Writing the Film Evaluation: A Critical Thinking Rubric for Students
Who Have Not Written Formal Expository Essays Requiring Critical Thinking
Coupled with Grammar and Mechanics in Some Time
By
Johnie Scott
Associate Professor of Pan African Studies
And
Director, PAS Writing Program
(Author, The Effective Writer, Pearson Longman Publishers, 2005)
Background:
As noted by Ronald Lunsford,
“Writing an evaluation will require you to judge whether the topic of your essay
is good or bad, effective or ineffective, beneficial or detrimental, important
or unimportant, and so on.” (369) This noted writing
authority goes on to say, “As an evaluator, you’ll need to impress your reader
with your fairness, and with the thoroughness with which you consider your
topic. Because you’ll present your opinion about the topic, you cannot avoid
your biases, but you must take care not to let any preconceived ideas about
your topic go unsupported.” (369)
Within those statements,
Lunsford is making the point that if you’re evaluating a film by one of your
favorite directors, actors or actresses, you might make the assumption or claim
that this film will be just as good if not better than previous films by this
same star. That may be true; on the other hand, it may not be. It is your task
to evaluate the new film as fairly and completely as possible, to move on ahead
as a fan of the particular artist, but to be open-minded and willing to
criticize if that proves necessary. To convince your readers that your
evaluation is worth considering, you must demonstrate that you have given
serious thought to the topic.
When writing evaluations,
whether of a film, documentary, CD, concert, photograph or painting, the reader
expects for you to have established some sort of criteria. As Lunsford states,
“Sometimes criteria are referred to as the standards against which you’ll judge
your topic…Criteria are the standards used in evaluating something, and if you
don’t establish criteria for your evaluation, then you’ll present a statement
of personal taste rather than evaluation.” (370-371) What
this means is that in writing evaluations, you are consciously and constantly
exploring the topic. While doing this, you must establish criteria by which to
evaluate. Expect to be called upon to justify that criteria,
to defend that criteria as appropriate and effective in evaluating your topic.
Student writers often make the mistake, for example, of thinking that
documentary films are expected to have the same entertainment value as feature
films and this is certainly not so.
One would not, for example,
expect a documentary that an interested director has done with writer Alice
Walker to carry the same “entertainment values” of her Pulitzer Prize-winning
novel The Color Purple
or the film based upon that work. And yet, I often receive evaluations of
documentaries from students asserting they were not “entertained” when the
purpose of the film was clearly to inform and educate. As I say to my students,
“It is not my job to entertain you or be your friend. It is not my mission to
win a ‘Most Popular Teacher’ Award. That would be nice, but for me it is not
important. What is important, however, is that I am your Professor,
that you see and regard, that I am respected as that individual who is
there to teach first and last.”
The point being made here is
that you need to think through and establish what would be relevant criteria
for the particular film that you are looking at and evaluating. You don’t want
to make the mistake of comparing apples with oranges. It might be helpful for
you, at this point, to list the traits or characteristics of two or three of
the following film genres: suspense thrillers, action-adventure and
youth-oriented. After making your list, name two or three films that exemplify
the traits in each category.
The next point to be made is
that your film evaluation “should present a value judgment about the worthiness
of your topic. Once you’ve made this judgment, it is your job to marshal
support for it. The criteria you established for evaluating your topic can
guide you here, because you can state the criteria as reasons, and reasons must
be supported.” (374) That value judgment is your
thesis, what you see as the central theme, message or concern of the film. To
support your evaluation, you are expected to provide details that develop and
support the criteria you’re chosen. Those details are framed as “statements,”
and it would be expected in a film evaluation that you would list specific
scenes, dialogue and action to support and develop those statements.
It is always a good idea to
state your evaluation in a thesis sentence near the beginning of your essay.
The body of your essay may be structured by the criteria you use in evaluating
your topic. Accordingly, as noted by Lunsford, “in an evaluation of a movie, a
paragraph (or a block of paragraphs) might be given to acting, a paragraph (or
block) to cinematography, and a paragraph (or block) to special effects. Your
conclusion may make clear once again what your evaluation is and briefly
summarize the evidence you have offered that makes you think your reader should
share that evaluation (i.e., your opinion about the film).” (378)
Format
When doing film evaluations,
I typically ask my students to take the following approach:
- Describe what stands out as the 1-2 most compelling scenes
or incidents in the film. Use very visual details for the reader – do not
write as though the reader has seen the film. Never assume anything of
your readership!;
- Identify what you see as the major premise or idea in the
film, i.e., the thesis of the filmmaker(s) and then discuss what you see
as three (3) primary ways in which that idea is developed (or not, as the
case may be). For this, you want to cite specific details, examples and
illustrations from the film in developing that discussion; and
- Lastly, state
what you see as the importance or relevance of the film. Consider the
question What do we learn, or fail to learn, from
watching this film? I always ask my students to develop a rating
scale to conclude their film evaluations (one they
explain to the readers like a 5-Star system) because they are, in fact, critics.
Writing Checklist
Use the following five traits
to check the quality of your writing as you respond to the particular
assignment.
ü
The ideas in your essay prompt readers to
change their thinking and behavior. The essay has a clear opinion statement,
employs effective reasoning, gathers together good support, and presents a
clear call to action or decision-making at the conclusion.
ü
The organization is logical and includes an
engaging opening that raises the issue, a clearly sequenced argument, and a
convincing conclusion focused on change and action. The better essays will
always set the stage before laying out the premise or thesis. You always work
to get the reader’s undivided attention.
ü
The voice is thoughtful, caring, and
convincing. If the reader is not convinced that you, the communicator, are
thoughtful, if they are not convinced that you are caring about the topic, if
they are not convinced at the end about your argument, then quite obviously you
have fallen short.
ü
The words are precise, concrete, and easily
understood (or defined as needed). The language is free of clichés and glib
phrases. Use what you have and know – do not makeup words you do not know in an
attempt to “sound” or “seem” educated. More often than
not, the opposite will occur as the reader comes across words that are
misspelled, misused, inappropriate and, more than
anything else, make absolutely no sense!
ü
The sentences flow smoothly, with effective
transitions and logical connections. This can best, most often happen, when you
take time to proofread your paper for errors. Proofreading, however, means
planning, means not waiting until the very last minute to get started. Those
who procrastinate, who wait until the 11th hour, always put
themselves in a hole and never give themselves enough time to make the quality
checks that good writing demands, that is the hallmark of professionalism and
scholarship – where you take pride in submitting the work under your name!
Guidelines
In submitting the film
evaluations via email, students are to follow these guidelines:
ü
Under the Subject
heading, write “Film Evaluation #” followed by the actual title of the film.
When it arrives to my email inbox, I am able to look and immediately see who
the email is from, that it is a film evaluation, what number the film
evaluation is, and the title of the particular film. Right away, I know this is
business;
Example:
Subject:
PAS 337 (Course) FE # (Film Evaluation #) – Title of the Film
ü
When those
evaluations are being emailed to me as attachments, then I insist upon those
attachments being in MICROSOFT WORD and no other program. To send an
attachment in any program – e.g., Microsoft Works, Word Perfect, etcetera –
finds the student risking my not being able to open and evaluate
their work, much less send them a grade other than a “Fail!” It goes without
saying that if the instructor cannot read or download the work, then the
student, not the instructor, has failed. It also costs me valuable time in
trying to download an item that is impossible or time-consuming for me to do
so. When sending me attachments, ALWAYS USE MICROSOFT WORD!
ü
There will be
those instances (emergency only!) when the student cannot, for some reason, use
Microsoft Word. In such a case (and the assumption is this will not be
semester-long or repeated time and again by the student), that individual is to
simply write said evaluation within the MESSAGE portion of the email. In either
event, I always ask for the student to give their name, course and ticket
number. In today’s world, so many students have mail nicknames and addresses
that do not identify who they are at all (e.g., loverboy17@hotmail.com, romeo007@yahoo.com, etcetera).
Please identify yourself whenever sending me communication via email. To do
otherwise is to run the risk of not receiving proper credit for your work;
ü
Always keep
copies of those transmissions to me. Backup copy everything that you do. Work
sometimes gets lost or accidentally deleted. You want to always have a copy in
case that request is given to you; and
ü
Lastly, take pride
in your work! When using a program such as MICROSOFT WORD, always run
Spellcheck to pickup those misspelled words. Run grammar check for awkward
phrasing and problems with grammar and mechanics including sentence fragments,
run-on sentences and the like. Never use abbreviations. Never assume – it is
your responsibility to write as though your reader is not familiar with the
film. This doesn’t mean you repeat scene by scene, word for word everything
that happened in the film (just think of those times you tried to watch a film
with someone, then had to tell that person to be quiet and let you see the film
rather than listen to tell you everything that was taking place! They are
insulting your intelligence when doing so.) And definitely, make certain that you
use fully-developed, 5-sentence paragraphs when writing!
One thing I can assure you
after teaching in the University now for 20-plus years, those students who
stick to the program outlined above invariably see great improvements in their
writing skills by the end of the semester. Think of that as a “perk” while
you’re taking this course.
Works Cited
Lunsford, Ronald and Bridges,
Bill, The Longwood Guide to Writing/Second
Edition, Pearson Education, Inc., New York, NY/2002.
2/6/02
Updated November 18, 2004
3rd Draft January
20, 2007