Short Guide to Writing about Film / Edition 6

by Timothy Corrigan

Overview

Introduction to Movies, Film Criticism, Film Appreciation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780321412287
Publisher:	Longman
Publication date:	01/09/2006
Series:	The Short Guide Ser.
Edition description:	REV
Pages:	190
Product dimensions:	5.46(w) x 8.18(h) x 0.45(d)

Table of Contents

	Preface	ix
1	Writing about the Movies	1
	Why Write about Movies?	1
	Your Audience and the Aims of Film Criticism	7
	The Movie Review	9
	The Theoretical Essay	11
	The Critical Essay	12
	Opinion and Evaluation	15
	Exercises	19
2	Beginning to Think, Preparing to Watch, and Starting to Write	20
	Subject Matter and Meaning	25
	Silent Dialogue: Talking Back to the Movies	26
	Taking Notes	30
	Visual Memory and Reflection	36
	Exercises	40
3	Film Terms and Topics for Film Analysis and Writing	41
	Themes	42
	Film and the Other Arts	45
	Narrative	46
	Characters	50
	Point of View	52
	Mise-en-Scene and Realism	55
	Realism	55
	Elements of Mise-en-Scene	58
	Composition and the Image	66
	The Shot	66
	The Edited Image	74
	Sound	83
	Sample Essay	88
	Exercises	92
4	Six Approaches to Writing about Film	93
	Film History	94
	National Cinemas	97
	Genres	98
	Auteurs	101
	Kinds of Formalism	103
	Ideology	105
	Sample Essays	108
	Exercises	121
5	Style and Structure in Writing	122
	The Right Words	125
	Concrete Language	125
	Denotation and Connotation	126
	Tone	127
	Repetitions and Cliches	128
	Effective Sentences	129
	Economy	129
	Varied Sentence Structures	130
	Coherent Paragraphs	132
	Introductory Paragraphs	136
	Concluding Paragraphs	138
	Checklist for Writing an Effective Essay	140
	Exercises	143
6	Researching the Movies	144
	How to Begin Research	148
	The Materials of Research	150
	Primary Sources	151
	Video	151
	Scripts	152
	Secondary Sources: Books, Indexes, Journals, and Electronic Sources	153
	Film Research on the Internet	161
	Taking Notes on Secondary Sources	165
	Writing the Paper	166
	Sample Essays	169
	Exercises	178
7	Manuscript Form	179
	Manuscript Copy	179
	Last-Minute Corrections	181
	Quotations	182
	Acknowledging Sources	186
	Common Knowledge	189
	Documenting Sources	189
	Notes for Documentation	190
	Works Cited	192
	Notes Supplying Additional Commentary	197
	Common Conventions of Usage	198
	Names	198
	Titles	199
	Foreign Words and Quotation Marks	200
	Sexist Language	200
	Spelling	201
	Last Words	201
Appendix	Symbols Commonly Used in Marking Papers	203
	Glossary of Film Terms	205
	Works Cited	211
	Credits	215
	Index	217

Editorial Reviews

Corrigan (Temple University) draws on the popularity of film as a way to encourage and develop students' writing skills, progressing through note taking, first drafts, essays, and research projects. The fourth edition adds discussion of electronic resources for film research and how to annotate them. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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