalty of Death

– H.L. Mencken

Analysis

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At last, a writer who fully understands that all society wants from the justice system is “a healthy letting off of steam” (Mencken). In his satirical essay The Penalty of Death, H.L. Mencken, through use of humor, exaggeration, and mocking euphemisms and anecdotes, satires America’s use of capital punishment. His essay attacks in particular the purpose of the death penalty and the public’s light treatment of “hanging a man (or frying or gassing him)” (Mencken). Mencken’s informal essay is persuasive in the sense that it is satire and uses irony to support his thesis.

Should The Penalty of Death be taken literally, the thesis would explicitly be: “What I contend is that one of the prime objects of all judicial punishments is to afford the same grateful relief (a) to the immediate victims of the criminal punished, and (b) to the general body of moral and timorous men” (Mencken). As a satire however, Mencken ridicules this statement as he supports it, and therefore his thesis is implicit, expressing his criticism of the American treatment of the death penalty. Mencken speaks satirically in the essay as an upstanding citizen patriotically supporting his country’s justice system while, also patriotically, offering helpful suggestions to improve it. The syntax is kept simple and many colloquialisms and clichés are used to give the speaker a personal, conversational voice. Mencken writes mainly for the pro-death penalty audience, as this “patriotic” perspective is exaggerated to the point where it mocks these advocates. This tone is achieved through exaggeration, such as the first “argument against capital punishment” that is discussed, saying “that hanging a man…is degrading to those who have to do it and revolting to those who have to witness it” (Mencken). Mencken does not mention the obvious arguments against the death penalty, such as a person’s right to life, instead exaggerating the American priority on a person’s own comfort. Also contributing to the sarcastic, mocking tone is euphemism, such as the repeated use of “katharsis” as a blatant replacement for “revenge”.

The essay is structured at first in a problem-solution form. Mencken wastes no time refuting the two “arguments against capital punishment” that open the essay, and offers his satirical thesis about “grateful relief” as a solution to the problem of the death penalty’s apparent uselessness. The “grateful relief” solution is, of course, ironic; it implies that that absurd goal is the only real reason that American uses the death penalty. Through example, he supports his argument of katharsis until arriving at the issue of a prisoner’s lengthy stay on death row. Here, Mencken’s true intentions start to emerge as he begins sympathize with the condemned criminals. He describes how it is unjust that “a murderer, under the traditional American system, is tortured for what, to him, must seem a whole series of eternities” (Mencken). Now that the criminal is being viewed as human again, the Mencken’s moral argument of whether the death penalty is right becomes apparent. This ends the essay with the message that all people should be treated ethically, which is effective after the completion of four or five paragraphs that claim the death penalty is not ethical. The essay’s abrupt end, without any sort of conclusion, may be jarring to the reader but also ensures that the reader is actively thinking about Mencken’s final message when the essay is put down.

In these final paragraphs, Mencken uses strong imagery such as being “tortured…a whole series of eternities” as an appeal to pathos and ethos, stimulating the reader’s emotions and sense of ethics. While this appeal to pathos closes the essay on a serious note, the rest of the satire appeals mostly to ethos and logos. Logos is present everywhere, particularly in Mencken’s refute of an executioner’s misery and his introduction of katharsis as a reason for the penalty, which he, in sarcasm and irony, supports heavily. As the essay is a satire, ethos is called on in nearly every point Mencken makes, as he suggests “you’re not anything like the people I’m mocking, are you?”

The Penalty of Death is very effective in its delivery of Mencken’s opinions. Mencken’s sense of humor makes it clear from the beginning what he intends to discuss and how he will do it, and his detailed support of his satirical thesis “katharsis” makes his message enjoyable as well as informative. His satirical voice is believable as pro-death penalty American, but his meaning is clearly driven home when the essay, like the life of a doomed prisoner, is ended before its natural close. As Mencken suggests, maybe the judicial system needs a new “healthy letting off of steam”.

A Day in the Life of “Salaryman”

– John Burgess

Background (With the compassion of 2 different stories)

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A slave is a person who works extremely hard under a horrible condition. He also needs to work for a long time but with very limited benefit. In George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London, Orwell says that the dishwasher is a slave. However, is not salary-man in “A Day in the Life of Salary-man” by John Burgess also a slave? Actually, the answer is no. In my opinion, dishwasher is a slave, but salary-man is not.

First of all, their working hours are distinctly different. According to Orwell, George works from seven in the morning until a quarter past nine at night for six days a week. Sometimes he has to go to work on his off day too. Differently, salary-man only works from ten past nine in the morning till seven in the evening for only five days, and he does not need to work on his off days. The lunch break of Salary-man and dishwasher are different too. As George says, “This was our slack time-only relatively slack, however, for we had only ten minutes for lunch, and we never got through it uninterrupted” (Orwell 64). In contrast, salary-man has much more time than dishwasher during the lunch break. The salary-man does more things during this break than the dishwasher does. Over lunch, “they talk of their passion, golf…… At lunch, salary-man sometimes manages to stop into a driving range on the roof of a building near his company……” (Burgess 255). Moreover, salary-man and dishwasher’s lives after work are totally different. For dishwasher, he has nothing to do after work because he has only few hours left and not even enough for sleeping. Nevertheless, the salary-man has a good life after work. He may have been included in a dinner at a nearby restaurant and enjoy his moment.

And the writer thus, compares and tabulates a single day life in the story by giving the following distinct background in the lines that follows.

Di Grasso: A Tale of Odessa

–  Issac Bable

Summary

Because this brief work is a sophisticated commentary on the nature of art as well as “just a story,” it is all the more interesting for the reader to know that it is the last work Isaac Babel published in his lifetime, before he fell victim to Stalinist justice. Although the exact circumstances of Babel’s arrest in 1939 are not known, it is believed that he was charged with espionage, a patently contrived accusation; he was executed in 1941. The Jewish author, whose collections of stories were often reprinted during his lifetime, was “rehabilitated” after the death of Joseph Stalin—and his stories were reprinted again.

“Di Grasso” ostensibly focuses its attention on the Jewish theatrical world of prewar Odessa (about 1908), where one learns that the narrator as a boy of fourteen has recently “come under the sway” of the “tricky” ticket scalper Nick Schwarz and his “enormous silky handle bars.” Without looking further into the relationship between the boy and the older man who is his “boss,” the narrator instead describes (entertainingly) almost the entire action of a very bad play being newly performed by a traveling troupe of Italian actors. In this play, a “city slicker” named Giovanni temporarily lures the daughter of a rich peasant away from her betrothed—a poor shepherd played by the Sicilian actor Di Grasso. Di Grasso pleads with the girl to pray to the Virgin Mary—a huge, garish, wooden statue of whom is on the stage—but to no avail. In the last act, when Giovanni has become insufferably arrogant, Di Grasso suddenly soars across the stage, plunges downward onto Giovanni, bites through his throat, and sucks out the gushing blood—as the curtain falls.

Recognizing a hit when he sees one, Schwarz rushes to the box office, where he will wait all night, first in line to buy at dawn as many tickets as he can afford, for resale. The narrator shortly remarks that everyone in Theater Lane has been made happy by the new hit—except himself.

Now an entirely new story line develops. It seems that the lad has taken his father’s watch without permission and pawned it to Schwarz—who eventually grows very fond of the big gold turnip. Even after the boy pays off the pledge, Schwarz refuses to give back the watch. The boy is in continual despair, imagining his father’s wrath. He suggests that Schwarz and his father have the same character.

Then one night Schwarz and his wife, along with the boy, attend the final performance of the Italian troupe, with Di Grasso playing the shepherd “who is swung aloft by an incomprehensible power.” Schwarz’s wife, a fat and sentimental woman with “fish-like eyes,” is overwhelmed by Di Grasso’s great leap of love. She laments her own loveless life and berates her husband as they walk home from the theater with the boy trailing behind. The boy sobs openly, thinking of his father and the watch. Madam Schwarz hears the sobs and angrily forces her husband to return the watch, which he does, but not without giving the lad a vicious pinch.

The Schwarzes walk on, reach the corner, and disappear. The boy is left alone to experience ultimate happiness; he sees the world at night “frozen in silence and ineffably beautiful.”

Themes and Meanings
At an elementary level of meaning, this story reveals the hidden relationships that may exist between apparently unconnected things and events. The Italian play, with its fantastic Sicilian actor, acts powerfully on the unloved wife of the swindler Nick Schwarz—and the boy and his watch are saved.

The story becomes more interesting when the reader sees that it is precisely the power of art that is significant, rather than merely “a play.” Finally, it is not art in general that is at issue but art of great passion. Here, bad art is “transformed” by a passionate actor. Commenting on Di Grasso’s acting, the narrator insists that the Sicilian, “with every word and gesture,” confirms that there is “more justice in outbursts of noble passion than in all the joyless rules that run the world.”

Such an explicit statement, not all that common in Babel, must be taken seriously. One wonders if “joyless rules” might refer to the Soviet Union of the bleak 1930’s, and if Nick Schwarz, with his handlebar mustaches, is not intended to be seen as a pitiless Stalin figure. In any case, however, such political overtones are not the central focus of the work.

Passion in life, as in art, is a recurring motif in Babel’s writings. Often it is accompanied by violence, as in the present work—which depicts not only the murderous leap of Di Grasso but also the descent of the curtain “full of menace” and the “vicious pinch” exacted by Schwarz. If life is lived fully and passionately, some violence is inevitable.

As art influences or works itself into life (here moving Schwarz’s wife to take pity on the boy), so may life be transformed into art. Thus the boy, dizzy with happiness, sees the ordinary world of the city transformed into ineffable beauty. Here reality, art, and transcendent beauty merge in a remarkable vision. The boy’s epiphany has the character of a future writer’s first glimpse of the world beyond everyday reality (or of the way reality really is if one looks at it right).