Feel free to use this or adapt it. I’ve highlighted elements that should be “highlighted” in your paper. Remember to foreground theme/message/effect and concrete film strategies that the filmmaker uses to achieve them. See the end of the document for an example of a quick 2-sentence precis.

Paragraph 1: the Precis
Identify a central message or theme in the text or film in one or two sentences. Include bibliographic information for the text/film
Briefly identify concrete strategies the director/ producer/ author uses to create that message or theme.
Hypothesize on the general purpose of the work
Hypothesize on the intended audience for the text.

Paragraph 2: the personal response
Your personal response and opinions should be confined to this paragraph. What did you like or dislike about the film or text? How did you react to it? Etc.

Paragraph 3:
The third paragraph needs to analyze how technique, form, or stylistic elements in the film or text contribute to the essay’s message. It will probably follow up on what you wrote for sentence 2 of paragraph 1.