Writing About Film: A Critical Analysis of a Narrative Film How the audience views movies can be dramatically influenced by the tools and techniques which skilled cinematographers, directors, actors, and editors utilize to create movies. Whether through a narrative, documentary or experimental film the goal of filmmakers is usually to entertain the viewers through the storytelling device of visual media. In this assignment, you will be pulling together what you have learned about film forms and the elements involved in filmmaking to write a critical analysis of a narrative film. In essence you will be reviewing a film and analyzing what you see as the larger meaning of the film—is it a social, political, or an ideology that the director is trying to convey? This does not have to be more than it is in terms of context, you can speculate as well. Your papers need to have a clear introduction that informs the reader of what you are doing and why, a body that forms the analysis of the film, and a conclusion.
Before you get started there are several points that you will need to consider when analyzing film. The first is that movies move quickly from one scene to another and recording what you see can be difficult, so be ready to take notes before the movie begins. You should also be prepared to analyze one or two scenes in depth using terms and techniques that have been covered in our text, discussions, and quizzes. You may also need to watch the film more than once, and pausing to take notes would be ideal. When writing about a scene in the movie, you will need to include the elements of filmmaking used to emphasize meaning, and how this technique helps to determine what genre the film falls into. This analysis should be framed in a literary context, rather than from a personal standpoint, although personal responses and opinions matter. Some creative writing is expected here, so feel free to express yourselves so that the reader can visualize what you have viewed.
Questions to consider when doing this analysis: How did the movie make you feel? What did it make you think about? For example, if you were to write about how a horror film made you feel, you might ask why you are scared? Which elements of the film contribute most to your fear? How does the film play with the horror genre to evoke a fear that is fresh and convincing? Did the filmmaker use camera techniques or angles to add to that fear?
Additional questions you may want to consider: Does the film fit into a particular genre? In what way? Does the film fulfill your expectations about that genre or does it seem to work against some of the traditional conventions of the genre? In what way? What conventions of the genre does the movie place the greatest emphasis on? Themes? Characters? Setting? Iconographic imagery? The casting of well-known actors? Which conventions of the genre does the movie underplay or ignore? The format of your paper needs to be as follows: use 1- inch margins, Times New Roman font, 12-pt. Your written review should be 2 pages in length (no less than 500 words) The link provided here gives the general layout of an essay for you to follow. * https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/essay-structure* Choose from the list of films below for this critique or contact your instructor for preapproval of another film that you prefer to watch. • Juno: (2007) Directed by Jason Reitman and written by Cody Diablo • The Royal Tenenbaums: (2001) Directed by Wes Anderson and co-written with Owen Wilson (*Any film by Wes Anderson will work for this assignment) • Goodfellas: (1990) Directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese • The Godfather: (1972) Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and written by Mario Puzo and Coppola. • The Searchers: (1956) Directed by John Ford • Laurence of Arabia: (1962) Directed by David Lean • Star Wars: (1977) Written and directed by George Lucas (*Any of the Star Wars films will work here as well.) • Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: (2017) Written and directed by Martin McDonagh • Funny Girl: (1968) Directed by William Wyler and written by Isobel Lennart
Sources:
Gocsik, K., Barsam, R. and Monahan, D., 2013. Writing about movies. New York, N.Y.: W.W. Norton & Company.
Monahan, D., 2016. Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film. 6th ed. New York.
Writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu. 2021. Essay Structure. https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/essay-structure ( 22 March 2021).