Short Guide to Writing about Film, A (7th Edition) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This best-selling text is a succinct guide to thinking critically and writing precisely about film.

 

Both an introduction to film study and a practical writing guide, this brief text introduces readers to major film theories as well as film terminology, enabling them to write more thoughtfully and critically. With numerous student and professional examples, this engaging and practical guide progresses from taking notes and writing first drafts to creating polished essays and comprehensive research projects. Moving from movie reviews to theoretical and critical essays, the text demonstrates how an analysis of a film can become more subtle and rigorous as part of a compositional process.

From the Back Cover

A Short Guide to Writing about Film walks the reader through the process of converting the fun and pleasure of watching a movie into the satisfaction of articulating ideas about that movie. Drawing on the readers' love and knowledge of films ranging from movies that readers easily recognize to ones they may only have read or heard about, the book encourages and develops writing skills. With numerous examples along the way, it moves from note taking and first drafts to polished essays and research projects, demonstrating how an analysis of a film becomes more subtle and rigorous as part of a compositional process. For film enthusiasts interested in enhancing their writing skills. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: Longman; 7 edition (February 5, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0205668941
• ISBN-13: 978-0205668946
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #173,150 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent guide, December 4, 1999

By	Al Kihano (Iskandria) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Short Guide to Writing About Film (Short Guide Series) (Paperback)

This book is an invaluable guide to writing about film. If you've never taken a film class, you need a book like this to get you used to the vocabulary, style and format of film criticism and theory. Numerous examples and lucid prose make this book easy to use and to read.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligence and accessibility, August 1, 2000

By	mitry (New Haven, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Short Guide to Writing About Film (Short Guide Series) (Paperback)

This a marvelous book, packed with information and much more accessible than far more expensive books. It's the perfect companion for almost any film course since it not only introduces students to the language and methods of film analysis (including how to take notes) but does so while guiding students through the work of writing a good essay (with great suggestions for doing research). The writing is clear and accurate (with none of the errors referred to by the Kenosha reviewer). I recommend it without hesitation to all students of film.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fine, blessedly concise guide, January 7, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: A Short Guide to Writing about Film (4th Edition) (Paperback)

I'm writing to second mitry's opinion of the book and to add to mitry's comment about kenosha's complaint of textual errors. I have the second edition of the book, and Corrigan speaks of Captain Willard and refers to Marlowe as "the other Captain Willard" (p. 43). It's clear from the context that he is comparing the film character with Conrad's protagonist. I doubt Corrigan would have revised the 2nd edition text here to make an error in the 3rd edition. Don't get turned off by an erroneous review!