Film has been called "the most hybrid of art forms" at least in part because it is simultaneously a medium of time and space. Many of the terms and ways of thinking that you use in writing about literature, however, can apply as well to writing about film. If it is possible, try to see the film you will be analyzing more than once, preferably on a VCR that will allow you to freeze individual frames. If you can only view the film in our classroom, prepare for the experience by thinking about some of the points listed below. As in writing about literature, generate a manageable topic (one that is not too broad), considering perhaps what is most striking, unusual or effective about the film. Analyze key sequences as they apply to your thesis, developing and supporting an argument.

Guidelines to help a dialogue with a movie:

1. Note which elements of the movie strike you as unfamiliar or perplexing.
2. Note which elements are repeated to emphasize a point or perception.
3. Take notes with key words to recognize key sequences, shots, or narrative facts.
4. Be as specific as possible taking notes during the screening: record not only the figures and objects in the frame, but also how the frame itself and its photographic qualities are used to define content through camera angles, lighting, the use of depth and surface, editing technique.
5. Immediately after watching the movie, take notes on as many details as you can remember.

Some Questions to Consider When Writing About Film:

1. What is the relationship between the film and its title? Is the title ironic? Does it provide a clue to the "meaning" of the film?
2. How is the plot constructed? Is it based on causality, or is it episodic? Can you detect a pattern of repetition or contrast? Is there a vividly marked turning point or climax?
3. What is the relation between story-time and discourse (film)-time? Are the events presented chronologically? What functions do any flash- backs or foreshadowings fulfill? How does the time sequence contribute to mood (suspenseful, satiric, etc.)?
4. Do the main characters develop during the course of the film? What are their traits and how are they conveyed? (You might look at names, speech, actions, costumes, makeup and narration.) Is behavior motivated, consistent? Are the characters "realistic" or caricatured?
5. What is represented on the film? Who represents and who is not represented?
6. What values do the characters seem to represent? What do they say about such matters as their country, authority, sexuality, and political ideology?
7. Does the film make use of symbols to convey its message? What symbols are particularly noticeable or recurring in the film? How do they affect the response of the spectator towards the film?
8. What is the function of the setting and decor (location, sets, props, costumes)? How do they contribute to the mood of the film?
9. How is the construction of National/collective and individual identities represented?
10. How do popular culture and high culture interface in this film?
11. Does the film question or reinforce the marginalization or exotization of "difference"?
12. How do the factors of race, class, and gender play a role in this film? Can you distinguish its historical context clearly?
13. How do cultural institutions and social systems affect the actions and lives of the characters?
14. How do the point of view (omniscient, limited, reliable, consistent) and the cinematic/visual style complement each other?
15. What particular cinematic techniques and strategies are striking about this film? Why?
16. Could you make connections between the movie and other artistic traditions such as literature, dancing, and painting?
17. How is this movie similar to or different from Hollywood movies?
18. How does the film make you feel at the end? Happy? Depressed? Moved? Confused? And why?

Cinematic Elements to "Read" in a Film

1. Camera movement (tracking, panning), camera angle, camera distance (far shot, medium shot, closeup).
2. "Photography" (lenses, deep focus, filters, film speed, intentional under- or over- exposure).
3. Lighting (artificial or natural, intensity, direction).
4. Framing/composition (shape of objects in the shot and their relation to each other and to the frame). Is emotional distance between characters expressed through composition?
5. Sound track (voice-over, noise, music). What use is made for the sounds?
6. Editing/montage (length of shots, rhythm, relationship of one shot to the next). What kind of effect you get from the composition?
7. Transitions (dissolve, fade in/out, iris in/out, wipe). Any particular that you can recall? And what for?

(Much of the above information adapted from The Elements of Writing about Literature and Film by McMahan, Funk, and Day at <http://www.gmu.edu/departments/writingcenter/handouts/film.html>)

Useful Sources on Film and Writing

Books: Corrigan, Timothy. A Short Guide to Writing about Film. Glenview: Scott, Foresman, 1989.

McMahan, Elizabeth, Robert Funk and Susan Day. The Elements of Writing about Literature and Film. New York: Macmillan, 1988.

Internet resources: Film Glossary <htpp://us.imdb.com/Glossary>

Ciberia, Guide about Hispanic Film <http://members.tripod.com/JuanNavarro/ >