Film Analysis Essay: Example and Tips

Introduction

Imagine that you have watched a terrific film: fascinating, interesting, exciting. You can not sleep or eat until you tell your friends about this movie or strangers on the Internet. Or maybe, on the contrary – you killed two hours on the film so boring that it can be prescribed instead of sleeping pills. Of course, you want to share your disappointment. Sharing your thoughts and feelings is a natural human need. Movies are not just entertainment. Like any work of art, it should encourage viewers to dialogue.

So, you are in a hurry to open the Film Search and leave your own review under the film. Many of those who write there, sincerely consider themselves to be reviewers. But to write a film analysis, it is not enough to share impressions with the public. Most authors who call themselves critics, in fact, do not write film analysis, but reviews. What is the difference?

Feedback or review is your impression of the film. “Elegant movie!” – if you extend this idea to a page, you will receive a detailed review. The review implies an emotional assessment, but film analysis is a genre of film criticism, a small, concise publication that analyzes the idea of ​​the filmmakers and its embodiment. The film analysis requires not only an emotional assessment, but also analytical information.

How to properly write a film analysis

What is the result of the cherished analytical evaluation, which distinguishes the review from the film analysis? Characterizing the film, the reviewer should rely on such factors:

• Scenario
• Directing
• Acting.
• Operator’s work.
• Musical accompaniment.
• Visualization (visual effects, work of costumers, make-up artists).

This is not a complete list of criteria, but we named the main points and arranged them not by chance, but in order of importance. Of course, everything is relative, and the mathematical algorithm for evaluating films does not exist, but the bad work of make-up artists often does not spoil the movie as a failure of the writers. Scenario errors or directories usually become fatal for the story, while the visualization flaws can sometimes close your eyes. Let’s go through all the main points.

How to analyze the scenario

A successful script is half the success of a film, and an unsuccessful one is a guarantee of its failure. You should understand that one person rarely works on the script. Usually, except for the screenwriter, the director and producers make edits to it, so the quality of the final version depends on the well-coordinated work of at least three people (and on major projects – all ten). What should you evaluate if you want to write film analysis?

• Logic and sequence of events.
• Completion of scenes.
• Characters of the heroes and their development.
• Dialogs.

Beginning film critics are often advised to write reviews immediately after watching the movie. But if you’re just learning to analyze movies, it’s a mistake. Even professional film critics prefer to “sleep over” with their impressions. The film can produce a strong emotional impact, and you will not notice any inconsistencies in the plot, breaking logic and unfinished scenes. So take your time, but after watching, mentally reproduce the story and answer the question: did you understand the motives of the characters, the logic of events? If you can not recreate the logic of history or explain individual scenes, the script no longer deserves an “excellent” rating.

How to evaluate the direction

The director manages the process, it depends on him how the scenario will be put into practice: what plans will be chosen, how individual scenes will be played and, in fact, even how the actors play (because the director puts them tasks). In the review, it’s enough to go through the way the director realized the script, but ideally you should know a little more: in which genre the director works, what his films were successful, and which ones – failed. This will give you the opportunity to compare the different works of the master and evaluate the direction deeper. Remember: at the first watching, it is difficult to separate the direction from the script, and the story itself – from the way it is told. If you really want to talk about it, you need to watch the film twice. This will also help to avoid too emotional assessment.

Operator work, music, visual effects

The work of the operator must be able to separate from the work of the director. The director puts the task, but its embodiment falls on the operator. At first you can evaluate just the beauty and harmony of plans, the general impression from the visual range, but if you want to write professional reviews and film analysis, pay attention on what films operator worked, and eventually you will begin to learn the manner of shooting of different masters.

Approximately the same way things are with sound: music plays an important role, it sets the mood. Try to see the horror film under the soundtrack to “Winnie the Pooh”, and there will not be anything terrible left in it. The reviewer can evaluate how much music corresponds to what is happening on the screen and the mood of the film, but in the long run one should strive to learn the characteristic techniques.

The visual side of the film – costumes, make-up, special effects – is easier to evaluate. But this is only at first glance. Because viewers, who dream of becoming critics, admit typical mistakes. One of the most common – complaints about the discrepancy between the costumes of the era in historical cinema. Sometimes these reproaches are just, but often reviewers do not know how to separate mistakes from deliberate stylization. For example, in the series “The Stranger” the heroine is transferred from the 20th century to the 18th century, and to emphasize its “foreignness”, the costumers stylized the outfits of the house “Dior” for the styles of the 18th century. But at a glance it’s easy not to understand the idea and say: “Hey, then we did not wear such fabrics!” Therefore, we emphasize: do not rush to let off steam in reviews, let emotions lie down, and thoughts – order.

Another common mistake is to compare the visual effects of different years, making far-reaching conclusions based on comparison. For example, you can compare the new film “Star Trek” with the original series, shot in the 60’s. But it makes no sense to write that the visual effects of the 60’s are bad. First, they could be normal for their time. Secondly, it is obvious that visual effects became better after half a century.

Plan for writing a film analysis

1. Let the reader understand the theme and mood of the review.
2. Brief description of the film: designate the genre, outline the plot in general terms.
3. Structural analysis: it’s time to talk about the script, directing and all the other points.
4. Decoupling or conclusion: based on the structural analysis, summarize.
5. Try to nicely finish the topic.

Following this plan, you will write a good film analysis. In any case, you can be sure that this is a film analysis, not a review. And for you to better understand the difference, we will give an example of a review and a review of the film “The Squad of Suicides”.

Example of film analysis and review

The review: “There are such films about which there is practically nothing to say. The “suicide squad” is one of them. Complete disappointment. I expected to see a dynamic story about the greatest villains, but received a tedious prolonged action without a hint of logic. The film is weak and delusional, do not waste time on it.”

Brief film analysis: “For Marvel, the year was difficult: the studio dampened its reputation as a parody of itself in the next “Avengers”. But they tried to take revenge thanks to the “Suicide Squad”. In the center of the plot are the worst villains of all times and peoples, whom the authorities forced to bring to the salvation of the world. Since it is difficult to control the eight of evil geniuses, each of them is implanted with a death capsule. The central heroine is the emotionally unbalanced girlfriend of the Joker Harley Quinn performed by Margo Robey. The actress and make-up artists managed to create a memorable image, which threatens to turn into one of the most copied female film images. Contrary to expectations, the central male role is assigned not to the Joker, but to Deadshot, played by Will Smith. Unfortunately, all the other villains against the background of this pair look like extras. The joker in the story is not so bad, and he was so eager to give the lover of the hero-lover that he even forgot about the main thing: he is one of the most brilliant villains of the Marvel universe. The general impression is spoiled by several plot inconsistencies. But the main disadvantage is a large number of heroes, which are not revealed in the plot. However, if you watch the movie on the big screen, then at least enjoy the camera work and visual effects.”