A Short Guide to Writing About Film (The Short Guide Series)

This practical guide addresses how to write effective and perceptive essays about film - a fundamental requirement of any course involving film history or criticism. It first explains why writing about cinema can be such an interesting activity, and then discusses the various stages in the writing process specific to film studies - taking notes on a movie, making an outline, finding and researching a topic, integrating technical details into an analysis and revising for sharper style. A full chapter on writing a film essay discusses how and when to do research, and lists bibliographical indexes and major film journals. Revised with an updated list of sources, this edition also features references to more recent films.

A Short Guide to Writing about Film walks the reader through the process of converting the fun and pleasure of watching a movie into the satisfaction of articulating ideas about that movie. Drawing on the readers' love and knowledge of films ranging from movies that readers easily recognize to ones they may only have read or heard about, the book encourages and develops writing skills. With numerous examples along the way, it moves from note taking and first drafts to polished essays and research projects, demonstrating how an analysis of a film becomes more subtle and rigorous as part of a compositional process. For film enthusiasts interested in enhancing their writing skills.