If you have an entertainment website then you’re always looking
for fresh, new, fun and interesting material to keep your
readers coming back for more. Movie reviews are a great way to
do that. People always want to know what someone else thinks
about the movie they want to see and they will scour the web to
look for these opinions. Now you could syndicate another site’s
reviews, but why do that? You want your readers to be loyal to
you and your site and honestly, they want to hear what you have
to say and what you think. If you’re thinking you haven’t the
foggiest idea on how to write fun, compelling movie reviews,
then think again. I’m going to tell you all you need to know.
1.Actively Watch the Movie – Yes, I recognize that movie
watching is a passive activity. Watching a movie isn’t something
you do, it is something that happens to you. However, if you
want to write good reviews you have to learn to look at movies
with a critical eye. This means you need to pay attention to
everything and I mean Everything. Notice how the actors are
placed in each shot, the setting, the camera angles, even the
music. All of these elements play a role in the story that is
trying to be told and are important to talk about if you want to
write the compelling sort of reviews that your readers will stop
by your site each week to read. .
2.Take Copious Notes – No, I don’t expect you to sit in a
theatre with pen and pad or laptop in hand. But I do expect you
to take solid mental notes. Information such as the actor’s
names or who the director was is easy to come across, but
information like camera shots, or plot devices is not, so you
need to train yourself not only to watch for that type of
information but also to remember it.
3.Summarize. Don’t Spoil. – This is important. Nothing is worse
then reading a review that tells the whole movie from beginning
to end and leaves nothing for you to see. People want your
opinion, not for you to spoil the movie. A basic summation of
the plot is all that is necessary. From there you can talk about
whether or not the plot worked well or was the plot even a plot
at all. Let the details of the film be revealed when your
readers see the film, not when they read your review.
4.Critical Analysis is Key – The difference between a review
anyone can write and a review people will clamor to read is in
how well you analyze the film. Think about those papers you had
to write for lit class in college. The professor didn’t want you
to just tell him what the book was about but wanted you to break
down the themes in the book and how they related to the plot,
the characters, etc. Well the same is true for a movie review.
No one wants a summary of events or the plot. A good review will
examine the themes or ideas the movie raises and talk about how
well or not so well the movie executed those themes and ideas.
5.Point Out the Pros and the Cons – No movie is perfect and
rarely is any movie all bad, so take the time to talk about what
the movies does well and what it does not so well.
6.Be Original – For some folk it is two thumbs up, for others it
is rotten tomatoes. Whatever you decide you want your rating
system to be, be original. Try to find a hook that works for
you. Just don’t do something that closely resembles someone else
or you’ll just seem like a bad copy of the original.
Follow these steps and you’ll be writing the best reviews the
web has to offer and your readers will constantly come back for
more week in and week out. Happy writing.
© 2005 Tamika Johnson
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