What is a viewer's response & journal?

A viewing journal, just like a reading journal, is a critical thinking tool that allows a student viewing a film to:

• develop his visual literacy 
• articulate the meaning of what he is seeing and experiencing when viewing a film
• gain a full understanding of the text of the film 

What's in a viewing journal?

A viewing journal contains a heading which lists the title of the film, the director, the release date and the production company. 

The journal then records the viewer's observations (bulleted notes). Questions the viewer should keep in mind while watching a drama can be broken down into several categories:

Cinematography 

• What kinds of images are you seeing? Are they soft and glowing with warmth or harsh and sharp? 
• Does the camera move slowly from left to right or does it jump quickly? 
• Does the film “feel” fast paced or relaxed?
• What are the scene transitions like? Does the film fade to black between "chapters"?

Music

• What’s the soundtrack like? Could it be identified with an era? 
• Are themes repeated – like the bass “da-dum da-dum da-dum dum dum da-dum da-dum da-dum” in Jaws?  When and why is a theme repeated?

 Storyline

• Who are the main characters? 

• What's the primary conflict? How is it resolved?

• Are there any sub-plots?

• What's the overall theme? 

Storyline  - Differences between Written Version and Film Version

• How different from the novel is this film version? 

• Are characters/scenes missing or added?

• Is the sequence of events the same as the novel?

• Is the ending the same? 

• Is the overall message the same? 

• Do the actors interpret the characters in the same way you envisioned the characters when you read the book? How are they different than you imagined? How are they the same?  

Questions the viewer should keep in mind while watching a documentary are:

• What is the main focus of this film?
• What is the thesis of this film? What is it trying to prove or persuade the audience to believe?
• What is the supporting evidence? How does the film prove the truth of the thesis?

Downloads and more... 

Viewer's Response & Journal Scoring Rubric