These are the comments of a head and deputy head teacher from two schools belonging to Filmclub, a nationwide education charity which helps schools set-up and run film clubs where young people watch, debate and review films from 100 years of cinema. Since the scheme launched in 2008 the quality and quantity of reviews submitted by primary and secondary school children has been overwhelming; 5000 reviews are posted on our website each week, many from children who have never before written voluntarily, with over 200,000 reviews uploaded in total. 80% of teachers running clubs say regularly writing reviews has boosted children’s critical skills and over half say it has improved their reading and writing.
The feedback and statistics speak for themselves – encouraging young people to review films can be a novel and engaging way to increase literacy, improve critical analysis and develop confidence and communication skills. So what are the main areas to consider when teaching the art of review writing?
First highlight the main Parts of A Film, and discuss words to describe them:
The story or plot is what happens in the film; characters are the people whom the film is about and dialogue is the things they say. The director is the person who directs the making of the film. Scenery is the background of a film – such as the furniture in a room or the surrounding landscape. The style is the overall feel of a film, the result of a combination of all the other parts.
Some Words to Describe (and encourage pupils to suggest others):
Story / Plot: unpredictable / predictable, original, full of twists, realistic / unrealistic, complicated, simplistic…
Characters: funny, nice, mean, happy, miserable, cute…
Actors: talented, convincing / unconvincing, versatile…
Director: talented, famous, skilful…
Scenery: beautiful, ugly, spectacular, cinematic, city,
Dialogue: witty, amusing, fast-paced, slow-paced, smart, boring, offensive, confusing, obvious…
Style: comedy, horror, romantic, scary, magical, actionpacked, adventure, old-fashioned, futuristic…
A good review should do three things:
1. INFORM
• Summarise - Give a brief explanation of the plot (but don’t give away the ending or any surprise plot twists, that’s called a “spoiler”).
• The Talent - Tell the reader who the director, writer and actors are (have a look on www.imdb.com, if you’re not sure) and give some relevant background information.
• Contextualise - Put the film in context – tell the reader about the genre (type) of the film or other similar films.
2. ENTERTAIN
• Describe - Use interesting language to recreate for the reader the experience of watching the film. You can use similes, metaphors, puns and adjectives. Be funny! Readers love to laugh.
• Reference - Help the reader to understand what the film is like by comparing it to other films they might have seen. This is also a good way to show off your film knowledge.
• Exaggerate - Get your readers excited about the film – either positively
or negatively by using ‘hyperbole’ or over-the-top, exaggerated language e.g.
“Avatar has the best special effects since cinema was invented”
3. EVALUATE
• Evaluate - Tell the reader which bits were good and which bits were bad. Also, did you think it was a good or bad film overall? This is usually the last paragraph or sentence.
• Explain - Don’t forget to use interesting adjectives why it was good or why it was bad.
• Rate - How many stars would you give your film (usually out of 5)?
Remind students that a review can never be ‘wrong’ and encourage them – even those least confident about writing – to have a go. You might be surprised at the result.
