This document discusses four types of writing about film: informal writing, screening notes, film review writing, and academic writing. It provides details on the purpose and structure of each type. Screening notes are for a writer's personal use and involve recording initial impressions without spoilers. Film reviews summarize the plot and provide a recommendation for audiences. Academic writing examines films through a theoretical lens using concepts like motifs, patterns, and how they influence meaning. Developing a thesis involves identifying visual and narrative patterns in a film then interpreting their significance.

1. CHAPTER 6:
WRITING ABOUT FILM
Whether it’s just for pure entertainment
or to find meaning, decode symbolism,
and identify artistic themes, there are
undoubtedly a variety of ways in which
one can watch films. And there are also
a number of ways in which to write
about them – some more academic and
analytical while some are more casual
and loose

2. 4 TYPES OF WRITING
ABOUT FILM
INFORMAL WRITING INTENDED FOR
AN AUDIENCE
SCREENING NOTES
FILM REVIEW WRITING
ACADEMIC WRITING

3. INFORMAL WRITING
This type of writing about film includes
texting, tweeting, online discussion,
Amazon reviews, Netflix comments – all
designed for a general and informal
audience but often lacking in depth; the
author tells us the movie “sucked” but
doesn’t explore why it sucked, making it
difficult to evaluate their opinion

4. SCREENING NOTES
This type of writing about film in which
the writer herself is the intended
audience and are often used when
preparing a news outlet film review,
getting ready for a class discussion, or
to planning to write a film essay in a film
course

5. SCREENING NOTES
SCREENING NOTES consist of your
initial impressions, opinions, and
observations about the film and all its
various elements; narrative structure,
cinematography, editing, sound, and
mise-en-scène

6. SCREENING NOTES
Your ultimate goal in this kind of writing
is to record observations from which you
can later develop a thesis and gather
evidence to support whatever argument
you’re going to make but is very
personal in that these notes are for you
and not for publication or an audience

7. Looking for PATTERNS
By “PATTERN” we mean a
REPEATED FORM that, in the
arts, are referred to as MOTIFS
If an element occurs only once,
we’re likely to overlook it but when
it occurs more than once it draws
our attention
SCREENING NOTES

8. DEVELOPING A THESIS
Identifying visual patterns and
MOTIFS of all kinds is an
important step in screening notes
to prepare for writing about film
MOTIFS IN FILM podcast

9. FILM REVIEW WRITING
Unlike Informal Writing or Screening
Notes, this kind of writing is a structured
piece of writing that contains:
A Plot Summary
A Thesis Statement (usually a recommendation)
Supporting Points
A Conclusion

10. FILM REVIEW WRITING
Film Reviews should avoid spoilers and
are intended for a general audience and
its primary purpose is the
recommendation of whether or not a
viewer should see it and why or why not

11. For the Love of Movies:
The Story of American Film Criticism
2009 documentary film dramatizing a
hundred years of American film criticism
through film clips, historic photographs, and
on-camera interviews with many of today’s
important reviewers, mostly print but also
Internet.
IN-CLASS SCREENING

12. ACADEMIC WRITING
This type of writing includes critical
essays and theoretical writing about films
and is done primarily by film scholars or
those from other disciplines such as
history, philosophy, or psychology

13. ACADEMIC WRITING
Such writing may examine topics such as
Film Language and how it functions
The relationship between Cinema and
Ideology
The relationship between Cinema and the
Spectator
The influences of social, political, and
economic forces on the film industry

14. ACADEMIC WRITING
FILM THEORY presents complex material
and often requires that readers have an
extensive knowledge of film history and other
topics such as psychoanalysis, Marxism, and
feminist theory
The tone can be formal and aloof and, unlike
a film REVIEW, is NOT concerned at all with
“how good” a film is but rather what a film
might “mean’

15. ACADEMIC WRITING
The Film Writing Film Students are most
often asked to write is known as the
CRITICAL ESSAY
It does not focus on whether a film is “good” or
“bad” but rather looks for basic FILM THEORY
as covered in class; for instance, the
redemption theme in ON THE WATERFRONT
or the recurring motif of water in THE
GRADUATE and how they’re used to create
meaning via film language

16. ACADEMIC WRITING
Advanced FILM THEORY presents complex
material and often requires that readers have
an extensive knowledge of film history and
other topics such as psychoanalysis,
Marxism, and feminist theory
The tone can be formal and aloof and, unlike
a film review, is NOT concerned at all with
“how good” a film is but rather what a film
might “mean’

17. ACADEMIC WRITING
Begins with screening notes
What did you take notice of?
Brainstorming a Thesis
A thesis is not a fact but rather an
opinion which you intend to prove
over the course of your essay by
supporting it with evidence

18. ACADEMIC WRITING
Looking for PATTERNS
By “PATTERN” we mean a
REPEATED FORM that, in the
arts, are referred to as MOTIFS
If an element occurs only once,
we’re likely to overlook it but when
it occurs more than once it draws
our attention

19. ACADEMIC WRITING
For instance, fences and/or cages
appear over and over again in ON
THE WATERFRONT and serve as
a motif that an observant student
will notice in their screening notes…

20. OTW FENCES/CAGES

21. ACADEMIC WRITING
For instance, fences and/or cages
appear over and over again in ON
THE WATERFRONT and serve as
a motif that an observant student
will notice in their screening notes –
but what does this motif mean?

22. ACADEMIC WRITING
Remember that “What it means” is
an interpretation that is always a
matter of opinion so there is no
“right” or “wrong” interpretation
But there are, however, plausible
and implausible interpretations
Interpretations with insufficient or
just plain silly “evidence” are
implausible and not taken seriously

23. ACADEMIC WRITING
For instance, to say that the
repeated pattern of fences/cages
means that Terry wants to take up
the sport of fencing is implausible
as there is no evidence to back
that interpretation up

24. ACADEMIC WRITING
But you can use the motif of
fences/cages to formulate a plausible
interpretation by asking yourself some
relevant questions like
What is the purpose of a fence/cage?
How does that purpose relate to the film’s
characters?
Which characters appear in scenes with
fences/cages?
Where are they positioned in relation to
these fences/cages?

25. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF
A FENCE/CAGE?
Fences/cages are either meant to
enclose and imprison or to keep
out – either way, separation is the
goal

26. HOW DOES THAT PURPOSE
RELATE TO THE FILM’S
CHARACTERS?
OTW is a film about characters
who are trapped and/or
imprisoned by social and
economic circumstances

27. WHICH CHARACTER(S)
APPEAR IN SCENES WITH
FENCES?
Mainly it’s Terry Malloy

28. WHERE ARE THEY
POSITIONED IN RELATION
TO THESE FENCES?
Terry is usually behind and/or
hemmed in by the fence/cage
which is often separating him from
other characters

29. WHERE ARE THEY
POSITIONED IN RELATION
TO THESE FENCES?
Terry is usually behind and/or
hemmed in by the fence/cage
which is often separating him from
other characters

30. DEVELOPING A THESIS
Once a pattern/motif has been
established, any variation/change in
that pattern/motif can be significant
Near the end of the OTW, there’s a
pivotal scene where Terry starts out
in a cage and Edie outside it but she
enters it with him and he ends up
leaving the cage

31. THE GRADUATE: WATER

32. DEVELOPING A THESIS
Other Visual Motifs in ON THE
WATERFRONT and THE
GRADUATE could include animal
imagery (the pigeons in OTW) and
costume motifs (Mrs. Robinson
wears a lot of animal prints)

33. DEVELOPING A THESIS
Identifying visual patterns and
motifs is an important step in
developing a thesis for film theory
which often leads to subjective
interpretation of SYMBOISM in a
film
SYMBOLISM in Film

34. DEVELOPING A THESIS
Another important step when
developing a thesis is to look for
narrative patterns

35. DEVELOPING A THESIS
NARRATIVE PATTERNS –
Film are stories and stories are
about change
Most films portray a change on
the part of the protagonist
Typically this change is positive
but not always

36. DEVELOPING A THESIS
Charting a character’s development (or non-development) is
a simple way to identify a pattern in a specific film and
develop a thesis which still is often a matter of opinion
For instance, in OTW, some argue that Terry Malloy
redeems himself in the film as evidenced by his selfless acts
of testifying and taking on Johnny Friendly – this reading
purports that Terry is a changed man at the end of the film
and there is plausible evidence to support such a
interpretation
While others argue he remains selfish throughout the film;
that he only testifies because he was personally threatened
and only confronts Johnny Friendly at the end because his
personal livelihood ($) was taken away as well as his
friendships – this reading purports Terry is the same selfish
man at the end as he was at the beginning and there is
plausible evidence to support this interpretation, too

37. WRITING ABOUT FILM
If you love movies reading good
writing about them can really
enrich your experience, as can
writing about them yourself

38. LOOKING AHEAD
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