Writing about Film
Writing about film should sound like someone watching closely, not someone summarising a plot. The strongest sentences connect a specific choice to an effect on the audience.
The paragraph shape
- Claim: a specific statement about the sequence, character or idea.
- Evidence: a shot, cut, sound, line or performance choice.
- Explanation: how the choice shapes meaning or audience response.
- Link: connect to the film's larger pattern or the question.
Film vocabulary
| Term | Use it to discuss |
|---|---|
| Shot size | Distance, intimacy, vulnerability. |
| Framing | What is included, excluded or placed at the edge. |
| Mise-en-scène | Setting, costume, props, light, colour and blocking. |
| Diegetic sound | Sound the characters can hear. |
| Non-diegetic sound | Music or sound added for the audience. |
| Cut | The join between two shots. |
| Cross-cutting | Alternating between two locations or actions. |
| Point of view | A shot framed as a character sees or hears. |
| Motif | A repeated image, sound or object that carries meaning. |
Model paragraph
The following paragraph describes a pattern rather than quoting a specific scene:
The films make silence feel active by cutting from a character's face to the source of a small sound. A close-up holds the character's concentration, then the cut reveals the object that might betray them: a loose board, a glass, a toy. The audience is placed between the character's fear and the physical world that can expose it. This pattern turns ordinary objects into threats and makes the family's careful routines feel fragile, even when nothing has gone wrong yet.
The paragraph names a pattern, explains how the editing shapes attention and links it to the film's larger effect. It does not need a long description of the plot.
Common errors
- Plot summary: retelling the film without analysing choices.
- Technique listing: naming shots without explaining effect.
- Unsupported judgement: calling a scene “tense” without showing how tension is built.
- Ignoring sound: writing only about what is visible.
- Overgeneralising: claiming what every viewer feels.
- Quoting dialogue from memory: misquoting or inventing lines.
Revise for precision
Underline every sentence that explains an effect. If the underlining is thin, the paragraph is probably retelling. Replace vague words like “dramatic” or “effective” with precise ones: “claustrophobic”, “withheld”, “intimate”, “unsettling”. Check that every film term is used correctly.
Writing about representation
When writing about Regan, avoid reducing her to a symbol. Discuss her choices, relationships and point of view as well as the film's representation of deafness. Use respectful language and avoid treating deafness as a tragedy or a superpower. If you discuss the cochlear implant, explain what the film does with it and what questions that raises.
Write as a viewer who noticed. The best film writing sounds like someone who can say exactly where their attention went and why.