ABSTRACT
Undergraduate students greatly benefit from reading film theory as it helps them think more deeply about their own movie productions. This chapter will outline some of the major film theory movements, discussing effective ways to incorporate them in the undergraduate curriculum. Within this context, the creative and critical potential of the audiovisual film essay, a novel format of critical analysis, will be examined. An extension of the written essay format itself, the audiovisual essay is a multimedia text that combines video, audio, and written elements to convey a thesis-driven argument, collapsing the distinction 111between film theoretical analysis and the process of film production. A variety of undergraduate audiovisual essays and informative websites on how to produce them are included for your perusal.
