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

Timothy Corrigan (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
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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 you to major film theories as well as film terminology, enabling you 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: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,194 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #35 in  Books > Reference > Writing
    #4 in  Books > Entertainment > Movies > History & Criticism

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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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28 of 30 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.
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19 of 23 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.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Pricey but Diffusive Writing Guide, June 18, 2009
This review is from: Short Guide to Writing about Film, A (7th Edition) (Paperback)
Corrigan's Short Guide has been around for some time, and I've noticed that students have decidedly mixed responses to it. My responses are mixed as well.

It is true that Corrigan tends to wax a bit loquacious, letting wordy and meandering discussion often obscure the really important things he has to say. But speaking as a professor who teaches film courses and requires students to write critical essays about film, I must say that to date this is one of the best books on the market to address specifically the subject of writing about film (I think the best book is Tim Bywater's "Introduction to Film Criticism"--which, unfortunately, is also a ridiculously over-priced Longman title). But it bears noting that there simply aren't many books available which do address this specific subject, so my praise has to be understood in that context. And it's a shame that the book is priced over $40, which is a lot of money for a thin, 196 page paperback with some arguably serious flaws.

The book is divided into seven chapters: an introductory chapter explaining differences and similarities between movie reviews, theoretical essays and critical essays; a chapter about preparing to watch a movie and write about it; a chapter on film terms, concepts and writing topics; a chapter summarizing six approaches to writing about film (history, national cinemas, genres, auteurs, formalism, and ideology) with sample essays and exercises; a chapter on style and structure; and final chapters containing research advice (including internet research) and discussions of proofing, and using / citing sources. Appendices include a list of common editorial symbols, a glossary, and an index. Notable changes to the seventh edition include some helpful advice about documentary and avante-garde films, an expansion of the internet resource section, and more information about film sound. These are all welcome and significant enhancements.

There is a lot of sound advice in the text, and the sample essays are particularly helpful. But the book tries to do too many tasks (at least three big ones) and consequently, it does none of them as well as it could--or should. First, the text is part film appreciation guide, but its limited scope prevents it from effectively competing with books like Giannetti's "Understanding Movies" or Bordwell and Thompson's "Film Art: An Introduction," so any student serious about film criticism will need to read such books anyway, making Corrigan's contributions in this area paltry and often superfluous. Second, the text is part style, proofreading and writing guide, but again, cheap and much more comprehensive volumes like Hacker's "A Writer's Reference" do that task far better than can Corrigan so his effort here is mostly wasted. Third, the text is part film writing primer. This is the task on which Corrigan should have limited himself, given the obvious desire to keep the book small, and this is the aspect of the book that works best. Unfortunately, effort and space wasted on the other two tasks unnecessarily restrict what Corrigan does on this score. For example, his discussions (in the first and fourth chapters) of different approaches to film criticism and of different kinds of essays about film are each limited to a few meager pages. But these are the very subjects his book should have addressed in greatest detail. As already noted, the 7th edition includes improvements in this area, but not enough

In the end, Corrigan's book has lots of scattered insights and bits of advice that are great in and of themselves, but the more pertinent are sometimes under-developed and often lost in a sea of verbosity and diffusive aims. So, for the time being at least, while this may be one of the best available books on writing essays about film, it has its share of problems. It is thus almost as disappointing as it is helpful.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A perfect quick guide
This book provides a brief but descriptive and incredibly helpful insight into the world of film. Perfect for writers and film enthusiasts alike.
Published 2 months ago by Jess!ca

5.0 out of 5 stars Great!
Book arrived quickly and was in excellent condition. Pleased with every aspect of the purchase!
Published 4 months ago by S. Vander Elst

5.0 out of 5 stars Good product
Fast delivery great book if your in film school or doing film on your own.
Published 6 months ago by Aaron K. Alldaffer

4.0 out of 5 stars Great service
The book turned out to be fine. It came as it was described and overall I am completely satisfied with it's condition. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Lissette M. Valdez

3.0 out of 5 stars decent
Kind of obvious tips, but throw away once you're done. Came in vaguely useful for writing my Film Structure essays. Read more
Published 16 months ago by H. J. Oh

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast, Good, Easy, Helpful
I received the book I had ordered in less than a week. It was in great condition. I was very pleased. Read more
Published on August 3, 2008 by R. Neighbors

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Intro to Film Study
Timothy Corrigan, in the preface to "A Short Guide to Writing About Films, sixth edition," says, "Writing essays about films is, in short, one of the most sophisticated ways to... Read more
Published on September 9, 2007 by C. J. Singh

5.0 out of 5 stars I've looked at clouds from both sides now
One thing I can say is I enjoy a good film. O.K. if it moves I'll watch it. But until I read this book I really was just looking with out seeing. Read more
Published on April 8, 2007 by bernie

1.0 out of 5 stars TWO THUMBS DOWN
I am currently a film major who is being forced to read this book. Let me say that so far I am only to chapter three and have suffered through every page of it. Read more
Published on January 27, 2001

4.0 out of 5 stars fine, blessedly concise guide
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. Read more
Published on January 7, 2001

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