Essay #3: I want you to write about the film techniques that were present in your scary movie. These techniques include

q       Mise en scene (settings, subjects, composition)

q       Lighting, the camera, shadows, film choices, angles

q       Costumes, makeup, hair

q       Editing

q       Sound

q       The story

o       Storyboards, sources, homage;

o       Characters, conflicts, goals

o       Structure: beginning, middle, end

o       Time: flashback, flashforward

I’m bored with the traditional essay, so let’s write this in a more creative way. Perhaps you could imagine you are a famous director or actor and a magazine like Vanity Fair is sitting you down for an interview. It could be in a question-answer format, but make it outrageous and over-the-top. (Be a real Hollywood snob, for example.) Or you could be writing a newspaper review that either rips the movie or praises it, but does so while noting these techniques. Yeah, this sounds like more fun.

Use terms. Appear like you really know this stuff.