Love watching movies? If so, you will love writing a movie critique. This is an essay that evaluates different aspects of a film you’ve watched. Unlike a movie review, a critique is a deeper and more objective. It focuses on the technical aspects of the film and allows you to give ideas on what could have made the flick better.
While watching a movie is enjoyable, many students have a problem when it comes to critiquing the same in writing. After watching any film, you always find people analyzing it in detail, but when it comes to writing such a critique, things get tricky.
This guide highlights some tips that will help you write a powerful movie critique. It could be for your schoolwork, school magazine or any other publication.
Understand the Basics of a Movie Critique
A critique is an insightful analysis of a movie where you discuss what is right or wrong with the production. After every movie release, industry experts write critiques expressing how they view the new production. The producers and actors follow such critiques keenly because they serve as an evaluation of the quality of their work.
A critique is an objective, and you don’t sugarcoat anything you write. If something about the film is good, you should state it clearly. Whatever disappointed you in the film should also feature in your critique. Don’t overlook any aspect of a film, and as a critic, don’t approach any production with any bias.
Prepare Your Critique
After choosing a movie, make sure you watch it with a purpose. You should have an open mind and look keenly at every aspect of the film. Get a notebook and write every detail that catches your eye.
Pause the movie if necessary or rewind it to get a conclusive idea of the features. From the character’s performance, their dressing, plot, setting, themes, music to the dialogue, everything is up for review.
Define the Main Elements in the Film
Give a background of the movie, including the themes and other main elements. This gives the reader an idea about the movie in focus.
They can understand the film without even watching it. Touch on other important aspects, including point of view, the setting, and genre. This introductory section provides a foundation for your movie critique. You should also have a thesis to guide your critique.
Analyze Different Aspects of the Movie
A good critique should focus on the following:
• Plot and structure
• Characterization
• Dialogue
• Authenticity/originality
• Scenes
• Cinematic devices
• Deeper meaning/symbolism
• Music
These are only a few of the aspects you should focus on in a movie critique. Everything that catches your eye should go into your essay.
Evaluation/assessment
A good movie critique will leave the reader with no doubt about the quality of the film. It gives an insightful analysis of the main aspects of the film that viewers would like to learn about before watching. It is not a highlight of different features of the movie but a deeper assessment of the production.
Are you planning to write a movie critique? These tips should get you started on the project.