How to Read a Film Analysis Essay Assignment
Due: A Day: Thursday, September 24, 2015
Due: B Day, Friday, September 25, 2015
Directions: Use the following guide to write an analysis of a film of your choice. Whenever possible, use specific scenes to provide examples and support your ideas, much like you would use a quote from a novel. Your paper should be typed and you should have the standard minimum of 5 paragraphs.
1. Write your introduction.
a. Your introduction should have a thesis statement, or controlling idea. Here is information adapted from the Holt Textbook (used in other English classes) on analyzing a short story:
i. View your film to get an overall grasp of the story and themes.
ii. Then, decide what you think is unique about the film by doing an analysis. *See ‘Your Analysis’ below
iii. View the film again and analyze how the film (and/or the director) uses the elements of fiction, drama, and cinematography to tell the story and convey the themes.
iv. During your analysis, focus on the dominant or main idea that catches your attention. Decide how this specific idea is developed in the film and make a conclusion about the role of this idea in the story.
v. Then, write a one or two sentence statement declaring this conclusion.
b. Use a “hook”, an opening sentence or paragraph that catches your reader’s attention. For example:
i. Describe a scene, incident, or a bit of dialogue from the film, or
ii. Connect the movie to something happening in society today.
c. Be sure to mention the name of the film in your introduction. Use quotes or italics when referring to the film, i.e. “Stranger Than Fiction” or Stranger Than Fiction.
2. Write the body of your essay:
a. The three (or more) paragraphs after the introduction should explain your thesis statement and/or prove why you are correct in making the statement.
i. Identify three (or more) key reasons that support your thesis statement.
ii. Identify two or three example scenes from the film that demonstrate each key reason. Be as specific and as detailed as possible when describing the scenes from the film.
iii. Explain how each example supports the key reason, and then explain how each key reason supports your thesis statement.
iv. Use one paragraph for each key reason and it’s supporting information, and your examples.
v. Organize your information. Decide in which order your information should be presented to best support your main idea.
1. You can use chronological, or sequential, order, and list the information in the order your examples appear in the film. OR
2. You can put your information in order of importance as it supports your theme. Which key reason provides the strongest support for your theme, which information is most important? Second most important? Etc.
3. Write your Conclusion:
a. Summarize your three (or more) key reasons.
b. Restate your thesis statement, using different words.
c. Make a general statement about the film and its themes and how it connects to and/or relates to society.
4. Do not worry about MLA or APA format for this essay.
Your Analysis of the Film:
Literary Aspects:
1. Characterize the plot/story of the movie. Is it involving, convoluted, simplistic, realistic, unbelievable, highly unlikely, well-structured, unresolved, etc. (Add to this list as you need)
2. How is the plot developed? Identify the exposition, series of complications, and the resolution.
3. What is the setting of the film? Does the setting affect the plot, the characters, or the mood or atmosphere of the story? How?
4. Who are the main characters? Identify the characters’ motivations, interactions with other characters, and how they change and/or grow during the film.
5. Identify the conflict. Is it external or internal? How is the conflict resolved?
6. Identify any usual literary devices used: foreshadowing, irony, metaphor, simile, personification, etc.
7. How would you characterize the dialogue? Do people talk this way in real life? Or, if the film is purposely unrealistic, is the dialogue amusing, poetic, or moving, etc.? How does the dialogue contribute to the plot development and theme?
8. What themes do you see in the movie? What scenes from the movie suggest these themes? (In other words, why did you say you think that is the theme?)
9. What symbols and recurring motifs did you notice?
Dramatic Aspects:
1. Describe the acting. Did you believe the actors were the characters?
2. Describe the sets, costumes, props, and make-up. Are they a significant aspect of the film? How do they contribute to the imagery of the film?
3. Is there any dramatic irony? (When we know things about the plot that the characters don’t know) If so, how does it affect the plot development and theme?
Cinematic Aspects:
1. What did you notice about the film’s cinematography? Did the director use a lot of specialized camera angles (such as a Dutch Tilt, or a ‘zolly’ shot), camera movements, close-up shots, high or low angles, distorted lenses, and/or special effects?
2. What did you notice about the film’s editing? Were there quick cuts, lengthy shots, fade in/fade outs, dissolves, special optical effects like soft focus, or freeze frames?
3. What did you notice about the film’s sound effects and music? What did they add to the overall effect of the movie?
4. How do all the above cinematic aspects work together to tell the plot and convey the themes?
Additional Tips:
Try to avoid making “I” statements. (You should never use ‘I’ in an analytical essay.)
· Instead of “I think Star Trek is a great film that does a remarkable job of reinventing the legendary story”, write “Star Trek is a great film that does a remarkable job of reinventing the legendary story”.
· OR
· Instead of “I recommend The Truman Show for its biting commentary on society’s television addiction”, write “The Truman Show is worth seeing for its biting commentary on society’s television addiction”.
· Simply work on rewording the sentence to remove the “I think”…
Glossary of Film Terms
A. Types of Shots
Long Shot – (a relative term) a shot taken from a sufficient distance to show a landscape, a building, or a large crowd.
Medium Shot – (also relative) a shot between a long shot and a close-up that might show two people in full figure or several people from the waist up.
Close-up – a shot of one face or object that fills the screen completely.
Extreme Close-up – a shot of a small object or part of a face that fills the screen.
B. Camera Angles
High Angle - the camera looks down at what is being photographed.
“Eye Level” - a shot that approximates human vision-a camera presents an object so that the line between camera and object is parallel to the ground.
Low Angle - the camera looks up at what is being photographed.
C. Camera Movement
Pan - the camera moves horizontally on a fixed base.
Tilt - the camera points up or down from a fixed base.
Tracking (Dolly) Shot - the camera moves through space on a wheeled truck (or dolly), but stays in the same plane.
Boom - the camera moves up or down through space.
Zoom - not a camera movement, but a shift in the focal length of the camera lens to give the impression that the camera I getting closer to or farther from an object.
D. Duration of Shots
Shots also vary in time from subliminal (a few frames) to quick (less than a second) to “average” (more than a second but less than a minute) to lengthy (more than a minute).
E. Editing
Cut - the most common type of transition in which one scene ends and a new one immediately begins.
Fade-out/Fade-in - one scene gradually goes dark and the new one gradually emerges from the darkness.
Dissolve - a gradual transition in which the end of one scene is superimposed over the beginning of a new one.
Wipe - an optical effect in which one shot appears to “wipe” the preceding one from the screen. Special wipes include flip wipes, iris wipes, star wipes, etc.
F. Sources of Sound in Film
Voice-over narration, dialogue, sound effects, and soundtrack music (underscoring).