Thinking for Yourself
Now that I’ve left you with numerous recommendations and my personal opinions, it is now time for you to create your own. Have you ever been asked for your thoughts on a show and your mind goes seemingly blank? This post is designed to help you overcome this and organize your personalized opinions for the future. Or in simpler terms, my goal is to assist you in forming your own movie/TV show reviews.
So what makes a good film review? Well, according to Glide Magazine, you should shape your review off of tangible evidence you can point out directly from the show. To take this a step forward, I would encourage you to start with the basics. Think about the plot and what sticks out to you. How easily were you able to determine the next event while watching the film for the first time?
Another easy path for a review is to form a base with the characters. Think about the purpose that each character serves in the film and how well each were developed throughout the course of the plot. The folks over at Pen and the Pad encourage the critique to look deeper than the role each character plays and also analyze how well the acting portrays the emotions of the characters. How well did the actors pull at your heart strings and what emotions did they leave you with? If the answer to these questions are unclear, it’s pretty likely the acting wasn’t exactly convincing.
Next, let’s think about some more background details that may be less obvious than the plot. This is where I would go back to dramatic pieces of the film and take note of any ‘add-ons.’ This could be anything from dramatic music, dimmed lighting, to intentional silence. These things are easy to miss the first time through but play such a large role in creating the scene and mood of the piece. In director David Green’s interview with Fast Company, he makes an interesting point in using music that is contrasting to the tone of the scene. He also focuses some on editing, another key detail when analyzing film.
Lastly, I urge you to think back to your initial emotions and reactions to when you had first watched or even heard of the film. Did something about the title make you feel a certain way? What aspects of the movie or TV show stick out to you the most? Then think back to what left this imprint on your mind and how the director created this effect. I like to think about a film in terms of a rhetorical situation, meaning I think about the ethos, pathos, and logos in different points of the show. How did the characters motives and practices change throughout the movie?
With this brain-dump of information, I hope you are better able to understand the insight to my review processes and a new way to develop yours. I also hope that you come out of these posts with a few new shows you’d like to try or a new lens over the genre of crime drama. Happy binging, my friends.
I really like this post, there are many times I say I love a show but now thinking back… maybe it wasn’t that good. These are really good things to keep in mind when recommending a show to a friend. I also have found if the actor is in many different films, that it usually makes every film they are in good.
This post was really informational! As someone who watches too many crime shows, I usually forgot things like music and lighting, even though they usually play a large role in whether the show is more lighthearted or psychological or if the villain/hero is on screen. Instead, I’m more focused on the chemistry between the cast and if the plot kept me on the edge of my seat. I think it is really interesting that you are able to think about rhetoric during the show, which I definitely want to try doing when I watch something new!
This is such an interesting idea for a post. You are teaching others what you have spent time perfecting for yourself. I had never considered some of those points before like lighting and silence in shows or movies. The next time I recommend a show to someone I will definitely keep these critiques in mind.
This post made me realize how I think of a show subconsciously. I’m one of those people that rides and dies by professional aggregate sites’ reviews (i.e. Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic), and I often watch a show that I may not necessarily like myself because “reviews said it was good.” I like how you wrapped up your blog post theme by introducing us to the review process. Next time I recommend shows to friends and family, I will definitely consider the advice you gave here.