assignment 15 evaluating the scene

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50 Film Analysis

Film analysis, what this handout is about.

This handout provides a brief definition of film analysis compared to literary analysis, provides an introduction to common types of film analysis, and offers strategies and resources for approaching assignments.

What is film analysis, and how does it differ from literary analysis?

Film analysis is the process in which film is analyzed in terms of semiotics, narrative structure, cultural context, and mise-en-scene, among other approaches. If these terms are new to you, don’t worry—they’ll be explained in the next section.

Analyzing film, like analyzing literature (fiction texts, etc.) , is a form of rhetorical analysis—critically analyzing and evaluating discourse, including words, phrases, and images. Having a clear argument and supporting evidence is every bit as critical to film analysis as to other forms of academic writing.

Unlike literature, film incorporates audiovisual elements and therefore introduces a new dimension to analysis. Ultimately, however, analysis of film is not too different. Think of all the things that make up a scene in a film: the actors, the lighting, the angles, the colors. All of these things may be absent in literature, but they are deliberate choices on the part of the director, producer, or screenwriter—as are the words chosen by the author of a work of literature. Furthermore, literature and film incorporate similar elements. They both have plots, characters, dialogue, settings, symbolism, and, just as the elements of literature can be analyzed for their intent and effect, these elements can be analyzed the same way in film.

Different types of film analysis

Listed here are common approaches to film analysis, but this is by no means an exhaustive list, and you may have discussed other approaches in class. As with any other assignment, make sure you understand your professor’s expectations. This guide is best used to understand prompts or, in the case of more open-ended assignments, consider the different ways to analyze film.

Keep in mind that any of the elements of film can be analyzed, oftentimes in tandem. A single film analysis essay may simultaneously include all of the following approaches and more. As Jacques Aumont and Michel Marie propose in Analysis of Film, there is no correct, universal way to write film analysis.

Semiotic analysis

Semiotic analysis is the analysis of meaning behind signs and symbols, typically involving metaphors, analogies, and symbolism.

This doesn’t necessarily need to be something dramatic; think about how you extrapolate information from the smallest signs in your day to day life. For instance, what characteristics can tell you about someone’s personality? Something as simple as someone’s appearance can reveal information about them. Mismatched shoes and bedhead might be a sign of carelessness (or something crazy happened that morning!), while an immaculate dress shirt and tie would suggest that the person is prim and proper. Continuing in that vein:

What might you be able to infer about characters from small hints?
How are these hints (signs) used to construct characters? How do they relate to the relative role of those characters, or the relationships between multiple characters?

Symbols denote concepts (liberty, peace, etc.) and feelings (hate, love, etc.) that they often have nothing to do with. They are used liberally in both literature and film, and finding them uses a similar process. Ask yourself:

In Frozen Elsa’s gloves appear in multiple scenes.
Her gloves are first given to her by her father to restrain her magic. She continues to wear them throughout the coronation scene, before finally, in the Let It Go sequence, she throws them away.

Again, the method of semiotic analysis in film is similar to that of literature. Think about the deeper meaning behind objects or actions.

Elsa’s gloves represent fear of her magic and, by extension, herself. Though she attempts to contain her magic by hiding her hands within gloves and denying part of her identity, she eventually abandons the gloves in a quest for self-acceptance.

Narrative structure analysis

Narrative structure analysis is the analysis of the story elements, including plot structure, character motivations, and theme. Like the dramatic structure of literature (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution), film has what is known as the Three-Act Structure: “Act One: Setup, Act Two: Confrontation, and Act Three: Resolution.” Narrative structure analysis breaks the story of the film into these three elements and might consider questions like:

How does the story follow or deviate from typical structures?
What is the effect of following or deviating from this structure?
What is the theme of the film, and how is that theme constructed?

Consider again the example of Frozen. You can use symbolism and narrative structure in conjunction by placing the symbolic objects/events in the context of the narrative structure. For instance, the first appearance of the gloves is in Act One, while their abandoning takes place in Act Two; thus, the story progresses in such a way that demonstrates Elsa’s personal growth. By the time of Act Three, the Resolution, her aversion to touch (a product of fearing her own magic) is gone, reflecting a theme of self-acceptance.

Contextual analysis

Contextual analysis is analysis of the film as part of a broader context. Think about the culture, time, and place of the film’s creation. What might the film say about the culture that created it? What were/are the social and political concerns of the time period? Or, like researching the author of a novel, you might consider the director, producer, and other people vital to the making of the film. What is the place of this film in the director’s career? Does it align with his usual style of directing, or does it move in a new direction? Other examples of contextual approaches might be analyzing the film in terms of a civil rights or feminist movement.

For example, Frozen is often linked to the LGBTQ social movement. You might agree or disagree with this interpretation, and, using evidence from the film, support your argument.

Some other questions to consider:

How does the meaning of the film change when seen outside of its culture?
What characteristics distinguishes the film as being of its particular culture?

Mise-en-scene analysis

Mise-en-scene analysis is analysis of the arrangement of compositional elements in film—essentially, the analysis of audiovisual elements that most distinctly separate film analysis from literary analysis. Remember that the important part of a mise-en-scene analysis is not just identifying the elements of a scene, but explaining the significance behind them.

What effects are created in a scene, and what is their purpose?
How does the film attempt to achieve its goal by the way it looks, and does it succeed?

Audiovisual elements that can be analyzed include (but are not limited to): props and costumes, setting, lighting, camera angles, frames, special effects, choreography, music, color values, depth, placement of characters, etc. Mise-en-scene is typically the most foreign part of writing film analysis because the other components discussed are common to literary analysis, while mise-en-scene deals with elements unique to film. Using specific film terminology bolsters credibility, but you should also consider your audience. If your essay is meant to be accessible to non-specialist readers, explain what terms mean. The Resources section of this handout has links to sites that describe mise-en-scene elements in detail.

Rewatching the film and creating screen captures (still images) of certain scenes can help with detailed analysis of colors, positioning of actors, placement of objects, etc. Listening to the soundtrack can also be helpful, especially when placed in the context of particular scenes.

Some example questions:

How is the lighting used to construct mood? Does the mood shift at any point during the film, and how is that shift in mood created?
What does the setting say about certain characters? How are props used to reveal aspects of their personality?
What songs were used, and why were they chosen? Are there any messages in the lyrics that pertain to the theme?

Writing the film analysis essay

Writing film analysis is similar to writing literary analysis or any argumentative essay in other disciplines: Consider the assignment and prompts, formulate a thesis (see the Brainstorming Handout and Thesis Statement Handout for help crafting a nuanced argument), compile evidence to prove your thesis, and lay out your argument in the essay. Your evidence may be different from what you are used to. Whereas in the English essay you use textual evidence and quotes, in a film analysis essay, you might also include audiovisual elements to bolster your argument.

When describing a sequence in a film, use the present tense, like you would write in the literary present when describing events of a novel, i.e. not “Elsa took off her gloves,” but “Elsa takes off her gloves.” When quoting dialogue from a film, if between multiple characters, use block quotes: Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented one inch from the left margin. However, conventions are flexible, so ask your professor if you are unsure. It may also help to follow the formatting of the script, if you can find it. For example:

ELSA: But she won’t remember I have powers? KING: It’s for the best.

You do not need to use quotation marks for blocked-off dialogue, but for shorter quotations in the main text, quotation marks should be double quotes (“…”).

Here are some tips for approaching film analysis:

Make sure you understand the prompt and what you are being asked to do. Focus your argument by choosing a specific issue to assess.
Review your materials. Rewatch the film for nuances that you may have missed in the first viewing. With your thesis in mind, take notes as you watch. Finding a screenplay of the movie may be helpful, but keep in mind that there may be differences between the screenplay and the actual product (and these differences might be a topic of discussion!).
Develop a thesis and an outline, organizing your evidence so that it supports your argument. Remember that this is ultimately an assignment—make sure that your thesis answers what the prompt asks, and check with your professor if you are unsure.
Move beyond only describing the audiovisual elements of the film by considering the significance of your evidence. Demonstrate understanding of not just what film elements are, but why and to what effect they are being used. For more help on using your evidence effectively, see ‘Using Evidence In An Argument’ in the Evidence Handout .

New York Film Academy Glossary Movie Outline Glossary Movie Script Database Citation Practices: Film and Television

Works Consulted

We consulted these works while writing the original version of this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find the latest publications on this topic. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial .

Aumont, Jacques, and Michel Marie. L’analyse Des Films. Paris: Nathan, 1988. Print. Pruter, Robin Franson. “Writing About Film.” Writing About Film. DePaul University, 08 Mar. 2004. Web. 01 May 2016.

Film Analysis Copyright © 2020 by Liza Long; Amy Minervini; and Joel Gladd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Film Analysis

What this handout is about.

This handout introduces film analysis and and offers strategies and resources for approaching film analysis assignments.

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!

For more information on watching a film, check out the Learning Center’s handout on watching film analytically . For more resources on researching film, including glossaries of film terms, see UNC Library’s research guide on film & cinema .

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.

After brainstorming, you can draft an outline of your film analysis using the same strategies that you would for other writing assignments. Here are a few more tips to keep in mind as you prepare for this stage of the assignment:

Make sure you understand the prompt and what you are being asked to do. Remember that this is ultimately an assignment, so your thesis should answer what the prompt asks. Check with your professor if you are unsure.
In most cases, the director’s name is used to talk about the film as a whole, for instance, “Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo .” However, some writers may want to include the names of other persons who helped to create the film, including the actors, the cinematographer, and the sound editor, among others.
When describing a sequence in a film, use the literary present. An example could be, “In Vertigo , Hitchcock employs techniques of observation to dramatize the act of detection.”
Finding a screenplay/script of the movie may be helpful and save you time when compiling citations. But keep in mind that there may be differences between the screenplay and the actual product (and these differences might be a topic of discussion!).
Go beyond describing basic film elements by articulating the significance of these elements in support of your particular position. For example, you may have an interpretation of the striking color green in Vertigo , but you would only mention this if it was relevant to your argument. For more help on using evidence effectively, see the section on “using evidence” in our evidence handout .

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 you may have been assigned to write.

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.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Aumont, Jacques, and Michel Marie. 1988. L’analyse Des Films . Paris: Nathan.

Media & Design Center. n.d. “Film and Cinema Research.” UNC University Libraries. Last updated February 10, 2021. https://guides.lib.unc.edu/filmresearch .

Oxford Royale Academy. n.d. “7 Ways to Watch Film.” Oxford Royale Academy. Accessed April 2021. https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/7-ways-watch-films-critically/ .

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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The New York Times

The learning network | on the scene: analyzing scenes in film and literature.

On the Scene: Analyzing Scenes in Film and Literature

Media Studies

Teaching ideas based on New York Times content.

See all in Media Studies »
See all lesson plans »

Overview | What are the elements of a scene? How does deconstructing scenes reveal meaning? In this lesson, students start to think like film directors by storyboarding an experience from their lives. They then examine the Times Movies feature “Anatomy of a Scene” and develop their own analyses of scenes from film and literature.

Materials | Computers with Internet access and a projector; selected video clips from NYTimes.com; handouts.

Warm-Up | Invite students to brainstorm the basic “vocabulary” of film , and write ideas on the board. Their list might include opening shot, characters, setting, camera angle, shot, lighting, costumes, props, music or soundtrack, etc. Leave this list on the board to refer to throughout class.

Next, provide the following prompt:

Think of your morning as a collection of movie scenes. Free-write about the main moments you’ve lived so far today – the anxiety of a classroom full of students awaiting a test, the fight you had with your little sister over your new boots, the embarrassing episode in front of the girl or boy you like, or even just what you ate for breakfast. Describe the scenes you choose in as much detail as possible, including dialogue whenever you can.

Once students have finished writing, have them form pairs or small groups of “filmmakers,” with the task of choosing one group member’s scene and imagining it as a scene in a movie by storyboarding. (If they are reluctant to share, allow them to work individually.) After they choose their scene, they should talk about what they will need to think about and decide in turning the jottings into a movie scene. Examples: Who are the “characters”? Where is the scene set? How will the scene open – what is the opening shot? What is the mood, and how can it be established – by music, other elements? What props are needed? What action takes place in the scene? What do the characters say to each other?

Ask students to draw rectangles in their journals to create storyboards like this one , and sketch central bits in the scene in each rectangle. Underneath or next to each rectangle, they should jot down important information about that moment.

Once students have finished their planning, invite the groups to share their ideas. Discuss the following: Do you think these would really make for good movie moments? Why or why not? What’s the difference between scenes we live and scenes we see in movies or read in books or plays? How do directors shape the events of “real life” to make them story-worthy? What is subtext? What techniques can directors use to bring out subtext?

Tell students that today they will be reading films in the same way they read literary texts. Ask: Do you think you need to be familiar with a film’s subject or setting in order to fully “get” it? Why or why not? How can films reinforce, or challenge, a viewer’s experience and opinions? How can they introduce new ideas and experiences? Can you think of any movies you have seen in which familiarity with the content helped you understand and enjoy it? Can you think of any in which your unfamiliarity with the content opened your eyes?

You may wish to introduce the subject of the film they will consider first, Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air” (based on the novel of the same name by Walter Kirn ), whose main character is a frequent air traveler.

To evoke students’ associations, ask: How many of you have been to an airport recently? If you’ve never flown, how do you imagine the airport experience? How does being in an airport feel? What process must travelers go through between arriving at the airport and boarding the plane? What hassles are associated with flying? What would make the experience smoother and easier? If you were going to shoot a movie scene set in an airport, what details would you want to include?

Tell students they will now watch a scene from “Up in the Air,” in which the lead character, Ryan Bingham, played by George Clooney, goes to the airport.

Related | In “Anatomy of a Scene: ‘Up in The Air,’” the director Jason Reitman describes how he shot the airport scene.

View the feature with your class, using the questions below. Notice that you can adjust the volume of the director’s commentary vs. the soundtrack of the scene itself with the slide bar at the right. First, show students the scene without commentary. Then, show it again, playing Mr. Reitman’s commentary.

Questions | For discussion:

What do you notice most when watching this scene?
Think about George Clooney’s line about the “systemized touches” of the airport experience — how does the way in which this scene was shot reflect this phrase?
What light does the director shed on this scene in his commentary?
How does it change the way you view the scene?
Do you think Mr. Reitman made the right choices – fast cut versus slow motion – for this scene? Why or why not? How does his choice affect you?

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Student Opinion: What Movies Have Carried You Away with Awe?
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Review: “Neither Here Nor There”
Times Topics: Movies
Blog: The Carpetbagger

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Internet Movie Database
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Filmsite: Greatest Film Scenes and Moments

Activity | This is a two-part lesson, in which students consider additional “Anatomy of a Scene” features and how filmmakers’ decisions produce reactions in viewers, and then create their own movie “Anatomies.”

Show students another “Anatomy of a Scene” feature , or multiple features. Suggestions: the feature on “Precious,” based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire, or, for younger students, “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” based on the novel by Roald Dahl. Additionally, you might show students one or more clips from Critics’ Picks, in which Times movie critics discuss the highlights of selected movies.

Depending on your curricular focus, you may wish to choose features with a certain focus. For example, in the “Up in the Air” feature, Mr. Reitman discusses how the scene was shot, and tells us a bit about character; in the one on “Precious,” Lee Daniels explores the emotional undercurrents in the scene; and in “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Wes Anderson explains the visual imagery and technique. In the feature on “It’s Complicated,” Nancy Meyers discusses wardrobe, body language and subtext along with camera shots and angles; in the one on “Nine,” Rob Marshall focuses on visual imagery, color and symbolism.

If the class’s focus will be entirely or partly on acting and performances as opposed to filmmaking, you might show “The Best Performances of the Decade.”

Discuss the features with students, focusing on what light the director or critic, as appropriate, sheds on the film, and whether and how the commentary affects how viewers “read” the scene(s) shown.

Remind students that great films are constructed in the same careful way as great novels or plays, without stray scenes, images or lines. The best directors draw on their “intimate, comprehensive understanding of how sound and image work together to create meanings and moods,” as A. O. Scott put it in his review of the Martin Scorsese film “Shutter Island.” The choices made by the screenwriter, director, actor and other crew members are deliberate, and viewers’ reactions are responses to these choices.

You may wish to delve more deeply into film terminology before going further. Guide students to think about how these film aspects and techniques cause reactions in viewers, and show them examples of some techniques.

Part 2 Explain to students that they will now work in groups to create their own “Anatomy of a Scene” features. You might wish to select one of the following options as the foundation for the activity:

Student-selected favorite films.
Teacher-selected films being taught as primary text or as part of a literary unit.
Students’ own films.

For a Shakespeare unit, for example, student groups might study the same scene from three different versions of a play like “Romeo and Juliet” or “Hamlet,” and analyze how the scene works in each case, providing fodder for comparison. In a filmmaking class, student directors would choose one scene from their movies to explain.

Provide each pair or small group with the Anatomy of a Scene handout (PDF) to guide their analysis. Make sure that they watch their chosen or assigned scenes numerous times; you may also want them to do some research on the movie and director to inform their own insights.

With their handouts complete and their focus in mind, students write and rehearse the scripts for their commentary, to be presented alongside the film clips.

Finally, have students present their “Anatomy of a Scene” features, by recording them on video or audio and playing them alongside the film clips, or by turning the volume down on the film and reading the commentary aloud as their classmates watch the scene.

Going Further | Students apply the principles of “Anatomy of a Scene” to a textual scene, again using the handout to guide them. Options include these:

Assign or allow students to choose a scene they feel is pivotal in the work and write an “Anatomy”-style essay explaining why it is crucial to the plot or themes or to understanding characters in the work as a whole.
Students analyze their assigned or chosen a scene and create “Anatomy of a Scene” audios, videos or live presentations, as they did for the film.
Students analyze the scene in the source novel or play that corresponds to the film scene they looked at in class. Later, they compare the scene on the page to the scene on the screen.
Assign or have students choose a New York Times article to imagine as a film, using the handout Telling a Times Story (PDF).
Students choose a scene from the text you are studying and write a “pitch” describing how they would go about filming it and the specific choices they would make and why.

In a future class, have students share these textual analyses. To wrap up, discuss the differences and similarities between analyzing a visual medium like a movie and a textual one like a novel or play.

Standards | From McREL , for grades six to 12:

Language Arts 1. Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process. 5. Uses the general skills and strategies of the reading process. 6. Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of literary texts. 7. Uses the general skills and strategies to understand a variety of informational texts. 8. Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes.

Visual Arts 1. Understands and applies media, techniques and processes related to the visual arts. 2. Knows how to use structures (e.g., sensory qualities, organizational principles, expressive features) and functions of art. 3. Knows a range of subject matter, symbols and potential ideas in the visual arts. 4. Understands the visual arts in relation to history and cultures. 5. Understands the characteristics and merits of one’s own artwork and the artwork of others.

Theater 5. Understands how informal and formal theater, film, television and electronic media productions create and communicate meaning. 6. Understands the context in which theater, film, television and electronic media are performed today as well as in the past.

Arts and Communication 1. Understands the principles, processes and products associated with arts and communication media. 2. Knows and applies appropriate criteria to arts and communication products. 3. Uses critical and creative thinking in various arts and communication settings. 4. Understands ways in which the human experience is transmitted and reflected in the arts and communication.

Life Skills: Working With Others 1. Contributes to the overall effort of a group. 4. Displays effective interpersonal communication skills.

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The organizing concept in the foregoing is revealed with the line, “How does deconstructing scenes reveal meaning?”

“Meaning” ? *WHAT* meaning? Movies are a commercial enterprise—show *business*, emphasis on business.

Box office successes give the audience what they want and ***expect***, presented in a way that is OBVIOUS and INEVITABLE. Movie-going is a *collective* enterprise, hence its appeal to government-school “teachers” who never saw a collective they didn’t like. Furthermore, few claims can be made for its legitimacy as a classroom subject: Movies are viewed ***IN THE DARK*** the better to fully engage the emotions, the subconscious. Movies are not any kind of intellectual exercise. They are not a learning experience. Crowds in the dark can only be ratified and validated in their preconceived emotional reactions. Adolf Hitler knew as much, and that insight took him a long way. FULL DISCLOSURE: I worked in movie theaters for twelve years: drive-ins and “hard-tops” [indoor theaters] both, managing one theater on Times Square. Movies can be fun, a pleasant diversion. BUT THEY CAN NEVER, EVER be anything more than that. Attempts to inflate their “significance” says lots about the pathology of those advocating an enterprise such as getting students to “think like directors”.

Thinking is a skill—it must be learned, preferably under the guidance of a qualified professional. Anyone urging a student to “think like a director” is revealing more about their own inner fantasy lives than they think: A student who can *really* think will reject the proposal above as the moist and fluffy time-waster that it is.

Matthew – I believe that helping a student “think like a director” is really not as bad as you might think. I understand your concerns. We don’t have to like or respect the entertainment community if we don’t want to – but, that does not mean that their planning strategies and techniques are not valuable. The detailed planning and forethought required to create a movie scene definitely has its place in the classroom.

If there is one thing that students lack today, it is the desire to think things through. Part of what teachers are finding in the classroom is that our students are becoming used to an instant everything environment that they are currently being raised in. So, many students think that their brainstorming and prewriting tasks should be instant as well. A lesson like “On the Scene” could offer students an enjoyable opportunity to slow down and practice being better planners.

Even if we want to reject the Hollywood mindset, there is no denying that much thought and planning goes into making a movie. Just one scene can have hundreds of camera shots (all planned out in advance) with a firm starting place and a specific end in mind. Such brainstorming skills are a must with our student writers. Actually, planning a scene somewhat resembles the prewriting strategies used for essay writing only it has the potential to interest the student more than simply creating an outline for yet, another paper. Ultimately students will still need to write that essay – however, teaching the students how to think about a scene (essay) from beginning to end with a storyboard (outline) can help them practice those needed skills in an enjoyable setting.

I teach 8th grade English students in SW Virginia and when some of my students opt to create a skit or a movie to demonstrate their knowledge about a subject, they end up planning more than any of the other groups. They spend much time thinking of the dialogue and what message they want their viewers to have by then end of their presentation. It is wonderful to observe. They are practicing the skills they need to help them successfully become better writers – not really learning how to be directors.

Many aspects of this lesson really do seem like they will help teach students to think and plan. The lesson has the potential to be more than a “moist and fluffy time-waster.” Helping students to direct their own planning and writing could lead to a happy ending for this lesson (o:

What's Next

Mastering Film Analysis Methods: Secrets of Cinematic Analysis

Published: July 16, 2023
By: Yellowbrick

Unlocking the Secrets of Cinematic Analysis

As a film enthusiast or student, analyzing films is an essential part of the learning process. Film analysis methods help you to break down a film into its various components, study them, and understand how they work together to create a cohesive piece of art. In this article, we will discuss various film analysis methods that you can use to analyze a film and gain a deeper understanding of its structure, themes, and message.

1. Narrative Analysis

Narrative analysis is one of the most common methods of film analysis. It involves breaking down the film’s structure into its various elements, such as plot, character, setting, and theme. By analyzing these elements, you can understand how the story unfolds, the motivations of the characters, and the themes that the film explores.

When analyzing the plot , you should pay attention to the film’s structure, including the beginning, middle, and end. You should also consider the conflict, the climax, and the resolution of the story. By doing this, you can understand how the story is structured and how the filmmaker uses the plot to convey their message.

When analyzing the characters , you should pay attention to their personalities, motivations, and relationships with other characters. You should also consider how the characters change throughout the film and how their actions affect the plot.

When analyzing the setting , you should pay attention to the time and place in which the story takes place. You should also consider how the setting affects the plot and how the filmmaker uses it to create a specific mood or atmosphere.

When analyzing the theme , you should pay attention to the underlying message or messages that the filmmaker is trying to convey. You should also consider how the theme relates to the plot, characters, and setting.

2. Cinematography Analysis

Cinematography analysis involves breaking down the film’s visual elements, such as camera angles, lighting, and color. By analyzing these elements, you can understand how the filmmaker uses them to create a specific mood or atmosphere and to convey their message.

When analyzing camera angles , you should pay attention to the different types of shots, such as close-ups, medium shots, and wide shots. You should also consider the camera movement and how it affects the viewer’s perception of the scene.

When analyzing lighting , you should pay attention to the various lighting techniques used in the film, such as high-key lighting, low-key lighting, and chiaroscuro lighting. You should also consider how the lighting affects the mood and atmosphere of the scene.

When analyzing color , you should pay attention to the different color palettes used in the film. You should also consider how the colors affect the mood and atmosphere of the scene and how they relate to the theme of the film.

3. Sound Analysis

Sound analysis involves breaking down the film’s sound elements, such as dialogue, music, and sound effects. By analyzing these elements, you can understand how the filmmaker uses them to create a specific mood or atmosphere and to convey their message.

When analyzing dialogue , you should pay attention to the different types of dialogue, such as direct dialogue, indirect dialogue, and subtext. You should also consider the tone and inflection of the dialogue and how it affects the mood and atmosphere of the scene.

When analyzing music , you should pay attention to the different types of music used in the film, such as background music, source music, and score. You should also consider how the music affects the mood and atmosphere of the scene and how it relates to the theme of the film.

When analyzing sound effects , you should pay attention to the different types of sound effects used in the film, such as ambient sound, foley sound, and special effects. You should also consider how the sound effects affect the mood and atmosphere of the scene and how they relate to the theme of the film.

Key Takeaways

Film analysis methods are essential for gaining a deeper understanding of a film’s structure, themes, and message.
Narrative analysis involves breaking down the film’s structure into its various elements, such as plot, character, setting, and theme.
Cinematography analysis involves breaking down the film’s visual elements, such as camera angles, lighting, and color.
Sound analysis involves breaking down the film’s sound elements, such as dialogue, music, and sound effects.

If you are interested in pursuing a career in the film industry or want to enhance your film analysis skills, consider taking the NYU Film and TV Industry Essentials online course and certificate program offered by Yellowbrick. This program will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the film industry and teach you the essential skills needed to succeed in this competitive field.

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Additional Writing Assignments

Instructor's Notes

To assign individual Additional Writing Assignments, click “Browse More Resources for this Unit,” or go to the Resources panel.

To develop your powers of observation, go for a walk through an unfamiliar scene or a familiar scene worth a closer look (such as a supermarket or an open field). Avoid a familiar subject. Record your observations in two or three detailed paragraphs. Sum up your impression of the place, including any opinion you form through close observation.

Select an observation site that relates to your career plans. You might choose a medical facility (for nursing or medical school), a school or playground (for education), or an office complex or work site (for business). Observe carefully, noting details that contribute to your main impression of the place and your insight about work done there. Write an essay to convey these points to an audience interested in the same career path.

Observe the details of a specific place on campus as if you were seeing it for the first time. Describe it in an essay for campus readers, a letter to a prospective student (who’ll want to know its relevance), or an entry on a travel blog for tourists (who’ll want to know why they should stop there). If you wish, include your own photograph of the scene or a standard campus shot; add a caption that expresses its essence.

Source Assignment. Locate a community tourist Web site, a town history or architectural survey, a campus guidebook, or a similar resource; select one of its attractions or locations to visit. Put aside the guide while you independently observe and record details about the location. Then present your main impression of the character or significance of the place, supplementing your detailed observations with historical, technical, or other information from your source. Clearly and accurately credit your source so that a reader can easily tell what you observed, what you learned, and where you learned it.

For advice on analyzing an image, refer to Ch. 14 , Responding to Visual Representations.

Visual Assignment. Use one of the following photographs to explore the importance of the observer’s point of view. After a preliminary look at the scene, select your vantage point as an observer, and identify the audience your essay will address (for example, readers who would or would not share your perspective). Observe the image carefully, and use its details to support your main impression of the scene from your perspective. Direct your specific insight about it to your audience.

Literary Fiction Workshop

a service of storyinliteraryfiction.com

Assignment 14: Imagery and Action in Dramatic Scenes with Dialogue

Instructions

Dramatic fiction scenes have action. When in-scene writing is the most effective for the story moment, dialogue and action are often used together. Probably the most common action situations for writers for characters in a scene are eating, traveling as in a car or bus, or just meeting somewhere, situations which tend to be listless to inert. Yet, to keep the reader oriented as to what’s happening, and to augment the dialogue, the action in the scene has to be presented so the reader’s imagination is holding onto the scene visually and recording progressive–be it minimal or robust– action, and experience the imagery and action in fresh, unique, and significant ways, to support the meaning and story. Because in scenes where the dialogue is prominent and busy providing conflict, characterization, theme enhancement, etc., the supportative setting and the movement in the scene must be well written to contribute to a great story. The task is variable from story to story, and success requires practice.

For example, a man and woman are arguing about divorce at a restaurant. What possibly can a writer do to help the reader visualize setting and action while following the dialogue? They’re at a dining table sitting down facing each other!

What about: “I picked up my spoon.” OR “She picked up her spoon.”? The scene is already dead. This sort of writing is never useful for good fiction. Does it tell the reader anything about the character, the setting? Does it evoke imagery? What if, instead, it began: “In the direct chilling draft of the restaurant’s air conditioning vent, the cold metallic touch of my stainless steel soupspoon felt sinister . . . like a weapon.”?

Maybe: “He swallowed.”? Well, it does have some action that is internal but hardly stimulating to a reader’s imagination. It is too general for good writing. What if: “The half chewed steak stuck in his throat until he drank wine directly from the bottle he took from the silver ice bucket on the table.”? Not great standing alone, but there is action and imagery that might effectively support well-chosen dialogue.

So, for practice in writing support imagery and action in a scene that primarily depends on dialogue, your assignment is to write this scene from a narrator’s perspective without dialogue or internalization . . . no feelings or thoughts, or subjective opinions of narrator or character . . . just write images and action. The action should have an arc, including logical progression (placing ladder, climbing, a rung breaks, a fall, injury). When you’re satisfied your scene is fresh with specifics that stimulate images and story-action momentum, underline specific snippets of images and actions you might use in creating a scene using all the elements needed–dialogue, action, imagery, setting, internalization, stream of consciousness, etc.

Still a little confused? Look to these examples. The first will have subjective ideas in red indicating they shouldn’t be in the exercise where only objectivity is the goal .

The expensive yacht cut through the unforgiving sea and I was unsure what the Captain had in mind when he screamed for me to duck. The bow lurched to the left as the Captain spun the wheel to the right, obviously distraught about something I had no clue about . The boom swung over me as a crouched on deck, barely missing my head. I didn’t have much confidence in him anyway, and now I had none.

Second, a straightforward objective description of the happening.

The yacht tilted in a rough sea, the mainsail full of the wind on a close haul. Visibility was poor. A cargo shipped appeared. The Captain spun the wheel to the right. The bow lurched left. The boom swung across the deck. The Captain yelled. The passenger ducked. The boom cleared over him but hit the mate .

Third, the final passage with elements from all examples . . . a passage with mainly dialogue, with the chosen highlights the objective passage in green to show how the scene action is integrated. When the choice of effective detail is exact, the writer is carrying the reader through the scene with imagery and action and complimenting other techniques of scene development such as dialogue..

“How long you been sailing this thing?” I asked the captain. The forty-foot yacht was under full sail in a turbulent sea . Visibility was miserable.

“Long enough,” he yelled over the howl of the wind .

“Maybe we ought to lower the main,” the mate yelled in return.

That made sense to me, even with my limited knowledge. We were heeling to port so severely the spreaders on the main mast would at times touch the surface of the ocean.

“I’d want to go back,” I yelled.

“To late. Tides out.”

Through the mist and haze , a cargo ship loomed a few hundred yards from us.

“Goddamn,” cried the mate.

The Captain spun the wheel to the right to avoid a collision. The yacht pointed into the wind. The boom whipped across the deck . I ducked to keep from getting knocked into the sea.

“Hard-a-lee,” the Captain yelled too late to give an effective warning.

The boom hit the mate , frozen with fear . . .

Note how the dialogue and the action are moving . . . interwoven, and parallel. Both must be interesting and accurate. The exercise will help you maintain a reader’s interest in the story and will give you practice in techniques that will soon become incorporated in your writing, regardless of genre or style.

EXERCISE 1. Story one for objective rendering. Lots of action.

Here’s your first story. Remember, objective description that effectively provokes imagery and delivers scene action without subjective comment or ideation. And, of course, no dialogue.

An eight-year-old boy leaves his terminally ill mother and starving younger sister to ride his bike to a store or market where he steals food. The owner swings a broom knocking the boy off the bike. The boy sustains a serious head injury.

EXERCISE 2. Story two for objective rendering. Limited action (usually more difficult, but still scene momentum and setting should be carried through).

Husband and wife riding in a car. Mother-in-law in the back seat. The wife is pregnant with another man’s child, and she wants a divorce. The wife’s mother-in-law is popping pills. The husband is driving erratically. (Here there is little action for facile description. You can’t use the story line, the pregnancy etc. Find some action of one or two of the characters to follow through the scene. Taking the pills, trying to get comfortable, driving hazards, etc. Make the actions compliment and augment what the scene is about. Use your imagination.)

Summary: your goals.

1. Write the prescribed descriptive scene totally objectively to discover points of action and imagery that would be useful in a more expanded section with dialogue subjective story telling.

2. Identify and highlight–or underline–succinct details that might be useful to create images and impart the scene action for the reader.

Submit your work if you would like comments.

Click here to Submit your work!

Work submissions for Assignment 14: Imagery and Action in Dramatic Scenes with Dialogue

Work from cathryn.

EXERCISE 1: A straightforward objective description of the happening.

The breeze blew through the window. The cover of the food ration book lying on the table flapped. The coupons pages were stamped. The boy looked around the room. His mother sat on the edge of the cot. A ceramic pot with a cracked lid at her feet. His sister was on her side on a mat. Her body has purple patches and scratches. Neither spoke. Both stared at the boy.

The boy belched, turned from his mother and sister, and put his hand on his stomach. Two minutes later, he zipped his jacket, put the ration book in his pocket, flipped a hand at his mother and sister and left the house.

He walked to the alley. He took the bike from the weeds and wheeled the racer to the sidewalk.

The boy put his feet on the pedals and steered towards the food distribution center.

He put the bike behind dumpster at the center, entered the building with a group of people, and went to the discounted food aisle. The lights were dim. The security camera is not blinking. He took fruit and vegetables. He reached for a package of donuts, but shook his head. The boy put the produce in his pocket and walked out the door and got his bike.

The custodian, emptying the trash, ran towards him. He yelled. The boy pedaled. The man pushed the broom handle between the spokes on the bike’s back wheel.

The bike stopped. The boy went over the handlebars. He screamed, fell. His head hit the pavement. The bike fell.

The boy lay still, blood around his head. The food ration booklet fluttered in the breeze.

Same scene: Create images and impart the scene action for the reader.

A chill breeze blew through the missing pane of glass in the window of the one-room flat. The grey, creased cover of the food ration book lying on the small, butcher-block table flapped like an injured dove with a broken wing.

Every coupon was red-stamped; food allotment used for the month. Victor shoved the ration book into the inner pocket sewn into the lining of his thread-bare denim jacket.

His mother raised her head, opened the cracked lid from the white ceramic chamber pot on the floor beside her cot, and vomited.

Victor wiped his mother’s mouth with a soiled rag.

Curled on a soiled straw mat the foot of the cot, his sister moaned and thrashed. Victor straightened her discolored, muslin gown. His eyes, angry and hard, looked at the purple bruises and long scratches covering her thin arms and legs.

Victor patted his jacket,slammed the door without saying a word.

Afternoon shadows danced along the crowded sidewalk. Victor hurried to the vacant lot behind the burned, blackened shell of the former police station.

Among the rusted, metallic carcasses of stripped-down automobiles, a jumble of desks and tables, file cabinets, and computer components was a bike–an English racer without fenders.

Victor steered past pedestrians the cracked sidewalk; women carrying bags and holding children’s hands, men wearing tunics and leggings. Two soldiers, smoking cigarettes and laughing loudly walked by. He shifted his eyes, turned his head, and his knees pumped faster. The chain clanked against the sprocket, and the bike wobbled.

Victor stowed the bike behind the huge, green dumpster at the food distribution center. He walked through the front doors behind a woman and four young children, and headed for the dimly lit deserted sale aisle at the back of the distribution center.

The security camera light was not blinking. Victor unbuttoned his jacket. His hands trembled. He shoved three large apples, two brown-spotted bananas and three wilted celery ribs into his inner jacket pocket.

Victor waited until the check-out lines were long and the cashiers busy scanning customer’s purchases and putting them into boxes and bags before slipping out the door.

He sprinted to the dumpster, swung a leg over the racer. Head lowered, Victor pedaled across the backlot.

A one-armed man, sweeping leaves and debris into a pile beside the loading dock, looked up. He rushed towards Victor swinging a long-handled push broom and jammed the wooden handle between the spokes of the back wheel.

The racer shuddered. Tires screeched.

Victor’s mouth opened but the young boy made no sound. His body flew over the handlebars and landed on the pavement. His head bounced once with a dull thud.

Victor trembled and lie still.

The food ration booklet fluttered in the warm, evening breeze.

EXERCISE 2. Story two for objective rendering. Limited action. No dialogue.

Conrad Lofts set the car’s GPS, buckled his seatbelt, and pressed the automatic garage door opener. His jaw tensed. Black clouds darkened the sky and a driving wind whipped an icy rain. Water had puddled and frozen on the uneven surface of the driveway.

Trudy, his wife, extended the passenger-side seatbelt and buckled the strap under her swollen baby-bump.

Conrad’s mother rested her cane, overstuffed handbag, and plastic water bottle on the floor of the backseat. Holding on to the arm rest, Gertrude Lofts hoisted herself into the vehicle and wiggled her ample rear into the seat and jerked the seatbelt strap several time.

Trudy tapped her husband’s shoulder. Conrad rolled his bloodshot eyes, clamored out of the driver’s seat, and poked his head into the back seat of the SUV.

His beefy hand pressed his mother against the seat. He retracted the seatbelt and jerked it to its full length, crossed it over his mother’s chest, and snapped the buckle. He slammed the car door, slid behind the . The SUV roared out of the garage.

Trudy took out her mobile phone and read a text message. She smiled and gazed out the window at the rain.

Conrad took his eyes from the road and glared at his wife. A vein in his temple throbbed. The SUV veered left.

Mrs. Lofts’ blue-veined hands clutched her throat. She screamed.

Trudy lowered her head and crossed her arms over her stomach.

Conrad gripped the steering wheel, corrected the skid; the SUV straightened.

Trudy stretched her arm behind her seat and wiggled her fingers.

Mrs. Loft dropped the bottle of pills into her daughter-in-law’s hand.

Trudy twisted the cap several times.

Conrad took his right hand from the steering wheel and snatched the bottle. The white lid flipped opened. Little blue pills scattered.

The SUV spun out of control, careened across the median strip, and hit a speeding tractor trailer head on.

Instructor Response

Excellent work. You’ve achieved success, which doesn’t come easily with this exercise.

Here is a reference you may find useful.

https://www.storyinliteraryfiction.com/essays-on-writing/techniques-for-excellence/

And thanks for the submission!

The food ration booklet fluttered in the warm, evening breeze. Just great.

Mrs. Lofts fanned her flushed face, unbuckled the seat belt and rummaged in her overstuffed bag. She took out a small blue bottle, and pushed at the white cap with her thumb. The cap wouldn’t open. Mrs. Lofts shook the bottle; the pills rattled like plastic beads in a maraca. (This is a perfect simile, well done. It does add to the description of the sound. But it points up how difficult the use of metaphor and simile can be for any story. In this exercise, you’ve used it well, a stylistic advantage. But consider that metaphor and simile may be, at times, more author-style necessary than story supportive. (This is an exercise, and this is a thought, not a critique) What if you used just: “. . . bottle; the pills rattled.”? “Rattled” is a perfect word. The reader interprets it easily (and with their own remembered experience of “rattling”). It stimulates the imagination of the reader immediately. When “like plastic beads in a maraca” is used, it adds more imagery–beads and maraca–and may make the reader wonder if he or she was wrong in however they assimilated the word “rattled.” If that happens for the reader, the simile is more authorial style than story supportive. (And it also stops the action established in the paragraph.) This may seem unimportant, but it deals directly with quality and effect of good in-scene writing, reader engagement, and good storytelling.

The SUV spun out of control, careened across the median strip, and hit a speeding tractor trailer head on. Excellent.

Work from Victoria Lee Hood

Exercise 14/ Story 1

Pushing open the shanty’s rusty door, he fell into the half-light of the alley and yanked his bicycle from the ground. Mounting and turning the pedals in one quick move, he navigated past a mangy cat, a naked child rolling a tin can, a wrinkle-faced woman chewing paan and farther, farther on until at last he arrived at the marketplace.

The market was crowded, loud and hot. Sujith straddled his bike through the narrow aisles, ignoring the elbows and shouts protesting his progress. The stall he sought was located at the far eastern end of the marketplace, owned by a vendor whose left eye was hidden by a patch. A tower of crimson pomegranates and a barrel brimming with young almonds made Sujith’s heart pound hungrily.

Sujith rolled up to the stall and waited alert astride his bike as a woman wearing a lime green sari began to haggle with the fruitseller. The vendor thus distracted, Sujith quickly leaned over, grabbed three pieces of fruit and as many almonds as he could shove into the tattered pouch fastened around his waist.

But before the boy’s hands could return to the handlebars, the vendor turned his face in Sujith’s direction, good eye opened wide. Cursing wildly, the man snatched a thick broom handle from under his cart and swiftly brought it down with a loud crack against Sujith’s skull.

Immediately the boy’s balance was lost. His body and the bicycle fell to the ground with a thud. One of the pomegranates in the boy’s waistsack burst open from the impact, splattering red liquid on the woman’s sandaled feet. His neck was twisted in an odd way and both legs were pinned beneath the bicycle frame. He lay still and small in the dirt. The woman lifted her hands to her mouth in a stifled cry.

Exercise 14/ Story 2

Under ordinary circumstances Lucia would ride shotgun next to her son John, but today Nora contrived to sympathize with Lucia’s health complaints and offered her mother-in-law the more spacious rear seat. The truth was that Nora was dangerously nauseated. She was certain that if she couldn’t see the road directly in front of her, she would vomit all over the leather not to mention the scarf John had given her at Christmas.

It didn’t help that the icy avenue was riddled with potholes and that her husband was navigating them like a pinball wizard.

Nora glanced in the rear view mirror to see if Lucia had dozed off. No such luck. The old bat was struggling to open one of the many vials of homeopathic pellets she insisted would soon remedy her chronic arthritis, vertigo and overall sense of ennui and dissatisfaction with life.

The S-Class thudded in and out of a deep hole and Nora was pitched forward. Her handbag slid off her lap onto the floor and the open bottle in her hand released a fizzy spray of Vichy Catalan onto her coat and trousers.

Nora used her scarf to dab at her clothes. John pointed out that Cerruti did not manufacture with this purpose in mind and Nora quickly bent down, fumbling to find a tissue.

Her stomach began to lurch but she swallowed hard and shut her mouth tight against the pressure rising in her throat. It had only been three weeks since she and Roger had made love at the cottage, yet the signs of morning sickness were already obvious to her. If only she could find a way to file for divorce by February, she and Roger could escape with their secret intact and begin the new life they’d dreamt about for so long.

[Note: My understanding of the assignement is that these two exercises are NOT to include dialogue, which is why I omitted it from both.]

Hi Victoria. Nice work.

Sujith watched his mother’s belabored breathing turn quiet; in her arms she cradled the bony frame of his baby sister, whose pale eyelids fluttered with thin blue veins . They had finally fallen asleep upon the mat, and Sujith grabbed his chance. If you were to write this objectively, it might go like this. Sujith’s mother’s breathing became quiet as she cradled his emaciated baby sister. He saw his chance. Note how the story line intensifies but setting, description, and characterization decrease . You can practice writing in accordance with your purpose. Here, you’ve effectively used a subjective approach (highlighted) that helps describe scene, provides imagery, gives characterization, but slows scene action. Good work.

The market was crowded , loud and hot. Sujith straddled his bike through the narrow aisles, ignoring the elbows and shouts protesting his progress. The stall he sought was located at the far eastern end of the marketplace, owned by a vendor whose left eye was hidden by a patch. A tower of crimson pomegranates and a barrel brimming with young almonds made Sujith’s heart pound hungrily .

Avoid passive constructions when not needed, as in progressive tenses. And adverbs are tricky: “hungrily” doesn’t work. Here are some ideas. Note when you restructure a passive verb construction, it often results in an active verb. Fiction storytelling requires action and conflict.

“was crowded” Noise and heat flooded the crowded market.

“was located” He located the stall . . .

“was hidden” . . . a patch hid the vendor’s left eye.

“hungrily” Inappropriate adverbs can bury writing and turn off readers. What does “heart pound hungrily” mean? Heart and hunger? Pound with hunger? Be careful with word choice, especially adverbs.

Immediately Do you need a time transition here? The action negates any need to indicate time passage, and the writing will be stronger without it . the boy’s balance was lost . Passive. Maybe try: The boy lost his balance. His body and the bicycle fell to the ground with a thud. One of the pomegranates in the boy’s waistsack burst open from the impact, splattering red liquid on the woman’s sandaled feet. His neck was twisted in an odd way and both legs were pinned beneath the bicycle frame. He lay still and small in the dirt. The woman lifted her hands to her mouth in a stifled cry.

Under ordinary circumstances Lucia would ride shotgun next to her son John, but today Nora contrived to sympathize with Lucia’s health complaints and offered her mother-in-law the more spacious rear seat. Nice. Flows well and is informative. The truth was that Nora was dangerously nauseated. She was certain that if she couldn’t see the road directly in front of her, she would vomit all over the leather not to mention the scarf John had given her at Christmas.

It didn’t help that the icy avenue was riddled with potholes and that her husband was navigating them like a pinball wizard. Sentence not necessary; it stops story and does only a little for characterization. And “pinball wizard,” I apologize but it is important, is an author being clever at story-quality expense.

Her Let us know whose stomach, as this could lead to confusion that stops story. stomach began to lurch but she swallowed hard and shut her mouth tight against the pressure rising in her throat. It had only been three weeks since she and Roger had made love at the cottage, yet the signs of morning sickness were already obvious to her. If only she could find a way to file for divorce by February, she and Roger could escape with their secret intact and begin the new life they’d dreamt about for so long.

Nicely done!

2 thoughts on “Work from Victoria Lee Hood”

I know that passive constructions should be avoided and yet I manage to employ them all the time. Your edits will remind me to avoid them. In the driving story, I used the pinball wizard sentence to try to communicate Nora’s dislike for her husband and to evoke the feeling of being jolted carelessly (by him), that he is inattentive to her needs. What would have been a more effective way to do this? With thanks V

This has to do with the creation and use of effective metaphors. That you want to communicate Nora’s dislike for her husband and her feeling of being jolted, using a simile that doesn’t work (and maybe metaphor is not the right way to get these points across)may not be best. Metaphor, for our purpose, is the comparison of two unlike things (A and B) so that the understanding of one or both is enhanced . . . accomplished in tasteful and informative ways. Often metaphors in fiction can be more effective if A and/or B are concrete. The touch of his hand felt like a butterfly wing. A = hand B = butterfly wing. So the metaphor lets us know about the quality of softness in his touch through comparison with the feel of a butterfly wing. (Not great but it’s late at night.) The principles are: A must have some qualities that are applicable to B so that similarities can be discerned resulting in illumination about the objects, and the A and B cannot be too disparate so that no comparison can be made: The touch of his hand felt like a train wreck won’t work. The comparison adds nothing. When you tried to use a metaphor [‘. . . that her husband was navigating them like a pinball wizard], you had multiple purposes and multiple comparisons needed (dislike, jolted, careless, inattentive, pinball, wizard, navigation–that’s a lot” and it really is a little much and comparisons too vague to pick up your meaning. Work on new tries with what you have, but don’t be afraid to go to narration or dialogue, or even internal reflection to get your meaning across. Also ask how important is the idea to the story; how much space should the idea take up; if it is essential, is this the right place to bring it up? You might enjoy searching The Fiction Well using “metaphor” for more info. And do you still want to start tutorial in April or would you like assignment earlier? All the best, Bill

Work from Jeffrey Fuller

Metal clangs against metal, un-greased wheels squeak, and rubber beats upon the surface of a road not paved since Roman times. The boy coasts on his bicycle down the hill to the center of town where people meander among cockeyed rows of stands displaying samples from mid sumer’s harvest, home-baked goods, and prize livestock.

The boy tugs the rope that holds a burlap bag draped across his torso, then ensures the opening is wide while he controls the bicycle with his other hand. At the bottom of the hill he’s reached maximum speed, and the clanging of the bicycle parts draws the attention of those nearest his approach. He stretches out his free arm as if to grab hold of something, and focuses his eyes upon his intended target.

Seeming as slow as a cold jar of molasses, the bicycle continued with its natural momentum as the boy succumbed to the force which had acted upon his head. His body bounced and slid a foot or two on the stone pavement like a heavy side of beef, then came to rest in front of the woman’s booth. Activities ceased in the immediate crowd as they all looked in awe upon the boys motionless body. A young man kneeled next to the boy, extended his arm with two fingers outstretched, pointing to a spot just below the boys ear. The young man slowly looked up toward the woman wielding the broom, raised his brow and offered a half smile. The woman was relieved the boy was still alive.

A few of the ladies near the boy gasped and slowly backed away, the young man looked toward them inquiringly, then in the direction of their gaze upon the ground. A pool of thick crimson spread from the boys head, encircling it perfectly. The young man rose and backed away as the pool pursued him. The circle of people around the boy grew larger as if framing it in matte.

Very well done. You’ve successfully achieved an engaging and well written scene—easy to read and comprehend. I’ll make comments, not to suggest any changes in what you’ve done, but to give thoughts (may seem picky but they will suggest broader application in your writing) to consider.

Metal clangs against metal, un-greased wheels squeak, and rubber beats upon the surface of a road not paved since Roman times. [I really like the structure of this sentence, and the information it contains. Good job.] The boy coasts on his bicycle down the hill to the center of town where people meander among cockeyed rows of stands displaying samples from mid sumer’s harvest, home-baked goods, and prize livestock. [Excellent. I’ve got the picture, and you’ve done it succinctly.]

A middle aged woman distracted by the boys noisy approach lets go of the pan holding bread loaves, the pan bangs against the table top a few seconds prior to its contents, the loaves rejoin [wrong word] t he pan in a disheveled manner as bread crumbs scatter from the table forced by moving air . [ Way overwritten. Especially when the prose is so pinpoint in the rest of the writing.] [In general, this sentence doesn’t work. What happens to the bread takes too much time and too many words to tell. There are too many ideas for one sentence. And some of the word choice is writerly, that is, it feels as if the author is straining to sound erudite.] In one smooth swoop, the woman turns, grabs grabbed a broom leaning against the side of her wagon, and pulls pulled the weapon [not a useful word for the action being delivered.] over her shoulder and down upon the crown of the cycling boy, just as he was scraping a row of bread loaves from the tabletop. [This is too much, too. I like the action and imagery, but the excess words are not specific enough and give a sense of writing to fill the page. Here is what, in essence, seems needed: The woman grabs a broom and hits the boy riding the bicycle on the head as he scrapes a row of bread from the tabletop. Even more basic: woman hits boy stealing bread. ]

Seeming as slow as a cold jar of molasses, [This is cliche—the molasses simile—and also the idea seems out of place. Start here maybe–>: The bicycle continued with its natural momentum as the boy succumbed to the force which had acted upon his head .to the blow. His body bounced and slid a foot or two on the stone pavement like a heavy side of beef , [wrong metaphor, the image isn’t right] then came to rest in front of the woman’s booth. Activities ceased in the immediate crowd as they all looked in awe upon the boys motionless body. A young man kneeled next to the boy, extended his arm with two fingers outstretched, pointing to a spot just below the boys ear. The young man slowly looked up toward the woman wielding the broom, raised his brow and offered a half smile. The woman was relieved the boy was still alive.

A few of the ladies near the boy gasped and slowly backed away, the young man looked toward them inquiringly, then in the direction of their gaze upon the ground. A pool of thick crimson spread from the boys head, encircling it perfectly. [Really? Perfectly? In truth, it is impossible to form a perfect circle, there are always imperfections, and the nice idea of a circle (a great idea in that it provides an image useful to keep the reader engaged) is lost. Blood seeping from a wound on a floor that is probably uneven, and congealing at different rates, wouldn’t spread in a circle. So why “perfect”? It is not needed and if something is needed, use a better word.] The young man rose and backed away as the pool pursued him . [I didn’t get this on first read. “Pursue” is not the right word for a pool.] The circle of people around the boy grew larger as if framing it in matte . [ A disruptive and unnecessary simile. Circle growing larger might work, but I think is not needed, and the idea of matte is too unrelated to the imagery to be useful.]

In summary:

1. Watch metaphors. They are tricky and should be used sparingly. Be sure they are specific and required. Go to The Fiction Well (on website) and search “metaphor” for lots of varied ideas.

2. Avoid cliché. You don’t do this often, but even occasionally it weakens the writing.

3. Be sure modifiers work for your story. Keep them specific and effective. “Perfect” circle is an example of a less-than-perfect choice.

4. Strive for succinct prose. Be careful of stray or off-the-mark ideas. I’ve indicated where I thought this was occurring.

Great work. You are an excellent writer. Continue to dedicate yourself to the pleasures of being a writer. You will please many readers, and you’ll find a sense of accomplishment that few other endeavors can generate.

All the best,

1 thought on “Work from Jeffrey Fuller”

Thank you so much. Your advice is very helpful. It brought attention to much that I had not noticed in my writing previously. Looking at it now, I wholeheartedly agree with your criticism.

Work from Ramona

“How long will it take us to arrive to this lawyer of yours? I’ve been sitting in this car for two hours. My legs are num, and I am tired.” She furiously expressed while her baby was moving constantly inside her belly. She was not at all comfortable.

“Perhaps you should have thought of that before you cheated on me. You’re the one who asked for the divorce. Didn‘t you? ” He firmly replied while staring in her direction, angry with her for carrying a child that was not his own.

“Watch out for the road ahead. If you continue to drive like a mad man, we are all going to end up dead in a ditch somewhere.” The mother-in law nervously said, as she sat in the back seat popping her colored pills, hoping for the ride to end and quickly.

Nicely done. You have the heart of a writer. I’ll use each of the exercises to illustrate major points about fiction writing: story structure, thoughts about dialogue. I’ll make a few comments in your manuscript about a few other points. You’re on the right track and I hope these ideas are useful. Be sure to practice as often as you can.

______________________________________

A delightful story. I want you to be aware of aspects of storytelling in fiction. Great stories engage the reader by bringing them into the story action and momentum. And stories are about characters, who need to be carefully crafted so the reader cares about them (you’re already doing this) and in the story (and in scenes) there needs to be something in the character that changes, some sort of understanding about themselves or the world. Doesn’t have to be momentous, it just needs to change. (You’ve also done this naturally, but need to think about it more.) And the reader needs to know the change so the reader also sees the world differently after reading the story; the world for them will never be exactly the same again. So the trick is to characterize with desires and emotions in conflict that move the plot in interesting and revealing ways (in literary fiction). Most contemporary short stories don’t attempt to engage, entertain, or enlighten readers. They are simply descriptions of people and events, real or imagined, and rarely succeed as great stories.

So, if you want to go this route, what opportunities can we find for you to develop? First, you have four characters: boy, sister, mother, owner. Your story is: Boy seeks food for his starving family. Steals bread and cheese from store. Owner knocks boy off bicycle with broom. Boy unconscious and bleeding. Even with the challenging limitations of space in this assignment, here are things you might explore.

Let’s assume you want the boy to be the major character, the one you want the reader to care about. And a major character will have some change occur. The most effective changes are inside the character, not just external fatalistic happenings (although you’ve got to have external plot progression in almost every story while the character is evolving.) Is there a way to develop the character with emotions? What if the mother is starving and he loves her very much and knows he must find food. They have no money. But the sister has given herself sexually to the landlord for a dollar to help her mother. The boy takes the money to go buy food for mother. On the way he sees a pocketknife in a pawnshop window. He’s always wanted a knife and this is a beautiful one. He pauses and deliberates. He has always been honest. But he’s never had this opportunity before . . . a knife for a dollar. He could buy the knife and steal the food for his mother. After all, the store wouldn’t miss a little bread and cheese. He buys the knife, steals the bread and cheese, but as he is riding away, the store owner jams his broomstick in the spokes of the bike and the boy is thrown to the ground unconscious and bleeding. (to be continued)

I’m not suggesting this is what you should do. But see how the story is being developed? There is conflict within the boy. Buy the knife or not? Should he steal? What about using his sister’s money for the knife? And he does the wrong thing. He satisfies his own greed, betrays his sister, threatens his mother’s survival, and becomes a thief. Note what we know about the boy and his family. He loves his mother. His sister sells herself to keep her mother alive. The boy is greedy. The boy discovers and gives in to his dishonesty. (Also, we know the boy is desperate from hunger. Would it be more intense if he were desperate about the impending last breath of his mother, and desperate to regain the tarnished reputation of his sister, maybe?) See how as an author we engage a reader in the character and the character’s problems. And their strengths (saving mother and sister) and weaknesses (greed, stealing) are now driving the plot. It’s what good storytelling in fiction is all about (and few modern literary fiction authors seem to care or have the ability to create such stories, instead depending on descriptive narrative of events to create story movement and suspense).

Here’s an example of a story and an explanation of motives. (See this essay .)

Here is a story that has lasted for hundreds of years. It will serve as an example to clarify the meaning of a character-based story.

Once upon a time, in a village near the deep dark woods, Little Red Riding Hood wanted to take Grandma, who was very ill, a basket of goodies. She would have to walk through the woods for half an hour to get to Grandma’s house, which was in another village. ‘Be careful,’ her mother said. ‘Go straight on the path and do not talk to strangers.’ So Little Red goes into the woods and meets a wolf who wants to eat her but can’t because there is a woodsman nearby. The wolf asks her where she’s going, whom she will visit, and where. Red tells all. The wolf runs off and Red continues her journey, leaving the path to chase butterflies, and pick bluebells, and dip her toe in a cold refreshing stream. When she gets to Grandma’s house, the wolf has already arrived because she failed to heed her mother’s warning about staying on the path. He imitated Red’s voice to gain entrance, and he devoured Grandma. Then he dressed in her night clothes and crawled in bed under the covers. Little Red arrives. He tells Little Red to come in. As the wolf exposes himself little by little, Red listens to his smooth talk when she asks him about his big eyes, hairy arms and big teeth. Unsuspecting, she gets in bed and he devours her.

What has held this story in the collective consciousness of humans for centuries? First, it carries three significant messages. Listen to your parents. Innocence and naïveté can cause irreversible harm. Don’t trust a wolf in grandma’s clothing . . . you can get devoured. There is also the effective metaphor of the wolf for a child predator. But the significance of the story is mainly carried by the narrative story structure. Little Red is a character-based story. The plot moves forward because of Red’s human characteristics—especially her foibles: she holds on to her childhood innocence, and she disobeys her mother.

This story could be framed as genre fiction. It could still be interesting, but it might not be as lasting because of the structure. Here is a possibility.

Red Riding Hood is kidnapped from the woods near her house. A few hours later some bones and scraps of skin are found at her grandmother’s house a mile away. The police are called and discover from the gray hairs trapped in grandma’s hand-woven throw rug that the wolf did it. The wolf escapes. Red’s mother grieves.

This version is a statement of happenings. Red is a part of the plot, but she is not driving the plot with her disobeying her mother and her wallowing in her innocence . . . and also the author would lose the effectiveness of the wolf metaphor when the story moves from fantasy to a more reality-based police procedural.

Here is another genre framework for the story: an action-adventure genre story. Something like this.

Red decides to go to Grandma’s house for a visit. In the deep dark forest she meets a woodsman. The woodsman is tracking a wolf that has eaten two children in the last two weeks. Red wants to help find the culprit. The woodsman agrees and sends her out as a decoy. The wolf tries to attack Red, but she stabs him with a knife the woodsman has given her. The wolf runs away, but the woodsman is able to follow the trail of blood. He finds the wolf near Grandma’s house, and after a life-threatening duel, the wolf is killed. Red falls in love.

In this story, again, all that happens in the plot is circumstantial. Who Red really is makes little difference. What she says, thinks, or wants would be irrelevant. The same story could be written with Pinocchio as the major character.

To drive home the point, an author could restructure so that Red’s decisions do drive the plot to become more character-based again, but in another way. And the story gains meaning.

Red Riding Hood’s grandma, who lives in another village, is very rich and has a new dress, a box of Swiss chocolates, and bath oil waiting for Red Riding Hood for her birthday party the following week. But Red wants her presents now, even though her mother tells her to wait until her father can go with Red through the woods, which can be very dangerous. But Red goes anyway to get her presents early, meets the wolf in the forest, and is devoured.

Red is back driving the plot again, and there is significant meaning related to Red’s human attributes. Greed and impatience can be disastrous. The writer seeking to write great literary fiction can take two important points from the Red Riding Hood story: structure the story to display what it means to be human through character-based plot, and make the story significant. In Red’s case, the significance is partially related to the dire consequences of getting eaten by a wolf after Red’s seemingly innocuous actions.

Your story moves along nicely. Possible changes are in red .

The little boy’s desperation of hunger has driven him over the edge. His terminally ill mother and starving younger sister were facing his very dilemma. He jumped on his bike, for a fast ride around the block to reach the grocery store. He entered the shop looking around him, left and right. In a flash, he grabbed a loaf of bread and a packet of cheese, and off the door he ran out in such a speed. The owner was right outside, sweeping away the fallen leaves when he spotted him. (These two sentences are nicely done, the reader can see the action well.) Quickly he held up his broom to stop the little thief. When he knocked him off his bike, he stumbled across the carts and ended up kissing the ground. He was knocked unconscious. The blood was covering his hair, and leaking everywhere. Be sure when you use a pronoun, the antecedent is unquestionably clear to the reader. Here, there may be an instant of confusion as to whether the “he” is boy or owner. You can structure this to make it clear and use a noun or name.

Lots of interesting things going on here. Good work. I’ll make suggestions on dialogue, not so much as criticism, but to help you create dialogue that works for you in the futur e .

“How long will it take us to arrive to this lawyer of yours? I’ve been sitting in this car for two hours. My legs are numb, and I am tired.” She furiously expressed while her baby was moving constantly inside her belly. She was not at all comfortable.

“Perhaps you should have thought of that before you cheated on me. You’re the one who asked for the divorce. Didn’t you? ” He firmly replied while staring in her direction, angry with her for carrying a child that was not his own.

In fiction, dialogue must work for the story. It never sounds the way people really talk, but paradoxically, it must sound to the reader the way people talk in the accepted story world. (You can find purposes for dialogue in fiction here , and also here .) The major point now is that exposition (background to the main conflict is introduced) is almost never effective in dialogue. Exposition should be delivered through narrative, internalization, setting, etc. Exposition in fiction dialogue makes the dialogue less credible, is too wordy, stops the flow of the story movement, and will not entertain a reader. So in your dialogue, I’ll point out exposition (in green).

Watch out for the road ahead . If you continue to drive like a mad man , we are all going to end up dead in a ditch somewhere .

The purpose of this dialogue is to reveal the mother-in-law’s apprehension about the son-in-law’s driving. Experiment. Something like, “My God, we’re going to die!” And express the other ideas of road ahead, madman, dead in a ditch in a different way out of dialogue.

“Perhaps you should have thought of that before you cheated on me . You’re the one who asked for the divorce. Didn’t you? ”

The emotion of this dialogue is angry and intense. The exposition isn’t realistic and is not effective in dialogue. Actually, almost the entire segment is exposition. Find a purpose, maybe. Experiment. Something like, “You cheater.” Or, “Why didn’t you think before you went whoring around?” See the syntax and the single-idea construction and the absence of backstory in the dialogue even though it is essential to be delivered somewhere else?

“How long will it take us to arrive to this lawyer of yours ? I’ve been sitting in this car for two hours. My legs are numb, and I am tired.”

For fiction dialogue you might try: “When will we get there? I’m tired of sitting.” It all has to do with this basic question: Would the character really say what’s in the dialogue in the way it’s said, considering the immediate emotional valence of the scene, the character’s thinking, emotions, experiences, and worldview at the time of the utterance? It’s not easy, but it is essential for good fiction and storytelling.

Thanks for the submission and all the best in your writing!

1 thought on “Work from Ramona”

Thank you so much for your literary generosity and time. Your notes and advice will without a doubt be my resourceful guide, in which I intend to use very creatively to best improve my writing. I have come to realize, that the word structure in literary fiction is very crucial, nonetheless the emotional foundation that plays a major part in a great storytelling, but with your inspiring insight and my persistence to become a good writer, I will do my best to capture all the necessary skills that would help me deliver the fictional masterpiece I crave.

Thank you! Best, Ramona

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11th Grade Assignment
Film Analysis Worksheet-1eb5c7a0-3a58-4992-8aa3-9adbccda92fd.doc
Group Assignment (15%) : Topic
Assessing the Scene.pdf
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EVALUATING THE SCENE Flashcards
1. the cessation of the pumping of the heart. 2. the death of part of the heart muscle. 3. a sudden and temporary lack of blood flow to the brain caused by clot or blockage in an artery. 4. slurred speech, confusion, and numbness. 5. nausea, persistent chest pain, and irregular pulse rate heart attack symptoms. 1. cardiac arrest. 2. heart attack.
How to Write Strong Scenes: 4 Key Questions to Evaluate Your Scene
4. The Suspense Focus: When the audience finishes this scene, they should wonder _________________. (example: When the audience finishes this scene, they should wonder if the protagonist will be able to overcome the horror of her childhood in order to reunite with her estranged mother.) Learn more in this upcoming online course:
Film Analysis
Writing film analysis is similar to writing literary analysis or any argumentative essay in other disciplines: Consider the assignment and prompts, formulate a thesis (see the Brainstorming Handout and Thesis Statement Handout for help crafting a nuanced argument), compile evidence to prove your thesis, and lay out your argument in the essay.
Assignment 15: Creating Scenes: practice writing
Overview. The assignment is for practice creating scenes for stories. A story in a series of interrelated scenes with beginning, middle, and some resolution that allows movement to the next scene. Scenes are built with dialogue, narrative description, careful attention to perspective, imagery, momentum, structure, and story purpose.
Film Analysis
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.
On the Scene: Analyzing Scenes in Film and Literature
Activity | This is a two-part lesson, in which students consider additional "Anatomy of a Scene" features and how filmmakers' decisions produce reactions in viewers, and then create their own movie "Anatomies.". Part 1. Show students another "Anatomy of a Scene" feature, or multiple features.. Suggestions: the feature on "Precious," based on the novel "Push" by Sapphire ...
Mastering Film Analysis Methods: Secrets of Cinematic Analysis
You should also consider how the colors affect the mood and atmosphere of the scene and how they relate to the theme of the film. 3. Sound Analysis. Sound analysis involves breaking down the film's sound elements, such as dialogue, music, and sound effects. By analyzing these elements, you can understand how the filmmaker uses them to create ...
EVALUATING THE SCENE ( HEALTH) Flashcards
Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like THE FIRST THING YOU MUST DO WHEN APPROACHING AN ACCIDENT VICTIM IS TO:, PLACE A CHECK NEXT TO THE PERTINENT INFORMATION ABOUT AN ACCIDENT THAT WILL NEED TO BE GIVEN TO AN EMS DISPATCHER., WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF A PERSON IS CHOKING, BUT IS NOT ABLE TO SPEAK, BREATHE, OR COUGH. and more.
Assignment 12: Write five scene outlines
Assignment 15: Creating Scenes: practice writing; Assignment 16: Rewriting a famous story; Assignment 17: Creating settings; Manuscript Evaluation. Sample Evaluations; ... If you succeed, after practicing and evaluating, your storytelling will take on new dimensions that will fascinate your readers, stimulate their memory, and stimulate their ...
Assignment 2: Rewriting a scene
Assignment 2: Rewriting a scene. Purpose: exploring genre and literary fiction; writing purposeful dialogue; learning to think and create characters. With an incredibly effective, practiced motion, Cliff Boner was pulling a weapon from the breast pocket hidden under the bulk of his black leather jacket when there was a flash of blue light ...
The Preliminary Scene Assessment: A Checklist
When you arrive on the scene, contact the Incident Commander first. Establish a working relationship at the scene and discuss the stage of the fire operations and the investigative tasks you will be performing. The IC can give you valuable information about the incident, including: · Reported alarm time. · Fire department response time and ...
Chapter 5. Observing a Scene
Visual Assignment. Use one of the following photographs to explore the importance of the observer's point of view. After a preliminary look at the scene, select your vantage point as an observer, and identify the audience your essay will address (for example, readers who would or would not share your perspective).
THE GREAT GATSBY Film Analysis: Chapters 5-6 Flashcards
Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like 1. Evaluate the director's casting choices (especially DiCaprio as Gatsby) in this scene., 2. How does the director develop the tense, awkward mood during the scene in which Daisy and Gatsby are reunited? Explain the details that contribute to this mood., 3. After Nick leaves Gatsby and Daisy alone in his house, the film adds ...
Can you complete this assingment using the short story the
This assignment focuses on your ability to: Analyze different perspectives and points of view within a piece of literature; create a new experience for the reader through the design of an additional scene. ... the skill of evaluating another point of view and bringing different perspectives to the conversation will make you stand out amongst ...
PDF English 197: Writing Link with Comparative Literature 272 Scene
I will use the attached grading rubric to evaluate the scene analysis. Failure to submit an essay draft will result in a 20-point deduction from the final grade, as revising from feedback constitutes an essential part of the essay assignment. Late essay revisions will receive a 10-point deduction per day late, including weekends and holidays.
Assignment 13: Create in-scene dialogue that reveals characterization
Assignment 10: Creating Scenes - Settings; Assignment 12: Write five scene outlines; Assignment 13: Create in-scene dialogue that reveals characterization and advances the plot; Assignment 14: Imagery and Action in Dramatic Scenes with Dialogue; Assignment 15: Creating Scenes: practice writing; Assignment 16: Rewriting a famous story
Movie Practice Cinema Assignments
Assignment on cinema and movie evaluation that looks through the cenimatic parts of several movies. movie analyses the movie baltimore rising (sonja sohn) ... The scene shows contrastive orga- nization because the woman was well comfortable telling Kwame Rose that the rights were his to protest, which was true. ... 15. Evaluating the practice ...
In your discussion evaluate the dramatic impact of
28: ENG225: INTRODUCTION TO FILM COURSE GUIDE Quiz 1. Week 3 Quiz [WLOs: 1, 2, 3] [CLOs: 1, 3, 5, 6] Due by Day 6.Complete the quiz on the assigned readings for the week. The quiz contains 15 multiple-choice questions and is worth 5% of your course grade. You will have 1 hour to complete the quiz and it must be taken in one sitting.
CRJ 499 Week 5 Assignment 2 Rachel Moodie.docx
The crime scene is the area where it is believed the crime occurred, where the victim was approached, where the body or murder weapon was found or disposed, or where evidence was collected. Based on this definition, in this particular case there were at least two potential crime scenes, the first being where the victim's body was found in the citizen's backyard, and the second outside her ...
Assignment 10: Creating Scenes
Assignment. 1. Create the conflict and action of the scene. Here are some ideas to prepare: Conflict is incompatibility or clash between two entities, in opinions, in facts, in emotions (fear vs. apathy-love vs. dislike, sympathy vs. disgust, etc.) Conflict is essential in fiction writing, and can occur: between or among people, between people ...
UNIT V ASSIGN face INET 2-2-17
UNIT V: FILM ASSIGNMENT Your Name _ Section # _ Information about this Film assignment: Select a scene from a great. AI Homework Help. Expert Help. Study Resources. Log in Join. UNIT V ASSIGN face INET 2-2-17 - UNIT V: FILM ASSIGNMENT... Doc Preview. Pages 3. Identified Q&As 3. Solutions available. Total views 100+ Richland Community College.
Assignment 14: Imagery and Action in Dramatic Scenes with Dialogue
1. Write the prescribed descriptive scene totally objectively to discover points of action and imagery that would be useful in a more expanded section with dialogue subjective story telling. 2. Identify and highlight-or underline-succinct details that might be useful to create images and impart the scene action for the reader.
Three people shot at Super Bowl parade grapple with bullets left in
Medical protocol offers no clear answer. A 2016 survey of surgeons found that only about 15% of respondents worked at medical facilities that had policies on bullet removal. Doctors in the U.S ...
Hamlet
Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet seems to portray the most correct interpretation of the encounter between Ophelia and Hamlet, though I think Kevin Kline's Hamlet did a fine job as well. In both of these interpretations, Hamlet's descent into madness is very palpable. Helena Bonham Carter does a great job interpreting Ophelia's fear and confusion as Hamlet is now in disarray after claiming ...

50 Film Analysis

What is film analysis, and how does it differ from literary analysis?

Different types of film analysis

Semiotic analysis

Narrative structure analysis

Contextual analysis

Mise-en-scene analysis

Writing the film analysis essay

Works Consulted

Share This Book

Film Analysis

Writing the film analysis essay

Watching the film

Brainstorming ideas

Different types of film analysis

Semiotic analysis

Narrative analysis

Cultural/historical analysis

Mise-en-scène analysis

Reviewing your draft

Works consulted

The New York Times

On the Scene: Analyzing Scenes in Film and Literature

Media Studies

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Mastering Film Analysis Methods: Secrets of Cinematic Analysis

Unlocking the Secrets of Cinematic Analysis

1. Narrative Analysis

2. Cinematography Analysis

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Additional Writing Assignments

Assignment 14: Imagery and Action in Dramatic Scenes with Dialogue

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Work from Victoria Lee Hood

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Work from Jeffrey Fuller

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Work from Ramona

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