Film Studies Materials and Assignments

Film studies can be used to teach literary criticism, research strategies, integration of quotes within a paper, and correct format for parenthetical citation and bibliography. Although most students watch film passively, they enjoy movies and want to learn more. Film as a genre allows us to teach narrative and poetry, as well as the specialized vocabulary of film.

Indicates particularly challenging and useful assignments or handouts.

Teacher Materials: You can print copies of the student handouts below. We have also provided several PowerPoint presentations below which you may find useful.

Useful Articles and/or Background

• Bibliography for Film Studies
• Film Education is a British website that peovides teaching materials for a serious study of film. Once you register, you get access to video clips, lesson plants, and research resources.
• Sample Final Exams used in our semester elective course.
• Grading Guide for a Movie Review -- Checklist with relevant shortcut comments for grading a movie review. Useful as a way to justify grades on an essay or guide student revision.
• Anatomy of a Scene offers LITERALLY hundreds of short film clips of specific scenes from successful movies -- with the director explaining the choices made in shooting the scene. Really. (Related article “Turning Movie Magic into Literary Analysis”) See more about The New York Times Teaching Resoures on my iOpeners page. (Gift Article with Chloé Zhao analyzing a crucial scene from Hamnet.)
• Penguin Reader’s Guide to Using Film and TV
• Popular Genre -- Background and overview of multiple genres. YouTube Overview of 16 Major Genres.
• Quoting Films in English Class -- Article suggesting ways to use clips, rather than entire films, as literary analysis material in English classes.
• Teaching with Trailers -- Suggestions for using the trailer format specifically for analysis. Film Trailer Analysis Handout
• Using Films to Increase Literacy -- Suggestions for using film as literature for its accessibility.
• Using Film to Teach the Hero’s Journey -- Presentation with materials specific films by Ayn Grubb, Texas Writing Project.
• Semester Film Studies Syllabus -- Tentative, by Paige Mayhew, Oklahoma Writing Project.
• Teacher’s Manual for The Film Experience -- May not be your text, but much useful information, worksheeets, and tests
• The Directors is a mini-course on 21 great directors, with individual short videos on each (approximately 20 minutes)..
• Foundations of Film is a three-part set of extensive, lengthy YouTube videos, which can be viewed in bits and pieces for class instruction.
  • Ultimate Film Studies Watchlist (2:16:50) is a massive watchlist of 20th-century cinema.
  • Ultimate Guide to Cinematic Complexity (1:40:49) features examples to help illustrate cinematic complexity.
  • Masters of Cinema (3:25:29) examines 75 directors and dissects how each individual added to the grand story of cinema.

Film Terms: A Visual Grammar defines most important film terms.

Composition Topics suggests several possible writing assignments based on film.

A Baker’s Dozen: Questions for Reading a Film includes specific questions students can answer to evaluate the quality of a film.

Is This Film Art? Criteria for Evaluating a Film are general concepts that influence whether a film is considered a “classic.”

The Student Critic: Critiquing a Black and White Film gives the guidelines for a tightly-structured five-paragraph essay on a black and white film from an approved list of films that I know will work well for this particular essay.
Approved List of Black and White Films offers a variety of readily available films. I have included silent and
foreign language films, even a few R-rated needing parent guidance (such as Schindler’s List).

Reviewing the Reviewers gives directions for a critical analysis of a three film reviews of the same film. This is a good way to practice using critical quotes as evidence. Students use the exact same skills they will need for citing sources and integrating quotes in any literary analysis research paper.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Film Writing Prompts -- Extensive prompts for studying a film based on a short story or novel read for class.

Writing a Film Review -- Guidelines from Duke University for college-level review writing.

Film Genre -- The Western presents three assignments further exploring the Western genre, largely as related to the characteristics previously studied in class. See the High Noon Viewing Guide for a viewing guide on a specific Western film.

Useful Forms & Handouts

• American Film Institute’s 100 Years 100 Movies is just a list, but what a list!
• Film Review Information Guide
• Film Genre Characteristics Note Form
• Film Timeline -- Detailed history of film with major advances from 1893 to 1925.
• Film Trailer Analysis Handout -- Note form for gathering details to analyze any film trailer.
• Generic Video Guide -- All-purpose questions for any film (Perfection Form).
• Grammar of TV & Film -- Detailed discussion of terminology.
• Guidelines for Legal Use of Visual Media in the Classroom
• How to Watch Film offers guidelines for what you should notice and take note of as you watch a film.

Because there is so much uncertainty about how to cite internet resources, please check Standard Bibliography Format, where you will also find links to bibliography generators that will provide up-to-date information.

Standard MLA Bibliography Format -- Samples to show you what your bibliography should look like. Links to bibliography generators.