Writing About Movies

The only writing guide a film student will ever need

The most succinct, practical, and affordable introduction to thinking and writing about film.

Writing About Movies offers students two books in one: a handy guide to the process of academic writing and a brief but thorough introduction to the basics of film form, film theory, and film analysis. Written by the director of the writing program at Dartmouth College and the authors of the leading introductory film-studies text, Writing About Movies is the only writing guide a student of film will need.

This best-selling text is a succinct guide to thinking critically and writing precisely about film. Both an introduction to film study and a practical writing guide, this brief text introduces students to major film theories as well as film terminology, enabling them to write more thoughtfully and critically. With numerous student and professional examples, this engaging and practical guide progresses from taking notes and writing first drafts to creating polished essays and comprehensive research projects. Moving from movie reviews to theoretical and critical essays, the text demonstrates how an analysis of a film can become more subtle and rigorous as part of a compositional process.

This practical guide addresses how to write effective and perceptive essays about film - a fundamental requirement of any course involving film history or criticism. It first explains why writing about cinema can be such an interesting activity, and then discusses the various stages in the writing process specific to film studies - taking notes on a movie, making an outline, finding and researching a topic, integrating technical details into an analysis and revising for sharper style. and lists bibliographical indexes and major film journals. Revised with an updated list of sources, this edition also features references to more recent films.