Structure and

Terminology for a

Film Studies Essay

Mark Kilkelly

Preface

The purpose of this article is to give a guideline on structuring an essay in general and

also to give a list of some terms used in film theory. This has been written based on the

knowledge of the author as well as the notes taken during his class time in an animation

course. That being said, this article is subject to change and further editions.

This article may be referred to by anybody who deems it relevant to their own writing

and research for any essay based on or related to film theory. However, it should be noted

that this offers one set standard of structuring an essay and might not be the same as that of

another academic tutor. It may not be universally accepted to the degree that all universities

and colleges would use it. It should also be noted that the list of terms given, although

plentiful, probably doesn‟t list every possible term used in discussing film theory and was

also written with reference to Wikipedia.org. This might be updated and expanded in the

future.

If the guidelines are not exactly the same as what your own academic tutors have

advised or even stated they want you to use, please keep in mind that these standards should

be flexible to an extent regardless. Do not be discouraged from changing or adapting these

standards into your own frame work or even adding more to its terminology.

Sufficed to say I hope you will find this helpful in structuring your essay and

familiarising yourself with the basic terminology in film theory.

Mark Kilkelly, 2011

Essay Structure

Start with three paragraphs on the introduction page. These paragraphs should state:

1. What you have been asked to do.

2. How you researched it.

3. The main points to be discussed.

Text of analysis and discussion: the main body of your essay.

Conclusion: Summary of key findings and what you have learned.

Reference page: This consists of the relevant information and source of quotations

used in your essay. Try to have at least five quotes taken from five different sources

of information. Make sure the quote used has a purpose. If you are discussing post

modernism then your quote must support it and therefore further your argument. If it

doesn‟t support for argument then it is irrelevant and shouldn‟t be used. Always try to

lead in-and-out of a quote. Example: ...as Paul Wells states in his book [insert title]

“Such a device illustrates...” (Pg. 68). When listing your references in the reference

page, list the publishing details as you would in the bibliography only in order of

appearance and with the page number attached at the end. A quotation should contain

no more than three sentences.

Bibliography: containing all publishing details of all relevant text books and articles

read or used when writing of your essay. Organise them alphabetically by surname.

Harvard method can be used. Example: Ben-Shaul, Nitzan – Film: The Key Concepts

– (Berg, First Floor, Angel Court, 81 St Clements Street, Oxford OX4 1AW, UK –

2007)

Filmography: containing all films, DVD‟s and video cassettes you‟ve viewed and

studied for research. The films can either be organised alphabetically by surname of

director or in order of appearance in the main body of text. Example: Katsuhiro

Otomo – Akira – Japan – 1988

N.B. It is usually preferred to use italics for titles of films, journals and books.

Terminology and Definitions

Auteur: the notion that a director's film reflects the director's personal creative vision, as if

he or she were the primary author of the work.

Genre: the class or category of an art form which dictates its content, theme and style.

Genres can be mixed in and blended together to create a sub-genre or hybrid-genre.

Post modernism: a movement away from the viewpoint of modernism. It could be taken to

mean art, architecture, or literature reacting against earlier modernist principles by

reintroducing traditional or classical elements of style or by carrying modernist styles or

practices to extremes (there are several other conventional and sometimes contradictory

definitions of post-modernism).

Classical Hollywood narrative structure: The most universally accepted three act template

of script writing where a story has a beginning, middle and an end. It mostly follows a path

of linier trajectory.

Parody: to mock, comment on, or make fun at an original work, its subject, author, style, or

some other target, by means of ironic, humorous, sarcastic and/or satiric imitation.

Satire: where vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the

intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement.

Mise-en-scène: everything that you see on the screen. The overall composition and acting

that the audience sees.

Irony: where an action has an effect exactly opposite to what is originally intended. It often

results in an odd or amusing outcome.

Reflexivity: where both the cause and the effect affecting one another in a situation renders

both functions as causes and effects.

Direct address to camera/audience: contrasting functional relationships between the actor

and the audience that a performance can create.

Intertextuality: borrowing and transformation of a prior text or to a reader‟s referencing of

one text in reading another.

Iconography: where images and icons make a unique symbolic representation of a particular

genre or time period often showing the subject matter in a visual art form with reference to

the conventions behind certain images and symbols. (e.g. Film noir is instantly recognisable

due to its treatment of lighting and costuming.)

Self-reflexivity: marked by or making reference to its own artificiality or contrivance.

Pastiche: Making something looks as though it is recorded in the age it is set within. (e.g.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was made in the 1980‟s but set during the 1940‟s.)

Transparency of form: not allowing the audience to be aware that they are actually

watching a film by concealing the fact that the film was recorded in a studio with cameras,

actors and a written script.

Foregrounding: This means virtually the opposite to the above. The practice of giving

something within a work emphasis over and above the other surrounding words or images.

(e.g. Duck Amuck where Daffy Duck is constantly teased by the animator).

Verisimilitude: adherence to photographic reality.

Eclecticism: mixture of styles, forms and theories.

Idea of consolation: to live „happily ever after‟.

Flashback: Zooming into a viewer‟s head and thoughts. It‟s still linier trajectory.