Respond critically to significant aspects of American Beauty, through close viewing, supported by evidence

Below is a suggested process to help you to critically respond to each excerpt: • Make notes on the key ideas, significant style elements (for example, cinematography, mise en scène, sound), and the overall structure (such as order of scenes, editing choices, narrative perspective, treatment of time) of the text. • Closely view your selected excerpts. Make detailed notes about the key choices that have been made by the director. Set yourself questions that will allow you to make evaluative interpretations and judgements. The following questions may help you: – To what extent is the use of cinematography vital to our understanding of the key idea(s) or issues raised in the text? – How does the role of the narrator contribute to the audience’s understanding of the key idea(s)? – How does the use of sound (both non-diegetic and diegetic) allow us to better understand the issues raised in the text? – To what extent does the style of the text give the audience a better understanding of their own society and the wider world? – How successful is the text in ensuring that the audience gains a better understanding of themselves and the human experience? • Compare the notes you have created on the aspects of both excerpts. • Identify similar (or dissimilar) aspects and suggest reasons for this commonality/difference. • Consider the aspects in relation to each excerpt’s purpose and targeted audience and evaluate their effectiveness. • Ensure your interpretations and judgements include specific references from the excerpts.