An essay is a literary genre in which the author reflects on a particular topic through a series of arguments and personal points of view. The parts of the essay follow the basic structure: the introduction, the main body, and the conclusion, but there are many other elements to consider if you want to know how to analyze a film.
The purpose of the essay is to present a personal critical (or scholarly) position on an issue, always based on the author’s research, which seeks to have the reader share his or her reflections. This literary genre is very common in film analysis, as it gives the author certain freedom in defending his or her point of view on the plot, characters, or episodes of the film.
Want to know how to write a film essay step-by-step like a real professional? The professional writers from EssayAssistant will explain how to write a quality essay by following these simple steps. Take note!
Choose a Movie
If you have the option of choosing a movie on which to write my essay, the best essay college writing services encourage you to choose a movie that you feel comfortable with and that you can sufficiently enjoy. If you have never rehearsed a movie before, choose a movie that does not have many characters to analyze, that does not have a particularly complicated plot, and, if possible, that you have already seen several times.
To learn how to write essays properly, you will need to watch the movie again before you start writing, as this is the only way you will be able to note the main points in real-time.
Brainstorm and research
After you have watched the movie and noted the most striking and notable details, you will need to make a list of the most important facts about the movie, the ones you want to highlight in your essay. To make brainstorming easier, we suggest you ask yourself these questions:
- What is the main idea of the film?
- What message does the director want to convey?
- Is the moment in which the filmmaker chose to tell the story relevant?
- What are the characters there, and how do they relate to each other?
- How can you interpret the story?
- When you have decided on your answers, you can begin to write a rough draft of the essay, linking all of these points logically.
Essay Introduction
The introduction is the most important part of the essay, as this is where you need to grab your readers’ attention so that they continue reading the rest of the text. How do you do that?
First of all, as an essay writer, you need to clearly articulate the ideas you want to convey and appealingly present them so that the reader is hooked from the first lines. Here are two examples of how to do this and how not to do it:
ERROR: “This movie isn’t very good…”.
RIGHT: “Though this film failed to live up to the expectations of many critics for reasons I will explore in this essay…”.
In this introductory section, it is important that the author clearly states his position on the film from the beginning, without going into too much detail. Remember that this first part should be short, clear, and concise.
The Body or Development of the Essay
The development of the essay should include, in a logical and orderly manner, all of the main ideas of the film as well as other secondary ideas of interest. Keep these questions in mind:
- What is the main conflict of the film? This is a good time to analyze the main plot.
- What are the characters? We recommend that you talk about the characters as the plot and main ideas of the film are presented. That is, you don’t have to devote an entire section just to talking about the characters, but as the themes of the film develop, you can write down the personality of one character, the character of another, and how he or she reacts to the conflict, etc.
Remember that your opinion should be accompanied by strong arguments to support that position, e.g:
ERROR: “This is a very low-quality movie. Neither did the main characters…”.
RIGHT: “It is a superficial movie with a doubtful purpose, in which the director has chosen to give more importance to the visual effects and other embellishments of the film than to the content itself. As well as the main characters…”.
Although this is the longest part of the essay, you should try not to make it too long for the reader. To do this, we recommend using pleasant and easily digestible vocabulary, dividing ideas into paragraphs to break up the content well, and occasionally using quotations to back up your opinion with arguments from other important authors.
In addition, if the essay is intended for a Web site, we advise you to use bold type, underlining, interesting references, and attractive headings to catch the reader’s attention.
Conclusion and Bibliography
The conclusion of the film analysis is designed to reinforce the arguments and ideas presented above. In this part of the essay, you will need to summarize the points mentioned above and clearly state your position on the film.
Remember that while you want to defend your opinion, you must use strong arguments so that the reader can understand your position, otherwise, you will make destructive and unprofessional criticism.
Final Words
Now you know what an essay is and how to do it, so it only remains to remember that if you have inserted quotations from other authors or references throughout the essay, it is best to include a small bibliography with this information. This way, the essay will look more formal and thoughtful, and your opinions will be well supported.
Remember, you can always contact the site that writes essays and get help with your academic assignments.
