Writing Essays About Movies
The way that we approach education sure has changed, in the past students were limited in the resources that they could use to study. Instead of having access to unlimited sources on the Internet, scholars were required to write essays using only texts and paper documents. Individuals who struggled with reading comprehension were the ones who had to work extra hard in order to graduate. There weren’t a lot of alternative resources or options available and even viewing a film or documentary was not typically an approved research option.
However, now it has become common practice for instructors to encourage students watch films for their written assignments. This is because; film studies have become a regular part of most curriculums. At one point instructors began to recognize the need for alternative resource options for their students. Textbooks and publications are no longer the only appropriate way for students to gain knowledge; in fact research has proven that reading is not nearly as effective as viewing visual aids. Hence, the growing popularity of film related critical essay assignments.
Approaching A Film Essay Assignment
I can’t imagine what it must be like to live in a world where instructors simply request that you “view a film” and write on it’s themes. This seems like a much easier alternative to reading a novel and analyzing’s the content. However one thing that people fail to recognize about film related writing assignments is that the instructor typically has much higher expectations for the quality of the final research paper due to the fact that films have visual content in them to be analyzed.
When you write an essay about a movie, you are not only critiquing the dialogue but you must consider all of the features content as a work of art. There is a lot more to analyze, from directorial decisions, to actors approach, cinematography and symbolism just to name a few. At first glance a movie essay may seem easier than a book report, until you begin to consider all of its contents.
Yes, watching a movie only takes an hour or two, but looking critically at all of the different elements may take even longer than reading a book because there is so much material for you to investigate. The best approach that we can recommend is keeping notes while you view the movie two or three times before you sit down to write. Try to organize your notes like you would any other research content into an outline and write your essay based off of that.
