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CHAPTER 12
WRITING A FILM ESSAY: OBSERVATIONS, ARGUMENTS, RESEARCH, AND ANALYSIS
KEY OBJECTIVES
• Describe the difference between reviews and critical essays.
• Practice taking notes on films and how to organize those notes.
• Choose a topic and develop it into a thesis and argument for a paper.
• Conduct research and integrate sources.
• Acquire the skills to turn your work into a polished essay.
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
Since the beginning of the movies, writers of reviews, scholarly essays, and philosophical books have debated
the achievements of individual films and the cultural importance, function, and value of this young art form in
general. The second section in Part Four, chapter 12 shows how writing about movies can become a rich extension
of our fundamental film experiences. It begins by making a distinction among the subject matter of a film, the
material that directly or indirectly comprises the film, and the meaning or the interpretation a writer discovers within
TEACHING THE OPENING VIGNETTE
To teach the opening vignette, you may want to place Adaptation (2002) in the context of the challenges
inherent in adapting a book for the screen. Examining the ways in which writer Charlie Kaufman and director Spike
Jonze make manifest the challenges of writing, by creating a character named after the screenwriter and then
inventing a twin brother for him, may help students situate their own writing on film. There is passion, panic, false
starts, breaks for coffee, bad writing, cliché, and a lot of staring at a blank page involved on the road to writing
something that works. To provide additional context and encourage students to approach their own writing with a
critical eye for telling details, you could assign the passage from Susan Orlean’s book in which she encounters the
orchid thief in the Florida Everglades. Another approach might be to distribute reviews and critical essays (or
excerpts) about the film, including Orlean’s own comments about being played by Meryl Streep.
TEACHING THE CHAPTER
The aims and mechanics of good writing about film may be familiar to students who study literature or history.
But competence in this kind of writing can benefit students in all disciplines. We live in an increasingly visual
culture, and the importance of identifying an audience, of balancing subjective and objective perspectives, of taking
notes, and of sketching an outline that develops a particular argument and interpretation is universal and
transferable. With the aid of the many genuine student papers reproduced in this chapter for reference, students can
Teaching Students How to Prepare to Write about a Film
Encourage students to approach each film that is screened for class as though they might write an essay about it.
What do they think they will see? Why are they watching it? What is the relationship between the film and the
material being covered in class? Have them jot down their speculations before the screening and encourage them to
take notes while watching the movie. In the next class, ask them to share their observations and any revelations.
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Applying the steps in this section to every film allows students to limber up and will make the prospect of writing
their first essay less daunting.
Taking Notes
Revision, Formatting, and Proofreading
Many students tend to leave too little time to write even a first draft of a paper before it’s due. Consider
conducting in-class draft workshops or adopting the Writer’s Checklist below as a kind of contract with the students.
It gives them a clear outline of your expectations. Ask them to submit a completed, signed checklist with each paper,
attesting they have followed every step.
Writer’s Checklist
1. Review your notes, filling in details where you can. Ideally, view the film one more time.
2. Try to summarize the most important themes or motifs in the film.
4. Outline the argument. If possible, use full sentences for headings because they can then become your topic
sentences.
6. Rewrite your thesis statement to reflect any changes or refinements in your thinking that occurred while writing
your first draft.
8. Revise your essay, checking for large problems such as vague or illogical organization, and proofread for
surface errors in spelling and grammar.
10. Print out the essay, and correct any remaining typographical errors.
Teaching Technical Vocabulary and Key Concepts
Ask students to watch a short scene in class and take notes using the common abbreviations or symbols for visual
compositions listed below. Reviewing these notes will reveal whether you should spend more time on a particular
topic or shot.
es: establishing shot
ha: high angle
ct: cut
cu: close-up
mcu: medium close-up
la: low angle
trs: tracking shot
low camera angle
high camera angle
tracking shot
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TEACHING THE VIEWING CUES
Personal Opinion and Objectivity, p. 412
Watch the clip of Birdman (2014) online. What subjective claims might a writer make about this section of the film?
What objective claims might a writer make?
This Viewing Cue allows students to consider how their personal film experiences shape their attitude toward
this clip, and how to negotiate these experiences with a more objective analysis. Students may associate the
Birdman, who is following Riggan, with the character of Beetlejuice, the character Michael Keaton plays in the Tim
Burton film by the same name. They will likely also associate him with the Batman, whom Keaton played in two
films (both directed by Burton). These associations may deflect attention away from or draw attention to the careful
staging of this sequence, the editing and camera alignment.
Asking Questions, p. 415
Before viewing your next film, jot down three or four questions you want to direct at the film. During the film, write
down three or four more about specific shots or scenes. Later, attempt to answer all of your questions as precisely as
possible.
This is another Viewing Cue you may want to incorporate throughout the course to accustom the students to
thinking critically about film, both thematically and on the level of the individual shot. Share some of the more
provocative responses in class.
Taking Notes, p. 415
Which events, sounds, or shots in the film you just viewed stand out as unusual? As most important? As examples of
a pattern of repetition? Describe clearly and concretely one or two events, sounds, or shots from the film.
The Film in Focus Minority Report offers ample examples of unusual events, sounds, or shots. In class look at
the clip on LaunchPad for The Film Experience as a model: the gestures Anderton makes seem to have informed
Thesis Statement, p. 422
Write a precise thesis statement. Is your thesis specific enough, or does it need refinement? Is it sufficiently
interesting to encourage readers to continue reading your essay?
This Viewing Cue may be combined with several others in this chapter to prepare students to craft a persuasive
essay.
Outline and Topic Sentences, p. 423
Create a detailed outline of your essay. Does your outline include subsections that can later be developed with
details and evidence from the film?
To use this Viewing Cue in class, spend some time going over the outline examples included in this chapter.
Ask the students to create their own outlines as homework, and then spend additional class time correcting any
common errors once you’ve had time to review their work.
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Writer’s Checklist, p. 425
After writing your first draft, revise your thesis statement to reflect changes in your thinking. Be sure to sharpen
your thesis statement to describe your argument more accurately.
Ask students to respond to this Viewing Cue after returning paper drafts to the class.
Internet Sources, p. 432
Search the Internet for information about your film and topic, and locate at least one useful source. What
distinguishes this source from other online information about your topic?
Bundle this Viewing Cue with others you’ve asked students to respond to before meeting with you for one-on-
one paper consultations.
Direct Quotations and Paraphrasing, p. 434
As you prepare to integrate research into your essay, think about a particular quote or critical position you will
argue against. What factual or historical material will support your argument? Note passages you can use to
bolster a central part of your essay.
Walk through an example of this approach during class using an article you’ve assigned as supplemental
reading for a specific film.
TEACHING THE FORM IN ACTION
Creating a Video Essay, p. 433
Use some time in class to show students examples of the video essay. Some of the more popular and insightful
video essays have been produced by filmmaker and critic Kevin B. Lee (“The Spielberg Face”) and film scholar
Catherine Grant (Los Olvidados/Lazarus).
TEACHING THE FILMS IN FOCUS
Analysis, Audience, and Minority Report (2002), pp. 418–420
If you choose to show Minority Report, try to situate it for students as predictive of many of the now-familiar
gestures associated with the small computers (smart phones) most of them carry everywhere.
Discussion Question 1: What dialogue, images, sound, and so on in the film seemed familiar? They may know that
Philip K. Dick’s writing has been adapted into a number of sci-fi films over the years or that the source story
predates the attacks of September 11, 2001, even though the movie was released afterward, in 2002.
Discussion Question 2: What does it mean to disconnect the act of seeing from eyes in bodies? Some students
might have drawn a connection between the shots of the pre-cogs’ visions and the surveillance state we live in
today. Consider raising the concept of privacy in the era CCTV and other official surveillance apparatuses, like
Interpretation, Argument, and Evidence in Rashomon (1950), pp. 428–431
This Film in Focus illustrates the play of competing narrative points of view and the difficulty in arriving at a
clear interpretation based on available evidence.
Discussion Question 1: How do the themes of bias and interpretation in Rashomon provide a model for writing
about film? The sample student paper can serve as a cautionary tale about the importance of conducting secondary
research and citing sources correctly and thoroughly.
Discussion Question 2: How do we deal with the temptation to incorporate the thinking of other writers when
dealing with well-known films like Rashomon? Discuss how the perspectives of other writers must be attributed and
weighed in the context of the student’s own argument.
Additional Suggestions: The Rashomon model has been appropriated by any number of films (and other works), in
whole or in part. Even a 1999 episode of The Simpsons finds Marge persuading Homer to go to Japan by saying,
“You liked Rashomon.” To which Homer replies, “That’s not how I remember it.” Search imdb.com for other
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From Research to Writing about The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), pp. 436–440
Working with this Film in Focus serves to demonstrate the wealth of secondary sources available to a writer.
The scenario in the textbook illustrates a methodical, step-by-step approach to collecting information, refining one’s
paper topic, and incorporating secondary sources correctly cited. Contributing a new take to such a vast store of
information on a film may seem daunting to introductory-level students.
Discussion Question 1: How does this student paper example demonstrate the ways in which a writer can sum up
critical viewpoints and deploy them alongside quotations from the film itself in the service of his or her own
arguments?
additional SUGGESTIONS
Alternative Activity
Ask students to identify films about films, writers, or art and analyze in detail how one of them critically
engages with a movie or style that preceded it.
FILMS CITED
Adaptation (2002)
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Birdman (2014)
Blade Runner (1982)
The Bourne series (2002–2016)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Fearless (1993)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Inception (2010)
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
In the Bedroom (2001)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Jaws (1975)
Julie & Julia (2009)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
Lincoln (2012)
Little Vera (1989)
Mädchen in Uniform (1931)
Minority Report (2002)
Mishima (1985)
My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
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Rashomon (1950)
Ruby Sparks (2012)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)