how to write a film studies essay a level

A Level Film Studies Example Essays

Quick Reply

Related discussions.

Can I get a philosphy/anthropology degree, for example, with science alevels?
A-level Film Studies Study Group 2023-2024
a level persian
How can I get 30/40 or more in French A-Level Writing?
eduqas a level french film essay structure/phrases/tips
How to write film studies essays at GCSE
English Lit, History and Film Studies A-Levels
english a level help
A Level French Essays
Hi I'm struggling with Spanish essay writing
Any advice on what I should pick?
A level Spanish Writing
Am I able to apply for a good uni? Will I be able to raise my grades?
How do I revise Film Studies?
Weird A-level combination :(
is media a level hard !!!
grow your grades 2023!!!!
University of Salford Film Production Portfolio
A-level French
MML at Cambridge

Posted 1 week ago

Last reply 1 week ago

Posted 2 weeks ago

Last reply 4 weeks ago

Last reply 1 month ago

Last reply 2 months ago

Articles for you

What are Btecs? A quick guide to Btec qualifications

Finding a university place in Ucas Clearing 2024: 10 top tips to help you get ready

Top 10 tips for Ucas Clearing 2024

Bringing business people into the classroom: what students learn from industry professionals

Essay Papers Writing Online

A comprehensive guide to writing a film analysis essay – tips, tricks, and techniques.

Writing a film analysis essay can be a fascinating and rewarding experience for both film enthusiasts and students of cinema. Analyzing a movie allows you to delve into its intricacies, unravel its themes, and dissect its visual and narrative techniques. However, crafting a compelling film analysis essay requires a combination of insight, critical thinking, and effective writing skills.

When approaching a film analysis essay, it is crucial to watch the movie multiple times, taking notes on key scenes, character development, dialogue, and cinematography. Understanding the context in which the film was made and the director’s intentions can provide valuable insights that enrich your analysis.

Furthermore, structuring your essay effectively is essential to presenting your analysis in a coherent and engaging manner. Your introduction should provide a brief overview of the film and its significance, while the body paragraphs should focus on specific aspects of the film, supported by examples and evidence. Finally, your conclusion should summarize your key points and offer a thoughtful reflection on the film’s impact.

Tips for Crafting

When crafting a film analysis essay, it’s important to have a clear structure in mind. Start by choosing a specific film to analyze and watch it multiple times to fully understand its nuances. Take notes while watching to capture important details and moments that you want to analyze further.

Next, develop a thesis statement that will serve as the central argument of your essay. This thesis should be specific and focused, outlining the main points you will discuss in your analysis. Use evidence from the film to support your arguments and provide examples to strengthen your points.

Organize your essay in a logical manner, with an introduction that introduces the film and your thesis, body paragraphs that delve into specific aspects of the film, and a conclusion that summarizes your main points and leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

Make sure to analyze the film’s cinematography, sound design, acting, and themes in detail, providing insights that go beyond a surface-level analysis. Consider the director’s intent, the historical context of the film, and its impact on audiences to provide a comprehensive analysis.

Lastly, don’t forget to revise and edit your essay for clarity, coherence, and grammar. Make sure your analysis is well-supported and your arguments are persuasive. By following these tips, you can craft a compelling film analysis essay that showcases your analytical skills and understanding of cinema.

a Compelling Film

When analyzing a film, it is important to focus on what makes the movie compelling to the audience. Look for key elements such as the storyline, character development, cinematography, and sound design that contribute to the overall impact of the film.

Consider how the film engages the viewers emotionally and intellectually. Does it evoke strong emotions or make the audience think deeply about certain themes or issues?

Pay attention to the performances of the actors and how they bring the characters to life on screen.
Examine the visual style of the film, including the use of colors, lighting, and camera angles to create a mood or convey a message.
Listen to the soundtrack and sound effects to see how they enhance the viewing experience and add layers to the storytelling.

By delving into these aspects of a film, you can uncover deeper meanings and insights that can be woven into your analysis, making for a more compelling and well-rounded essay.

Analysis Essay

When writing a film analysis essay, it is essential to delve deeply into the movie’s themes, characters, plot, and cinematic techniques. Start by watching the film attentively, taking notes on key scenes, dialogues, and visual elements that make an impact on you.

Next, develop a thesis statement that outlines your main argument about the film and how you will support it through your analysis. Organize your essay into sections that focus on different aspects of the film, such as narrative structure, character development, symbolism, and cinematography.

Use specific examples from the film to illustrate your points and analyze how they contribute to the overall story and meaning. Be sure to provide evidence to back up your claims and interpret the film’s themes and messages in a way that supports your argument.

Finally, conclude your essay by summarizing your main points and reiterating your thesis. Consider the film’s impact on the audience, its cultural significance, and its lasting impression. Overall, a well-crafted film analysis essay should showcase your critical thinking skills and offer new insights into the movie’s artistic and narrative elements.

Understand the Film

Before diving into your film analysis essay, it’s crucial to have a deep understanding of the film itself. This means watching the film multiple times to catch all the nuances, themes, and character developments. Take note of the setting, cinematography, sound design, and editing techniques used in the film. Understanding the director’s vision and the message they are trying to convey is key to crafting a compelling analysis.

Plot and Themes

One of the key elements of a film analysis essay is delving into the plot and themes of the movie. Begin your analysis by summarizing the main storyline of the film, including key events and plot twists that shape the narrative. Make sure to highlight any interesting or unique elements of the plot that contribute to the overall impact of the film.

Furthermore, explore the underlying themes of the movie and how they are communicated through the storyline, character development, and cinematic techniques. Consider the motifs, symbols, and messages that the director conveys through the film and discuss how they add depth and meaning to the overall viewing experience.

Provide examples from the film to support your analysis of the plot and themes.
Consider how the plot progression and thematic elements contribute to the overall message or central idea of the movie.
Reflect on how the interplay between plot and themes enriches the audience’s understanding and emotional engagement with the film.

Characters and Motivations

One of the key elements of a compelling film analysis essay is a deep understanding of the characters and their motivations. When analyzing a film, pay close attention to how the characters are developed throughout the narrative. Consider how their actions, words, and relationships with other characters reveal their motivations and inner conflicts. Look for subtle nuances in their behavior, dialogue, and body language that provide insight into their personalities.

Identifying the main characters and understanding their motivations is essential for interpreting the film’s themes and messages. Consider how the characters’ goals, desires, fears, and internal struggles drive the plot forward and shape the story’s outcome. Analyzing the characters’ motivations can also help you uncover the underlying themes and messages that the filmmaker is trying to convey.

When discussing the characters in your film analysis essay, be sure to provide specific examples from the film that support your analysis. Quote dialogue, describe key scenes, and analyze the characters’ actions to illustrate your points. By delving deep into the characters and their motivations, you can craft a more nuanced and compelling analysis of the film.

Research and Analysis

Before starting your film analysis essay, conduct thorough research on the movie you are analyzing. Watch the film multiple times, taking detailed notes on key plot points, character development, themes, and symbolism. Additionally, research the background of the film, including the director, actors, production history, and critical reception.

Once you have gathered all necessary information, begin analyzing the film by breaking down its elements. Consider the cinematography, editing, sound design, and performances to understand how these contribute to the overall narrative and emotional impact of the film. Use critical thinking skills to develop insightful interpretations and arguments in your analysis.

Historical Context

When analyzing a film, it is crucial to consider the historical context in which it was created. Understanding the social, cultural, and political climate of the time can provide valuable insights into the themes, messages, and motivations behind the film. Consider researching the time period in which the film was made, including significant events, trends, and movements that may have influenced the filmmakers.

By delving into the historical context, you can gain a deeper appreciation for the film and its relevance to the time in which it was produced. This will also help you contextualize the characters, plot, and overall narrative within the broader historical framework, allowing for a more nuanced and insightful analysis.

How to master the art of writing expository essays and captivate your audience, convenient and reliable source to purchase college essays online, step-by-step guide to crafting a powerful literary analysis essay, unlock success with a comprehensive business research paper example guide, unlock your writing potential with writers college – transform your passion into profession, “unlocking the secrets of academic success – navigating the world of research papers in college”, master the art of sociological expression – elevate your writing skills in sociology.

The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Film Analysis

What this handout is about.

This handout introduces film analysis and and offers strategies and resources for approaching film analysis assignments.

Writing the film analysis essay

Writing a film analysis requires you to consider the composition of the film—the individual parts and choices made that come together to create the finished piece. Film analysis goes beyond the analysis of the film as literature to include camera angles, lighting, set design, sound elements, costume choices, editing, etc. in making an argument. The first step to analyzing the film is to watch it with a plan.

Watching the film

First it’s important to watch the film carefully with a critical eye. Consider why you’ve been assigned to watch a film and write an analysis. How does this activity fit into the course? Why have you been assigned this particular film? What are you looking for in connection to the course content? Let’s practice with this clip from Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958). Here are some tips on how to watch the clip critically, just as you would an entire film:

Give the clip your undivided attention at least once. Pay close attention to details and make observations that might start leading to bigger questions.
Watch the clip a second time. For this viewing, you will want to focus specifically on those elements of film analysis that your class has focused on, so review your course notes. For example, from whose perspective is this clip shot? What choices help convey that perspective? What is the overall tone, theme, or effect of this clip?
Take notes while you watch for the second time. Notes will help you keep track of what you noticed and when, if you include timestamps in your notes. Timestamps are vital for citing scenes from a film!

For more information on watching a film, check out the Learning Center’s handout on watching film analytically . For more resources on researching film, including glossaries of film terms, see UNC Library’s research guide on film & cinema .

Brainstorming ideas

Once you’ve watched the film twice, it’s time to brainstorm some ideas based on your notes. Brainstorming is a major step that helps develop and explore ideas. As you brainstorm, you may want to cluster your ideas around central topics or themes that emerge as you review your notes. Did you ask several questions about color? Were you curious about repeated images? Perhaps these are directions you can pursue.

If you’re writing an argumentative essay, you can use the connections that you develop while brainstorming to draft a thesis statement . Consider the assignment and prompt when formulating a thesis, as well as what kind of evidence you will present to support your claims. Your evidence could be dialogue, sound edits, cinematography decisions, etc. Much of how you make these decisions will depend on the type of film analysis you are conducting, an important decision covered in the next section.

After brainstorming, you can draft an outline of your film analysis using the same strategies that you would for other writing assignments. Here are a few more tips to keep in mind as you prepare for this stage of the assignment:

Make sure you understand the prompt and what you are being asked to do. Remember that this is ultimately an assignment, so your thesis should answer what the prompt asks. Check with your professor if you are unsure.
In most cases, the director’s name is used to talk about the film as a whole, for instance, “Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo .” However, some writers may want to include the names of other persons who helped to create the film, including the actors, the cinematographer, and the sound editor, among others.
When describing a sequence in a film, use the literary present. An example could be, “In Vertigo , Hitchcock employs techniques of observation to dramatize the act of detection.”
Finding a screenplay/script of the movie may be helpful and save you time when compiling citations. But keep in mind that there may be differences between the screenplay and the actual product (and these differences might be a topic of discussion!).
Go beyond describing basic film elements by articulating the significance of these elements in support of your particular position. For example, you may have an interpretation of the striking color green in Vertigo , but you would only mention this if it was relevant to your argument. For more help on using evidence effectively, see the section on “using evidence” in our evidence handout .

Also be sure to avoid confusing the terms shot, scene, and sequence. Remember, a shot ends every time the camera cuts; a scene can be composed of several related shots; and a sequence is a set of related scenes.

Different types of film analysis

As you consider your notes, outline, and general thesis about a film, the majority of your assignment will depend on what type of film analysis you are conducting. This section explores some of the different types of film analyses you may have been assigned to write.

Semiotic analysis

Semiotic analysis is the interpretation of signs and symbols, typically involving metaphors and analogies to both inanimate objects and characters within a film. Because symbols have several meanings, writers often need to determine what a particular symbol means in the film and in a broader cultural or historical context.

For instance, a writer could explore the symbolism of the flowers in Vertigo by connecting the images of them falling apart to the vulnerability of the heroine.

Here are a few other questions to consider for this type of analysis:

What objects or images are repeated throughout the film?
How does the director associate a character with small signs, such as certain colors, clothing, food, or language use?
How does a symbol or object relate to other symbols and objects, that is, what is the relationship between the film’s signs?

Many films are rich with symbolism, and it can be easy to get lost in the details. Remember to bring a semiotic analysis back around to answering the question “So what?” in your thesis.

Narrative analysis

Narrative analysis is an examination of the story elements, including narrative structure, character, and plot. This type of analysis considers the entirety of the film and the story it seeks to tell.

For example, you could take the same object from the previous example—the flowers—which meant one thing in a semiotic analysis, and ask instead about their narrative role. That is, you might analyze how Hitchcock introduces the flowers at the beginning of the film in order to return to them later to draw out the completion of the heroine’s character arc.

To create this type of analysis, you could consider questions like:

How does the film correspond to the Three-Act Structure: Act One: Setup; Act Two: Confrontation; and Act Three: Resolution?
What is the plot of the film? How does this plot differ from the narrative, that is, how the story is told? For example, are events presented out of order and to what effect?
Does the plot revolve around one character? Does the plot revolve around multiple characters? How do these characters develop across the film?

When writing a narrative analysis, take care not to spend too time on summarizing at the expense of your argument. See our handout on summarizing for more tips on making summary serve analysis.

Cultural/historical analysis

One of the most common types of analysis is the examination of a film’s relationship to its broader cultural, historical, or theoretical contexts. Whether films intentionally comment on their context or not, they are always a product of the culture or period in which they were created. By placing the film in a particular context, this type of analysis asks how the film models, challenges, or subverts different types of relations, whether historical, social, or even theoretical.

For example, the clip from Vertigo depicts a man observing a woman without her knowing it. You could examine how this aspect of the film addresses a midcentury social concern about observation, such as the sexual policing of women, or a political one, such as Cold War-era McCarthyism.

A few of the many questions you could ask in this vein include:

How does the film comment on, reinforce, or even critique social and political issues at the time it was released, including questions of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality?
How might a biographical understanding of the film’s creators and their historical moment affect the way you view the film?
How might a specific film theory, such as Queer Theory, Structuralist Theory, or Marxist Film Theory, provide a language or set of terms for articulating the attributes of the film?

Take advantage of class resources to explore possible approaches to cultural/historical film analyses, and find out whether you will be expected to do additional research into the film’s context.

Mise-en-scène analysis

A mise-en-scène analysis attends to how the filmmakers have arranged compositional elements in a film and specifically within a scene or even a single shot. This type of analysis organizes the individual elements of a scene to explore how they come together to produce meaning. You may focus on anything that adds meaning to the formal effect produced by a given scene, including: blocking, lighting, design, color, costume, as well as how these attributes work in conjunction with decisions related to sound, cinematography, and editing. For example, in the clip from Vertigo , a mise-en-scène analysis might ask how numerous elements, from lighting to camera angles, work together to present the viewer with the perspective of Jimmy Stewart’s character.

To conduct this type of analysis, you could ask:

What effects are created in a scene, and what is their purpose?
How does this scene represent the theme of the movie?
How does a scene work to express a broader point to the film’s plot?

This detailed approach to analyzing the formal elements of film can help you come up with concrete evidence for more general film analysis assignments.

Reviewing your draft

Once you have a draft, it’s helpful to get feedback on what you’ve written to see if your analysis holds together and you’ve conveyed your point. You may not necessarily need to find someone who has seen the film! Ask a writing coach, roommate, or family member to read over your draft and share key takeaways from what you have written so far.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Aumont, Jacques, and Michel Marie. 1988. L’analyse Des Films . Paris: Nathan.

Media & Design Center. n.d. “Film and Cinema Research.” UNC University Libraries. Last updated February 10, 2021. https://guides.lib.unc.edu/filmresearch .

Oxford Royale Academy. n.d. “7 Ways to Watch Film.” Oxford Royale Academy. Accessed April 2021. https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/7-ways-watch-films-critically/ .

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Make a Gift

Study Guide - Edward Scissorhands: How to write a Film Analysis Essay & Cinematic Techniques

Characters, Plot, Synopsis &Themes
Quotations & Bibilography
Film Reviews
How to write a Film Analysis Essay & Cinematic Techniques
Film Genres & Film Lighting Terminology, Film QUIZ

How to write a film analysis essay

How to Write a Film Analysis Essay

By Timothy Sexton

how to write a film studies essay a level

Writing a film analysis essay is an assignment that is less likely to terrorize those who fear the idea of writing an essay, because it allows them to write about something most people enjoy. Film analysis is not the same thing as writing a movie review, which involves passively watching a movie. An analysis means you must engage on a level beyond that of storytelling.

Watch the movie. Then watch it again. Take notes during the first viewing and, if you are analyzing a movie that is available on DVD, be ready with your remote control to pause and rewind.

Critically engage the movie so that you can effectively produce a strong essay. Focus on a single thematic concept related to the film. Ideas for essays taking this route could include an analysis of how the film is photographed, how the movie relates a historical event in a dramatic way without compromising the facts or how a single sequence within the film relates to larger cinematic concepts, like overlapping dialogue or the utilization of dramatic irony.

Introduce the film and its major participants, such as the actors and director. Include the name of another technician on the film if your analysis will be focusing on that aspect. For instance, cite the name of the cinematographer if you are going to be writing about the importance of shadows to film noir, or include the name of the composer of the movie’s score if you are writing about the importance of background music to the emotional tone of the film.

Provide a brief overview of the story, but avoid the temptation to pad your word count by writing what amounts to a synopsis of the story rather than analysis. Reveal plots twists or the ending of the film only if they relate directly to your analysis.

Write your film analysis with the movie at hand if this is possible. Write next to a television and DVD player if applicable. Stay inside the theatre for the second or third showing with your notepad ready if this is possible. Writing an effective film analysis is best accomplished if you don’t have to rely on your memory of events, dialogue or cinematic techniques.

Familiarize yourself with technical jargon related to the art of filmmaking. Learn the difference between a cut and a dissolve. Write about subjective camera work if the analysis is dealing with a part of the movie shot from the point of view of one of the characters. Properly utilizing filmmaking terms will strengthen the authority of your essay.

Source: http://classroom.synonym.com/write-film-analysis-essay-4125.html

Cinematic Techniques

Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands Film Analysis

Help with writing a film essay - Linda Rubens

Film Techniques

Film techniques is the term used to describe the ways that meaning is created in film.

Camera Shots

A camera shot is the amount of space that is seen in one shot or frame. Camera shots are used to demonstrate different aspects of a film's setting, characters and themes. As a result, camera shots are very important in shaping meaning in a film. Reviewing the examples on the right hand side of this page should make the different camera shots clearer.

An extreme long shot ( animation on right ) contains a large amount of landscape. It is often used at the beginning of a scene or a film to establish general location (setting). This is also known as an establishing shot.

A long shot ( animation on right ) contains landscape but gives the viewer a more specific idea of setting. A long shot may show the viewers the building where the action will take place.

A full shot ( animation on right ) contains a complete view of the characters . From this shot, viewers can take in the costumes of characters and may also help to demonstrate the relationships between characters. For more information on costumes and acting refer to Chapter 4.

A mid shot ( animation on right ) contains the characters or a character from the waist up . From this shot, viewers can see the characters' faces more clearly as well as their interaction with other characters. This is also known as a social shot

A close-up ( animation on right ) contains just one character's face . This enables viewers to understand the actor's emotions and also allows them to feel empathy for the character. This is also known as a personal shot.

An extreme close-up ( animation on right ) contains one part of a character's face or other object. This technique is quite common in horror films, particularly the example above. This type of shot creates an intense mood and provides interaction between the audience and the viewer.

When analysing a film you should always think about the different camera shots and why they are being used. The next time that you are at the cinema or watching television see what camera shots are being used.

Important: These camera shots are used in all forms of visual texts including postcards, posters and print advertisements.

Camera angles

It is important that you do not confuse camera angles and camera shots. Camera shots are used to demonstrate different aspects of setting, themes and characters. Camera angles are used to position the viewer so that they can understand the relationships between the characters. These are very important for shaping meaning in film as well as in other visual texts.

The following examples will help you to understand the differences between the different camera angles

A bird's eye angle ( animation on right ) is an angle that looks directly down upon a scene . This angle is often used as an establishing angle, along with an extreme long shot, to establish setting.

A high angle ( animation on right ) is a camera angle that looks down upon a subject . A character shot with a high angle will look vulnerable or small. These angles are often used to demonstrate to the audience a perspective of a particular character. The example above demonstrates to us the perspective or point of view of a vampire. As a viewer we can understand that the vampire feels powerful.

An eye-level angle ( animation on right ) puts the audience on an equal footing with the character/s . This is the most commonly used angle in most films as it allows the viewers to feel comfortable with the characters.

A low angle ( animation on right ) is a camera angle that looks up at a character . This is the opposite of a high angle and makes a character look more powerful. This can make the audience feel vulnerable and small by looking up at the character. This can help the responder feel empathy if they are viewing the frame from another character's point of view.

As with camera shots, you will be able to see many examples of camera angles in any film or visual text that you view. The next time that you watch television or see a film, take note of the camera angles and think of how they affect your perception (idea) of different characters.

Another camera angle that you might come across is a Dutch angle.

A Dutch angle ( animation on right ) is used to demonstrate the confusion of a character. The example above should disorientate you.

Camera movement

Composers of films also use camera movement to shape meaning. The following are some examples of common camera movements and how they can be used to shape meaning in films.

A crane shot ( animation on right ) is often used by composers of films to signify the end of a film or scene. The effect is achieved by the camera being put on a crane that can move upwards

A tracking shot and a dolly shot ( animation on right ) have the same effect. A tracking shot moves on tracks and a dolly shot is mounted on a trolley to achieve the effect in the example above. This camera movement is used in a number of ways but is most commonly used to explore a room such as a restaurant. By using a tracking shot or a dolly shot the composer of a film gives the viewer a detailed tour of a situation. It can also be used to follow a character.

Panning ( animation on right ) is used to give the viewer a panoramic view of a set or setting. This can be used to establish a scene

An Evangelion shot ( animation on right ) is derived from the popular anime series 'Neon Genesis Evangelion'. This camera movement begins as an extreme close-up and zooms out abruptly, creating a blurring effect to emphasise the speed and size of the object

Lighting is a very important aspect for shaping meaning in films. What kind of atmosphere is created in a room lit by candles? Have you ever heard of mood lighting? A room that is brightly lit by neon lights might seem to be sterile or a shadowy room might be eerie or scary. The lighting technicians in a film crew have the task of creating lighting to suit the mood and atmosphere of each scene in a film.

Consider the animations Lighting example one, Lighting example two, Lighting example three and think about what type of atmosphere is created in each.

For each example, do you think the lighting suits the characters in the frames? For instance, in Example Three the two people are very happy and the scene is lit brightly. What would be the effect on the atmosphere if the lighting were dark and shadowy, similar to Example Two?

Remember that lighting is used in still image visual texts as well as in films.

Cinematography

Cinematography is the combination of the techniques described in this chapter. This includes camera shots, camera angles, camera movement and lighting. Use the term cinematography to group all of these together, for example, 'The cinematography in that film was exceptional.'

Mise en Scene

Mise en scene refers to all the objects and characters in a particular frame. More specifically, it refers to the composition of the frame. When you use the term mise en scene, you are discussing where the composer or director has placed all the elements of the scene within the frame.

Source : Information taken from educational website - www.skwirkcom

NB: If you are a subscriber please use your log in for more information and resources

<< Previous: Film Reviews
Next: Film Genres & Film Lighting Terminology, Film QUIZ >>
Last Updated: Mar 17, 2023 12:25 PM
URL: https://libguides.stalbanssc.vic.edu.au/edward-scissorhands

Sample Dissertations

Sample Dissertations | University Dissertations | Dissertation Examples

How to Write a Film Studies Essay

Films are designed to be heard and seen, to appeal to our aural and visual senses. Just like any art form, films are also designed to be understood and felt, to appeal to our minds and emotions. The best measure of a film’s credibility is determined through assessing the elements that comprise the whole process. This is achieved through a film study, this post discusses how to write a film studies essay.

Film study essays require more work than movie reviews. This is because they entail that you engage on a level further than storytelling. The essays offer a critical analysis of a complete film. Analyzing a film gives rise to a variety of topics, including the role of propaganda with respect to political and social issues, the influence of cinema on your culture, as well as the emergence of auteur paradigm. The topics are fascinating and they enhance the insight and inspiration of film students. This is a crucial ingredient in the course of writing film studies essays.

The initial step when writing a film studies essay involves narrowing the scope of interest to a specific area. This stage calls for extensive investigation from a wide variety of sources to enhance insight into the area of study. An individual should provide key details and thematic issues under the scope of the study. This enables you to maintain the focus of the film analysis of a scene or sequence that may have escaped the audience’s attention during past viewings. This section also focuses on presenting crucial details on the formalism, genre, historical implications, national background, auteur, and the ideology behind the film. In the course of writing the film analysis, you should pay attention to length, source, and style requirements.

When writing about a specific film, it is always assumed that the targeted audience is familiar with the film under analysis. Such an analysis is always introduced by presenting the major topics of interest while avoiding getting into lengthy details. Special focus should feature while investigating the style and structure of a particular film. This section focuses on the screen events and ignores other outside factors like the historical context, the life history of the director and others. A good film essay should provide the most fascinating and crucial features of the style and structure of the film. Details like sound, lighting, and cinematography contributing to the meaning of the film should also feature.

A good film study essay should also consider the common sequences of form and content. This includes editing, lighting, cinematography, narrative, characterization, thematic concerns and others. This enables the target audience to ascertain how a film diverges or conforms from a genre category. A film study essay writer should consider a film’s historical moment as genre varies with time. At this point, it is important to emphasize the common structures, techniques, and themes associated with the genre of the film. If the genre conforms to expectations, it is necessary to make that acknowledgement.

Analyzing the historical features of a film is an important requirement in writing a film study essay. This approach investigates and positions the unique historical flash of the film’s content, as well as its production or release. You should inquire whether the historical moments /events are depicted in a particular film. Having a historical background enhances the understanding of the narrative or techniques employed in the film. An objective argument should be provided as it will help clarify the film’s place in history. The argument should show how the film relates to the evolutions resulted by technological advancements in the film industry. A film study essay writer should compare the subject matter of specific films to their unique historical moments. A documentation of the reception of a film by a certain audience will come in handy.

Some film studies have theoretical content in their analysis. This form in general requires the writer to have a good comprehension of film history, film technicalities, or film theory. Generally, the essay presents some of the complex and larger structures of the cinema, as well as how the audience understands them. The analysis should center on the national arena,auteur, and the ideology of the film.

An analysis of the national cinema assesses a film through considering each country’s unique mode of studying the cultural implications resulted by these effects. This also helps the audience create the distinction between local and foreign films. It is crucial to determine whether the meaning of the film is changed when a film is observed outside of its culture. After identifying the dominating culture in the film, a cultural research should be carried out to enable a deeper understanding of the themes.

A film’s auteur reflects a director’s individual creative vision and it makes him appear as the film’s author. This is always achieved by a filmmaker who exercises creative management over his works and possesses a strong personal style. Auteur theory is one of the most persistent theoretical forms. This analysis focuses on how directors and other dominant figures like actors and producers employ pervasive themes and styles in their volume of work. Though a director rarely has total control over a film, it is important to establish the degree of influence. This will help to ascertain how the historical circumstances of a film’s production promote or discourage the unity of the director’s work. This section should also show the most distinguishing indicators of the director’s control over the film.

The political and social implications of a film are captured in its ideological analysis. Every film has an objective to pass a particular message to the society. An ample film study essay should have a clear underlying message that the film is trying to pass to the society. An analysis of culture, gender, characterization and other tenets help reveal the main message(s) in the film. Ideology can also be broken down into Hollywood Hegemony (observes how classical film designs distort and dominate people’s perception), class analysis( investigates how economic and social arrangements are represented in and surrounding a film influence and reflect the distribution of social command), feminist analysis ( investigates the level of women representation in front and behind the camera both positively and negatively), race studies( determines how various races have been positively or negatively embodied behind and in front of the camera, post colonial analysis ( from an international perception, how the subjugation and subsequent reemergence of native culture is revealed and represented in a particular film.

Before writing a film studies essay, one should offer a brief overview of the narration. However, care should be taken to avoid coming up with a synopsis of the film’s story as it is more of an analysis. The author should reveal plot complications or the film’s ending only if they relay directly to the analysis. If possible, a writer should write the film analysis with the movie at hand. A sufficient understanding of the films sould be reflected by the writer before embarking on writing the analysis. If the analysis is about a part of the movie shot from the point of view of one of the actors, one should write about the subjective camera task. A proper utilization of a film making terms will strengthen the command of the film studies essay.

How To Write A Good Dissertation

Published by.

Steve Jones

My name is Steve Jones and I’m the creator and administrator of the dissertation topics blog. I’m a senior writer at study-aids.co.uk and hold a BA (hons) Business degree and MBA, I live in Birmingham (just moved here from London), I’m a keen writer, always glued to a book and have an interest in economics theory. View all posts by Steve Jones

4 thoughts on “How to Write a Film Studies Essay”

Good points. Good for me. Can I write a film analysis thesis using phenomenology and hermeneutics but not film theory? Thanks.

Hi, you can write using either but there is more reference material relating to phenomenology.

You have done a great job writing this essay to keep us informed. Please add more

Thanks Lacey – We are always adding new content. Be sure to keep an eye out.

50 Film Analysis

Film analysis, what this handout is about.

This handout provides a brief definition of film analysis compared to literary analysis, provides an introduction to common types of film analysis, and offers strategies and resources for approaching assignments.

What is film analysis, and how does it differ from literary analysis?

Film analysis is the process in which film is analyzed in terms of semiotics, narrative structure, cultural context, and mise-en-scene, among other approaches. If these terms are new to you, don’t worry—they’ll be explained in the next section.

Analyzing film, like analyzing literature (fiction texts, etc.) , is a form of rhetorical analysis—critically analyzing and evaluating discourse, including words, phrases, and images. Having a clear argument and supporting evidence is every bit as critical to film analysis as to other forms of academic writing.

Unlike literature, film incorporates audiovisual elements and therefore introduces a new dimension to analysis. Ultimately, however, analysis of film is not too different. Think of all the things that make up a scene in a film: the actors, the lighting, the angles, the colors. All of these things may be absent in literature, but they are deliberate choices on the part of the director, producer, or screenwriter—as are the words chosen by the author of a work of literature. Furthermore, literature and film incorporate similar elements. They both have plots, characters, dialogue, settings, symbolism, and, just as the elements of literature can be analyzed for their intent and effect, these elements can be analyzed the same way in film.

Different types of film analysis

Listed here are common approaches to film analysis, but this is by no means an exhaustive list, and you may have discussed other approaches in class. As with any other assignment, make sure you understand your professor’s expectations. This guide is best used to understand prompts or, in the case of more open-ended assignments, consider the different ways to analyze film.

Keep in mind that any of the elements of film can be analyzed, oftentimes in tandem. A single film analysis essay may simultaneously include all of the following approaches and more. As Jacques Aumont and Michel Marie propose in Analysis of Film, there is no correct, universal way to write film analysis.

Semiotic analysis

Semiotic analysis is the analysis of meaning behind signs and symbols, typically involving metaphors, analogies, and symbolism.

This doesn’t necessarily need to be something dramatic; think about how you extrapolate information from the smallest signs in your day to day life. For instance, what characteristics can tell you about someone’s personality? Something as simple as someone’s appearance can reveal information about them. Mismatched shoes and bedhead might be a sign of carelessness (or something crazy happened that morning!), while an immaculate dress shirt and tie would suggest that the person is prim and proper. Continuing in that vein:

What might you be able to infer about characters from small hints?
How are these hints (signs) used to construct characters? How do they relate to the relative role of those characters, or the relationships between multiple characters?

Symbols denote concepts (liberty, peace, etc.) and feelings (hate, love, etc.) that they often have nothing to do with. They are used liberally in both literature and film, and finding them uses a similar process. Ask yourself:

In Frozen Elsa’s gloves appear in multiple scenes.
Her gloves are first given to her by her father to restrain her magic. She continues to wear them throughout the coronation scene, before finally, in the Let It Go sequence, she throws them away.

Again, the method of semiotic analysis in film is similar to that of literature. Think about the deeper meaning behind objects or actions.

Elsa’s gloves represent fear of her magic and, by extension, herself. Though she attempts to contain her magic by hiding her hands within gloves and denying part of her identity, she eventually abandons the gloves in a quest for self-acceptance.

Narrative structure analysis

Narrative structure analysis is the analysis of the story elements, including plot structure, character motivations, and theme. Like the dramatic structure of literature (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution), film has what is known as the Three-Act Structure: “Act One: Setup, Act Two: Confrontation, and Act Three: Resolution.” Narrative structure analysis breaks the story of the film into these three elements and might consider questions like:

How does the story follow or deviate from typical structures?
What is the effect of following or deviating from this structure?
What is the theme of the film, and how is that theme constructed?

Consider again the example of Frozen. You can use symbolism and narrative structure in conjunction by placing the symbolic objects/events in the context of the narrative structure. For instance, the first appearance of the gloves is in Act One, while their abandoning takes place in Act Two; thus, the story progresses in such a way that demonstrates Elsa’s personal growth. By the time of Act Three, the Resolution, her aversion to touch (a product of fearing her own magic) is gone, reflecting a theme of self-acceptance.

Contextual analysis

Contextual analysis is analysis of the film as part of a broader context. Think about the culture, time, and place of the film’s creation. What might the film say about the culture that created it? What were/are the social and political concerns of the time period? Or, like researching the author of a novel, you might consider the director, producer, and other people vital to the making of the film. What is the place of this film in the director’s career? Does it align with his usual style of directing, or does it move in a new direction? Other examples of contextual approaches might be analyzing the film in terms of a civil rights or feminist movement.

For example, Frozen is often linked to the LGBTQ social movement. You might agree or disagree with this interpretation, and, using evidence from the film, support your argument.

Some other questions to consider:

How does the meaning of the film change when seen outside of its culture?
What characteristics distinguishes the film as being of its particular culture?

Mise-en-scene analysis

Mise-en-scene analysis is analysis of the arrangement of compositional elements in film—essentially, the analysis of audiovisual elements that most distinctly separate film analysis from literary analysis. Remember that the important part of a mise-en-scene analysis is not just identifying the elements of a scene, but explaining the significance behind them.

What effects are created in a scene, and what is their purpose?
How does the film attempt to achieve its goal by the way it looks, and does it succeed?

Audiovisual elements that can be analyzed include (but are not limited to): props and costumes, setting, lighting, camera angles, frames, special effects, choreography, music, color values, depth, placement of characters, etc. Mise-en-scene is typically the most foreign part of writing film analysis because the other components discussed are common to literary analysis, while mise-en-scene deals with elements unique to film. Using specific film terminology bolsters credibility, but you should also consider your audience. If your essay is meant to be accessible to non-specialist readers, explain what terms mean. The Resources section of this handout has links to sites that describe mise-en-scene elements in detail.

Rewatching the film and creating screen captures (still images) of certain scenes can help with detailed analysis of colors, positioning of actors, placement of objects, etc. Listening to the soundtrack can also be helpful, especially when placed in the context of particular scenes.

Some example questions:

How is the lighting used to construct mood? Does the mood shift at any point during the film, and how is that shift in mood created?
What does the setting say about certain characters? How are props used to reveal aspects of their personality?
What songs were used, and why were they chosen? Are there any messages in the lyrics that pertain to the theme?

Writing the film analysis essay

Writing film analysis is similar to writing literary analysis or any argumentative essay in other disciplines: Consider the assignment and prompts, formulate a thesis (see the Brainstorming Handout and Thesis Statement Handout for help crafting a nuanced argument), compile evidence to prove your thesis, and lay out your argument in the essay. Your evidence may be different from what you are used to. Whereas in the English essay you use textual evidence and quotes, in a film analysis essay, you might also include audiovisual elements to bolster your argument.

When describing a sequence in a film, use the present tense, like you would write in the literary present when describing events of a novel, i.e. not “Elsa took off her gloves,” but “Elsa takes off her gloves.” When quoting dialogue from a film, if between multiple characters, use block quotes: Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented one inch from the left margin. However, conventions are flexible, so ask your professor if you are unsure. It may also help to follow the formatting of the script, if you can find it. For example:

ELSA: But she won’t remember I have powers? KING: It’s for the best.

You do not need to use quotation marks for blocked-off dialogue, but for shorter quotations in the main text, quotation marks should be double quotes (“…”).

Here are some tips for approaching film analysis:

Make sure you understand the prompt and what you are being asked to do. Focus your argument by choosing a specific issue to assess.
Review your materials. Rewatch the film for nuances that you may have missed in the first viewing. With your thesis in mind, take notes as you watch. Finding a screenplay of the movie may be helpful, but keep in mind that there may be differences between the screenplay and the actual product (and these differences might be a topic of discussion!).
Develop a thesis and an outline, organizing your evidence so that it supports your argument. Remember that this is ultimately an assignment—make sure that your thesis answers what the prompt asks, and check with your professor if you are unsure.
Move beyond only describing the audiovisual elements of the film by considering the significance of your evidence. Demonstrate understanding of not just what film elements are, but why and to what effect they are being used. For more help on using your evidence effectively, see ‘Using Evidence In An Argument’ in the Evidence Handout .

New York Film Academy Glossary Movie Outline Glossary Movie Script Database Citation Practices: Film and Television

Works Consulted

We consulted these works while writing the original version of this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find the latest publications on this topic. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial .

Aumont, Jacques, and Michel Marie. L’analyse Des Films. Paris: Nathan, 1988. Print. Pruter, Robin Franson. “Writing About Film.” Writing About Film. DePaul University, 08 Mar. 2004. Web. 01 May 2016.

Film Analysis Copyright © 2020 by Liza Long; Amy Minervini; and Joel Gladd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

Step By Step Guide to Writing an Essay on Film

By Film Threat Staff | December 29, 2021

Writing an essay about a film sounds like a fun assignment to do. As part of the assignment, you get to watch the movie and write an analytical essay about your impressions. However, you will soon find that you’re staring at an empty sheet of paper or computer screen with no idea what to write, how to start writing your essay, or the essential points that need to be covered and analyzed. As an essay writing service proves, watching the movie countless times isn’t all there is to write a film analysis essay. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you with an essay service :

1. Watch the Movie

This is the obvious starting point, but surprisingly many students skip this step. It doesn’t matter if you’ve watched the movie twice before. If you’re asked to write an essay about it, you need to watch it again. Watching the film again allows you to pay more attention to specific elements to help you write an in-depth analysis about it.

Watching the movie is crucial because it helps you not specific parts of the movie that can be used as illustrations and examples in your essay. You’re also going to explore and analyze the movie theme within your structured plan. Some of the critical elements that you have to look out for while watching the movie that may be crucial for your essay are:

Key plot moments
Editing style
Stylistic elements
Scenario execution
Musical elements

2. Introduction

Your introduction will contain essential information about the film, such as the title, release date, director’s name, etc. This familiarizes the reader with the movie’s primary background information. In addition, researching the filmmaker may be crucial for your essay because it may help you discover valuable insights for your film analysis.

The introduction should also mention the movie’s central theme and explain why you think it was made that way.

Do not forget to include your thesis statement, which explains your focus on the movie.

3. Write a Summary

According to an essay writing service providing students help with essays , a movie summary comes after the introduction. It includes the film’s basic premise, but it doesn’t have to reveal too many details about the film. It’s a summary, after all. Write the summary like your readers have not heard about the movie before, so you can mention the most basic plots but assume you have minimal time so you won’t be going into great details.

4. Write Your Analysis

This is the central part of the essay in which you analyze the movie critically and state your impressions about the film. Ensure to support your claims with relevant materials from the movie.

There are also several creative elements in a movie that are connected to make the film a whole. You must pay attention to these elements while watching the movie and analyze them in this part of the essay.

In this, you are looking out for the dialogs, character development, completion of scenes, and logical event sequences in the film to analyze.

Ensure you try to understand the logic behind events in the film and the actor’s motives to explain the scenario better.

The responsibility of different parts of the movie, such as plan selection and scenario execution, falls on the director. So, your analysis here focuses on how the director realized the script compared to his other movies. Understanding the director’s style of directing may be crucial to coming up with a conclusion relevant to your analysis and thesis.

The casting of a film is a significant element to consider in your essay. Without a great actor, the scriptwriter and director can’t bring their ideas to life. So, watch the actor’s acting and determine if they portrayed the character effectively and if their acting aligns with the film’s main idea.

Musical element

A movie’s musical element enhances some of the sceneries or actions in the film and sets the mood. It has a massive impact on the movie, so it’s an essential element to analyze in your essay.

Visual elements

This includes special effects, make-up, costumes, etc., which significantly impact the film. These elements must reflect the film’s atmosphere. It is even more crucial for historical movies since it has to be specific about an era.

Ensure to analyze elements relevant to your thesis statement, so you don’t drift from your main point.

5. Conclusion

In concluding your essay, you have to summarize the primary concepts more convincingly to support your analysis. Finally, you may include a CTA for readers to watch or avoid the movie.

These are the crucial steps to take when writing an essay about a film . Knowing this beforehand prevents you from struggling to start writing after watching the movie.

Is Movie Streaming the Next Step for NFT?

Since a few decades the film and entertainment sector have undergone some drastic transformation. The first ever format to bring movies in the household...

How To Get A New Netflix Series On Your Subscription?

There are also some problems in getting new Netflix series on your subscription because of geo-restriction. If you are not in the USA then you still can't...

Amazing CBD Movies And TV Shows To Enjoy On Weekends

Most avid consumers of CBD attribute their love for it to cinemas and movies. The media always adds a touch of pizzazz to all that has to do with various...

8 Steps to Enjoy a Boring Movie

Sometimes, movies can be boring. Maybe your spouse dragged you to the theatres to watch a romantic comedy that made you fall asleep? Or maybe you went on a...

What Can We Learn from Netflix’s All-Time Top 10 movies?

Our excitement for the weekend never fades, and we begin making plans from the weekdays. Weekdays are too busy to relax and watch Netflix, so the weekends...

Where to Get Your Fill of Fantasy

Reality can be incredible, but nothing beats the feeling of stepping into a new world filled with magic, mystery, and excitement. We all need a break from...

Join our Film Threat Newsletter

All about A level Film Studies – course information

What's a level film studies about.

This course is ideal for students who want to explore how and why films are made. A level Film Studies focuses on the analysis and deconstruction of film over a wide historical time frame. It allows you to engage with films from early silent cinema to 1930s Hollywood films to contemporary and experimental cinema.

Film Studies A level ( from EDUQAS exam board ) involves studying 12 different films. These are separated into set categories, which are; American, British, Independent, Global, Documentary, Experimental and Silent Film. These are analyzed via a number of different study area frameworks, including: film form, meaning and response, context, spectatorship, narrative, ideology, authorship, critical debates and theoretical debates. You work with your peers to debate and pull apart the set film texts and to develop a sophisticated contextual understanding of the world at the time these films were made. Film Studies requires that you develop an inquisitive mind and consider the deeper social, political and economic contexts of those films.

You also explore the work of a wide range of influential film directors, such as Alfred Hitchcock, Spike Lee and the Coen Brothers. Film Studies A level also takes in the forefathers of cinema by evaluating the impact of key pioneers on the film industry including The Lumiere Brothers, DW Griffiths, Charlie Chaplin, and Sergei Eisenstein.

W hat sort of work is involved?

Film Studies A level will introduce you to a wide range of film-making processes so that you develop, through discussion, analysis and debate, a wide range of technical skills for both constructing and deconstructing film. This will give you the ability to develop your own creative skills as you explore these film-making techniques from different times and places. The coursework element allows you to experiment with a variety of film-making technology and film-editing software to develop your creative skills.

You will be expected to think independently and to develop your own 'voice', and you will be expected to expand your knowledge outside of the classroom through reading about and watching film. This is likely to involve going to film festivals and exhibitions. In essence you will need to live and breathe the cinema!

What background do I need?

A passion for a wide range of cinema is essential for success in Film Studies A level but it is not necessary to have studied either Film or Media at GCSE. It is an academic subject and suits students who have flourished in essay-based subjects like English Literature or History. As a rule, students who have achieved a minimum of 5 GCSE’s 9-4 (equivalent to A*-C) will fare better in this subject.

Where can it lead?

A level Film Studies students can go onto study Film, TV or Media at University. Students have the option to study a practical degree, theoretical degree or a combination of the two. This can lead to a very broad range of professions with many students able to develop skills that will enable them to apply for production roles within the Film, TV and Media industries. Some students opt for careers within Journalism and photojournalism.

A good degree in a creative arts subject like Film Studies can also develop a wide range of transferable skills including analysis, visual communication, problem solving, as well as communication, presentation and organizational skills.

One year course?

Due to the range of key film texts that you are required to cover, and the range of theoretical perspectives, it is very hard to take this course in one year and expect to get a good grade. The coursework requirement is particularly difficult to compress.

For the Eduqas board (WJEC) 70% of your mark is assessed through two 150-minute exams at the end of the two-year course. One focuses on American and British Film, whilst the other focuses on global, documentary, silent and experimental film.

Coursework makes up the remaining 30% of the Film Studies A Level. You can choose to create a either short film (4-5 minutes) or produce a screenplay for a short film of between 1600-1800 words. The screenplay must also be accompanied with a digitally photographed storyboard of a 2-minute section of the screenplay. and you must write an evaluation of your production, of between 1600-1800 words.

Article written by Gareth Evans, Director of Studies at DLD College

The data entered on this form will be used only for the purpose of responding to your enquiry. It will not be used for sales/marketing, nor shared with any third party unless required to respond to your query (i.e. with one of our partner colleges).

A level Art
A level Biology
A level Business
A level Chemistry
A level Classical Civilisation
A level Computer science
A level Drama and Theatre
A level Economics
A level English Language
A level English Language and Literature
A level English Literature
A level Film Studies
A level Geography
A level History
A level History of Art
A level Law
A level Maths/Further Maths
A level Media Studies
A level Modern Languages
A level Music
A level Philosophy
A level Physics
A level Politics
A level Psychology
A level Religious Studies
A level Sociology

Return to the list of A level subjects

Interested in studying A level Film Studies?

cife independent sixth form colleges offer:

Traditional A level Film Studies two year A level courses combining independent schools' small class sizes and emphasis on exam success with the student-centred outlook of the best state state sixth-form colleges
Intensive, focussed and effective A level Film Studies one year A level courses
Help starting your revision with Film Studies A level Easter revision courses
All the benefits of small-group teaching, focus on the individual and a more adult environment to help you achieve better results from Film Studies A level resit courses

Further advice articles

FAQs about A-level retakes and options for resitting
Exam remarks - what to do, and when - updated for 2024
Appealing against your A-level or GCSE results in 2024
One year A-levels courses at CIFE colleges
Sixth-form advice articles about university entrance...
Sixth-form advice articles about study skills...
Advice articles about sixth-form choices...

Need any help?

Name (required): Please leave this field empty. Email (required): Phone number: Tell us how we can help: Confirm acceptance of Privacy Policy

Courses at cife colleges

GCSE courses Two-year A level courses Final-year A level courses One-year A level courses A level retake courses University Foundation courses Easter A level & GCSE revision courses

Advice articles

FAQs about retakes Revision UCAS personal statement Tips for a top UCAS application For international students Choosing the right A levels Oxbridge and medicine interviews All advice articles

More about cife FAQ about colleges News Why colleges join cife Useful links Fees at cife colleges Contact us

International
Education Jobs
Schools directory
Resources Education Jobs Schools directory News Search

Pan's Labyrinth essay plan A level Film Studies Eduqas

Subject: Media studies

Age range: 16+

Resource type: Other

Last updated

20 December 2022

Share through email
Share through twitter
Share through linkedin
Share through facebook
Share through pinterest

This is an A4 document which provides a clear structure for students writing essays for 40 mark questions. To be used for Pan’s Labyrinth on the A level Film Studies Eduqas specification. It can also be adapted and modified for other films on the specification.

Tes paid licence How can I reuse this?

Your rating is required to reflect your happiness.

It's good to leave some feedback.

Something went wrong, please try again later.

jacko061286

More of a basic structure that only just goes beyond telling students to write a PEAL.

Empty reply does not make any sense for the end user

Report this resource to let us know if it violates our terms and conditions. Our customer service team will review your report and will be in touch.

Not quite what you were looking for? Search by keyword to find the right resource:

ESSAY SAUCE

FOR STUDENTS : ALL THE INGREDIENTS OF A GOOD ESSAY

How to write a film studies essay

Films are designed to be heard and seen, to appeal to our aural and visual senses. Just like any art form, films are also designed to be understood and felt, to appeal to our minds and emotions.

The best measure of a film’s credibility is determined through assessing the elements that comprise the whole process. This is achieved through a film study.

Learning how to write a film studies essay requires more work than just movie reviews. This is because they entail that you engage on a level further than storytelling. The essays offer a critical analysis of a complete film. Analyzing a film gives rise to a variety of topics, including the role of propaganda with respect to political and social issues, the influence of cinema on your culture, as well as the emergence of auteur paradigm. The topics are fascinating and they enhance the insight and inspiration of film students. This is a crucial ingredient in the course of writing film studies essays .

The initial step when learning how to write a film studies essay involves narrowing the scope of interest to a specific area. This stage calls for extensive investigation from a wide variety of sources to enhance insight into the area of study. An individual should provide key details and thematic issues under the scope of the study. This enables you to maintain the focus of the film analysis of a scene or sequence that may have escaped the audience’s attention during past viewings. This section also focuses on presenting crucial details on the formalism, genre, historical implications, national background, auteur, and the ideology behind the film. In the course of writing the film analysis, you should pay attention to length, source, and style requirements.

Before writing a film study essay , one should offer a brief overview of the narration. However, care should be taken to avoid coming up with a synopsis of the film’s story as it is more of an analysis. The author should reveal plot complications or the film’s ending only if they relay directly to the analysis. If possible, a writer should write the film analysis with the movie at hand. A sufficient understanding of the films sould be reflected by the writer before embarking on writing the analysis. If the analysis is about a part of the movie shot from the point of view of one of the actors, one should write about the subjective camera task. A proper utilization of a film making terms will strengthen the command of the film study essay.

We hope this guide on ‘how to write a film studies essay’ has been helpful.

Free media essays
Free photography and arts essays

How to Write a Film Studies Essay

Learning how to write a film studies essay does not have to be daunting. In fact, a film studies writing assignment provides the opportunity for an assortment of ideas and topics. Students who are undertaking a film studies course can expect to study an array of films, technical aspects, and theories. Specifically, you will be expected to take detailed notes to analyse the unique styles of filming, as well as videography. To ensure that you become skilled at how to write a film studies essay, you will be instructed to produce quite a few critical film reviews. When it comes to this type of essay, it requires attention to detail as well as an objective viewpoint.

Preparing Your Essay

Before you can write a solid film review, you need to first conduct a thorough study of the film prior to viewing. By doing this, you will have the proper mindset, while also having full knowledge of what to expect. Proper research can include a list of the main actors, the directors, the producers, in addition to their most recent projects. This is sure to help you gain efficient prospective of the film. You are now ready to watch the film. Be sure to take notes to remind yourself of key elements to be discussed in the article, while discovering how to write a film studies essay. You can simply jot down things that are noticable and jolt your memory, such as awkward scenes or screen pitch issues.

When you are finding out how to write a film studies essay, Academic Sciences is available to guide you on the type or topic of your research paper. Because we provide skilled advice on writing a paper of this type, you will be able to achieve a more productive grasp of what is expected of you. Students have the option to compose a Critical Analysis essay that centers on analysing a film, and then, integrating its strengths and weaknesses. You may opt to write a film studies essay that discusses how a particular film, especially controversial films, have an individual effect on our culture. On the other hand, you can take the entire film industry to discuss how our everyday lives are affected. This type of film studies essay is called Cultural Impact .

The Propaganda Film Essay focuses on the biasness of a film that is particularly created to alter the public's opinion regarding political figures or matter. In most cases, students discuss the means of which the film attacks the opposing side and whether or not they agree with their tactics. Lastly, to understand how to write a film studies essay, you may be assigned a certain type of film genre, or even a specific movie that you will be expected to analyse the history. A Film Histories Essay requires that you take a look at the cinematic history-how it has changed over the years, while also considering the ways it has evolved or deteriorated.

After narrowing your topic to a particular area of interest, you need to research articles, blogs, texts, and books to gain valuable insight. For further guidance in source, style and length requirements, pay close attention to your professor's instructions and outline. An outline will guide you on your topic sentence, along with your main points. Typically, you will use the MLA formatting to structure your essay.

Writing Your Paper

In order to stay focused on the topic of your film review assignment, while learning how to write a film studies essay, it is recommended that you consistently revisit your outline. Our experts will help you begin your piece with a compelling introductory paragraph. The Introduction is composed in the standard format and should contain the topic sentence. Each subsequent paragraph in the Main Body will discuss key elements, main points, as well as supporting evidence. You may want to describe the plot of the film and list key actors. The main body may also contain cinematography or special effects that you remember after viewing the film.

As you become skilled at how to write a film studies essay, you will be able to incorporate a final assessment into your Conclusion . A review of each main point and concluding thoughts using a rate system, based on numbers, will surely help your film studies paper stand out. Students who use bullet points in their work to create informative points that captures the reader's attention also demonstrates that they have mastered how to write a film studies essay.

As you can see, film studies research papers are not as daunting as you think if approached the right way. Academic Sciences writers can guide you on each step of the process to make sure that you know how to write a film studies essay. We advise that you utilise our essay proofreading resources before submitting your work. Academic Sciences will critique your work for spelling and grammar errors, as well as sentence structure and flow to ensure that you avoid losing valuable marks.

Are you struggling with the perfect essay? Academic Sciences is able to provide custom essays and model answers which can help you manage your essay writing and get the grade you want. We have a variety of solutions available to you to suit your academic level, time frame and budget. Have a look through our academic guides and if you are still struggling, consider giving us a call or placing an order for an essay on-line.

Bethany Lee's Film Studies Blog

A Level Student's Film Studies Blog

Coursework Evaluative Analysis

Absent is a short film of 5:00 minutes that includes a narrative twist.

Short films referenced

Curfew (Shawn Christensen, 2012) 19:42 minutes Connect (Samuel Abrahams, 2010) 05:00 minutes Pitch Black Heist (John Maclean, 2012) 13:00 minutes Wasp (Andrea Arnold, 2003) 25:46 minutes About a Girl (Brian Percival, 2001) 09:51 minutes Stutterer (Benjamin Cleary, 2015) 13:00 minutes

Total running time: 86:19

Narrative Structure

Approaches to narrative structure vary from film to film depending on the intended meaning and effects. In order to develop the plot of my own film, I took inspirations from several short film narratives.

The narrative of Pitch Black Heist (John Maclean, 2012) begins with the introduction of two strangers who proceed to make a connection and develop a friendship; this is shown through a montage of them singing and playing pool which inspired my own montage of my two characters, intended to encourage the audience to identify with and care about their friendship. Similarly, in Connect (Samuel Abrahams, 2010) the narrative begins with the introduction of a single character who makes a connection with a stranger despite people around them being oblivious and trapped in their mundane lives. At the end of the narrative in Connect the two strangers go their separate ways; however, I chose to use the unspoken connection between strangers as a plot device to build-up their relationship and increase the impact of the narrative twist. At the end of Pitch Black Heist , the strangers are revealed to have a past relation: they are father and son. This narrative twist inspired the ending of my own film when my two characters, Lisa and Phoebe, are revealed to have been best friends in the past.

The short film that arguably had the biggest impact on my own is Curfew (Shawn Christensen, 2012) as my presentation of two protagonists are similar to Christensen’s. The audience is encouraged to sympathise with the main protagonist due to his loneliness; a similar narrative technique in used in Stutterer (Benjamin Cleary, 2015) as the audience sympathises with the protagonist whose speech impediment causes him to be socially secluded. In Curfew , the audience is also encouraged to like the young girl due to her kindness towards the protagonist; in my own film, the audience sympathises with Phoebe due to her isolation from her friends and are therefore encouraged to like Lisa because of her kindness towards Phoebe.

About a Girl (Brian Percival, 2001) influenced my use of a non-linear timeline to structure the events in Absent. The film begins with a relaxed childish tone but suddenly changes to a much darker realisation at the narrative twist to provoke shock within audience. I took inspiration from this narrative structure not only in About a Girl , but also in Wasp (Andrea Arnold, 2003) which begins with character introduction and the establishment of the character’s situation before the climax of emotional intensity is reached at the end when the baby is in danger. My film follows a similar plot structure with character introduction occurring at the beginning followed by the fun bowling game taking dominance of the middle of the narrative before the reveal of Lisa’s death at the end transform the tone and triggers the audience’s revelation of the truth that Lisa wasn’t actually present throughout the film.

Cinematic Influences

When creating the shot list and deciding how I wanted to portray my narrative visually and creatively, I took inspirations from techniques used in other films.

In terms of mise-en-scene, I took enormous inspirations from Curfew’s presentation of the bowling alley location on-screen. In my own film, I mirrored establishing shots used in Curfew such as the low-angle close up of the shoes lined up and the long shot from the side of the lanes used to capture the background and immerse the audience in the setting.

I also took cinematic influences from bowling alley scenes used in the feature film The Big Lebowski (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, 1998) which I watched and analysed before creating the shot list for my own film. The Big Lebowski influence is most evident in my imitation of the camera movement following Jesus that begins with a wide shot as he starts to bowl and ends on a close up of his shoes; I achieved a similar shot using a steadicam to track my character. The shot shows the progression of the bowling routine whilst providing shot variation to prevent the visual techniques used to showcase the bowling becoming repetitive to the audience.

For further shot variation, I used an extreme close up of my characters eyes with the bowling ball blocking the rest of her face, similar to the close up used in The Big Lebowski .

The sound design in both Curfew and The Big Lebowski mix the character’s dialogue with background noises of the bowling alley to create audience familiarity with the atmospheric location. Throughout my own film, due to the absence of dialogue, the background noise of the bowling alley takes dominance of the score allowing the audience to focus on the story taking place in the location.

For the end montage sequence of my film, I wanted to create an essence of verisimilitude to present the authenticity of the friendship between my two characters. In order to achieve this, I took inspiration from the use of handheld camera movements in both About a Girl, focusing the audience’s attention on the central character and Wasp, focusing the audience’s attention on the environment the family find themselves in. However, instead of using handheld camera to portray a snapshot of suburban lifestyles like in About a Girl and Wasp , I chose to combine the use of handheld camera and bright lighting environments, such as the sun flares in the woods or neon lights in the arcade, with a soft toned non-diegetic compiled score in order to achieve a more dream-like and idealistic quality reflective of a joyful time in the characters lives.

I also took editing inspiration for my montage from the well-known sequence in Up (Pete Docter & Bob Peterson, 2009) . A shift in tone occurs in the film when a wide shot of Ellie and Carl painting a child’s bedroom transitions through the wall to a wide shot of them in a hospital being told they can’t have children; in my own montage, the shift in tone is presented when a close up of Lisa smiling pans to the sky before panning back down to a close up of her in the same position but frowning. The transition signifies the change in narrative and emotionally manipulates the audience to enter a state of dejection.

To establish the bond between my two characters I decided to use shot reverse shot similar to shots used in Stutterer. The characters are framed in the centre of close-ups, their eyes are illuminated by street lights and the emotions conveyed in their performances encourage the audience to care about their relationship. In my own short film, I used a similar shot reverse shot with my characters framed in the centre using sunlight, rather than streetlights, to emphasise my characters’ features and create a caring and happy atmosphere right before the shift in tone.

Creating meaning and effect

In order to achieve the emotional effect I was aiming for in my film, I had to make a number of creative decisions to meaningfully portray the relationship between my two characters. Perhaps the most important moment for achieving this was the first time my characters see each other in the bowling alley. After having Lisa enter and sit on the lane next to Phoebe, I chose to use shot reverse shot beginning with Phoebe staring blankly at Lisa who then smiles in response prompting Phoebe to return the expression; the close up shots help establish intimacy and mark this moment as their first connection. This technique was also used in the short film Connect for the same purpose: to signify the beginning of a connection between two focal characters.

To convey a sense of energy, excitement and fun I edited a collection of shots to the beat of the up-tempo non-diegetic complied score “Boom Boom Boom” ; I feel that this technique worked well, especially due to the juxtaposition of the flashback sequence at the end of the film being edited to fit a slower non-diegetic complied score called “Where’s My Love?” in order to create a poignant feeling within the audience that contrasts the happy performances portrayed by the characters on-screen.

It was my intention to deliberately have an absence of dialogue throughout the film, not only to allow the diegetic atmosphere of the bowling alley to take dominance but also to increase the shock within the audience when Lisa speaks the first line of dialogue in the entire film: “We should have done this when I was alive”. The only other dialogue in the film is at the mid-point of the final montage when Lisa says “I need to tell you something” commencing the change in tone from happy and carefree to serious and sad as her illness takes over. I chose to have the screen fade to black for this line to juxtapose the vibrancy of the shots depicting their friendship and I edited the song to slow down before the line to exaggerate this moment as the turning point in the mood of the montage. Building up to dialogue in order to heighten its impact on the audience is used in many films including About a Girl where the dramatic pause before she says “I’ve gotten used to lying to her” juxtaposes her preceding verbose monologue and announces a shift in tone before the shock narrative twist at the end.

I also tried to increase the emotional impact on the audience by concluding the friendship montage with several match cuts; flashbacks of Lisa and Phoebe at the beach are bluntly cut with shots framing Phoebe on her own. These juxtapositions are further emphasised by the vibrant yellow coat Phoebe wears and the bright lighting in the shots of them together contrasting the change in costume to a dark green coat and cold lighting when Phoebe is alone to represent the darkness that has consumed her after the loss of Lisa who brought the light to her life. However, I feel as though these match cuts were less effective due to the slight differences in the framing, I could have framed the shots more precisely in order to increase the effect on the audience.

A Level Film Studies

Film Studies offers the chance to gain hands-on experience of filmmaking and explore film language, history, theory and criticism. You will study a wide variety of topics including classical Hollywood, contemporary American Independent film, UK and European cinema, film aesthetics, narrative, genre, ideology, contexts and spectatorship.

Key information

Media, Photography & Games / Full Time / A Levels and Equivalent

Why choose this course?

Many consider film to be the main cultural innovation of the 20th century and the major art form of the last 100 years. Those who study it characteristically bring with them a high degree of enthusiasm for what is a powerful and culturally significant medium, inspiring a range of responses from the emotional to the reflective. Film Studies makes an important contribution to the curriculum, offering the opportunity to investigate how film works both as a powerful medium of representation and as an aesthetic medium.

What will I learn?

You will begin by exploring how aspects of film language are motivated for expressive affect. This includes an examination of the creative decisions involved in Mise-en-Scene, Cinematography, Editing, Special Effects and Sound and a consideration of how the structuring concepts of Narrative and Genre control meaning and spectator response. Film contexts are also explored, examining how social, cultural, political, historical and institutional factors shape meaning. You will analyse different films and engage in research involving Hollywood 1930-1990, contemporary American independent film, British film and non-English language European film. In year two you will go on to explore Global filmmaking perspectives including World cinema, Documentary, Silent cinema and Experimental Film.

Production work is a crucial part of the course and is integral to your study of film. Studying a diverse range of films from different contexts is designed to give you the opportunity to apply your knowledge and understanding of how films are constructed to your own filmmaking and screenwriting. This is intended to enable you to create high quality film and screenplay work as well as provide an informed filmmaker's perspective on your own study of film.

Film matters because it has the power to connect us to a world outside of our own, it has an extraordinary capacity to expand our reality, to deepen our moral sensibility, and to shape our self-understandings, sometimes by moving us closer to cultures, problems, and realities that are distant from those we know well. One thing is for sure, after taking the course you will never see a film the same way again.

A2: Component 1: Varieties of film and filmmaking (35% of qualification) Written examination: 2½ hours Assesses knowledge and understanding of 6 feature-length films.

Section A: Hollywood 1930-1990 (comparative study) 1 question requiring reference to 2 Hollywood films, 1 from the Classical Hollywood period (1930-1960) and the other from the New Hollywood period (1960-1990).

Section B: American film since 2005 (2 film study) 1 question requiring reference to 2 American films; 1 mainstream film and 1 contemporary independent film.

Section C: British film since 1995 (2 film study) 1 question requiring reference to 2 British films. A2: Component 2: Global filmmaking perspectives (35% of qualification) Written examination: 2½ hours Assesses knowledge and understanding of 5 feature-length films (or their equivalent).

Section A: Global film (two-film study) 1 question requiring reference to 2 global films: 1 European & 1 produced outside Europe.

Section B: Documentary film 1 question requiring reference to 1 documentary film.

Section C: Film movements – Silent cinema 1 question requiring reference to 1 silent film or group of films.

Section D: Film movements – Experimental film (1960-2000) 1 question requiring reference to 1 film option. A2 Component 3: Production (30% of qualification) Non-exam assessment Assesses 1 production (20%) and its evaluative analysis (10%):

Either a short film (4-5 minutes) or a screenplay for a short film (1600-1800 words) plus a digitally photographed storyboard of a key section from the screenplay.

An evaluative analysis (1600 - 1800 words)

Assessment Arrangements

Your achievement in this subject is dependent upon excellent attendance, punctuality and effort. You will learn in a friendly atmosphere, using a variety of assessment methods including essay writing, presentations, timed exercises, group & pair work, tests & review meetings.

Information & Support

We encourage all students to read/view widely and conduct their own research into Film, especially those who wish to study Film or Media at degree level. We expect you to actively engage with the online resources such as Sharepoint, eStream, Scoop, It & Twitter as well as relevant course textbooks.

Where will it take me?

A qualification in Film Studies is highly valued by many universities and employers alike. Film Studies is also an excellent subject to complement many courses, such as Media, English, Psychology, Sociology, Photography, Art and Design.

What will I need?

Five GCSEs at grade 4 or above including English Language or Literature at grade 5 or above.

Additional Information

Awarding Body WJEC / EDUQAS

Other courses of interest: A Level Media Studies A Level Photography

To obtain more information about this course, please call: 01208 224000 or email [email protected]

How to apply to Callywith College

We use tracking cookies to analyse and track website traffic so we can improve your experience and tailor your content. You can find more information in our cookie policy .

Eduqas Home chevron_right
Qualifications

AS/A Level Film Studies

For help with e-submission process click here.

Apply now and join our team of examiners.

*Subject dependent, based on marking a full allocation and completion of training (which we pay you to attend).

Purpose	Reference
Qual Code	A670QS A Level B670QS AS Level
QN	603/1147/2 A Level 603/0972/6 AS Level

Key Documents
Past Papers / Mark Schemes

Why do some questions list the key elements or specialist areas and others don't?

The areas listed are suggested as key areas of focus for revision and final preparation, in relation to the Summer 2022 examinations. The areas listed are the focus areas relevant for that question.

The WJEC Eduqas specification is designed to introduce A level learners to a wide variety of films in order to broaden their knowledge and understanding of film and the range of responses films can generate. This specification therefore offers opportunities to study mainstream American films from the past and the present as well as a range of recent and contemporary British films, American independent films and global films, both non-English language and English language. The historical range of film represented in those films is extended by the study of silent film and significant film movements so that learners can gain a sense of the development of film from its early years to its still emerging digital future. Studies in documentary, experimental and short films add to the breadth of the learning experience.

Production work is a crucial part of this specification and is integral to learners' study of film. Studying a diverse range of films from several different contexts is designed to give learners the opportunity to apply their knowledge and understanding of how films are constructed to their own filmmaking and screenwriting. This is intended to enable learners to create high quality film and screenplay work as well as provide an informed filmmaker's perspective on their own study of film.

The WJEC Eduqas specification is designed to introduce AS learners to a wide variety of films in order to broaden their knowledge and understanding of film and the range of responses films can generate. This specification therefore offers opportunities to study mainstream and independent American and British films from the past and the present as well as more recent non-English language European films.

In addition to the knowledge and understanding learners gain from their GCSE film study course.

Why choose Eduqas?

Over 30 years' experience in delivering film qualifications – we know what teachers want
Get access to our Film Studies Teacher Community on Facebook
An exciting and diverse range of set films
Free digital resources
The opportunity to develop film-making and screenwriting skills to explore and pursue creative interests.
Support from our regional support team Direct access to film subject specialists
Direct access to film subject specialists

An interactive map to support centres wishing to share experiences and ideas online and face-to-face.

Important information, past papers, marking schemes, entry/amendment uploads & make post-results enquiries.

Find out more about the Moving Image Awards, designed in partnership with the British Film Institute.

Grade boundaries are the minimum number of marks needed to achieve each grade.

Digital Resources
Online Exam Review

Discover FREE Digital Resources!

Unlock your learners’ potential with an impressive range of FREE digital resources, teaching tools and materials.

View resources

EDUQAS ENDORSED TITLES


	978-1-911208-44-0	Lisa Wardle, Ellen Cheshire, Mark Ramey, Jenny Stewart

EDUQAS NON-ENDORSED TITLES


	978-1-912820-35-1	Jenny Stewart

Online Exam Review – gain access to general data, exam questions, marking schemes and examiner comments.

Visit OER website

Upcoming Courses
On Demand Courses
Materials from previous events

2024
15 May	Deadline for AS & AL Component 3 marks to be submitted online
15 May	Deadline for AS & AL Component 3 work to be submitted online
15 May	AS Component 1 examination
20 May	AS Component 2 examination
21 May	A Level Component 1 examination
04 Jun	A Level Component 2 examination
15 Aug	Results Day

Download your free Guide to Switching!

This is a hidden field that will be populated via javascript in preparation for submission to Campaign Monitor letting you know the name of the document the user downloaded

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Film Writing: Sample Analysis

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Introductory Note

The analysis below discusses the opening moments of the science fiction movie Ex Machina in order to make an argument about the film's underlying purpose. The text of the analysis is formatted normally. Editor's commentary, which will occasionally interrupt the piece to discuss the author's rhetorical strategies, is written in brackets in an italic font with a bold "Ed.:" identifier. See the examples below:

The text of the analysis looks like this.

[ Ed.: The editor's commentary looks like this. ]

Frustrated Communication in Ex Machina ’s Opening Sequence

Alex Garland’s 2015 science fiction film Ex Machina follows a young programmer’s attempts to determine whether or not an android possesses a consciousness complicated enough to pass as human. The film is celebrated for its thought-provoking depiction of the anxiety over whether a nonhuman entity could mimic or exceed human abilities, but analyzing the early sections of the film, before artificial intelligence is even introduced, reveals a compelling examination of humans’ inability to articulate their thoughts and feelings. In its opening sequence, Ex Machina establishes that it’s not only about the difficulty of creating a machine that can effectively talk to humans, but about human beings who struggle to find ways to communicate with each other in an increasingly digital world.

[ Ed.: The piece's opening introduces the film with a plot summary that doesn't give away too much and a brief summary of the critical conversation that has centered around the film. Then, however, it deviates from this conversation by suggesting that Ex Machina has things to say about humanity before non-human characters even appear. Off to a great start. ]

The film’s first establishing shots set the action in a busy modern office. A woman sits at a computer, absorbed in her screen. The camera looks at her through a glass wall, one of many in the shot. The reflections of passersby reflected in the glass and the workspace’s dim blue light make it difficult to determine how many rooms are depicted. The camera cuts to a few different young men typing on their phones, their bodies partially concealed both by people walking between them and the camera and by the stylized modern furniture that surrounds them. The fourth shot peeks over a computer monitor at a blonde man working with headphones in. A slight zoom toward his face suggests that this is an important character, and the cut to a point-of-view shot looking at his computer screen confirms this. We later learn that this is Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), a young programmer whose perspective the film follows.

The rest of the sequence cuts between shots from Caleb’s P.O.V. and reaction shots of his face, as he receives and processes the news that he has won first prize in a staff competition. Shocked, Caleb dives for his cellphone and texts several people the news. Several people immediately respond with congratulatory messages, and after a moment the woman from the opening shot runs in to give him a hug. At this point, the other people in the room look up, smile, and start clapping, while Caleb smiles disbelievingly—perhaps even anxiously—and the camera subtly zooms in a bit closer. Throughout the entire sequence, there is no sound other than ambient electronic music that gets slightly louder and more textured as the sequence progresses. A jump cut to an aerial view of a glacial landscape ends the sequence and indicates that Caleb is very quickly transported into a very unfamiliar setting, implying that he will have difficulty adjusting to this sudden change in circumstances.

[ Ed.: These paragraphs are mostly descriptive. They give readers the information they will need to understand the argument the piece is about to offer. While passages like this can risk becoming boring if they dwell on unimportant details, the author wisely limits herself to two paragraphs and maintains a driving pace through her prose style choices (like an almost exclusive reliance on active verbs). ]

Without any audible dialogue or traditional expository setup of the main characters, this opening sequence sets viewers up to make sense of Ex Machina ’s visual style and its exploration of the ways that technology can both enhance and limit human communication. The choice to make the dialogue inaudible suggests that in-person conversations have no significance. Human-to-human conversations are most productive in this sequence when they are mediated by technology. Caleb’s first response when he hears his good news is to text his friends rather than tell the people sitting around him, and he makes no move to take his headphones out when the in-person celebration finally breaks out. Everyone in the building is on their phones, looking at screens, or has headphones in, and the camera is looking at screens through Caleb’s viewpoint for at least half of the sequence.

Rather than simply muting the specific conversations that Caleb has with his coworkers, the ambient soundtrack replaces all the noise that a crowded building in the middle of a workday would ordinarily have. This silence sets the uneasy tone that characterizes the rest of the film, which is as much a horror-thriller as a piece of science fiction. Viewers get the sense that all the sounds that humans make as they walk around and talk to each other are being intentionally filtered out by some presence, replaced with a quiet electronic beat that marks the pacing of the sequence, slowly building to a faster tempo. Perhaps the sound of people is irrelevant: only the visual data matters here. Silence is frequently used in the rest of the film as a source of tension, with viewers acutely aware that it could be broken at any moment. Part of the horror of the research bunker, which will soon become the film’s primary setting, is its silence, particularly during sequences of Caleb sneaking into restricted areas and being startled by a sudden noise.

The visual style of this opening sequence reinforces the eeriness of the muted humans and electronic soundtrack. Prominent use of shallow focus to depict a workspace that is constructed out of glass doors and walls makes it difficult to discern how large the space really is. The viewer is thus spatially disoriented in each new setting. This layering of glass and mirrors, doubling some images and obscuring others, is used later in the film when Caleb meets the artificial being Ava (Alicia Vikander), who is not allowed to leave her glass-walled living quarters in the research bunker. The similarity of these spaces visually reinforces the film’s late revelation that Caleb has been manipulated by Nathan Bates (Oscar Isaac), the troubled genius who creates Ava.

[ Ed.: In these paragraphs, the author cites the information about the scene she's provided to make her argument. Because she's already teased the argument in the introduction and provided an account of her evidence, it doesn't strike us as unreasonable or far-fetched here. Instead, it appears that we've naturally arrived at the same incisive, fascinating points that she has. ]

A few other shots in the opening sequence more explicitly hint that Caleb is already under Nathan’s control before he ever arrives at the bunker. Shortly after the P.O.V shot of Caleb reading the email notification that he won the prize, we cut to a few other P.O.V. shots, this time from the perspective of cameras in Caleb’s phone and desktop computer. These cameras are not just looking at Caleb, but appear to be scanning him, as the screen flashes in different color lenses and small points appear around Caleb’s mouth, eyes, and nostrils, tracking the smallest expressions that cross his face. These small details indicate that Caleb is more a part of this digital space than he realizes, and also foreshadow the later revelation that Nathan is actively using data collected by computers and webcams to manipulate Caleb and others. The shots from the cameras’ perspectives also make use of a subtle fisheye lens, suggesting both the wide scope of Nathan’s surveillance capacities and the slightly distorted worldview that motivates this unethical activity.

[ Ed.: This paragraph uses additional details to reinforce the piece's main argument. While this move may not be as essential as the one in the preceding paragraphs, it does help create the impression that the author is noticing deliberate patterns in the film's cinematography, rather than picking out isolated coincidences to make her points. ]

Taken together, the details of Ex Machina ’s stylized opening sequence lay the groundwork for the film’s long exploration of the relationship between human communication and technology. The sequence, and the film, ultimately suggests that we need to develop and use new technologies thoughtfully, or else the thing that makes us most human—our ability to connect through language—might be destroyed by our innovations. All of the aural and visual cues in the opening sequence establish a world in which humans are utterly reliant on technology and yet totally unaware of the nefarious uses to which a brilliant but unethical person could put it.

Author's Note: Thanks to my literature students whose in-class contributions sharpened my thinking on this scene .

[ Ed.: The piece concludes by tying the main themes of the opening sequence to those of the entire film. In doing this, the conclusion makes an argument for the essay's own relevance: we need to pay attention to the essay's points so that we can achieve a rich understanding of the movie. The piece's final sentence makes a chilling final impression by alluding to the danger that might loom if we do not understand the movie. This is the only the place in the piece where the author explicitly references how badly we might be hurt by ignorance, and it's all the more powerful for this solitary quality. A pithy, charming note follows, acknowledging that the author's work was informed by others' input (as most good writing is). Beautifully done. ]

The Writing Place

Resources – writing about film: the critical essay, introduction to the topic.

Like it or not, studying film may very well be a part of the well-rounded education you receive here at Northwestern University. But how to go about writing such an essay? While film reviews and theoretical essays are part of Film Studies, the most common paper that students will face is: “the critical essay”

Fear not. Though its title combines a serious undertone that implies it is both a large chuck of your grade and also really hard and vague, this post will guide you on your way.

First, what is the critical essay? It may surprise you to note that it is much more than 35% of your grade. In actuality, the most common form of the cinematic critical essay is one in which the writer explores one or more aspects of a film and analyzes how they enhance the film’s meaning and/or artistry. This is very similar to English analysis papers. For example, The Scarlet Letter can be analyzed in terms of its motif of civilization versus the wilderness. In the novel, the town is representative of human civilization and authority while the forest represents natural authority (Sparknotes Editors, 2003). Likewise, the same motif illustrates Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life. The wilderness represents the way of nature while the family (or civilization) represents the way of grace. The crossing over of these settings enables the viewer to visualize the internal struggles of Malick’s characters as they seek higher meaning from God.

“Hmmm…” I can hear you wondering. “I already know how to do that! It’s all we did in high school English classes!” But here is where the cinematic essay diverges from the literary essay— the elements that we analyze. Films can be analyzed from traditional literary aspects such as themes, narrative, characters, and points of view but there are also uniquely cinematic aspects: mise-en-scene, the shot, aesthetic history and edited images.

Parts of a Critical Essay

Aspect 1: mise-en-scene.

Mise-en-scene refers to everything in a scene independent of the camera’s position, movement, and editing (Corrigan, 1998). This includes lighting, costumes, sets, the quality of the acting, etc. It is important to remember that every aspect of a scene was consciously chosen by the director and his or her team. Because movies often present themselves as instances of real life, this fact is easily forgotten and the artistic choices that the film crew made are overlooked.

In the following still from Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom (2012), one can analyze it in terms of mise-en-scene. One could note the arrangement of the props. In real life, it would be unlikely that rocks, sticks, and supplies would arrange themselves in an almost perfect circular fashion around the map. However, Anderson’s decision to arrange the props focus viewer’s attention on the map and highlight the adventure that the two children are about to go on in Moonrise Kingdom.

Click here for an example of an essay dealing with mise-en-scene.

Aspect 2: The Shot

The shot refers to the single image before the camera cuts to the next scene (Corrigan, 1998). These shots can include a lot of variety and movement. We can analyze the effect that shots have in terms of their photographic qualities such as tone, speed, and perspectives created, to name a few examples (Corrigan, 1998). A single shot is composed of multiple frames, or stills of the same scene. We can analyze the shot in terms of framing, i.e. what was actually decided to be included within the image and the location of stuff within the frame.

Watch the following shot (beginning at the 30 second mark) for an example: Click Here to Navigate to YouTube

In this shot from Dayton and Faris’ Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Dwayne has just found out he cannot join the air force. He had maintained a vow of silence to help him focus on getting admitted to the air force and breaks it from utter frustration. The shot’s stationary position as Dwayne runs screaming from his family helps highlight how the physical distance Dwayne puts between himself and his family reflects the emotional distance and frustration he feels at the moment.

Aspect 3: Edited Images

When one or more shots are joined together, they become edited (Corrigan, 1998). These usually have two main purposes. One is the logical development of the story. A shot in the morning connected with a shot in the afternoon connotes to the viewer that time has passed. Other times the editing of shots has artistic intent. For example, in a Chipotle commercial the first shot is of an industrial slaughterhouse. The next shot features animals grazing in a pasture. This is an artistic statement on the part of the advertising team to convey to Chipotle’s customers about the higher standard of care and ethics that they ensure their meat sources follow.

Edited images can also be analyzed from other aspects. For example, one could explain how meaning is created by the specific arrangement in shots, their collisions with each other, and the presence of visual motifs “echoing” through subsequent shots.

For instance, in the edited shots from Patar and Aubier’s movie A Town Called Panic (2009) the editing of the kitchen shot and the snow shot serves two purposes. One purpose is to further the logical chronological development of the story. The other purpose is to add humor. Because being asleep for an entire summer is impossibly long, it adds absurd humor.

Hopefully, the brief foray into the various cinematic aspects that one could examine was helpful. The world of film analysis is vast and wide, offering a fecund source for analytical and cinematic exploration and creation.

-Developed by Kyla Donato

Click here to return to the “writing place resources” main page..

How To Get An A or A* In A Level Film Studies

Achieving an A or A in A level film studies is a goal that many students set out to accomplish. It is also a difficult task that requires dedication and hard work. This article aims to provide guidance on how to get an A or A in A level film studies, helping to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary for success.

The first step in getting an A or A* in A level film studies is understanding the requirements of the course and what needs to be done to achieve the highest grade possible.

It is important for students to thoroughly read through their syllabus and become knowledgeable about course topics and assessment criteria.

Further, it is beneficial for students to research past papers and familiarize themselves with questions that have been asked in previous examinations.

Doing so can help give them a better idea of what kind of questions they may need to answer during their exam, as well as what topics are likely to be tested on.

Core Concepts

In order to achieve an ‘A’ or ‘A*’ in a Level Film Studies, it is essential to understand the core concepts. These include film theories, critical analysis, genre conventions and film history.

Analysing films using these concepts will help you to develop your media literacy and gain insight into the different ways in which films can be interpreted.

It is also important to understand how each element of a film works together: cinematography, editing, mise-en-scene and sound all contribute to the overall meaning of a text.

Being able to identify how each aspect of a film contributes to its construction gives you the opportunity to analyse and debate with confidence.

Having an understanding of key filmmakers and their work also provides an invaluable resource when considering particular elements of cinema. Knowing about their style, techniques and influence on others can help you form opinions that are informed by wider context.

Research Methods

In order to achieve a high grade in film studies, it is essential to develop effective research methods that allow for the comprehensive analysis of films. These methods involve studying the genre of films, exploring its cinematography, contextualizing it within its cultural and social milieu, and engaging with film criticism.

By examining films through these various lenses, students can gain an appreciation of the nuances of filmmaking, as well as a greater understanding of the underlying themes that contribute to the film’s overall meaning.

Furthermore, this approach allows for more meaningful engagement with a wider range of films from different cultural backgrounds and time periods. Through this process, students are able to develop their own unique interpretation and evaluation of films which will assist them in achieving a higher grade in their studies.

The key to success then lies in developing research skills that enable thorough examination and critical analysis of films. By honing these skills, students can begin to appreciate the complexities of filmmaking and build upon their knowledge base so they may attain a desirable result in their film studies course.

Essay Writing Techniques

In order to get an A or A* in a Level Film Studies, it is important to understand the fundamental concepts of film reading and analysis. The most effective approach is to develop a critical perspective on the films you watch by examining them within the context of film criticism, theory, and art cinema. This means that you must be able to evaluate films from different angles and discuss their implications for wider issues such as politics, history, and culture.

It is also essential to have a good grasp of the terminology used in film studies. Familiarising yourself with terms like mise-en-scene, montage, and diegesis will help you to effectively analyse a variety of films.

Additionally, researching key figures within film theory can provide useful insights into how films work and how they can be interpreted.

In short, building up your knowledge base will enable you to complete essays that are well-informed and detailed.

Understanding Film Language

Having established the basics of essay writing, it is now time to move on to understanding film language.

Scene analysis and mise en scene are two of the most important aspects of a film that need to be understood by anyone aspiring for an A or A* in Film Studies.

Scene analysis involves understanding how the different elements in a scene come together to form a meaningful whole. This includes analyzing the cinematographic techniques used, such as lighting, camera angles, composition and color palette. It also involves analyzing the editing techniques used, such as cuts, transitions and montage sequences. Lastly, it involves considering sound design elements such as music and sound effects.

Mise en scene refers to how a director arranges all the visual elements in a frame. This includes considering how characters are positioned in relation to each other; what props are present; what costumes are worn by characters; how actors use body language and facial expressions; and how all these aspects come together to create meaning.

Understanding both scene analysis and mise en scene can help one gain an appreciation of the filmmaker’s vision, thereby leading to higher grades in Film Studies exams.

Revision Strategies

Time management is essential for successful revision when it comes to achieving a high grade in Level Film Studies. Practicing past papers and questions are invaluable to understanding the structure of the exam and gaining an insight into the key topics.

Time Management

Time management is an essential element of successful revision strategies.

Establishing a curriculum planning system, project organisation protocols, and self discipline techniques are key components to effective time management.

Prioritizing tasks, setting realistic deadlines for completion of work, and breaking up larger tasks into manageable chunks are all methods for improving time management.

Additionally, limiting distractions by creating a designated workspace and setting aside specific times to complete schoolwork can help in maintaining an efficient pace throughout the entire revision process.

Developing strong time management skills will not only improve one’s ability to revise effectively but also provide long-term benefits in other areas of academic life.

Practice Questions

Practice questions are an important part of any effective revision strategy. They provide an opportunity for active learning, allowing students to apply their understanding of course material to answer real-life questions.

Additionally, practice questions allow for constructive feedback from tutors or teachers on the student’s performance. Question formats such as multiple choice, true/false, essay, and fill-in-the-blank can be used to test a student’s comprehension of a subject matter.

Furthermore, providing timely feedback helps students identify areas that need further review and reinforces their knowledge in other areas.

In conclusion, practice questions offer valuable insight into a student’s progress and overall understanding of a subject matter.

Exam Preparation

Revision techniques are an essential part of exam preparation. It is important to focus on understanding the material and developing a comprehensive understanding of the subject.

Time management is critical when preparing for exams. Allocating specific time slots for studying, revising and taking practice exams is a great way to stay on track and make sure that all topics are covered.

Note taking is a great way to ensure that key points are remembered. It is important to be selective and focus on the main points that will be assessed in the exam.

Essay planning is an important step in exam preparation. It is important to plan out an essay before starting the writing process to ensure that the essay is well structured and that all points are addressed.

Exam technique is an important factor in achieving success in exams. It is important to practice different exam techniques to ensure that the best one is chosen for the specific exam.

Researching is an important part of exam preparation. It is important to research the topics that will be assessed in the exam to ensure that all information is accurate and up to date.

Memorising is a great way to ensure that key points are remembered. It is important to focus on important facts and figures that will be assessed in the exam.

Note organisation is important when preparing for an exam. All notes should be organised in a way that makes them easy to refer to during the exam.

Reading widely is essential for exam preparation. Reading books, articles and other resources related to the subject can help to expand knowledge and understanding of the material.

Exam practice is an important part of exam preparation. It is important to take practice exams to get used to the exam format and to identify areas where more revision is required.

Analytical skills are essential when preparing for an exam. It is important to be able to analyse the material and to identify key points and arguments.

Stress reduction is important when preparing for an exam. It is important to take breaks, exercise and practice relaxation techniques to reduce stress and ensure that the exam is approached with a clear and focused mind.

Exam technique practice is a great way to ensure that the best technique is chosen for the specific exam. It is important to practice different techniques to identify which one works best.

Organisation of study materials is essential for exam preparation. It is important to have all materials organised in a way that makes them easy to access.

Exam technique refinement is an important step in exam preparation. It is important to practice different techniques and to refine the chosen technique to ensure the best results.

Revision Techniques

Revision is an important part of exam preparation.

To ensure that you can make the most of your revision time, it is essential to have good time management skills and self-discipline.

Taking notes is also a great way to consolidate the information and make sure that you are able to recall what you have learned during your revision sessions.

A useful tip when it comes to note taking is to use mind maps which will help you create a visual representation of the key points in any topic.

It may also be helpful to practice past papers or use online resources as part of your revision plan.

With careful planning and dedicated effort, you can achieve excellent results on your exams.

Time management is an essential element of exam preparation.

Establishing a study schedule and setting reading deadlines can help ensure that you are able to stay on track and make progress towards your goals.

To make the most of your time, it may be helpful to employ various studying tips such as break times for rest and relaxation or use the Pomodoro technique to focus on tasks in 25-minute intervals.

Additionally, note taking strategies such as mind maps will help students consolidate the information they have learned while studying.

With these tips, students can develop effective time management skills which will help them achieve success on their exams.

Note Taking

When preparing for exams, note taking is an essential component to success.

Active listening helps students identify and retain important information that can be noted down.

This can be done through film criticism, which requires attention to detail and a critical eye.

Documentary analysis is another useful tool as it allows students to draw connections between topics and further develop their understanding of the material.

Learning how to take effective notes will help students recall content more easily during exams, allowing them to answer questions with greater accuracy and confidence.

Ultimately, it is vital that students understand the importance of proper note taking in order to maximize their exam preparation process.

Practical Filmmaking Skills

Gaining a good grade in film studies requires the student to understand not only the theoretical aspects of filmmaking, but also the practical ones. Achieving an A or A* in a level film studies will require a comprehensive understanding of storyboarding, camera angles, sound design, editing tricks and set design.

These are all important aspects which can be used by filmmakers to create an engaging piece. Storyboarding is the act of illustrating key scenes in your movie prior to shooting them; this allows filmmakers to plan out their shots beforehand and can save time during filming.

Camera angles are very important in creating atmosphere and tone within a scene; different heights, distances and types of camera shot can help reflect what is happening on screen. Sound design is also crucial as it helps bring life to a movie; sound effects such as wind, rain or bird song can all add depth to any scene.

Editing tricks such as jump cuts or cross-cutting are also essential for successful film making; these techniques allow the editor to cut between shots quickly and smoothly. Lastly, set design plays a huge role in creating an immersive experience for viewers; from props, costumes and even colour palettes – all these elements work together to create an unforgettable experience for audiences.

All these skills need to be mastered if you wish to achieve top marks in your level film studies coursework. It’s important that you practice each aspect individually before putting them together into one coherent whole – with practice comes proficiency!

Making Use Of Resources

In order to achieve an A or A* in a Level Film Studies, it is important to be able to research outside materials and utilize existing resources effectively. Doing so will ensure a comprehensive understanding of the subject material and support your arguments when writing essays.

Researching Outside Materials

When researching outside materials for a level film studies, it is essential to analyze both texts and visuals.

This process involves carefully examining the content and how it relates to your topic, as well as synthesizing ideas from various sources.

By breaking down the material into smaller chunks, it will be easier to understand and extract insights that could enrich your research.

Keeping an open mind and being creative in finding connections between different sources can help you make sense of the material, thus allowing you to form meaningful conclusions.

Ultimately, this is what separates those who get an A or A* from average students.

Utilizing Existing Resources

Utilizing existing resources is a great way to maximize learning opportunities and make the most of your time.

Online networking platforms provide an easy way to connect with peers who can provide feedback on your work, while also giving you access to their own insights and resources.

Critical analysis of materials available online can help you identify key themes and synthesize new ideas that may be beneficial for your research.

By taking advantage of this opportunity, it is possible to stay ahead of the curve and gain a better understanding of your topic.

Furthermore, peer feedback can help you refine your ideas and find solutions that could not have been found alone.

All in all, making use of existing resources is essential for any student looking to succeed in film studies or any other field.

Finding A Mentor

Identifying a mentor can be a great way to improve academic performance in the field of film studies. Developing a positive relationship with the mentor is key to growing from the experience and achieving the desired results. It is recommended to research potential mentors and set clear goals to ensure the most effective learning experience possible.

Identifying A Mentor

Finding a mentor is an important step towards becoming successful in any field.

Identifying a mentor can be a daunting task, however, with the proper reflection techniques and critical analysis it can be done efficiently and effectively.

When looking for a mentor, it is important to look at their qualifications and experience in the field that you are seeking guidance.

It also helps to consider their communication style, as this will determine how well your relationship will work.

Additionally, time management is an essential factor when selecting a mentor.

It is important to make sure they have the capacity to devote sufficient time to helping you grow in your chosen field.

Ultimately, by engaging in consistent reflection and critical analysis of potential mentors’ qualifications and abilities, one can find the right person who has the experience and knowledge necessary to help them reach their goals.

Developing A Relationship

Once a suitable mentor has been identified, the next step is to develop a meaningful relationship.

To do this, it is important to get to know each other on a personal level. This can be achieved through meaningful conversations and by understanding each other’s characters and motivations. Additionally, it is beneficial to discuss topics such as analyzing themes and comparing films.

Doing so will help build trust and create an environment of open communication that facilitates learning. Furthermore, understanding each other’s personalities can help foster a bond between mentor and mentee that serves as the foundation for a strong relationship that can lead to long-term success.

Ultimately, by engaging in thoughtful conversations and building trust, one can establish a mutually beneficial relationship with their mentor that will facilitate growth in any chosen field.

Growing From The Experience

Once a meaningful relationship has been established, it is important to focus on growing from the experience.

One way to do this is by viewing films critically, debating films and exploring interpretations. This type of analysis enables mentors and mentees to gain a deeper understanding of the film and its implications. Additionally, this activity can serve as an opportunity for mentors to share their knowledge and insights with their mentees.

Through sharing these experiences, both parties can grow intellectually and emotionally from the experience. Ultimately, engaging in meaningful conversations about films can be an effective way for mentors and mentees to grow together in their chosen field.

Staying Motivated

Making and reaching a goal in order to get an A or A* in level film studies requires a great deal of dedication, hard work and motivation. Even though having an experienced mentor to guide you through the process is an important asset, success lies within oneself.

Staying motivated can be achieved by setting both short-term and long-term goals. These goals should be realistic and attainable, yet stimulating enough to keep one focused on their endeavor. Additionally, effective time management plays a crucial role in staying motivated. Setting aside a specific amount of time each day for studying films helps create consistency and allows for more efficient use of time in the long run.

Equally important is staying positive while pursuing such an ambitious goal. Constructive criticism from one’s mentor or peers can often provide valuable insight into improving certain areas but it needs to be done in moderation to avoid feeling discouraged or overwhelmed. Having self discipline is also key; taking any necessary steps that are required to reach one’s goal without requiring external motivation will make the journey much easier and enjoyable overall.

By following these tips and taking into account all of the above-mentioned aspects, one will surely find themselves on track towards achieving their desired grade in level film studies!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best way to find an experienced mentor in film studies.

Networking events, interviews with experts, online forums, study groups and industry events are all great ways of finding an experienced mentor in film studies.

Attending networking events is a great way to meet potential mentors as they provide the opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals who may have valuable knowledge and insight into the film industry.

Interviewing experts in the field can also be beneficial as they can provide invaluable advice and tips on how to succeed in film studies.

Additionally, there are many online forums dedicated to film studies which can be used to find a mentor or even join a study group.

Finally, attending industry events is an excellent way to gain exposure to industry professionals and build relationships that may lead to mentorship opportunities.

How Can I Stay Motivated To Achieve An A Or A* In A Level Film Studies?

Staying motivated in A Level Film Studies is essential for achieving an A or A*.

Achieving this goal requires focused and consistent effort, which can be facilitated by proper time management and goal setting.

Additionally, exam preparation should include research into effective methods of studying film, such as devising a study plan to ensure learning objectives are met.

Overall, creating an environment conducive to learning and staying focused on the end goal are key elements to achieving the desired grade.

What Resources Should I Use To Supplement My Studies?

Studying for an A or A* in A level Film Studies requires dedication and hard work.

To supplement your studies, it is important to utilize quality resources that can help you stay motivated and on track.

Online resources such as scholarly articles, peer advice from more experienced students, and time management tips are invaluable.

Additionally, research methods, critical analysis skills, and a solid understanding of the subject material are essential for success.

By utilizing these resources and putting in the effort to ensure mastery of the material, you will be well on your way to achieving your goal of an A or A*.

What Are The Key Differences Between A Level And Gcse Film Studies?

A key difference between studying film studies at the A level versus the GCSE level is the depth of coverage in certain areas.

At A level, students are expected to understand all aspects of filmography, such as cinematography and narrative theory.

In addition, they must also be able to analyze a variety of films for their visual composition and cinematic language.

Therefore, it is important for A level students to have a comprehensive knowledge of these topics if they want to excel in their studies.

How Can I Practice Practical Filmmaking Skills For A Level Film Studies?

Practicing practical filmmaking skills is an essential part of studying A Level Film Studies.

Scriptwriting tips, cinematography basics, film analysis methods, editing techniques and production planning are all necessary steps in creating a successful project.

An online tutor can help guide students in the right direction, teaching them how to write and edit scripts effectively, capture aesthetically pleasing images and analyze films with confidence.

Furthermore, they can provide hands-on assistance with production planning and editing to ensure that all projects will be of the highest quality.

To achieve an A or A* grade in A level film studies, it is important to find an experienced mentor who can provide guidance and support throughout the course.

The student should also remain motivated and stay focused on their goal.

Resources such as online tutorials, textbooks, and websites dedicated to film studies should be used to supplement the student’s knowledge.

It is also essential for the student to understand the differences between A level and GCSE film studies so that they can effectively apply the necessary skills needed for successful completion of the course.

Practical filmmaking skills such as scriptwriting, cinematography, editing and sound design should be practiced regularly in order to ensure success in this academic area.

In conclusion, obtaining an A or A* in A level film studies requires dedication, motivation and a strong understanding of not only the theoretical aspects of film studies but also practical filmmaking skills which are essential for creating engaging films.

Spending time researching potential mentors and resources related to film studies will give students more confidence when they are undertaking their coursework.

Additionally, practicing filmmaking techniques outside of class hours will help them gain a deeper understanding of how each element contributes to the overall product.

With these tips in mind, students can achieve great results in their A level film studies coursework.

Online A Level Film Studies Tuition

Recommended articles for A Level Film Studies

How To Get An A Or A* In A Level Film Studies

Can You Resit A Level Film Studies?

How To Help Your Child Pass A Level Film Studies

How To Revise For A Level Film Studies?

Where To Get A Level Film Studies Past Papers?

A service you can depend on

The quickest way to talk with us

Email us at [email protected]

Our partners

We are proud partners of TheProfs and BitPaper

IMAGES

"Amy" filmmakers' theories essay for A-Level Film Studies.
what is a thesis of a movie
A-LEVEL FILM STUDIES
Help with writing a film essay
How To Write A Movie Review? The Complete Guide
Film Analysis Essay Format

VIDEO

A Level Film Studies: Overview of Component 2
Tips for Writing Development Studies Essay
Ideological Critical Approach
Write a short essay on World Environment Day
PULP FICTION ESSAY
Intro To Film Analysis Essay

COMMENTS

A Level Film Studies Example Essays
Hi all, When I was studying film studies I got so much stress from there not being a lot of example answers for the essays on the internet, and my teacher wouldn't give us any. So for anyone in a similar position, I am going to start posting my essays. Hope they help. See more. Paper 2: Global Filmmaking Perspectives: Section D (experimental ...
Tips for Crafting a Compelling Film Analysis Essay
Make sure to analyze the film's cinematography, sound design, acting, and themes in detail, providing insights that go beyond a surface-level analysis. Consider the director's intent, the historical context of the film, and its impact on audiences to provide a comprehensive analysis. Lastly, don't forget to revise and edit your essay for ...
Film Analysis
Writing the film analysis essay. Writing a film analysis requires you to consider the composition of the film—the individual parts and choices made that come together to create the finished piece. Film analysis goes beyond the analysis of the film as literature to include camera angles, lighting, set design, sound elements, costume choices ...
How to write a Film Analysis Essay & Cinematic Techniques
Writing a film analysis essay is an assignment that is less likely to terrorize those who fear the idea of writing an essay, because it allows them to write about something most people enjoy. Film analysis is not the same thing as writing a movie review, which involves passively watching a movie. An analysis means you must engage on a level ...
How to Write a Film Studies Essay
Before writing a film studies essay, one should offer a brief overview of the narration. However, care should be taken to avoid coming up with a synopsis of the film's story as it is more of an analysis. The author should reveal plot complications or the film's ending only if they relay directly to the analysis.
Film Analysis
Analyzing film, like analyzing literature (fiction texts, etc.), is a form of rhetorical analysis—critically analyzing and evaluating discourse, including words, phrases, and images. Having a clear argument and supporting evidence is every bit as critical to film analysis as to other forms of academic writing.
Resources
When writing a film analysis, many students have to fight the urge to incorporate the components of a film review into their essays. In each of the following exercises, one sentence could be a part of a film analysis, while the other is better suited for a review. See if you can tell the difference: 1. (a.)
Step By Step Guide to Writing an Essay on Film
Here's a step-by-step guide to help you with an essay service: 1. Watch the Movie. This is the obvious starting point, but surprisingly many students skip this step. It doesn't matter if you've watched the movie twice before. If you're asked to write an essay about it, you need to watch it again.
All about A level Film Studies
A level Film Studies focuses on the analysis and deconstruction of film over a wide historical time frame. It allows you to engage with films from early silent cinema to 1930s Hollywood films to contemporary and experimental cinema. Film Studies A level ( from EDUQAS exam board) involves studying 12 different films.
Pan's Labyrinth essay plan A level Film Studies Eduqas
Resource type: Other. File previews. docx, 13.05 KB. This is an A4 document which provides a clear structure for students writing essays for 40 mark questions. To be used for Pan's Labyrinth on the A level Film Studies Eduqas specification. It can also be adapted and modified for other films on the specification.
PDF How to Write About Film
The Theoretical Essay. This form generally requires the writer to have a good understanding of film history, film theory, or film technicalities. Typically, these essays explain some of the larger and more complex structures of the cinema and how we understand them. Analysis can focus on one or be a mix of the following:
How to write a film studies essay
Before writing a film study essay, one should offer a brief overview of the narration. However, care should be taken to avoid coming up with a synopsis of the film's story as it is more of an analysis. The author should reveal plot complications or the film's ending only if they relay directly to the analysis.
How to Write a Film Studies Essay
Writing Your Paper. In order to stay focused on the topic of your film review assignment, while learning how to write a film studies essay, it is recommended that you consistently revisit your outline. Our experts will help you begin your piece with a compelling introductory paragraph. The Introduction is composed in the standard format and ...
Coursework Evaluative Analysis
Coursework Evaluative Analysis. Absent. Absent is a short film of 5:00 minutes that includes a narrative twist. Short films referenced. Curfew (Shawn Christensen, 2012) 19:42 minutes. Connect (Samuel Abrahams, 2010) 05:00 minutes. Pitch Black Heist (John Maclean, 2012) 13:00 minutes. Wasp (Andrea Arnold, 2003) 25:46 minutes.
A Level Film Studies
A Level Film Studies. Film Studies offers the chance to gain hands-on experience of filmmaking and explore film language, history, theory and criticism. ... You will learn in a friendly atmosphere, using a variety of assessment methods including essay writing, presentations, timed exercises, group & pair work, tests & review meetings. ...
PDF A LEVEL FILM STUDIES
LEVEL FILM STUDIES. LEVEL FILM STUDIESWe study a diverse range of films from different parts of the world and from different periods: mainstream and independent, documentary, silent films, experime. tal and short films.You will learn how to analyse and comment on how films are made - how the camera is used, location and setting, editing, s.
AS and A Level Film Studies
The historical range of film represented in those films is extended by the study of silent film and significant film movements so that learners can gain a sense of the development of film from its early years to its still emerging digital future. Studies in documentary, experimental and short films add to the breadth of the learning experience.
PDF A Level Film Studies Unit F631 Exemplar candidate answers summer 2014
textual evidence informed by understanding of the micro-technical elements (Pg 8, AS/A Level Film Studies Specification). The quality and quantity of these features will also contribute to determining how successful the response is. Question 2. 'Film is a collaborative art - a film has many authors beside the director'.
Film Writing: Sample Analysis
The film's first establishing shots set the action in a busy modern office. A woman sits at a computer, absorbed in her screen. The camera looks at her through a glass wall, one of many in the shot. The reflections of passersby reflected in the glass and the workspace's dim blue light make it difficult to determine how many rooms are depicted.
Resources
It may surprise you to note that it is much more than 35% of your grade. In actuality, the most common form of the cinematic critical essay is one in which the writer explores one or more aspects of a film and analyzes how they enhance the film's meaning and/or artistry. This is very similar to English analysis papers.
How To Get An A or A* In A Level Film Studies
This article aims to provide guidance on how to get an A or A in A level film studies, helping to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary for success. The first step in getting an A or A* in A level film studies is understanding the requirements of the course and what needs to be done to achieve the highest grade possible.
Film Studies Essays
Analysis of the Opening of Trainspotting Film. Example essay. Last modified: 19th Oct 2021. The opening of this film varies with its broad range of shot sizes and camera angles. We start the film with what seems like a hand held shot of the main character and his friend "Spud" getting chased through town with the non diegetic soundtrack ...

A Level Film Studies Example Essays

Quick Reply

Articles for you

Essay Papers Writing Online

Tips for Crafting

a Compelling Film

Analysis Essay

Understand the Film

Plot and Themes

Characters and Motivations

Research and Analysis

Historical Context

Related Post

Film Analysis

Writing the film analysis essay

Watching the film

Brainstorming ideas

Different types of film analysis

Semiotic analysis

Narrative analysis

Cultural/historical analysis

Mise-en-scène analysis

Reviewing your draft

Works consulted

Study Guide - Edward Scissorhands: How to write a Film Analysis Essay & Cinematic Techniques

How to write a film analysis essay

Cinematic Techniques

Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands Film Analysis

Help with writing a film essay - Linda Rubens

Film Techniques

Camera Shots

Camera angles

Camera movement

Cinematography

Mise en Scene

How to Write a Film Studies Essay

How To Write A Good Dissertation

Steve Jones

4 thoughts on “How to Write a Film Studies Essay”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

50 Film Analysis

What is film analysis, and how does it differ from literary analysis?

Different types of film analysis

Semiotic analysis

Narrative structure analysis

Contextual analysis

Mise-en-scene analysis

Writing the film analysis essay

Works Consulted

Share This Book

Step By Step Guide to Writing an Essay on Film

1. Watch the Movie

2. Introduction

3. Write a Summary

4. Write Your Analysis

5. Conclusion

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Is Movie Streaming the Next Step for NFT?

How To Get A New Netflix Series On Your Subscription?

Amazing CBD Movies And TV Shows To Enjoy On Weekends

8 Steps to Enjoy a Boring Movie

What Can We Learn from Netflix’s All-Time Top 10 movies?

Where to Get Your Fill of Fantasy

Join our Film Threat Newsletter

All about A level Film Studies – course information

W hat sort of work is involved?

What background do I need?

Where can it lead?

One year course?

Interested in studying A level Film Studies?

Further advice articles

Need any help?

Courses at cife colleges

Advice articles

Pan's Labyrinth essay plan A level Film Studies Eduqas

jacko061286

Not quite what you were looking for? Search by keyword to find the right resource:

How to write a film studies essay

Essay Categories:

How to Write a Film Studies Essay