Guide to spelling, punctuation and grammar

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SAMPLE ESSAY 9: 
A FILM STUDIES ESSAY
An essay on film studies is different from essays on literature in that you
cannot quote directly from a film. A quotation from a film would mean
showing an extract from the film itself. You can, however, describe a
relevant scene or shot and refer to particular movies to back up the
points you are making. Film studies are particularly prone to the use of
‘jargon’, but nevertheless it is important to be able to discuss films using
generally-accepted terminology within the subject area. It is therefore
essential that you familiarise yourself with these terms and are able to
use them with confidence.
Assignment: Explain the ‘auteur theory’ in film criticism and make
a case for or against it, using examples of particular film directors.
Opening paragraph
The auteur theory 
(1)
originated in France in the
1950s in the pages of the ‘Cahiers du Cinema’, a
journal of serious film criticism for whom critics such
as Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol and Francois
Truffaut, all of whom would later become
distinguished directors themselves, wrote. 
(2)
The
magazine concentrated on the American film
industry and their admiration for the Hollywood
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film, especially genre movies such as westerns,
thrillers and musicals. The French critics lavished
praise on individual American directors such as
Howard Hawks, Orson Welles, John Ford and
Vincente Minnelli
(3)
who worked within the
Hollywood industry but who managed, it was
claimed, to impose a personal vision in the genre
movies they directed. 
(4)