How to write Film Reviews

    • How to write Film Reviews


      Hello Everyone,

      Today is Wednesday, 15 Sep 2004, 1.48am, Eastern Australia Time

      I would like to start something new to me, I haven't done it before but I think it will improve by time the more I practice doing it. It's about writing film reviews.

      First of all I wanted to start with posting one of the methodologies in writing film reviews for everyone to learn. It's really interesting. We will all start writing small pieces of writing of movies that we have recently watched. This will not only help your writing skills, but also your analytical skills as well. I will start posting my first movie review on Friday insha'a Allah as Im intending to go to the movies and watch one or I might just grab a movie that I've seen it before and write a review about it...

      Bismillah we start:

      How to Write Film Reviews

      Your film review should include the following elements. With your first attempts you should also follow the sequence suggested.

      Step 1: Provide a brief summary of the film.
      ('Brief' usually means 'up to 100 words'. However, always check your summary if it will
      make sense to the reader who may not have seen the film.)

      Step 2: Who are the main characters?
      What are their main personality traits?
      What characters do you most identify with? Why?
      What characters do you reject most? Why?

      Step 3: What do you think was the director's intention in making this film?
      What is the film's 'message'?

      Step 4: How does it relate to other films you know?

      Step 5: How does the film relate to British / US-American culture?

      Step 6: What do you think of the movie?
      What are its strengths?
      (story, structuring/directing/editing, camera work,)
      (sound, etc.)
      What are its weaknesses?

      Step 7: Would you recommend this film? (Why?/Why not?

      Step 8: ..................


      (based on: eslpartyland.com/teachers/film/filmreviews.htm)

      =======================

      This article was taken from:
      ub.uni-bielefeld.de/diglib/sti…ng_film/film_reviews.html

      =======================

      I hope you guys help me around with it. Cheers!

    • Welcome back dear sister and what a lovely topic you come with...
      It seems veru interesting, do you have this as a course in your university? If you have it, you are really lucky because you are working in something that let you feel excited when you start your own analysis over it..

      Well, i have to go and watch a movie. I am going to watch a movie now and it called In dreams ( I am still not sure about its real name) and it is a kind of frighting movie.

      So, i hope some of you will also watch this movie so we could have different opinions about it..

      I hope that you will give us sometimes to write it and post it here.. I can't promise that i will post it today nor next days because i am, little busy. So, as soon as i will have the chance to write it, i will post it here..

      See you around $$e

    • Scream كتب:

      Welcome back dear sister and what a lovely topic you come with...
      It seems veru interesting, do you have this as a course in your university? If you have it, you are really lucky because you are working in something that let you feel excited when you start your own analysis over it..

      Well, i have to go and watch a movie. I am going to watch a movie now and it called In dreams ( I am still not sure about its real name) and it is a kind of frighting movie.

      So, i hope some of you will also watch this movie so we could have different opinions about it..

      I hope that you will give us sometimes to write it and post it here.. I can't promise that i will post it today nor next days because i am, little busy. So, as soon as i will have the chance to write it, i will post it here..

      See you around $$e


      Thanks Scream.. No writing film reviews is not a subject Im taking, and it has nothing to do with my field at all. I simply love doing interesting things that are not related to what Im doing now

      I believe that we dont have to study things to be good at them, if you love it, search for it and learn it on your own. It's much more interesting and there are many websites where you can post all your movie reviews, compare it with others and learn how people write it. The more you research you do and the more you come across such examples, you will learn and get the plot

      We dont have to watch the same movies and write reviews about them, one can write and others would comment and I would expect the comment to be realistic + personal opinion. Every opinion is valuable but not as much as a opinion that is expressed well and realisticly, giving opinions about movies that you havent seen cannot be a real opinion unless there are strong reasons for not watching it and I will come up with an example of that later on..

      Take all your time and do not bother yourself, Im busy myself and the problem is, if I know that I have some free time at any day, I would fill it with something interesting and useful to learn. As you said, it helps us analyse things, not only movies but eventually our way of thinking would change because here we are trying to cover most aspects and try to see things from different angles and it leads to broadening the square of our thinking..

      Thanks Scream for passing by.. appreciated

      Cheers


    • By the way, Im thinking of watching "The Samurai" insha'a Allah although I've seen twice already but I will choose it as the first movie to write a review for... The next one would probably be "The Ring" and it will be an interesting one.. let me write the list a7san..

      The Samurai
      The Ring
      I Am Sam
      Vanilla Sky

      Cheers



    • Great.. NaWar!!!!!!i
      Very ineteresting... Most people look at movies as actors and scenes only and they dont really get the message behind the movie.. I am sure by having the intention of writing a review of the movie, it could help get a better grasp of the core of the whole movie/director

      Good luck with "Vanilla Sky"... !!!!!! :033102big i

    • Mrs.Unfaithful كتب:



      Great.. NaWar!!!!!!i
      Very ineteresting... Most people look at movies as actors and scenes only and they dont really get the message behind the movie.. I am sure by having the intention of writing a review of the movie, it could help get a better grasp of the core of the whole movie/director

      Good luck with "Vanilla Sky"... !!!!!! :033102big i



      Thanks heaps Mrs Unfaithful. Yeah, that's my intention. Although sometimes I like to watch the movies to enjoy my time, not to stress myself thinking about how I analyse it. I would probably start analysing a movie from watching it the second time, but the first time is for pleasure

      I understand that look on your face when you said Vanilla Sky, in fact, I haven't ever seen the movie, I have seen the original version. I wont say anything now and I prefer to reveal some information when the reviews are written :)

      Cheers

    • Thank you NaWaR-etna for the great idea and many thanks to Mrs. and Scream for the support. I hope to see a good reviews and learn much from you all

      I am really sorry I will not take part as I onestly do not watch films, and go for a classic arabic movie when I feel like it

      May this action and initiative pushes me to learn this art, and help others around

      I wish you, all, all the best and will be waiting among others to learn and do reviews for those interested and not keep reading and watching from a distance

      Regards
      10derness
      :)

    • Tenderness كتب:

      Thank you NaWaR-etna for the great idea and many thanks to Mrs. and Scream for the support. I hope to see a good reviews and learn much from you all

      I am really sorry I will not take part as I onestly do not watch films, and go for a classic arabic movie when I feel like it

      May this action and initiative pushes me to learn this art, and help others around

      I wish you, all, all the best and will be waiting among others to learn and do reviews for those interested and not keep reading and watching from a distance

      Regards
      10derness
      :)


      Hey Tenderness thanks a lot but I never mentioned that you have to watch an English movie to write a review for it, a film review can basically be about any movie, from chinese to arabic to italian/spanish.. to me it doesnt really matter..

      By the way, you can just call me Nawar if that makes it easier for you.. you dont have to say Nawar-etna, it feels to me like a pain in the back side :P plus I dont feel comfortable with it anyway :) Thanks


    • Just some additional sources, I found this article about writing reviews, may be helpful for me to write a good one insha'a Allah..

      epinions.com/content_2793054340

      a part of the article:

      I wrote something a while back that was more focused on how I rate reviews (which focused mainly on movies), and if you turn that around right it works out to being about how to write them. Still, that doesn't mean I know how to write VH movie reviews, and it especially doesn't mean I know how to tell anyone how to do it.

    • endurance كتب:

      Hei Nawar

      That's really a great idea :)

      i don't, alas, watch movies a lot.... but it sure will be a good way for any of us to empower our analytical skills... if we wonder of how to do that


      it will help me especially, since I have to critique many times in the field am at right now.. ~!@q

      Good luck

      and Thanks much


      No worries endurance.. sure it will help you dear, especially you :P insha'a Allah once I get all the work outta my way, you will see the reviews.. bs Allah ye3eenna in doing it although Im so determined under all the pressure

      By the way endurance, count down with me.. 11 weeks for the big day ;) not that day i know what you are thinking of :P; it's the other day.. the end of an old situation, and a new beginning for a new change

    • Hi to all

      Sorry for being late

      And i wanna to apologize for not posting my film writing review as I promised.

      Actually I have already started in writing a review for IN DREAMS but I stopped for i was recently so busy . So, i couldn't go back and complete it because when you left something, you return to it with no enthusiasm. I don't know why, maybe because I haven't the chance to stay in front of the computer and complete it...

      I hope I will go over my works and come again to participate with all of you..


      Maybe that will be after RAMADAN :confused:

      See you all

    • EvilsEye كتب:

      i am curious to see you are review and the you analyse it
      please do it as soon as possible
      initially i want to see how you analyse a movie and then inshaallah i will try to analyse one
      regards


      Hey EvilsEye glad to see you around. Insha'a Allah when I post the first film review of "The Last Samurai" you will be able to see an example of how to write it, but to tell you the truth, it depends so much on the way you write it, people are different in the way they display their thoughts about something, so really there is no certain method of writing the film review, although you can still use the same criteria given above.. there are links that i have included to help everyone and honestly anybody can write a film review if they follow the criteria... give it a shot and you will see the results

      Thanks for your comments
      Cheers


    • Hey Scream... i was not happy to hear that you will be away again.. i've been away for 3 days because I had to be outta town and returned home just couple of hours ago.. but i hope you get the chance to pass by some time.. it will be fun if you still get us a minute I guess :) Dont worry about the review, there is always another tomorrow insha'a Allah.. just take care

      Cheers