Doubling an introduction to film study and a practical writing guide, this brief text introduces students to film terms and the major film theories, enabling them to write more critically. Examples from newer movies provide a fresh list of references for students introduced to film study and writing films. The author presents several approaches to film analysis and writing about film-auteurs, genres, ideology, kinds of formalism, and national cinemas, and introduces students to a range of film terms and film theories. Recent movies are used to fresh examples. Multiple approaches to writing about film as well as theories about film are given. Please enter here.

Preface

xiii

Note on the Third Edition

xiv

1 Writing about the Movies

1

(15)

Why Write about the Movies?

1

(5)

Your Audience and the Aims of Film Criticism

6

(6)

The Movie Review

7

(2)

The Theoretical Essay

9

(1)

The Critical Essay

10

(2)

Opinion and Evaluation

12

(4)

2 Preparing to Watch and Preparing to Write

16

(18)

Subject Matter and Meaning

20

(1)

Silent Dialogue: Talking Back to the Movies

21

(3)

Taking Notes

24

(6)

Visual Memory and Reflection

30

(4)

3 Film Terms and Topics

34

(44)

Themes

35

(2)

Film and the Other Arts

37

(8)

Narrative

37

(4)

Characters

41

(2)

Point of View

43

(2)

Mise-en-Scene and Realism

45

(9)

Realism

45

(3)

Elements of the Mise-en-Scene

48

(6)

Composition and the Image

54

(15)

The Shot

55

(7)

The Edited Image

62

(7)

Sound

69

(4)

Sample Essay

73

(5)

4 Six Approaches to Writing about Film

78

(28)

Film History

79

(2)

National Cinemas

81

(1)

Genres

82

(2)

Auteurs

84

(2)

Kinds of Formalism

86

(1)

Ideology

87

(3)

Sample Essays

90

(16)

5 Style and Structure in Writing

106

(19)

The Right Words

109

(3)

Concrete Language

109

(1)

Denotation and Connotation

109

(1)

Strong Verbs

110

(1)

Tone

110

(1)

Repetitions and Cliches

111

(1)

Effective Sentences

112

(3)

Economy

112

(1)

Varied Sentence Structures

113

(2)

Coherent Paragraphs

115

(3)

Introductory Paragraphs

118

(2)

Concluding Paragraphs

120

(2)

Grammar, Punctuation, and Proofreading

122

(1)

Checklist for Writing an Effective Essay

122

(3)

6 Researching the Movies

125

(26)

How to Begin Research

128

(2)

The Materials of Research

130

(8)

Primary Sources

130

(2)

Video

130

(1)

Scripts

131

(1)

Secondary Sources: Books, the Internet, Indexes, and Journals

132

(6)

Taking Notes on Secondary Sources

138

(1)

Writing the Paper

139

(2)

Sample Essays

141

(10)

7 Manuscript Form

151

(18)

Manuscript Copy

151

(2)

Last-Minute Corrections

153

(1)

Quotations

154

(2)

Acknowledging Sources

156

(3)

Common Knowledge

159

(1)

Documenting Sources

159

(6)

Notes for Documentation

160

(2)

Works Cited

162

(2)

Notes Supplying Additional Commentary

164

(1)

Common Conventions of Usage

165

(2)

Names

165

(1)

Titles

165

(1)

Foreign Words and Quotation Marks

166

(1)

Sexist Language

167

(1)

Spelling

167

(1)

Last Words

167

(2)

Appendix: Symbols Commonly Used in Marking Papers

169

(2)

Glossary

171

(2)

Works Cited

173

(2)

Credits

175

(2)

Index

177

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.