Film Critique Skills for College Students: Top 5 Tips for Analyzing and Reviewing Movies

The art of film critique is an art in itself that requires deep analysis and an attitude that will not only seek out negatives or mistakes to create the hype but actually help to understand things. It is one of those important aspects that every college student should realize when learning how to analyze and review movies.

Depending on the genre in question and the subject, one should literally dive into the movie and live through each line by trying one’s best to explain and determine the author’s position. If there is a message that has been delivered, one should be able to tell how well it has been done!

Top 5 Tips for Analyzing and Reviewing Movies

1. Determining the Main Message.

If you fail to understand the main message, your film critique is doomed to fail. The trick is to come up with some thesis that you follow. Even if you understand the film differently from the director, it will still represent a review. Keep things simple unless you have to get too deep and base a dissertation on a movie. For all other occasions, consider uk dissertation as a great solution. Remember that accessibility should be the key, so make it as clear as possible!

2. Careful Analysis Matters.

Be cautious as you analyze things present in a movie, as you may face things like metaphors and allegories where what you see is not always what it seems. Try to see what literary devices and cinematographic methods have been used. Focus on the work of the cameraman and the use of settings to spice up the film!

3. Good versus Bad Characters.

While it won’t be relevant to every movie, start with the character types and focus on transitions between bad and good persons. See their character traits and talk about their interaction. Try to find that little something that makes the movie unique in terms of dialogue, pauses, and the right timing. If the character makes a transition from good to bad and vice versa, use the principles of psychology to make your critique writing poignant and creative.

4. Director’s Background.

It always helps if you can learn more about the background and other works of the director and the team behind the film. It will help to narrow things down and understand the style and approach taken by the original author. When you know the person behind the movie a bit closer, you can tell your target audience about it to help them appreciate the movie.

5. Structuring Your Critique Correctly.

When working on your film critique, you have to avoid the chaos in writing by keeping things structured. If you have too many ideas, you should narrow them down to the most important ones. You may get more info here regarding how to work with complex writing tasks when you have too much on your plate and cannot seem to stay focused. After all, a bit of help never hurts!

Taking Notes Always Helps

Watching a movie should be like analyzing a case study, especially when you have to come up with a film critique. However, it should be the second time you see some movie, not the first time. It will only take away from the aesthetic pleasure of noticing things for the first time. Once you know the subject and the plot (more or less), you can focus on the problems and issues brought up in the movie by actually taking notes or writing down some quotes with the time code. It will help you to make your film critique more vivid. Remember that every argument you make must be supported with at least one piece of evidence, so do not ignore taking notes and give it a second thought! 

Bio: William Fontes loves exploring movies that have a strong message and portray human emotions. As an educator who practices analysis and strategic thinking methods, he loves to write and share helpful tips with students of all ages and backgrounds. Follow William to learn more and make your studies inspiring.

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