• Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

University Degree: Film Studies

Browse by
4 star+ (7)
3 star+ (26)
Word count:
fewer than 1000 (393)
1000-1999 (716)
2000-2999 (298)
3000+ (127)

Meet our team of inspirational teachers

find out about the team


  • Marked by Teachers essays 36
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 59
  1. Free essay

    Still Frame Analysis : American Gangster. The dominant in this frame is Denzel Washington. The eye is attracted to his character first as he is centered on the screen and is in sharper focus

    5 star(s)

    5. Color values: The scene is set in a lounge of some sort. Color is not really used for symbolism here. All four characters are Black Americans. The two males closest to the camera are not illuminated enough to see the color of their outfits. Washington is dressed in dull colours (black, brown, grey). The set is also very dull. The female character has red hair, and red and purple clothing, which, is the the only colour contrast. Perhaps this is just to symbolize her difference from the rest of the characters. However, she is not being focussed on by the dominant character (Washington)

    • Word count: 929
  2. Marked by a teacher

    Unpicking the monstrous: A Psychoanalytic and Marxist analysis of Alien.

    5 star(s)


    • Word count: 3702
  3. Marked by a teacher

    How does the usage of cinematography and editing in Michael Haneke's "Code Unknown" reinforce the lack of communication between characters?

    4 star(s)

    The long take is an alternative to a series of shots, and is a strong creative resource. A long take, in this case, evokes emotions in the viewer without forcing it. In a series of short takes, the viewer is mentally jumping from an illusion to the next, without receiving a chance to explore the scene. (Wyss 2008) In Code Unknown, the viewer is encouraged to supply their own conclusions about what is unfolding in front of them. The film consists of static sequences from a single perspective to avoid patronizing or manipulating the viewer. (Haneke 2004)

    • Word count: 1745
  4. Marked by a teacher

    Cinema of Attractions and it relation to the perceived audience of early cinema. Early film makers used the new technology of cinema to display a variety of attractions to audiences in a style coined by Tom Gunning as cinema of attractions.

    4 star(s)

    and presented in a style which appealed, thrilled and, as Stephen Bottomore suggests, sometimes shocked the audience of the time. (Bottomore 1999, p. 177) Eliciting these reactions in audiences was common to the established forms of entertainment in that era, which helped familiarise and popularise cinema as a new media. (Halle & Margaret 2003, p. 17) Cinema of attractions is a term Tom Gunning coined to describe all cinema prior to 1908 (or so), when the style of cinema was focused on engaging the audience with a variety of visually-arresting appeals and spectacles, spanning an assortment of styles and genres.

    • Word count: 1911
  5. Marked by a teacher

    Billy Elliot - Billys struggle against gender roles discussed.

    4 star(s)

    A scene demonstrating this parallel quite vividly is the (also) parallel sequence where Billy in a lesson works hard to improve his dancing on the one hand and the police defeat the striking workers in their own neighborhood on the other. Taking a look at Billy�s part in the film, I would even say that Billy does not only achieve a cultural education for himself, but he is the one who who makes culture and new working class values accessible to his family.

    • Word count: 529
  6. Marked by a teacher

    Conflicts exist between different ideas and theories of realism. Describe and explain these conflicts.

    4 star(s)

    It is purely descriptive; a conclusion of perception. The electromagnetic radiation to which our retina is sensitive, the variations in molecular density detectable by our inner ear, the molecules which cause chemical reactions in our nervous system: These experiences we term; sight and hearing, touch and taste. This information, this knowledge, is collected and compounded according to how it affects us, and it is concluded as our physical surroundings, and termed our reality. Reality is where we exist, reality is what we see and hear, reality is the conclusions determinable by our sensual experience.

    • Word count: 1700
  7. Marked by a teacher

    Film Studies essay - Gladiator.

    4 star(s)

    After these images there is a straight cut to a man walking through a field of barley. We merely see the man's head and his arm. His arm is dressed with a cuff and a ring, which seem to suggest that he is a Roman soldier of some sort. The use of colour is very important here as lots of rich , sunny yellows are used, although there is still a tinge of sepia colour. Sepia colour is used in a clever way as generally it tends to suggest things that have happened in the past (as old photographs used to be taken in sepia)

    • Word count: 2298
  8. Marked by a teacher


    3 star(s)


    • Word count: 3448
  9. Marked by a teacher

    Discuss the film narrative in the City of God

    3 star(s)

    Rocket's narration in voice-over has an explanatory tone, always introducing new characters or didactically explaining the dynamics of the drug trade in the slum. He does not ultimately get involved with crime. Along the way, the film constantly shifts narrative genres, with most of the 'normal'. Non-violent, moments associated with Rocket: there is a charmingly comic moment in which his friends dropped their plan to rob a bus, because the fare collector was so cool and kind that they can't bear to cause trouble for him.

    • Word count: 1363
  10. Marked by a teacher

    Mise-en-scene. The film I have chosen to analyse for this assignment is 'Shaun of the Dead', the 2004 summer blockbuster from Simon Pegg

    3 star(s)

    As we know, red is a very powerful colour with several meanings, one could be to emphasis that he is key role in the love interest in the film. It could be there to symbolise passion and love. I feel however that he is portrayed in this way not because of passion or love but blood and death. The use of the colour red here is to highlight his role as a leader and fighter. It is there to symbolise blood as he will always have blood all over him throughout the film.

    • Word count: 1515
  11. Marked by a teacher

    kidadulthood review. How are teenagers represented in the film 'Kidulthood'?

    3 star(s)

    Either way, bullying is always a big part of school life. In the film, the presence of bullying shows the audience how hard it is to watch or to be around it. It shows parents should be more aware of teenagers and keep more in touch with them. The sound track to the film is an urban tune with only British artists rapping in the film such as Dizzy Rascal, and The Streets. As a British film, with London-born actors, the director and the cast thought it was important to make the music British too, as it's a big part of teenage life.

    • Word count: 1278
  12. Marked by a teacher

    The Filmmaking of Quentin Tarantino

    3 star(s)

    Violence is prevalent in "reservoir Dogs", notably when Mr. Blonde tortures the captured police officer and cuts off his ear. This intense violence portrays many things about the film and about what Tarantino is trying to suggest. He manifests these gangster characters with such disregard to living, going to jail, and swearing simply to show the audience how he believes criminals act. Quentin therefore tries to present a criminal lifestyle as it most likely is, not worth it. He suggests that a life of crime and violence leads to dead ends such as jail, death, or predicaments such as having an informant on a well-planned out diamond heist!

    • Word count: 1278
  13. Marked by a teacher

    Examine the tension between life 'in the city' and life 'in nature' as depicted in Ingmar Bergman's film Summer with Monika.

    3 star(s)

    The last dissolve ends the tranquillity and heightens the difference of the next shot as the audience then find themselves looking at the city, from a low angle, facing a line of fast moving, noisy traffic. This representation of the city is a realistic one, they are busy places, they do contain more modern transport. However the clever juxtaposition of the shot creates an association of discomfort with the city, placing the quiet life in the audiences favour. The sea based montage is important as it introduces the issue of the protagonists escape, but it is in the city that we first meet our lead male.

    • Word count: 1685
  14. Marked by a teacher

    The Woman In White - plot and characters.

    3 star(s)

    A many-sided narrative In terms of English fiction, Wilkie Collins is something of an innovator of narrative form. Although there are a number of Eighteen-Century novels in which the epistolary form is used (Richardson's Pamela), Collins extends and refines this style, so that many voices speak to the reader. Indeed, apart from the central figures, there are many transient characters who help to give evidence which completes this story. Significantly, it is the good characters who have the most to say, that is those with a central moral orientation, who direct and condition the reader's responses to events and revelations.

    • Word count: 2835
  15. Marked by a teacher

    How useful is the concept of genre to media producers and audiences? Discuss with reference to specific examples.

    3 star(s)

    We often associate red with blood and also death, though on its own would not signify a horror film so we see a hut in the wilderness. Though most people would be able to tell this is a horror film at the top of the poster it says "Terror...In the flesh." Each genre will appeal to different people as everyone has their own tastes, so it is important for the producers of the film to use the codes and conventions associated with the film so that what is advertised applies to the genre it suggests.

    • Word count: 1994
  16. Marked by a teacher

    Metropolis film Analysis

    3 star(s)

    The main fear of the ruling governments were rebellion and uprisings against many factions and from this came the fear of what was in store in the future as is are revealed in Metropolis. As I have already indicated Metropolis was the first science fiction film so in turn it set the benchmarks for the generic conventions and iconography, which we see amongst us in present day cinematography. The portrayal of these generic standards is shown through magnificent and smallest of detail in the misc en scene such as the close up of Rotwang the mad scientist to the effects used to demonstrate the transformation of Maria to the Robot.

    • Word count: 1051
  17. Marked by a teacher


    3 star(s)


    • Word count: 3158
  18. Marked by a teacher

    Look at how Saving Private Ryan portrays war - analyse the first few scenes, look at the way the lights are set and how the cameras are placed and used - see the way the actors act and try and say why.

    3 star(s)

    This shows us that the graveyard is for American soldiers and is in France. We continue to see many long shots of gravestones and this brings out many emotions in the viewer about how we feel for the soldiers who died here. Eventually after several shots between him and the graveyard, he comes to a specific grave it is quite important that we do not see the name. When he arrives there he falls to the floor and holds his face. We have a very close up shot of this so that we can catch all the emotion in his face. This entire scene has been quite quiet and tranquil with very vibrant colours.

    • Word count: 1067
  19. Marked by a teacher


    3 star(s)


    • Word count: 4650
  20. Marked by a teacher

    Macro Analysis "Silence of the Lambs".

    3 star(s)

    This gives everything a gritty grim quality in the tradition of classic film noir. Also the use of omniscient view, as if we knew she wasn't getting chased we wouldn't have that suspense and horror genre feel that has been created. It turns out that the woman isn't infact being chased. The young Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy trainee is undergoing a physical challenge of endurance, an obstacle course, alone in the woods.

    • Word count: 594
  21. Marked by a teacher

    What part does the mise en scene play in the introduction of the character of Indiana Jones in the opening of Raiders Of The Lost Ark(Steven Spielberg, USA 1981)?

    3 star(s)

    The mise en scene is everything that is placed in front of the camera. So for example the setting, lighting, positioning of the actor, camera angles, and music are all parts of the mise en scene. All of these I will be analysing individually and I will consequently be aiming to justify the different ways the mise en scene plays an important part in the introduction of the character of Indiana Jones in the opening sequence of the Raiders Of The Lost Ark.

    • Word count: 1933
  22. Marked by a teacher

    Exploring the concept of genre - The Others.

    3 star(s)


    • Word count: 6001
  23. Marked by a teacher

    Comparison Between Gladiator And Apollo 13.

    3 star(s)

    Stranded 205,000 miles from earth in a crippled space ship, astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert fight a desperate battle to survive. Mean while, at Mission Control, astronaut Ken Mattingly, and a heroic ground crew race against time and the odds, to bring them home. Either produce the state of the art graphics and special effects but Gladiator comes out best with the detail of scenic views containing Rome with the extravagant Coliseum and other roman buildings. Gladiator also comes out best with the music composed by Hans Zimmer who brings the right music at the right time

    • Word count: 912
  24. Marked by a teacher


    3 star(s)


    • Word count: 3929
  25. Marked by a teacher

    Example of Film Analysis using Mise-en-scene

    3 star(s)

    It is a grand and once luxurious compound that has fallen into decay and abandonment. The audience is aware from the start that the family, the central premise of the whole trilogy, has fallen and broken. Love and togetherness, the strength of the family unit to support and unify the goals of the individual members has been left to ruination and rot. The film's narrative is therefore still about family, but as a broken one with a destructive past. Once the location changes to New York City, the arena of the church illustrates the social position of the family and their power.

    • Word count: 1602

Conclusion analysis


  2. Do they answer the question directly?






Marked by a teacher


Peer reviewed


Peer reviewed
