Film: The Essential Study Guide Providing a key resource to new students, Film: The Essential Study Guide introduces students to all the skills they will need to learn to succeed on a film studies course This succinct, accessible guide covers key topics such as: • • • • • • • • using the library online research and resources viewing skills how to watch and study foreign language films essay writing presentation skills referencing and plagiarism practical filmmaking Including exercises and examples, Film: The Essential Study Guide helps film students understand how study skills are applicable to their learning and gives them the tools to flourish in their degree Ruth Doughty is a Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at Portsmouth University Her specific areas of research are Black American cinema, film music and films that explore national guilt in a post9/11 context. She has recently co-edited The Continuum Companion to Sound and Film in the Visual Media. She has published articles on Kassovitz’s La Haine and von Trier’s Manderlay At present she is co-authoring a book on Film Theory for Palgrave Macmillan Deborah Shaw is a Reader in Film Studies at Portsmouth University Her research area is Latin American Cinema, and she has published numerous articles in this field She has also published Contemporary Latin American Cinema: Ten Key Films (Continuum, 2003) and is the editor of Contemporary Latin American Cinema: Breaking into the Global Market (Rowman and Littlefield, 2007) Film: The Essential Study Guide Edited by Ruth Doughty and Deborah Shaw First published 2009 by Routledge Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008 “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2009 Ruth Doughty and Deborah Shaw for editorial matter and selection; individual chapters, the contributors All rights reserved No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record has been requested ISBN 0-203-00292-X Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0–415–43700–8 (pbk) ISBN10: 0–203–00292–X (ebk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–43700–4 (pbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–00292–6 (ebk) To the Film Studies students at Portsmouth University: past, present and future Contents List of figures Notes on contributors ix xi Studying film at university Sue Harper The independent student Ruth Doughty and Deborah Shaw University life: the student perspective Louise Buckler and Simon Hobbs 15 Lecture and seminar skills Ruth Doughty and Deborah Shaw 25 The library: the lecturer’s perspective Justin Smith 33 The library: the librarian’s perspective David Francis and Greta Friggens 41 Research skills Sue Harper 51 Reading skills Ruth Doughty and Deborah Shaw 61 vii CONTENTS Online research and resources Ruth Doughty 67 10 Viewing skills Van Norris 79 11 How to watch and study foreign language films Réka Buckley and Deborah Shaw 89 12 Essay writing Christine Etherington-Wright 95 13 Referencing and plagiarism Lincoln Geraghty 109 14 Writing on film Laurie Ede 133 15 Making the most of feedback Laurel Forster 147 16 Exam preparation Emma Dyson and Paul Spicer 155 17 Presentation skills Dave Allen 165 18 Screenwriting Craig Batty 177 19 Practical film-making Dylan Pank and Karen Savage 199 Index viii 217 List of figures 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 19.1 19.2 Disclosure (Barry Levinson, 1994) To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962) To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962) The Office (Series 2, Episode 4) Blade Runner (1982) Telephoto lenses compress perspective Delicatessen (1991) Wide-angle lenses exaggerate depth 167 167 168 169 208 209 ix .. .Film: The Essential Study Guide Providing a key resource to new students, Film: The Essential Study Guide introduces students to all the skills they will need to learn to succeed on a... Blade Runner (1982) Telephoto lenses compress perspective Delicatessen (1991) Wide-angle lenses exaggerate depth 167 167 168 169 208 209 ix Contributors DAVE ALLEN is Head of the School of Creative... properly, the Film Studies student needs to look rigorously at different forms of evidence, and to weigh and measure various theoretical approaches But above all, he or she needs to recognise the