A film is an art form that has become a staple in our collective human culture. It is relatively young compared to other mediums but no less important.
Yet, if we talk about cinema in general, we can focus on its different meanings. The term has a wide variety of meanings and interpretations. It can obviously mean a movie. It can also refer to the building in which they are shown. At the same time, this concept encompasses the process of making a film and redistributing it. Cinema can also refer to cinematography itself – the production of movies.
If you are dealing with cinema as an art form essay, you can write about thousands of things. From the plot development to the evolution of special effect techniques, film studies are diverse and varied. Here, our experts have gathered some cinema essay topics for you to consider. We have also looked at the ways of analyzing movies. It might come in useful in your work. At the bottom of the page, you can find cinema essay examples. They can serve as inspiration for your paper.
The influence of cinema on society is evident. A movie can have a positive or a negative impact on the world, being a driving force for change. It can take the form of self-expression or social commentary. It can also become a powerful tool of political propaganda. Thus, studying the functions of films is relevant in today’s world.
To write a film as an art form essay, you will have to conduct thorough research. You will delve into examples of cinema art or study an entire cinematographic movement. Here, we have looked at some ways of analyzing motion pictures – you can use them for your assignment.
Historical Analysis
Historical analysis, also known as cultural, is the type you will encounter most often. Via historical analysis, you look at a film in a broad context of the time and places it was made. Cinema always comments on the culture and period, whether intentionally or not. Looking at the things represented and the commentary on the society is the key to historical analysis.
Narrative Analysis
With this type, you should examine the story that a film is trying to tell. Take a look at the plot, characters, settings, and even cinematographic elements. Then, connect their meaning to the overall message of the story. Here you should focus on how filmmakers weave a coherent and powerful narrative.
Semiotic Analysis
The goal of the semiotic analysis is to make sense of the symbols, analogies, and metaphors shown. Such elements are not always evident. So, it takes a certain depth of perception to spot them in the first place. Characters, plot details, and even simple objects can be represented metaphorically in a movie. Semiotic analysis is better suited for avant-garde cinema rather than things like documentaries or video essays.
Mise-en-scène Analysis
“Mise-en-scène” directly translates to “staging.” As expected, this type of analysis takes a look at the composition of a film. The framing of the shots, the arrangement of the scenes, and the way they tie together have a particular meaning. There are many elements to consider when studying the staging of a movie. From costume design to set lightning, there is a reason behind every decision of the filmmakers.
14 Cinema Essay Topics
Whichever type of analysis you choose, the success of your essay largely depends on the idea you want to explore. This is why here we have come up with some film essay topics. We hope that they will help jumpstart your work. Plus, you can try the topic generator that will create new ideas for you!
Here are some cinema essay topics for you:
What is Third Cinema’s commentary on Hollywood?
Theater vs. cinema – the difference in narrative storytelling.
How does film art express meaning and understanding with staging?
From Lumière Brothers to Disney – a brief history of cinema.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of world cinema.
What makes Martin Scorsese’s cinematography effective?
Independent cinema – an exploration of the arthouse genre in filmmaking.
The advantages and disadvantages of films based on literature.
A comparison of the developments of American and Indian cinema.
How to discuss films and the industry in the context of politics.
A review of Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest narrative hits.
Why watching movies at the cinema is more effective than watching at home?
Hollywood’s obsession with youth and its representation in modern media.
Thank you for reading! We hope that these suggestions and ideas proved useful to you. You can now proceed to read the cinema essay examples we have provided below.
The movie The American Portrait by Norman Rockwell first presents a portrait of the famous Norman Rockwell. The movie, which is a 60 minutes documentary, to a large extent through the various artistic works portray, [...]
According to Hinduism fundamentalism at this time, a widow has to spend the rest of her days in an ashram atoning for the sins that might have caused the death of the husband.
Such a concern is one of the various reasons that do revolve around the reasons behind the suspicions of the early conventions of the mainstream cinema by the modernist avant-garde of the 1910 and 20s.
This film is a complete departure from the norm because it has used cinematic technology and visual techniques that have never been used in Hollywood before.
Collage in the paintings, woods, decoupage, photomontage have all been transformed to the digital era and constitute the Visual and the audio gallery in both print and film industry."This has enabled the advancement of other [...]
The movies, which are devoted to the topic of war are extremely popular as they give the opportunity to witness the events which happened many years ago.
One of the most interesting and outstanding films by Chahine is The Sparrow that was shot in 1972. The Sparrow put the beginning to a new mainstream in cinema and the development of Chahin's unique [...]
The movie "Lajja" shows a perfect example of such fusion, transferring the issue of modernity and tradition into the dimension of the woman's position in the contemporary Indian society.
Janet Leigh, who is considered to be an outstanding American actress of the 50s, perfectly played one of the leading roles in the movie, the role of Susan Vargas.
The director attempts to show that regardless of where in the world you are in, and despite the cultural, geographical, and linguistic boundaries, a gun speaks the one language common to all men regardless of [...]
Defined by Loomba as "the conquest and control of other people's lands and goods", colonialism is in reality much more than this succinct definition can tell about, and the tragedy depicted in the Dances with [...]
It is a "skeleton" of what is said or done in the film that helps a viewer perceive the sense of the film or of one definite scene in it. It responds to the extent [...]
The usage of such strategy is obvious throughout the whole film, as the short story is written completely in a first person perspective whereas the film is changing the perspectives of the narration most of [...]
The major focus of the movie is on the skills of the debaters and on their abilities to ground their statements and prove the assumptions they make: When capitalism was young, the old puritanical concept [...]
Americanization of the country and the subsequent marginalization of the Japanese youth led to the vagueness of ideals and national values and made discussion of sex appropriate, even in public: "...times were tough after the [...]
This is not to say that Avi is completely in agreement with her mother's ideals as she expresses in the film that she would like to have a lifestyle with a bit more freedom as [...]
Looking at that time from the current perspective I understand that I was just disappointed by people's attitude to me and dissatisfied with life, which did not have any aim.
The Spartans fought heard up to their last man and with the death of King Leonidas the Persians won the battle but lost the war as the sacrifice exhaled the morals of the rest of [...]
Although the plot of the story seems to be simple and predictive, the film is still regarded as one of the best thrilling stories due to the intricate scenes saturated with suspicion and captivating intrigues.
Neil Burger wrote a script adapted for stage from a Steven Millhauser's "Eisenheim the Illusionist", which was primarily printed in Esquire in 1989."Eisenheim the Illusionist" is based on the story by Steven Millhauser, the film [...]
Thus faith involves a process and belief is only a part of the process by way in which you acquire faith faith being the ultimate expression of belief.
The rest of the story takes on a Space Odyssey flavor as the human captain, aided by Wall-E and EVE, takes on the determined autopilot bot to return the surviving elements of the human race [...]
In the literature of the subjugated, this is referred to as the activist and nationalist stage in which the disclosure of more locals to the actuality of colonialist cruelty also leads to a democratization of [...]
In the film industry, the audience has to be captivated by the proposition in the pictures. In order to catch the attention of the viewers the film has to be striking and enjoyable.
It is needless to say, of course, that Visconti's decision to relocate to Italy in 1939 did not come as a result of his patriotic feelings being awakened Visconti had simply decided to pursue the [...]
This essay is an account of the rise of the Iranian cinema in the post-1979 Islamic Revolution era, and how it shows the present cultural and social norms in the Iranian society.
The vast majority of African diaspora descended from people who were enslaved and shipped to the Americas during the Atlantic slave trade and the largest population are said to be in Brazil.
Before discussing the portrayal of Korean women in Korean films it would be pertinent to look at the condition of Korean women in a Confucian society since it will help in understanding the present condition [...]
It is obvious that a better degree of the use of film sound improved the storytelling in modern cinema. In the "final mix" dialogue, music, and sound effects are brought together to create a complex [...]
There is no denying the importance of the fact that the desire to become a Christian minister in youth deeply influences some of the themes and images that could be found in Woo's films.
Eisenstein is regarded to be the author of five montage methods disclosed in his work "Word and Image". The methods of montage developed by Eisenstein are considered to be used in Soviet theories.
Violence in movies is mostly of the gratuitous type and tends to glorify force as an appropriate response to conflict and fails to show realistic violence as it is.
India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is therefore charged with the development and regulation of the broadcasting, print, film and other media on behalf of the state.
Movies heavily influence the beliefs of the people and a classic example of the same is the movie "The Passion of the Christ", this movie made the people's belief stronger in god and Christ; this [...]
LITTLE BUDDHA is a well-represented film by Hollywood that tells the story of Jesse Conrad and has a major parallels story of a prince Siddhartha in which the story talks about the birth of Buddhism.
The feature is that the story is already fully visualized, and the movie director is both restricted by the fiction images, and on the other hand does not have to bend the fantasy and think [...]
Comparing Wang Kai-wai's "Happy Together" and Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" clearly state the social, political,cultural or cinematic relevance of the chosen place and period or value.it should also include and overview of other films representing [...]
The current research paper deals with the analysis of interconnections between experimental current in cinematograph and artistic subjectivity of directors, scenarists and other people who are engaged in the creative process of film-making.
Poor Vincent and the rest of the 'love children' are condemned to be the new under-class of society confined to jobs like custodian services and denied the opportunity to advance in life.
Initially, the cinema was consisting of documentaries which sooner caused the people to lose interest but with the advent of the new wave in the Asian cinema, the young directors focused on modern issues and [...]
First, the author argues that drama and film have a different understanding of conflict, and in its nature film is closer to the novel in terms of conflict progression and the time that can be [...]
The director has explored various facets of imagery and the act of seeing and tries to portray the concept that the gaze the detective puts on an object is basically flawed and that while the [...]
In meeting Lawrence Bender at a Hollywood party, Bender encouraged Tarantino to write a film which then became the Reservoir Dogs, a dialogue-driven heist movie that is said to have set the tone for Tarantino's [...]
The character of the Classical Hollywood movie is a given in terms of the social problem film, for the genre inherits the core qualities of the Hollywood film as well as its place in the [...]
These include communicativeness, the measure in which the narrative divulges knowledge, and the depth of the knowledge divulged, in other words, the degree to which the viewer is informed about the inner life of the [...]
This article will discuss the leadership style, behaviour and traits that the main character of The King's Speech had and what are the learning outcomes from the case of the leader in the historical movie.
The given boom in the cinema industry can be used by companies operating in the industry to generate additional income and create the basis for the further rise.
It is evident that there is a significant difference between the scores used in modern cinema and the music composed during the early history of film music.
The thesis of the paper is that Citizen Kane and Casablanca demonstrate the evolution of the cinema from a narrative form into an audio-visual spectacle.
It suggests an idea that thematically, dramatically, and stylistically, the evolution of the 1960s-cinema has shifted the attention of artists from a changed reality to the inner world of a person.
It is the very beginning of the whole story, and this beginning hints at the intricacy of a plot. When watching the same scene with music switched off, it is impossible to say that it [...]
When I started to watch the film I noticed that it seemed to be non-dynamic, but the tension experienced by the audience was significant because of expecting something to happen.
The result of applying the database concept to the film is the representation of the life from the social perspective as a set of illustrations that are hardly connected in terms of the causal relations.
In this essay, it is important to discuss how Beyond utilizes integration, interactivity, immersion, narrativity, and hypermedia because Beloff unites several artistic forms in her work; she allows the involvement of the viewer in the [...]
Manovich's theory about the crucial role of a database in the development of new media finds a direct proof in the famous movie "Man with a movie camera" that amazes the viewer with its innovativeness [...]
The user of a narrative follows the links in the piece of media according to the sequence established by the creator while the user of a database is free to follow the links in any [...]
By clicking on various elements of the reality, the viewer has an opportunity to read the important notes, change the images, and move through the different levels of the virtual world by exploring numerous intersections [...]
In this essay, I will discuss the notions of database and algorithm according to works of Manovich in the connection with Man with a movie Camera film that reveals the usual life of citizens and [...]
The movie integrates interactive and visual worlds of the past and the present in the context of resources, experiences, and insights left by the art of the past.
This drastic switch was brought by the change to the studio system and the rise of television, Doherty says: "Since the 1950s, moviemakers have been forced to narrow their focus and attract the one group [...]
Therefore, the standards of the classical film industry, designed for the films to be profitable, were just as relevant in the post-classical era as they were in the 1950s.
Since the range of genres is broad, I think to focus on the issue of male and female spectatorship and evaluate the selected stereotypes in the given context.
For example, The King and the Clown was one of the first films to portray open homosexuality in Korean cinema. The audience, relating to the struggles and emotions of the characters, began to accept homosexuality.
The author briefly describes the previous developments in the interpretation of genres and poses the questions on the permanence, coherence, difference, and change in the area.
The postmodern fear of death of the cinema is imminent in the film as fire destroys the old theatre. The theatre is rebuilt as the Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, indicating a revival of cinema.
While at the beginning of the movie Birju's rebellion is targeted against the unfairness and aims at defending his family's dignity, by the end of the story he turns into a bandit who craves for [...]
For both movies and books, the story is a central part and the authors or directors come up with themes and plotlines that can captivate and entertain the audience. In the Harry Potter Movies, the [...]
The changes have led to the emergence of new business models in the industry. The location of the major filmmaking companies in New York City remains a historical fact, which led to the development of [...]
First attempt to introduce the idea of moving pictures traces back to middle of the seventeenth century, when Athanasius Kircher "who projected crude hand-painted images of the Devil...on the wall of a darkened chamber by [...]
Blockbuster films refer to the big budget films that hinge their success on the identity of the stars in the films as well as the advertisements surrounding the release of the films for extended periods [...]
One of the key defining characteristics of the films created during the silent era is that it was not possible to synchronize the sound that accompanied the motion pictures.
Such critics believe silent films were the "purest" forms of cinema, but the introduction of synchronized sound led to the erosion of depth in motion picture films.
The DFI organizes the Ajyal Film Festival to present the film products of its most talented young actors and producers to the government and the business community, as well as the rest of the world.
He also argues that the perceived is not the reality but acts as a kind of mirror to it and this aspect is unique to it in comparison to the different field of arts.
Some films of the Hollywood renaissance are characterized partly by breaches of the continuity editing regime of classical Hollywood, inspired largely by thee films of the French New Wave of the late 1950s and early [...]
Either way, it was the film manifestos, which dictated the comprehension of experimental films as well as the avant-garde films. In addition, the manifestos comprised of the initial film theories, which were existent within the [...]
In mass media, representation usually involves the use of art and signs to change the concept of concrete reality, hence leading to stereotyping of characters and heroes in movies and other non-fiction programs from a [...]
The city, which is regarded as the labyrinth, is the main location used as the setting. The emotions of the main characters are reflected by the darkness and complexity of the urban settings.
This paper discusses the significance of early cinema for our study of the history of the cinema. In the study of any history, there must be some traceable path of development of the subject matter [...]
These actors help to make characters in a film and when they blend with them, they are able to create a great film which comes out real to the audience.
The storylines of the films that fall into the film noir category of the period were mainly inspired by the criminal outcrops that arose in the United States in the period after the Depression.
Other than this a prominent quality of this genre is the development of negative behaviors in heroes or ant-heroes usually generated by Femme Fatale which is the depiction of Women in Film Noirs in a [...]
Sexual fulfillment and desire is the object of motivation and controls the images of the characters in a play to fulfill the desires of the male character.
Thus, it is reasonable to suggest that the movie gives a good example of what such people's traits as egoism and altruism can lead to, once they have been too exaggerated.
Although I enjoyed both experiences, watching the movie in a movie theater appeared to have a greater impact on me as compared to watching the movie on a television set.
It is used in the film with an objective of closely aligning the audience with a serial killer. They both do this by providing the resolution expected by the audience at the end of a [...]
The author of the book had provided a critical overview of a number of theories devoted to films and supported those with the examples to show that his words are not empty. The great part [...]
