Response to Film Essay CAT #2 Year 7 ENH (Term 4)
What is this essay I’m hearing about? A film response essay is written to answer a question or comment on a statement. It is a discussion, focused on one element of the film. The essay will be at least five paragraphs long Introduction Main body (3 paragraphs) Conclusion
Important information to remember When making a comment about an event, character or setting you must link it back to the film. You must include evidence from the film. For example, if you are saying a character is ‘good’ you need to go back to the film and explain where and how the director showed this.
What will be writing about? Topic Statement How did the director of the film let the audience know who was the ‘hero’ and who was the ‘villain’?
What is an Introduction? The Introduction tells the reader what the topic is, gives them all the information they need to understand the topic and what the essay will be about.
Information you must include in your Intro: Title, Year of Release and Director of the text (Eg. The film Shrek (2001), directed by Vicky Jensen and Andrew Adamson,…) A very brief summary of the novel. This should be a one or two sentence overview, not a list of the plot. (Eg. …is the story of a green ogre who does a deal with Lord Farquaad to rescue a beautiful young princess, in order to get his peaceful swamp back.) State the names of the hero and the villain in the movie. Define any key words (Eg. A ‘hero’ is… . Whereas a villain is…) Introduce three (minimum) ways that the director helped the audience understand the characters’ roles. (1 sentence).
Paragraph 1 (main body) T.E.E.L – Topic Sentence, Explanation, Evidence, Linking Sentence Topic Sentence – Write a sentence that clearly states your first point. (Eg. The use of (Film technique) was used to help show how (Name) is shown to be a hero.) Explanation – Explain a little about how this technique helped.
Paragraph 1 Cont. – Main body Evidence – Find an example from the film that supports your point. Describe it and/or include the quote. Linking sentence - The job of this sentence is to link the point you have talked about in this paragraph to your original statement or the next paragraph. Eg. On the contrary, (insert character) is portrayed as being the (hero/villain).
Paragraphs 2 and 3 – Main Body These follow the same steps as Paragraph 1 – Main Body, just with different points
Conclusion… nearly there Purpose of the conclusion is to briefly recap the points that you have made, linking your points back to the Topic Statement. Do NOT introduce new information You may choose to include another quote here Avoid repeating exact words/phrases you have used in the essay