This week I had my edited version of my Baby Driver review ready for class. The main thing I added in was the description of the music. In the original version I talked about the music which was good not only because I made sure to cover many cinematic elements of the film rather than just the plot, but because the film essentially revolves around the music – the beat of the music reflects the mood and is diegetic as it’s actually in the film.

We looked at different reviews of the film Edward Scissorhands (1990 film). Going through each of the five different reviews was so interesting, as each was so incredibly different in tone, style, structure and language. Each of the reviewers had their own tips and main things to think about when reviewing which again were all so different and interesting. Here are the main points I gathered from the five reviewers: Jane Baxter, Ray Cassin, John Conomos, Paul Harris and Adrian Martin

Jane Baxter:

• Had a ‘storytelling’ style where she just summarised the plot majority of the piece
• Begins with quote from film = evidence and trustworthy source
• Used imagery with ‘box-houses’, ‘neat’ and ‘pastel colours’
• Punchy last sentence
• She says that it’s important to balance any criticism with a positive and try to be fair

Ray Cassin

• Appeals to a sense of nostalgia in opening paragraph with ‘fairytales’
• Discusses lots on the director and his choices and style

John Conomos

• Academic style= very structured, intellectual
• Lots of references to other films, showing his knowledge and research/evidence. Demonstrates expertise with his strong persona and voice
• Focuses on directing style and cinematic elements rather than story
• The piece requires knowledge
• He says that it’s important to borrow ideas and, references and styles of expression from other sources

Paul Harris

• Conversational style with simple language yet sophisticated quotes
• References of other films and pieces of media to support his points and show knowledge
• Discusses other cinematic elements such as music, not just directing style
• Style of writing reflecting the film = dark and gothic
• Interesting that he says he is unaware of his audience “the audience which I address is a complete mystery to me”

Adrian Martin

• Forceful in his views – feels as though he is shouting at you when you read
• Little summary on film but more so ideas such as the style, form and structure
• References to show expertise
• Analytical and intellectual voice
• Generous in terms of knowledge
• Concludes with positives of film
• He says it’s important to grasp the compositional elements such as the plot shifts, character stereotypes, references etc.

 

I really enjoy writing reviews, especially if I’m passionate about the material (if I enjoyed the film, TV show, book etc.) and I want my writing to improve, so I wrote two more reviews this week. One on the film Suicide Squad (2016) and a show I went to see at Chapel on Chapel called Britney Spears the Cabaret.

 

 

 

 

This week’s studio consisted of yet another brainstorm as a class, however this time discussing about what it means to be a critique and the elements we should be constantly considering.

Last week’s focus was on writing our own reviews whereas this week we shifted on to critiquing others work.

The 6 main points to consider when critiquing others work are:

1. critique the writing, not the writer
2. offer critique that is thoughtful, not rushed
3. start with the strengths
4. address weaknesses with positive language
5. be open to other areas and genres (be objective)
6. be specific: give examples to avoid being vague and make solid suggestions for improvement

 

I find it fun critiquing other people’s work in terms of recognising their style, structure and language, but it’s hard to actually critique it in regard to what improvements can be made. The main reason is the style and overall tone of the piece – each style is so different; a casual and conversational style versus a more authoritarian and direct piece. Both so different so can we criticise or make suggestions for alterations based on this? I guess it has to do with if it fits the piece and whatever works with the content.

 

The tone of my Baby Driver review is quite casual in terms of the way my writing is delivered. I’m in no ways forceful with my opinions and arguments, rather quite fair (well I aimed to be anyway…) and made sure to back the criticisms with positives.

Week one of the studio consisted of everyone finding their feet and thinking about what it meant to be a reviewer or critic in any form of media.

The last film I watched in the cinemas was Baby Driver, directed by Edgar Wright, starring Ansel Elgort and Kevin Spacey. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and chose to do my first 300-word review on it as I had a lot I could talk about. I’ve already found after completing this first review that it’s much easier writing a piece you actually care or are passionate about, because the words aren’t forced they just come naturally. For this film there were so many elements I could discuss, both the good and the bad (majority good) so I decided to go for it. Since it was the first review, it was only just discovering the ways we could write, so it didn’t matter so much on the content.

I was quite scared going into the task though since I had never written a review in my life – ever. So it was quite daunting. However, I completed it to the best of my ability and enjoyed doing so which is exciting because it makes me want to write more over the course of the semester.

The brainstorm helped a lot as well. I was able to gather the two main ideas we came up and agreed upon in class, ‘research’ and ‘description’ and think about how I might apply them into my first piece.