Elements of a Film Review

If you think about it, film reviews are a lot like personal responses to texts. As a reviewer, you will share your personal response to the film, and you will use evidence to support your opinion.


Regardless of the organization of a film review, most film reviews include the following details:
  • Information about the Director
    • director's name
    • other films he or she has directed that were noteworthy successes or failures
    • the director's goal of the film (in terms of overall feel and audience reaction, etc)
    • the success of the director in achieving these goals
  • Review of the film
    • a brief plot summary
    • evidence from the film (quoted lines of dialogue or specific events) to support your claim about the director's success (or lack thereof)
    • the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of the cinematography, soundtrack, and lighting choices
    • the actors who play important roles in the film, and if they are believable or effective in their roles
  • Recommendation
    • recommendation of whether people should see the film or not and evidence for the recommendation



You will notice you have collected a lot of this information already on previous assignments in this unit. Use the chart in Section 1 of the Assignment 1-4 file to help you research  the remaining information you need.

  Go to Assignment 7-4 and complete Section 1 now.


Assignment: Writing a Film Review


Now it is time to write a film review for the film you studied. You should consider the information you researched, your summary paragraph, and your observation chart notes to develop your opinion of the film.

To help you get started, you may want to re-read the film reviews you skimmed earlier.  You can model your film review, based on the format of one of the film reviews you preferred.

Film reviews Written by Critics
Film Reviews Written by Students
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Twilight
Star Wars: Episode VII- The Force Awakens
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Super Size Me

You may also choose to use this optional Film Review Planning page, if you wish.  Here it is in Google Docs format.

    Go to Assignment 7-4 and complete Section 2 now.

Ready to submit your Research and Rough Draft?
Submit this assignment to the Dropbox for formative feedback. While you wait for the feedback to be returned from your teacher, you will draft the cover letter that will accompany your Film Review final draft.


When you have completed all parts of Assignment 7-4,
    • be sure you have renamed your file (YOURNAME) la 9-7-4
    • upload the completed assignment into the Assignment 7-4 submission box on the next page
Check back in a few days to retrieve the marked assignment and review the feedback from your teacher.