Journalism - Film & Documentaries: Research & Write

There are more in-depth, scholarly resources below, but here are some general tools to make your academic life easier when it comes to searching for information:

Script databases are housed in this guide from MU libraries, which also provides information on film theory, research, and industry.

Reviews can be found at:

• The Movie Review Query Engine (MRQE or "marquee") is the Internet’s largest database of movie reviews for over 100,000 titles. The continually growing site provides a searchable index of all published and available reviews, news, interviews, and other materials associated with specific movies. Entries are sortable by source, rating, and popularity and the site offers an overall score. NOTE: Many reviews are external links which still require subscription access.
• Rotten Tomatoes - a well known film review site with critic and audience consensus sections as well as general information and media.

Film information and databases

• The AFI Catalog of Feature Films is a comprehensive database of the first century of American cinema, including over 7000 documentary films. Films after 1999 are included, but they have more limited information and you will receive a note that the film is outside the purview of the list.

(Screenshot from the 'Details' and 'Genre' section from the Wizard of Oz query result through the AFI catalog, retrieved 5/11/2022)

• IMDb - the Internet Movie Database is a well-known and comprehensive subsidy of Amazon that acts as a database of information pertaining to filmed media. The online database contains information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, plot summaries, trivia, ratings, and fan and critical reviews.
• TMDb - The Movie Database has ample information on global release dates, budget, revenue, and keywords for films. It appears to be unaffiliated with IMDb, though that could not be confirmed.
• The Official Academy Awards Database houses the official record of past Oscar winners and nominees. The data includes winner and nominee details as well as speeches and interesting statistics about nominees. It is complete through the 2021 (94th) Academy Awards, presented on March 27, 2022.
  • Award list for Best Documentary (all subcategories) winners
  • Award list for Best Picture winners

To get you started on your writing journey, check out these awesome handouts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:

• Understanding Assignments will help you unravel your assignment and begin to craft an effective response.
• Writing Anxiety discusses the situational nature of writer’s block and other writing anxiety and suggests things you can try to feel more confident and optimistic about yourself as a writer.
• Summary: Using it Wisely will help you distinguish between summary and analysis and avoid inappropriate summary in your academic writing.

Then, depending on your assignment, use their handout on Film Analysis to learn about analyzing films and gain strategies and resources for approaching film analysis papers

OR

Learn How to Write a Documentary Script and gain skills in script writing and researching for documentary content from Unesco's Trisha Das

OR

Watch this video from the New York Times' chief film critic A.O. Scott to get some tips on writing movie reviews:

NOTE: If you can, always think about citations first. This allows you to track everything useful you come across, instead of having to search through browser history for one link you found weeks ago. You can use a citation manager link ZOTERO, ENDNOTE, SCRIBBR, etc as you work and be sure to use the citation format your instructor expects:

• APA's Film and TV citation guidelines
• MLA's Movie, Video, or Television Show citation guidelines

Once you determine your citation style, you might be interested in using some of these resources to gather research articles, reports, investigations, and policies:

• Center for Media and Social Impact - CMSI chronicles the crucial issues facing independent, documentary and public media – as well as the dynamic evolution in the contemporary media era. Through reports and investigations, CMSI highlights analysis of independent, documentary and/or public media projects, identifies technology and policy trends, and discusses topics necessary to tackle issues central to our democracy.
• Discover@MU - grants you access to otherwise inaccessible online scholarly materials through your MU credentials.
• Documentary Educational Resources - guides, books and links that we often recommend to those who ask us for resources on documentaries, visual anthropology, and ethnographic filmmaking.
• The Film Foundation - The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project has restored 47 films from 27 different countries representing the rich diversity of world cinema. The foundation's free educational curriculum, The Story of Movies, teaches young people - over 10 million to date - about film language and history.
• Google Scholar
• Permanent Seminar on Histories of Film Theories - an open network of film scholars interested in excavating and re-reading historical contributions and debates on film.
• Studies in Documentary Film journal - Studies in Documentary Film publishes original research and scholarship on the history, theory, criticism and practice of documentary film.
• World Cinema Foundation