5 Tips for Writing a Movie Review for College

A movie review assignment is common in high schools and colleges. Writing a review for a movie for a college assignment is the same as giving your views on the movie in the comment section on sites such as Rotten Tomatoes. However, with a school review, you need to go into intricate details and organize your work in a specific format. 

It might seem simple to write your thoughts and views on a film to inform other people of the general plot without releasing spoiler details. However, this kind of school paper takes time and needs proper organization. Reviews need to be reliable, accurate, and legit. So, you cannot engage in cheating and you cannot engage in unprofessional terms like calling the movie a scam. During tutoring, the task sounds simple but wait and see all the details you need to gather. 

Understand the Purpose of the Review

You do not write a movie review as a spoiler. You write to inform your readers of the film and the main ideas behind it. That can seem simple, but you will need to write more than your ideas. In most cases, students make the mistake of reporting everything that happens in the film and them giving their ideas at the end of the paper. It is okay to express your opinions, but you also need to take an unbiased approach. 

Whatever you say determines whether someone will want to see the film or documentary or not. Even if your lecturer assigns a specific title, you need to assume that they have never seen the film before, and you are introducing it to them for the first time. Your writing should be detailed enough to assist your readers in making honest decisions on whether they need to watch the movie or not. 

The tutoring professor needs to assess how you analyze the plot, the characters, and the events that occur in the film. Besides analysis, the movie review will test your writing and vocabulary skills – as such, you need to revise your work. 

Watch the Movie and Gather the Main Facts

To understand the movie better and create a good college paper, you need to watch the film twice. While doing so, take notes on all major and minor events that occur during the movie. Also, take note of characters and the roles they play in making the movie what it is. Because movies run for more than an hour, you cannot rely on your memory to remember all events and characters. 

Collect important facts about the movie, including the genre, cast, title and year, the general plot, name of the director, theme songs, and name of the book it is based on (if the movie is based on a book). With these details, you are ready to do a trustworthy review. 

Research and Evaluate the Movie

Before writing a review, you need to do enough research to gather more details and get a feel of fans around the world. This is especially important if you do not seek the services of a paper writing service such as PapersOwl and decide to write the review from introduction to conclusion. In your research, you need to collect details such as the name of the filmmaker, movie prices, the story and motivation behind the film, shooting location, plot, and characterization, among others. “If you want to write a quality review, but you do not have enough writing skills, then it is better to find a writing service like Papersowl. To verify the quality of the service, read PapersOwl review. Professional writers will help you and give you a lot of useful tips.

Draft an Outline

An outline helps you write fast. The outline you create needs to be concise and cohesive. You can add comments on the originality of scenes and any holes you can spot on the plot.

The success of your work will depend on how well you organize your work. A well-structured outline gives your tutoring professor the motivation to keep reading. Again, creating an outline is a great way to save on time when you start working on the review. You can organize your work as follows:

• Introduction to include the title, release dates, and a little background information
• A summary of the movie plot
• Relevance to your class – why did you need to write a review for a film and how will it help you or other members of your class.
• An analysis of the plot elements and events
• Creative elements such as characters, colors, music, camera techniques, tone, mood, symbols, and costumes among others
• The cast – the characters in the movie will determine how the plot comes out. In your movie review, you need to assess whether the cast portrayed their roles successfully, whether they were realistic, and whether their acting skills helped the filmmaker bring out the story.
• Your opinions supported with facts from the plot
• Conclusion – you can state whether the filmmaker was successful in bringing out the story and what would have made the film better. If you make any claims, you need to give evidence to support that. If you say there were holes in the plot, for instance, you need to give examples from the film to support that.

Write and Revise the Review

Once you have created an outline, it is easy for you to write. While doing so, avoid unnecessary details on the history behind the film as the college professor doesn’t have time for that. Once you start on the introduction, feel safe to jump right into the details of the film without telling the reader of the history behind the film genre or the cast. 

Again, avoid using the first person all the time, even though the review reflects your opinions and analysis in most sections. Your opinions need to be accompanied by reasons and evidence from the film seeing that the review is not a mere comment on the movie. Ensure that all the facts are legit and from a trustworthy source. After everything, revise your work for grammar mistakes and structure. 

Conclusion

Your work needs to be free of generalities such as a good film, cool effects, great music, and such other general terms. In the end, as yourself, if you would enjoy the review you have written.