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I already have an essay written, and my professor has provided some feedback. I need someone to implement it into the essay. All sources will be provided. Here are the instructions:
Sample provided by prof: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/writing_about_film/film_writing_sample_analysis.html
Movie link: https://tubitv.com/movies/358575/mississippi-burning?start=true&tracking=google-feed&utm_source=google-feed
Guidelines for Essay 3-Film Analysis
In this essay, you will analyze the film Mississippi Burning directed by Alan Parker using one of the analysis approaches given to you in this document.
Elements:
Analysis: In the essay you should combine analyzing a film with support derived from research. You will write a film analysis that incorporates the ideas of others. The trick is to accurately present ideas and interpretations gathered from your research while adding to the conversation by presenting your own ideas and analysis.
Approach: Choose one of the approaches explained in the “Different types of film analysis” located at the bottom of this document. Each approach will require research, and that research should provide the context in which you present your own ideas and support your thesis. Be sure to properly document your research. Review the links on writing a film analysis in this unit as these will help guide you.
Research and Citations: The film itself is your primary source and you will use at least 3 secondary sources from Dallas College Library Catalog/Databases. You will be evaluated, in part, on how well you these secondary sources to support your analysis. I want to see that you can quote, paraphrase, and summarize with proper MLA in-text citations and Works Cited page.
Thesis: Your thesis should reflect what type of movie analysis you have done in the essay.
Sample thesis: In Good Will Hunting, various film techniques, combined with a heartwarming screenplay, creates a dynamic interaction of technical tools that evoke emotion and invite responders to broaden their understanding of the complexities of this difficult human experience.
Essay Structure:
Introduction: Identify the movie and its main idea. Give its summary in 4-5 sentences. End the introduction with your thesis.
Supporting Paragraphs: Start each body paragraph with a topic sentence that is ties back to the thesis. The details in these paragraphs should support the topic sentence.
Each supporting paragraph should present a different point of analysis and should be supported by examples from the movie and evidence from a source.
Conclusion: Restate the main points of your analysis.
Length: 5 pages, approx. 1500 words
Writing the film analysis essay
Writing a film analysis requires you to consider the composition of the film—the individual parts and choices made that come together to create the finished piece. Film analysis goes beyond the analysis of the film as literature to include camera angles, lighting, set design, sound elements, costume choices, editing, etc. in making an argument. The first step to analyzing the film is to watch it with a plan.
Watching the film
First it’s important to watch the film carefully with a critical eye. Consider why you’ve been assigned to watch a film and write an analysis. How does this activity fit into the course? Why have you been assigned this particular film? What are you looking for in connection to the course content? Let’s practice with this clip from Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958). Here are some tips on how to watch the clip critically, just as you would an entire film:
Give the clip your undivided attention at least once. Pay close attention to details and make observations that might start leading to bigger questions.
Watch the clip a second time. For this viewing, you will want to focus specifically on those elements of film analysis that your class has focused on, so review your course notes. For example, from whose perspective is this clip shot? What choices help convey that perspective? What is the overall tone, theme, or effect of this clip?
Take notes while you watch for the second time. Notes will help you keep track of what you noticed and when, if you include timestamps in your notes. Timestamps are vital for citing scenes from a film!
Brainstorming ideas
Once you’ve watched the film twice, it’s time to brainstorm some ideas based on your notes. Brainstorming is a major step that helps develop and explore ideas. As you brainstorm, you may want to cluster your ideas around central topics or themes that emerge as you review your notes. Did you ask several questions about color? Were you curious about repeated images? Perhaps these are directions you can pursue.
If you’re writing an argumentative essay, you can use the connections that you develop while brainstorming to draft a thesis statement. Consider the assignment and prompt when formulating a thesis, as well as what kind of evidence you will present to support your claims. Your evidence could be dialogue, sound edits, cinematography decisions, etc. Much of how you make these decisions will depend on the type of film analysis you are conducting, an important decision covered in the next section.
Also be sure to avoid confusing the terms shot, scene, and sequence. Remember, a shot ends every time the camera cuts; a scene can be composed of several related shots; and a sequence is a set of related scenes.
Different types of film analysis
As you consider your notes, outline, and general thesis about a film, the majority of your assignment will depend on what type of film analysis you are conducting. This section explores some of the different types of film analyses and you may select any one of these approaches to analyze the film.
Semiotic analysis
Semiotic analysis is the interpretation of signs and symbols, typically involving metaphors and analogies to both inanimate objects and characters within a film. Because symbols have several meanings, writers often need to determine what a particular symbol means in the film and in a broader cultural or historical context.
For instance, a writer could explore the symbolism of the flowers in Vertigo by connecting the images of them falling apart to the vulnerability of the heroine.
Here are a few other questions to consider for this type of analysis:
What objects or images are repeated throughout the film?
How does the director associate a character with small signs, such as certain colors, clothing, food, or language use?
How does a symbol or object relate to other symbols and objects, that is, what is the relationship between the film’s signs?
Many films are rich with symbolism, and it can be easy to get lost in the details. Remember to bring a semiotic analysis back around to answering the question “So what?” in your thesis.
Narrative analysis
Narrative analysis is an examination of the story elements, including narrative structure, character, and plot. This type of analysis considers the entirety of the film and the story it seeks to tell.
For example, you could take the same object from the previous example—the flowers—which meant one thing in a semiotic analysis, and ask instead about their narrative role. That is, you might analyze how Hitchcock introduces the flowers at the beginning of the film in order to return to them later to draw out the completion of the heroine’s character arc.
To create this type of analysis, you could consider questions like:
How does the film correspond to the Three-Act Structure: Act One: Setup; Act Two: Confrontation; and Act Three: Resolution?
What is the plot of the film? How does this plot differ from the narrative, that is, how the story is told? For example, are events presented out of order and to what effect?
Does the plot revolve around one character? Does the plot revolve around multiple characters? How do these characters develop across the film?
When writing a narrative analysis, take care not to spend too time on summarizing at the expense of your argument. See our handout on summarizing for more tips on making summary serve analysis.
Cultural/historical analysis
One of the most common types of analysis is the examination of a film’s relationship to its broader cultural, historical, or theoretical contexts. Whether films intentionally comment on their context or not, they are always a product of the culture or period in which they were created. By placing the film in a particular context, this type of analysis asks how the film models, challenges, or subverts different types of relations, whether historical, social, or even theoretical.
For example, the clip from Vertigo depicts a man observing a woman without her knowing it. You could examine how this aspect of the film addresses a midcentury social concern about observation, such as the sexual policing of women, or a political one, such as Cold War-era McCarthyism.
A few of the many questions you could ask in this vein include:
How does the film comment on, reinforce, or even critique social and political issues at the time it was released, including questions of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality?
How might a biographical understanding of the film’s creators and their historical moment affect the way you view the film?
How might a specific film theory, such as Queer Theory, Structuralist Theory, or Marxist Film Theory, provide a language or set of terms for articulating the attributes of the film?
Take advantage of class resources to explore possible approaches to cultural/historical film analyses, and find out whether you will be expected to do additional research into the film’s context.
Mise-en-scène analysis
A mise-en-scène analysis attends to how the filmmakers have arranged compositional elements in a film and specifically within a scene or even a single shot. This type of analysis organizes the individual elements of a scene to explore how they come together to produce meaning. You may focus on anything that adds meaning to the formal effect produced by a given scene, including: blocking, lighting, design, color, costume, as well as how these attributes work in conjunction with decisions related to sound, cinematography, and editing. For example, in the clip from Vertigo, a mise-en-scène analysis might ask how numerous elements, from lighting to camera angles, work together to present the viewer with the perspective of Jimmy Stewart’s character.
To conduct this type of analysis, you could ask:
What effects are created in a scene, and what is their purpose?
How does this scene represent the theme of the movie?
How does a scene work to express a broader point to the film’s plot?
This detailed approach to analyzing the formal elements of film can help you come up with concrete evidence for more general film analysis assignments.
Reviewing your draft
Once you have a draft, it’s helpful to get feedback on what you’ve written to see if your analysis holds together and you’ve conveyed your point. You may not necessarily need to find someone who has seen the film! Ask a writing coach, roommate, or family member to read over your draft and share key takeaways from what you have written so far.
(Adapted from: https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/film-analysis/)
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