Font–Times New Roman 12 pt.
Margins–one inch all around. And please, no excessive line skipping in the text of the essay.
Minimum number of scenes–Five
Introduction–Aim for at least two or three good-sized paragraphs here.
Introduce your essay in some way that connects you to your essay:
—you as a filmgoer or movie fan,
Now, keep this natural and conversational. Sound like what you are–a smart young person talking. Don’t rush through this. Take your time. Think, “What can I do here to make myself and my observations attractive to the reader? What can I do to keep from sounding like a kid writing an assignment? Why do I tell my reader I am writing in this subject?
Summary of Plot
Of course, tell me a good, concise, but complete summary of the movie. Don’t re-tell the entire plot, but show that you can give a good, succinct, interesting, and engaging summary of the plot.
In your summary you can note who plays the main characters, and you can do this easily. For example–“The two children are John Harper (played by Billy Chapin) and his little sister Pearl (played by Sally Jane Bruce).
In the summary, remember to note the date of the movie, director, etc. in a comfortable way.
Rationale Behind Your Essay and Your Character Choice
Of course, you will want to explain why you will be analyzing a number of scenes. And you can note how everyone knows the importance of scenes, because everyone has their favorite scenes from their favorite movies. You can note that scenes are the basic building blocks of the movie. Because that is how a movie progresses. You can note that an examination of key scenes can give you insight into the excellence and power of good moviemaking. These are, after all, the things that our scene discussions have focused on.
You will then continue that you will focus your discussion on scenes centered on one particular character. Then consider how you can talk about your character–why you were attracted to this character, how important the character was in the movie. How you want to look at the character’s arc of development. Or how the director uses the character to advance something in the movie. Or how powerful and well done the scenes are. Or how you want to show the many things that go into particular scenes that highlight a character. Or how it is about much more than just plot.
Anything Else You May Want to Add
Consider that you need more than just a single paragraph before you begin with your scenes. Work hard to present your essay in a natural context, and consider anything that you might be able to do in these introductory paragraphs to distinguish yourself in your subject or your purpose.
Thesis
You will explain what you intend to do in the essay and why. Please don’t rush the thesis and make yourself sound like a kid trying to rush through an essay. Remember that your thesis explains your essay and lets the reader know what you plan to do in the essay.
Character Arc
You know, consider what your scenes do to present your character. How might they be used to complete the character or to advance the movie? The larger characters have many more scenes than the smaller ones, so with the larger ones, you will have to make more certain that you cite WHY you have chosen these particular scenes. I mean, just ask yourself, “Why do these particular scenes stick in my head?”
Body of the Essay
Then the body for all of the essays will be discussions / analyses / observations of the scenes, one at a time. And use labels in the essay to identify which scenes you will be examining. This is the assigned layout for everyone. Each new scene will have its own topic sentence. It will help if you number them, as you did with the “how-to” essay. Or even label them. And, to make yourself a good movie writer, remember to cite the time in the film where your scene occurs.
Remember that we talked about everything that went into the scenes. We discussed the different important crew members responsible for different aspects of the scenes. You will, of course, mention them comfortably in the essay when appropriate when you want to highlight some particular aspect of their work important and interesting to your scene. Again, we have discussed them and their work throughout.
Use of Research
Of course, research is required. And we will ALL be using the same sources, and no more than those will be needed or accepted. We need at least one writing task in the class wherein we all discuss and use the same source material. That is why I will be sending out the links to the early videos we watched and to some helpful articles.. And that is why I sent you the link to the script. But the primary focus will be your own observations. Remember to cite all sources correctly and to include a correct works cited page. Of course, we will all be having the same works cited page, the only difference being that some will use APA and some will use MLA.
Tone and Ethos
You are NOT to sound like an expert movie critic. You are to sound observant and intelligent and interesting. This essay is a journey of understanding, a journey of learning to read a non-print text, a movie. It is NOT intended to be an attempt to sway your reader with heavy authoritative tone. It is NOT intended for you to display deep, profound expertise in filmmaking. It is a place for intelligent observations. It is a place, as I said, for you to demonstrate the different ways you have learned to “read the text” of a film.
Of course, you can use “I” and “you” and “we” as you write. After all, what you think here is at the core of the assignment. So, you can say–
“We see in this scene . . . .”
“I interpret this to mean . . . .”
“If you look closely, you can see . . . . .”
“I feel that this is . . . .”
Now, this sort of thing is not welcome in many sorts of academic writing. You know, your opinion is NOT vital to some writing tasks. But here, as I said, this is an essay of coming closer to the text of the movie. Of understanding the may facets of moviemaking, and those whose work is as important as that of the actors on the screen.
Link for Sources:
‘The Night of the Hunter’: The Extraordinary Single Directorial Entry in Charles Laughton’s Career
