Codes and Conventions of a Film Review - created from Mind Map

Film name & Details of the film. Having the film name is conventional on film reviews. This information is then followed by the films genre and its credits such as director, screenwriter, soundtrack and main actors.

Quotes. Often a review begins with either a quote or reference from the actual film. This is used as a good introduction for the reader and is common in film reviews. Although its not seen to be used as much with short films as they don’t necessarily contain key quotes that the audience recognise.

Plot. It is very common that the opening paragraph summarises the plot of the short film. This gives the audience a preview of what the short is about and engages them in quickly and makes them want to continue reading.

Intro & Summary. It is very conventional that the first paragraph to contain a short summary of the film. Which will include aspects of the film from the location to the actual narrative.

Aspects. It is quite conventional to see the following paragraphs (after the intro) contain positives about the film trying to sell the film and get people to watch it. This often features personal opinion of certain aspects within the short such as miss en scene, casting and storyline. This is then often followed by negatives about the short and then suggesting things that the writer would improve.

Character. Sometimes a review focuses on the characters and look at there good and bad qualities. However this isn't seen as much in shorts as the don't contain as many characters.

Ratings. In a review the idea is to review the film. So a must is a quick summary saying what they think of the film. Then this is followed by giving a star rating out of 5. This gives a clear indication whether the film is any good or not. However this is not often seen in short film reviews as there is not many of them about.

Codes and Conventions of a Film Review