Image credits: Jakob Owens, Gordon Cowie, Jakob Owens on Upsplash

So what is film? How does it work? How and why does a film impact us as viewers?

These are big questions with all kinds of answers, some of which we will explore in this course.

However, before we can understand the hows and whys behind a film, we have to take a closer look at what and how we are seeing it.

How do we do this? Great question!

Well, we can start by learning how to do a Film Analysis – the foundational skill for viewing and understanding film as a way of seeing.

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Image credits: Manoj Kulkarni, Jakob Owens on Upsplash

Film analysis (or filmic analysis) is a fancy Academic term for watching films with a critical eye. 

Film analysis identifies, describes, and analyzes how and why a film was made in order to interpret the intended meanings of the film, its cultural context and impacts on the viewer, the art of filmmaking, and society.

Maybe all of this sounds familiar if you have studied art history. It should!!

Film Analysis is the film-world equivalent of visual and stylistic analysis of a work of art.

So, if you have some practice with visual analysis, we just need to make a few tweaks on what you already know how to do so you can watch and interpret films like a pro. If this is all new to you, that’s ok too! We’ll walk you through it step-by-step until you get the hang of it.

Let’s start with the fundamentals! You can follow along and find several helpful worksheets in your ’How to do a Film Analysis’ guide.

• To download the guide, click ‘Exercise Files’ at the top of this page (just below the green banner). Then, click the cloud/arrow at the top right to download.