One of our favorite pastimes in America is going to the movies. The United States has the oldest and largest film industry in terms of revenue (All Art Schools, 2010). The film industry is big business. Every week, new movies come out in theaters or on digital video disc (DVD), and when you talk to someone about their weekend, they usually say they went to see or watched a movie. By watching the film, we become our own critics, analyzing and trying to explain what we saw. Watching a movie can bring out a limitless amount of emotion and an overwhelming sense of reality. And analyzing a film allows you to draw valid conclusions, meaning and value by capturing the experience of the film in our minds, because it sharpens our overall critical judgment. But the greatest benefit of film analysis lies in the new channels of consciousness and depth of understanding (Boggs and Petrie, 2008). This article will describe what is required to analyze a film, the effectiveness of the dialogue and screenplay, the setting and background, the performance of the actors, the editing of the film, the director's input on the film and my personal criteria for analyzing a film. movie. Film analysis has been around since the making of films in the early 1900s. Here in the United States, cinema truly flourished in the 1920s. Film production began on the West Coast in Hollywood. Early films were organized into genres or types, with plots, settings, costumes, and characters (Dirks, 2010). Movies are made to entertain, and when viewers watch the movie, they find themselves drawn to the character's personality and the plot. Due to the popularity of cinema, many people use films as an agent of communication, education and learning...... middle of paper ......works cited Boggs, J. and Petrie , D. (2008). The Art of Watching Movies (Custom 7th ed.) With CD-ROM. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Film Industry Statistics and Career Information (2010). All art schools. Retrieved August 9, 2010 from http://www.allartschools.com/faqs/film-industryDirks, T. (2010). History of cinema by decade. AMC movie site. Retrieved August 10, 2010 from http://www.filmsite.org/filmh.html Morato, R. (July 23, 2008). How to analyze/criticize a film: the elements of film analysis and criticism. Retrieved August 11, 2010 from http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2008/07/how-to-analys-1.htmlPollick, M. (2009). How to analyze a film. Retrieved August 11, 2010, from http://www.howtodothings.com/hobbies/how-to-analyze-a-movieFilm Analysis Guide (2002, August 27). Yale University. Retrieved August 12, 2010 from http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/