The Start of Blogmas 12/1/16 - Michelle Cella

Over the course of a couple of days, Mr. Rivers had us go in depth with learning the craft and structure of what makes/breaks a great film review. Going off and summarizing on what KJ said yesterday in his blog, Mr. Rivers wanted the class to have better knowledge and understanding on how to write a formal film review. Since KJ has posted some partial notes on the subject yesterday, the rest of the notes that I took in class are down below.

The Original List:
1) Deliberately titled article
2) Credit relevant artists
3) Provide necessary context
4) Summarize plot
5) Evaluate content
6) Evaluate meaning/theme
7) Conclude

My Notes:
4) Summarize plot 
Avoid spoilers!
Premise - the main basis/conflict for the film
One sentence premise: you should be able to explain the main focus of the narrative in a single sentence that is both specific and clear.

5) Evaluate content 
BULK of your review: specific paragraphs
REMEMBER that this is not an academic essay: Paragraphs may be SHORT! SPECIFIC paragraphs about SPECIFIC content. (characters, setting, action, conflict, resolution, rising/falling action, exposition, climax) - THIS FORMS PLOT

 6) Evaluate meaning/theme 
Consider the text as a whole: what does it ASSERT?
Zooming BACK out and looking at the theme presented.

7) Conclude 
BRIEF and SPECIFIC
In 1-3 sentences, you should be able to answer “So what?”

After taking our notes, Mr. Rivers had us work in our groups on a quick in class assignment on google classroom. The in class assignment was very direct and simple, we had to use the film review that our groups previously selected yesterday, (we did Kada's film review on "The Martian"). We then had to find examples of numbers 4,5,6, & 7, to copy and paste them in the comment section of the assignment. Some of our examples of "The Martian" were:


#4 "Based on the novel “The Martian” by Andy Weir that Drew Goddard has turned into a fast-moving, streamlined script, the movie focuses on Mark Watney (Mr. Damon), who, during a windstorm on Mars, is accidentally left behind by his team. Mr. Scott likes the action to hit hard and fast: One minute Watney is joking with his space buddies — Jessica Chastain leads a crew that includes Kate Mara and Michael Peña — and minutes later he’s been hooked like a fish by some flying metal that knocks him out. Believing him dead, the crew takes off, as does the movie, which soon becomes a tale of two planets with initially competing narratives, one involving Watney’s efforts simply to stay alive and the second centered on NASA’s post disaster strategizing."

#6 "It’s unambiguously on the side of science and rationalism with glints of manifest destiny, American can-do-ism and a little flag-waving folded in. It is also about willing yourself out of the lonely room — call it Mars or your head — and into the world, however inhospitable, so you can breathe the air and drink the water (Watney learns to make both) and yearn for others."

#7:"But Mr. Scott is very much his own artist, one whose reputation as a visual stylist has at times obscured that his great, persistent theme is what it means to be human."

I really enjoyed this in class activity, it gave me a better understanding of what makes a great film review, and showed me really helpful examples and tools.

Also, we have a new student in class, his name is Kasper, and he seems very nice.


Most importantly, Christmas and Hanukkah is 23 days away, and 2017 is 30 days away!!