Writing Homework Help

A short paper (3-4 pages; or roughly 1000-1400 words), focusing on a close reading of one scene (or short sequence) in one of our films from the first 5-6 weeks. You should aim, through close analysis of the scene’s form, to reveal some important feature of the film not obvious to the casual viewer. Before you begin writing, carefully choose a scene that will allow you to make larger points about the film and its meaning as a whole. Think carefully about how each of the elements of film we have discussed (genre, narrative, structure, style, mise-en-scène) works in the scene.

The paper should begin with a thesis paragraph in which you briefly summarize the argument you will be making about the film as a whole and introduce the scene you will be focusing on for your close reading to support that argument. Make sure that your argument is something unlikely to be noticed by a casual viewer checking social media while the film is on their tv, and something likely to make that distracted viewer want to go back and see the film again with fresh eyes based on what you have shown them. The bulk of the paper should be devoted to walking the reader through the analysis of the central scene in question. Keep plot summary to a minimum—the point is to explain how the scene’s content is expressed through its form. Your close analysis should be followed by a concluding paragraph in which you step back and address the film as a whole, now newly-illuminated through your dazzling close reading of the specific scene. 

Remember, as a writer of film criticism you are the teacher, guiding your reader to share in the insights you have earned through your exploration and planning of the paper. In the end, as you step back from the close reading to demonstrate for the reader what the close reading reveals about the film as a whole, your reader will see the film in a new light, having with your guidance gone beyond surface action and explicit meaning to deeper keener insights into the implicit meaning(s) of the film in question.