Assessing the Value Added by Collaboration

It seems intuitive to state that a great piece of art can only be made better whengreat artists truly collaborate. But is this true? By what metric to we measure the success of such a collaboration? Do we simply add up the box office or aggregate the number of positive reviews versus negative vis-a-vie the infamous Rotten Tomatoes “Tomatoemeter?” Further complicating this question is the issue of artistic dominance or control. Does one artist need to fall into line behind the other or do multiple artists bring their attributes together in equal force to forge a great film?

You have studied multiple films that teamed artists who clearly were strong personalities collaborating to form an equally strong piece; Scorsese and DeNeiro in “Raging Bull”, Nichols, Taylor and Burton in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe”, Coppola and Brando in “Apocalypse Now.” Each film had a different dynamic. Choose one film to focus on and closely examine the working relations of at least one set of collaborators. Next review the critical material that addresses this aspect of the film. If you are looking at say the relationship between the director Mike Nichols and cinematographer Haskell Wexler then zero in on criticism that examines the cinematography and production design of the film. Develop a thesis that presents a strong case for either close egalitarian collaboration on filmmaking or for a single guiding artistic vision lead the process as exemplified in Woody Allen’s work. You may also argue another position as long as it is clearly stated in your thesis, primarily based on a single clear example, and supported by critical evidence as well as some measure of audience response.

• Don’t forget all papers are submitted through Turnitin. All sources must be cited and all quotes MUST be placed in quotation marks or you have plagiarized the source. Please review the NEU academic integrity policy before beginning your paper.
• The paper is to be a minimum of 1500 words; plus+ a separate Works Cited page.
• Three sources beyond your text book and any theatrically released film must be used and cited for each paper.

MLA manuscript format is your guide to how to lay the paper out, and create a Works Cited page. These specifications must be followed. Any deviation from this format and the paper will not be read or graded. Papers will be considered late for every day after the deadline it takes for you to resubmit it in proper format and a full letter grade will be deducted.

The resources at the Harvard Writing Center are extremely valuable tools for creating an essay and comparative analysis. Here is a link to their resource page.

Here is a link to a guide for MLA citations. It is very comprehensive.

Turnitin will detect any use of material published online, previously submitted to this course, or previously submitted to any course sharing the database. If you haven’t placed that material in quotes and cited the source, you are guilty of plagiarism and you will fail this assignment. The odds are astronomical that you would match another source with 15 or more words verbatim in exactly the same order without plagiarizing. If Turnitin detects that a large portion of your submitted material is drawn from existing published material or another student’s submission and you have not placed it in quotes with citations then you will fail the assignment and (after due process) you will also fail the course. Once you have broken the rules absolutely NO EXCUSE will be acceptable. If you look hard enough you’ll find some inadequacy in society that you can use to justify unethical behavior, but look again and you’ll see thousands of people who want the degree they are earning to mean something.

Here’s a summary of key criteria:

• The paper must be a minimum of 1500 words in length.
• 3 sources in addition to your text and any theatrically released film must be cited
• The Works Cited page is separate and does not count as any of the 1500 words required.
• Do not paste large quotes. Use direct quotes only to support a specific point.
• Pay attention to format, or the paper will be sent back un-read.
• This paper IS your final.

Papers submitted in (.doc), (.docx) Any other format will be considered late or unacceptable if I can’t open the file.