How to Write an Accomplished Report in Film & Theatre Studies

When studying at college, students face various assignments such as essay, and paper. However, it is not a rarity when professors decide on evaluating them with a report. At the same time, those students are hardly even looking forward to writing it in advance, they always leave it for the last moment. As a result, there are missed deadlines, bad grades, and low self-esteem. All these scenarios may even lead to being expelled from the educational establishment. To prevent such negative consequences let’s cover the most important requirements regarding this type of writing, and find out how to succeed in Film & Theatre Studies topic.

What Is a Report and How to Master Film and Theatre Topic?

Usually, many people mix up the essay and report and think they are equal. Here comes the first obstacle, a person by mistake starts writing an essay and forgets about free-standing rules of report composition. To make it easier, always do remember that the report is all about facts, it is short, precise and written for a particular group of people and purpose. When regularly dealing with this type of assignment, it is possible to practice the necessary skills for business meetings in the future or technical and scientific forums. Besides, it is used to describe and analyze the problem, and its further solving.

As far as the selected subject is Film & Theatre Studies, a report may consider various topics. Some people think of this discipline as of acting but it is not all. There is also a course for arts that involves the study of the production processes, then directing and even design. After getting a degree in this field a person has more understanding of the Hollywood industry and direction of a play.

Many universities or colleges predetermines the topics for this field when writing a report, either they post them online on their designated website or examiners assign students to write one project. If there is a free choice, make sure you select the right one to impress the audience.

What Are the Requirements?

Let’s understand the common requirements covering the examples related to the selected topic. First off, any report should contain:

• A clearly stated situation/fact or event and its full description. For example, ‘The influence of silent movies on today’s cinematography’. There is a clean-cut title and accordingly, a person should find out what modern directors use a retrospective to the silent style and if it is still relevant in the art-house industry.
• Paragraphs revealing the significance of the described event. It is possible also to encompass your analysis of the views of others. Check what directors still revive in silent movie production and how it affects the minds of different generations.
• Results of the conducted research. You can gather the feedback of actors, critics and even of movie-lovers to this type of production and see whether it is still actual among the countries.
• Discuss the possible outcomes. Do not hesitate to present personal opinions or strategies that may be beneficial if regularly direct silent movies. For instance, people will evaluate more the direction of the picture, design, decorations rather than remembering the quotes of the main heroes or manner of talking.
• Conclusion. Do not be boring, and avoid using standard phrases like ‘My report showed that silent movies are irrelevant in the modern world because everyone likes sound effects.’ Try to play with the previously conducted research, and crown it all like this: ‘Even though many people underestimate the influence of silent movies, there are still plenty of films daily gaining the admiration from regular Internet users…’

Beware, if you are an extraordinary personality, there is no need to include all the above-mentioned elements in the report. Professors may also give an A-grade for the improvisation of thoughts and a unique approach to writing it. However, remember to add the facts.

Other requirements concern the structure of the text. A report is usually a designated paper that allows a person to lead the audience through the information gradually. It means, there should be paragraphs, sections, so that anyone can identify what they are interested in reading. Besides, college or business reports tend to have numbered sections and their subsections if needed, and a content page with headings. Also, in some cases, students add tables.

How to Choose a Top Film & Theatre Topic?

Before selecting the subject, think about the complexity of future writing. Even though a report does not demand much knowledge in its composition, a student should understand how much time he is ready to dedicate to this writing. So, if there is more than one day of preparation, choose a topic that will involve advanced research such as reading related materials, watching movies, or interviews, and collecting the feedback on the subject. If a student runs out of the time, it is better to follow the path of the least resistance. But, even in the last case, avoid choosing boring and already well-researched topics. Check the examples of good ones.

• Romantic Movement in Theatrical Production. Speak how this movement started from scratch in the 18-19 century, and how it reached the theatre. Speak of events that led to the establishment of the romantic heroes over the tragic ones. And, research how those times still may affect modern production.
• Professional Fees among Hollywood Actors. Do not think it will be enough only to browse this information online and organize it in a table. Conduct again research why one or another actor has such a fee, and how such expenses of the directors impact the quality of work. Besides, forecast the possible differences in wages between women and men involved in the cinematography.
• How to Succeed in Directing? To not beat about the bush, a student had better analyze the approaches that were used by famous directors, for example, Alfred Hitchcock, and identify the obstacles and their solution to be in the top five in this industry. To be more precise, a person can research whether education may help to master directing skills and how many of these representatives have a related degree.
• How to Save the Theatre from “Extinction”. If you are a student of theatre arts, make sure to know inside out why this ancient entertainment is about to reside in the past, and what are the ways to change the situation. Research how modern critics influence this extinction, and how actors choose films over plays to earn more money. Otherwise, it will be also good to provide a professor with the facts on the importance or irrelevance of this occupation.
• Film and Theatre: How They Coincide. From first sight, a person may think their touch point is obvious but try to collect more information, for example, mention that actors when learning the scenario anyway play a role like in a theatre, etc. Then define how to finally make them become two completely different things. Or, again research what different generations think of their common features. Ask your parents, then small ones, and your classmates. It will help to generate the statistics and add it to the report as a conducted analysis.
• Stunts in the Movies. A quite interesting topic that requires the knowledge not only of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan stories but also of the history of the first stuntmen in the cinematography. Research how modern directors deal with this aspect, either it is still actual in hiring professionals or everything can be done via using designated programs and special effects. Besides, to add more value to your report, do not forget about the history of the martial arts that have greatly influenced this industry, and provide the facts about this mastership.

To find more topics, students may also take any subject from the course books where should be a number of lessons prepared for the semester. However, make sure there is no plagiarism on the materials, and you personally provided analysis without copying information.

How to Start Writing?

Now, when a student approximately understands what he is going to write about, it is necessary to follow the structure of a whole process as well. It means that there should be enough time to gather thoughts and report something to the audience with no trouble. First of all, look at your topic and ask yourself the next questions:

• What this report is about? Will the professor understand it? Is it connected with the discipline of your course?
• Do I have enough facts to reveal the subject? Or, can I collect enough information to provide a professor with interesting content?
• What materials should I prepare now?

If a person can answer all the questions, he is on the right track. Then, move to the structure. If the educational establishment or professor did not provide a student with a guideline of the preferred structure of the composition, follow the next example or refer to the instructions of other universities. It should consist of:

• Title. Dedicate a title a separate blank page.
• Executive summary. Very short description of the purpose of the writing.
• Contents. Make it in the form of a table.
• Introduction. Brief information about the selected topic.
• Procedure. Speak of the conducted research, for instance, connected to the impact of silent movies nowadays.
• Findings. Reveal the results of the research.
• Conclusions. Do not write new information, summarize everything written before.
• Recommendations. Mention your strategies to change the event/situation.
• References/Bibliography. Minimum 5.
• Appendices.

To attract the reader’s’ attention, think about the hook, and thesis as well. The Film and Theatre Studies are interesting field but avoid using the quotes of actors or directors, it is too much old-fashioned and obvious. If you are sure you make good jokes, try to formulate one but it should be relevant. For instance, “I do not know what would Charlie Chaplin say when coming across modern cinematography, probable he would laugh so much. However, no one will hear him anyway.”

Post-writing Tips

Here we go to the most important stage before submitting the report. And, here appears the magic when students forget about editing, proofreading, and further on they are surprised to get a bad grade. Thus, do always remember to check the text on grammatical mistakes, sense of the content, and appearance of the writing. Check also the next tips:

Proceed with helpful websites such as Grammarly, where the system detects the mistakes and adjusts them. Otherwise, there is one more website Hemingway where you can check a text on readability. Other tips are:

• Check the report on the availability of slang. Even if a professor allows to demonstrate creativity, slang should be avoided.
• Avoid first-person narratives. Yes, you can include personal opinion but check whether there is not much I, me, mine, and yours. It looks odd, and a professor may find it not suitable for report requirements.
• Decide on the relevance of the references. They should be from trusted websites, preferably from the governmental organizations or educational establishments. However, if you turn to other online sources, make sure it is not a blog or group from the social network.
• Double words. Sometimes online helpers cannot detect double words in the text, thus reread it a few times and eliminate such events. The common example is a a, and the the.
• If it is possible, leave a report for one day or for a few hours to rest. It can help to have a free mind, and then detecting mistakes will be more efficient. For example, take a nap and get back to work.
• Ask for feedback from an independent audience. For example, if you give a paper to your parents or friends, there is a high chance they will not criticize your work. But, if you give to read it to neighbors or post online, people may give a true opinion and spot the mistakes.

And, at last, if submitting paper online, make sure your file is saved. Surprisingly, lost of students neglect double saving the documents, and as a result of any system hitch, the work is gone. Write the papers in online programs or clouds.