By Sierrah Catoe
Step 1: Signing Up
When you go to https://letterboxd.com, at the top of the page beside the header are the tabs to sign in or create an account. Once you click on CREATE ACCOUNT, the contents of the image above will appear for you to put in your email address, username, and password. You will also need to click the other three boxes to establish that you are above the age of 16, accept the terms of the privacy policy, and that you are in fact human. Once you have completed all of that and hit the green SIGN UP button, then you will be on the way to creating your account.
Step 2: Develop Your Profile
After creating your account, you will need to develop the rest of your profile to expand your account information. The easiest way to do this is to click on the tab that has your username and then go down to the second option which will say PROFILE. From there, you can click on the box beside the username, as indicated by the red arrow above, that says EDIT PROFILE.
In the account settings, you can add information about yourself in the bio, pronouns, given names, and favorite films sections. By doing this, you will let others know important and concise preliminary information they may need to know about you without having to look at your entire account.
Step 3: Expanding Your Profile
Once you have the basics of your profile done, it is time to start expanding the profile by interacting with films and adding to your activity. You can do this by liking films, adding them to your watchlist or other lists (based on genre, vibes, etc.), reviewing films, interacting with other reviews/reviewers, and much more. The more that you rate movies and engage with these other features it will increase your activity data and your rating data as seen in the image below. As you continue to expand your account, you can use the tabs under your username to keep up with specific aspects of your activity such as the diary which contains the timeline of the films that you have viewed, the watchlist which shows the films you anticipate watching in the future, and the network tab which helps you keep track of the people that follow you or the people that you follow.
Step 4: Reviewing Films
When you look up a film and click on it, you will be taken to a page for the film that features general information like a synopsis, rating, cast, where to watch, similar films, and more. This is the perfect source for research because it gives a lot of useful information about the film and others like it. So, if you are gathering information to get a general idea of what your research is about or what films you might want to look at, this is the place to look for the information you may need. It is a great starting point when you are building the foundation for your writing.
To the right of the information, there will also be a box where you can add your own reaction to the film such as liking it by clicking the heart icon, adding it to your watchlist by clicking the clock icon, or doing a preliminary rating by clicking on the stars. There are several other features that follow those initial reactions, but if you want to give your own in-depth review, then you will need to click on the section that says REVIEW OR LOG…
Once you click on that, the box shown above will appear for you to give a detailed review of your chosen film. You can log when you viewed the film or if you re-watched it recently, give a professional review for the film, and give your rating. There is also a place to like the film and a box to check if your review contains spoilers that will warn other people in advance so that the review does not ruin the viewing experience for them.
When writing a review, you want to make sure that it is professional and gives a constructive critique of the film rather than a snarky rant about the director, casting, etc. It should be respectful, but still give an in-depth analysis of the film and what was good or maybe not-so-good about it. You can mention different aspects of the film such as the directorial choices with camera work, the quality of the characters and the script, the sound design choices, and so much more. Make sure to keep the review concise because you are not writing an essay for school, so it does not need to be an excessive description because no one will have the time to read all of that. Make sure to use the tags feature as well to ensure that people who are looking for reviews about a specific director, streaming service, etc. will be able to see your review when they search for those keywords.
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