Introduction to Movies, Film Criticism, Film Appreciation.

Preface

1. Writing about The Movies

Why Write about the Movies?

Your Audience and the Aims of Film Criticism

The Movie Review

The Theoretical Essay

The Critical Essay

Opinion and Evaluation

Exercises

2. Beginning to Think, Preparing to Watch, and Starting to Write

Subject Matter and Meaning

Silent Dialogue: Talking Back to the Movies

Taking Notes

Visual Memory and Reflection

Exercises

3. Film Terms and Topics for Film Analysis and Writing

Themes

Film and the Other Arts

Narrative

Characters

Point of View

Mise-en-Scene and Realism

Realism

Elements of Mise-en-Scene

Composition and the Image

The Shot

The Edited Image

Sound

Sample Essay

Exercises

4. Six Approaches to Writing about Film

Film History

National Cinemas

Genres

Auteurs

Kinds of Formalism

Ideology

Sample Essays

Exercises

5. Style and Structure in Writing

The Right Words

Concrete Language

Denotation and Connotation

Tone

Repetitions and Cliches

Effective Sentences

Economy

Varied Sentence Structures

Coherent Paragraphs

Introductory Paragraphs

Concluding Paragraphs

Checklist for Writing an Effective Essay

Exercises

6. Researching the Movies

How to Begin Research

The Materials of Research

Primary Sources

Video

Scripts

Secondary Sources: Books Indexes, Journals, and Electronic Sources

Film Research on the Internet

Taking Notes on Secondary Sources

Writing the Paper

Sample Essays

Exercises

7. Manuscript Form

Manuscript Copy

Last-Minute Corrections

Quotations

Acknowledging Sources

Common Knowledge

Documenting Sources

Notes for Documentation

Works Cited

Notes Supplying Additional Commentary

Common Conventions of Usage

Names

Titles

Foreign Words and Quotation Marks

Sexist Language

Spelling

Last Words

Appendix: Symbols Commonly Used

In Marking Papers

Glossary of Film Terms

Works Cited

Credits

Index