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A timeline creator is a great way to analyse a movie. It allows you to see the events of a film in chronological order and it can even help you pinpoint specific details that might have gone unnoticed during your first viewing.
This article will take the viewer through the overall process of creating timeline as well as how to create one for yourself.
Step 1: Choose a movie you can access at home
Pick one that is about 90 minutes in length so it will take no more than two hours of your time. If it’s a movie you don’t own, make sure you have access to it via TV or streaming service such as Netflix.
Step 2: Find the appropriate scene for your timeline
To make timeline, you need to find one of two scenes from your chosen film. The first option is to pick an opening scene.
These are often used because they hold the most relevant information for the film. The other choice is to select an ending scene. This is usually a more convenient option because it saves you the trouble of assembling all of the parts leading up to it.
Step 3: Decide the number of divisions for your timeline
Once you have found a scene, you need to decide how many “parts” it will be broken up into. I use four components because this is typically enough space for one hundred events or so. You can use more or less, depending on how detailed you want to get with your analysis.
Step 4: Decide how you will divide your timeline
There are several possibilities for this, but the easiest is to number each division, one through four. Other options include dividing them into quarters (1/4, 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4) or halves (1/2, 2/2, 3/2, and 4/2). You can even use combinations of these various methods.
Step 5: Decide what events to mention
This is the most important step. Without elements to mark on your timeline, it will be useless. I suggest using seventy-five or so events for a four-part analysis. This gives you enough space to write something about each one without being overwhelmed by too many choices. More advanced analyses will require much longer timelines. A good rule of thumb is to include at least one event for each minute of the movie.
Step 6: Watch your chosen scene over and over again
No matter how familiar you are with your chosen film, watching it repeatedly with a timeline in mind will be very helpful when trying to locate specific moments that might have been missed otherwise. Start with one part and watch the scene until you find your first event. Then, continue to step seven.
Step 7: Find the next moment and begin writing about it
Repeat steps five and six as many times as necessary to include all events for each timeline division. By now, you should have a good idea of how long it takes to watch each movie segment. If you find that one is significantly shorter than the others, consider splitting it into two parts.
Step 8: Add events to your timeline generator
If you use a program such as Venngage, add a couple of extra slides for each division in your timeline template. This will allow you enough space to write a fairly long explanation for each event.
You may also use a graph maker from Venngage to help you explain your points better.
Step 9: Include links to your chosen scenes in each text box
Remember that the goal here is to help you find specific moments and/or write an informative analysis about them. These will be included as links to your chosen scene so you can quickly return to it whenever necessary.
If you don’t have a program that uses a timeline creator, you can always create one by hand. Just use the steps listed above to decide how many divisions your event will be broken up into and how you plan on dividing them.
Step 10: Continue adding events until the work is complete
Trying to think of everything that happened in a two-hour-long movie will be difficult, so feel free to come back and add more as time goes on.
It is also vital to be thorough. If you are writing this for a class or just want to get good grades, you could lose out if the timeline isn’t filled with enough information about each event.
Step 11: Proofread your work in your timeline maker
It’s important to look through every word of the text to ensure that everything makes sense and no important information seems to be missing. Take as much time as necessary with this step so you can feel sure that everything is perfect before turning it in or submitting it for a grade.
Bottomline
Even if you follow all of these steps perfectly, there is still a chance that your analysis won’t be very good.
It takes practice to learn how to pick out key moments or write an interesting description about them. The only way you’ll get better is by doing it until you master it. If one assignment isn’t turning out well, don’t be discouraged. Keep trying and you’ll eventually get the hang of it!