HOW TO REVIEW AN ART WORK/ FILM STUDY GUIDE

What is Art?

It is on the walls, the clothes you are wearing; it affects every aspect of your life. It is sometimes over looked.

Note.

Not everything applies to every book of art, nor is it useful to consider things in the order given. In any analysis, keep in mind the following: HOW and WHY is this a significant work of art?

A. General Information.

This may be found on a label or in a gallery guidebook. If so indicate in your work, where you got information.

1) Subject Matter (Who or what is represented).

2) Artist or Architect (What group or person made it? Often this is not known. Refer to this person as the artist or architect, not author. Refer to them by their last name.

3) Date (When was it made? Is a copy of sitting older? Was it made before or after other similar works?)

4) Provenance (Where was it made? For whom? Is it typical of the art of a geographical area? Source and Ownership.

5) Location (Where and the work of art now? Where was it originally located?).

6) Technique and Medium (What material is it made of? How was it executed? How big or small is it)

Part II.

B. Brief Description.

In a few sentences, describe the work. What does it look like? Is it an abstraction of something? Tell what the subject is and what aspect is emphasized.

Note that it is not the analysis of work yet!

This section is primarily a few sentences to give the reader of a sense of what the work looks like.

C. Part III. Form.

This is the key part of your paper. It should the longest section of the paper.

Be sure to know whether the work of art selected is a 2 or 3 dimensional work.

2: Is a work of art that exists on a flat surface.

3: Art forms such as sculpture that has depth or creating illusion of depth behind a flat surface.

Art Elements. Path of movement, bold-delicate, active-passive, broken-continuous.

1) Line (Straight, Curved, Angular, Flowing, Horizontal, Vertical, Diagonal, Contour, Thick, Thin, Implied, Actual e.t.c)

2) Shape (What Shapes are created and how)

3) Light and Value (Source, Flat, Strong, Contrasting, Even, Values, Emphasis, Tint, Shade, and Chiaroscuro Intensity: bright-dull.

4) Colour (Primary, Secondary, Mixed Complimentary, Warm, Cool, Decorative, Values)

5) Texture and Pattern (real, implied repeating)

6) Space (depth, overlapping, kinds of perspective)

7) Time and Motion.

Principles of Design.

1) Unity and variety

2) Balance (Symmetry, Asymmetric)

3) Emphasis and Subordination

4) Scale and Proportion (Weight, how objects or figures relate to each other and the setting)

5) Mass/Volume/3-D art

6) Rhythm

7) Setting (architecture)

8) Interior/Exterior (Relationship)

Part IV.

Opinions and Conclusions.

This is the part where you go beyond description and offer a conclusion and your own information opinion about the work. Any statement you make about the work should be based on the analysis in Part II above.

General Rules.

Italicize or underline titles of works of art.

Use the present tense in

www://web.ubc.ca/okanajan/creative/links/arthistory.html.

Interpreting Poetry Tips.

1) Read the title

2) Read the poem. Look for the setting, topic and voice.

3) Divide the poem into parts: Intro, Rising Action, Climax, Declining Action, and Conclusion.

4) What tone does the poem have? Pay attention to intonation, nuance and words used.

Now that the general structures and relationship of the poem is revealed, it is time to look at the elements of analysis: Genre, Voice, Thesis, Structure, Setting, Imagery, Key Statements, Sound, Language Use, and Allusion, Qualities that evoke the reader, historical and Cultural Ideology.

Genre: What type of poem is it: Cinquain, Hai ku, Lyric, Narrative, Elegy, Sonnet, Epic, and Epistle? Different Genres have separate attribute, purposes and emphases.

Voice: Who is the speaker? What print of vision is the speaker? Is the speaker involved in the action or reflection of the poem?

(Examples of Poems include)

Title: Resume

Poem by Dorothy Parker.

Razors pain you

Rivers are damp

Acids stain you

And drugs cause cramp

Gun aren’t lawful

Nooses give;

Gas smells awful

You might as well live.

Gary R.Hess

I hate the world we live in

Nothing seemed so true

The culture differences, The religions

Beliefs, The murders, rape, and beatings

Nothing good came to this nor will

It ever The Tyranny of This world

Is great, and hurtful to every neutral

What perspective (Social, intellectual, political) does the speaker show? What world is the poem in?

Themes: What is the poem about?

Structure: What is the poems formal structure (number of Stanza, Meters, and Rhyme Scheme)?

Setting: What type of world is the poem set in? The time place- is it connotative, allegorical, symbolic, and concrete.

Imagery: What images does the poem use: The physical setting or metaphors used?

Key statements: Repetition actions, alliteration? What direct or indirect statements are made?

Key Use: What kinds of words are used? Do the words have double meaning? What about ambiguities?

Qualities that evoke the reader: What are the values and bank ideals of the world that are expressed?

Ideology: What are the values and basic ideals of the world that are expressed?

www.poemofquotes.com/articles/analyzing-poetry-tips.php

Film Criticism.

When we watch movies, we tend to concentrate on the actors and the story. It is useful to make of the film “arts” and consider the role each plays in what we are considering.

Film Study Guide.

Before students can begin to study film, they must be provided with a focus.

LITERARY ASPECTS	DRAMATIC ASPECTS	CINEMATIC ASPECTS	LANGUAGE WORK
Narrative	Acting	Camera Works/Angles
Characters	Costumes	Sound and Vision
Setting	Make-up	Lighting
Theme
Signs
Genre

Narrative: (the story, story line, what the story is based on; binary oppositions; description of equilibrium and how a new equilibrium sets in).

Characters: (heroes, villains, helpers, main characters, supporting characters and how characters function and contribute to our understanding of the story)

Setting: (physical environment in which occurs, indoor and outdoor setting, its significance)

Theme: (General statement about the subject)

Signs: (Anything perceptible that has significance beyond its usual function or meaning; an object, a sound, a person, an act, a color)

Genre: (Comedy, Romance, Suspense, a combination of different Genres.

Costumes: (Formal clothes, informal clothes, their color and their contributions to the film).

Make-up: (Style, color, who then it is exaggerated or planning, the effects it creates, colors.

Camera Angles: Movements and position. (Low Camera Angle, High Camera Angle, Close-Up, Extreme Close-Up, Tilted Camera and how this affects our understanding).

Sound and Vision: (Sound effects, Soundtrack Music, Visual effects lighting (illumination in each scene)

(www.frankwbaker.com/filmframework.html)

SUBMISSIONS

Upload reviews online

BOOK REVIEW/ART REVIEW

SEE RECOMMENDED CLASS TEXT FOR DETAILS.

TV PROGRAM REVIEW

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TV PROGRAM REVIEW (“INSIDE AFRICA” ON CNN)

First, you need to actually watch the show and secondly do a little background research on the presenter, director, writers, and crew. Make notes.

Next, find your niche audience for the review e.g. if you are writing a review for a family-friendly publication, you would likely turn thumbs down on a show containing too many music slots. However, if you are writing for a young adult or college audience, you would likely give the same program two thumbs up. Think about the audience you are writing for and tailor the review to that audience.

The review generally should start out with a brief opinion as to whether or not the show is worth the audience's time. The review then dives into the basic premise and/or plot of the episode or season, highlighting the stars of the show, the production values, and the writing. Then as the critic tell your audience what makes the program great and not so great. If you really like the program, allocate 75 percent of this section to the positives, and vice versa. In your conclusion, use a trademark acceptance (i.e. "two thumbs up") if you recommend the program or thumbs down if not recommendable to your target audience.

LITERATURE REVIEW

WHAT IS A LITERATURE REVIEW?

A literature review discusses published information in a particular subject area, and sometimes information in a particular subject area within a certain time period.

A literature review can be just a simple summary of the sources, but it usually has an organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis. A summary is a recap of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information. It might give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with old interpretations. Or it might trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates. And depending on the situation, the literature review may evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent or relevant (www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb)

PROBLEM OR THESIS STATEMENT

• Literature review must be based on a solid thesis or research question. Hence, students are expected to convert the given topic (Children Advertising) to into a debatable question. Compare various viewpoints of other established authors on the chosen topic. This compare and contrast methodology is an important part of learning process. The arguments and counter viewpoints given in the review should have solid support and evidence in the form of external sources and other works published earlier on the subject. More so give an explanation of how each work is similar to and how it varies from the others.

STRUCTURE

Literature review should include

· An introduction part

· The main body of the essay

· The concluding part

It is essential that you construct a table of contents that can list all the titles and sub categories properly.

• The paper should review a point or an issue at a given time, so that the proper flow of information and arguments is maintained. This will also facilitate the smooth transition of issues and themes related with such a review essay. That is divide the works under review into categories (e.g. those in support of a particular position, those against, and those offering alternative theses entirely)

• The concluding part of the essay should carry your firm conviction with regard your viewpoint on the topic question. That is, conclusions as to which pieces are best considered in your argument, are most convincing of their opinions, and make the greatest contribution to the understanding and development of their area of research

PROPER CITATION (WITHIN THE WORK/ BACK PAGE REFERENCES)

As the literature review on any subject is a vast exercise that includes large number of references from external sources, these should be properly cited in the main essay body. Their detailed description should come on the bibliography pages, at the end of the essay. This is an important part of any essay writing project as it saves the student from the serious allegations of plagiarism, while giving the requisite information to the readers on the sources used to support the essay arguments.

FINALLY REVISE YOUR WORK

Spending a lot of time revising is a wise idea, because your main objective is to present the material, not the argument. So check over your review again to make sure it follows the assignment and/or your outline. Then, just as you would for most other academic forms of writing, rewrite or rework the language of your review so that you’ve presented your information in the most concise manner possible.