Film Studies: Introduction

Content by Carter Staub and Savannah Gillespie, Site by Megan Venable

Unlike many other media, film has the power to change you in fewer than two hours. When you watch a film, you are transported into another world and another time to a place where you identify with the characters you are watching. It is this connection that makes film so powerful.

Learning how to write about film can be a challenge as students work to incorporate both the visual and the narrative components of film into a paper. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that the director chooses which visual elements will go into a film with the mindset that what is onscreen is meant to allow the content of the film's plot to manifest itself visually.

Writing for film often can be quite tricky, especially when writing an analytical paper about film. Our goal is to make your job easier when writing your piece on film, so we offer a variety of links and resources to help you achieve your goal.