CohenA

My Favorite Writing Assignment:

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  The most memorable writing assignment I can recall having to complete came at the end of a course in my undergraduate studies. I had needed to take a 400-level seminar to complete my Women & Gender studies minor and therefore had signed up for Feminist Film Theory. Never before had I studied film theory, and the class was structured around Alfred Hitchcock and some of his most famous films. The final paper for the course was to write an alternate ending for the film //Notorious//. I, knowing that there were film majors in my class, and having never before done an assignment like this, was terrified, yet excited. ======   I had no idea how to write a screenplay, let alone alter Alfred Hitchcock’s work, so I stewed over the assignment for over a week before I began writing. Though we had already watched the film in class I rented it and watched it again from my apartment. I took careful notice to every detail of the film’s final scenes, taking notes on the characters’ interaction, their dialogue, and emotion. Finally, I decided that I would change little about the final scene except for the lead male’s dialogue and his position on the set in the scene. This small change would in turn affect the other characters and give way for a different, but not completely removed ending to the film. I was pleased with the final product I came up with, as it gave the film an alternate ending while still justifying Hitchcock’s work. This assignment was so memorable for me because it allowed me such great freedom, and challenged me to do something I had never done before. Watching the film so closely also allowed me to home in on the practices we had discussed over the course of the semester, and analyze the film with purpose. I think there is also a sense of pride in being given an assignment like this, in which the student gets to essential collaborate with a someone famous, in this case Alfred Hitchcock.