Having spent twenty-five years teaching film studies to well over a thousand students, Ed Sikov knows exactly how to introduce the subject to first-time learners. In Film Studies, he builds a step-by-step curriculum for the appreciation of all types of narrative cinema. He details the essential elements of film form, systematically training the spectator to be an active reader and critic of film, priming the eye and the mind in the special techniques of film analysis. An explanation of mise-en-scene helps students grasp the significance of montage; a familiarity with montage reveals the importance of a director's use of camera movements. Other aspects discussed include editing, composition, lighting, the use of color and sound, and narrative.

Film Studies works with any screening list, enabling instructors to design their course around film history, film theory, or popular culture; and straightforward explanations of core critical terms, practical advice, and suggested assignments on particular technical, visual, and aesthetic aspects of analysis further anchor the student's understanding of the formal language and anatomy of cinema.