Film Studies A-Level Induction work to prepare you for September 2021 Email Miss Potts or Mr Howse if you have any questions – [email protected] or [email protected]
Film Studies A-LevelInduction work to prepare you for
September 2021
Email Miss Potts or Mr Howse if you have any questions – [email protected] or [email protected]
Component 1: Varieties of film and filmmaking - Exam – 2 ½ hours – 35%
Component 2: Global filmmaking perspectives - Exam – 2 ½ hours – 35%
Section A: Hollywood 1930-1990 (comparative study) Section A: Global film (two-film study)
Group 1: Classical Hollywood 1930-1960)- Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942, U)- The Lady from Shanghai (Welles, 1947, PG)- Johnny Guitar (Ray, 1954, PG)- Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958, PG)- Some Like It Hot (Wilder, 1959, 12)
Group 2: New Hollywood (1961-1990)- Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967, 15)- OFOTCN (Forman, 1975, 15)- Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979, 15)- Blade Runner (Scott, 1982, 15)- Do The Right Thing (Lee, 1989, 15)
Group 1: European Film- Life is Beautiful (Benigni, Italy, 1997, PG)- Pan’s Labyrinth (Del Toro, Spain, 2006, 15)- Diving Bell (Schnabel, France 2007, 12)- Ida (Pawlikowski, Poland, 2013, 15)- Mustang (Erguven, Turkey, 2015, 15)- Victoria (Schipper, Germany, 2015, 15)
Group 2: Outside Europe- Dil Se (Ratnam, India, 1998, 12)- City of God (Meirelles, Brazil, 2002)- House of Flying Daggers (Zhang, China, 2004, 15)- Timbuktu (Sissako, Mauritania, 2014, 12A)- Wild Tales (Szifron, Argentina, 2014, 15)- Taxi Tehran (Panahi, Iran, 2015, 12)
Section B: American film since 2005 (two-film study) Section B: Documentary film- Sisters in Law (Ayisi, Cameroon, 20015, 12A)- The Arbor (Barnard, UK, 2010, 15)- Stories We Tell (Polley, Canada, 2012, 12A)- 20,000 Days on Earth (Pollard, UK, 2014, 15)- Amy (Kapadia, UK, 2015, 15)
Section C: Film movements – Silent Cinema- Keaton compilation (Keaton, 1922, US)- Strike (Eisenstein, USSR, 1924, 15)- Sunrise (Murnau, US, 1927, U)- Spies (Lang, Germany, 1928, PG)- Man With a Movie Camera (Vertov, 1928)- A Propos de Nice (Vigo, France, 1930, U)
Group 1: Mainstream Film- No Country For Old Men (Coen, 2007, 15)- Inception (Nolan, 2010, 12A)- Selma (Duvernay, 2014, 12A)- Carol (Haynes, 2015, 15)- La La Land (Chazelle, 2016)
Group 2: Contemporary independent film- Winter’s Bone (Granik, 2010, 15)- Frances Ha! (Baumbach, 2012, 15)- Beasts of the Southern Wild (Zeitlin, 2012, 12A)- Boyhood (Linklater, 2015, 15)- Captain Fantastic (Ross, 2015, 15)
Section C: British film since 1995 (two-film study) Section D: Film movements – Experimental Film (1960-2000)- Vivre sa vie (Godard, France, 1962, 15)- Daisies (Chytilova, Czech, 1965)- Saute ma ville (Akerman, Belgium, 1968)- Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, US, 1994, 18)- Fallen Angels (Wong, Hong Kong, 1995, 15)- Timecode (Figgis, US, 2000, 15)
- Secrets and Lies (Leigh, 1996, 15)- Trainspotting (Boyle, 1996, 18)- Sweet Sixteen (Loach, 2002, 18)- Shaun of the Dead (Wright, 2004, 15)- Moon (Jones, 2009, 15)
- This is England (Meadows, 2006, 18)- Fish Tank (Arnold, 2009, 15)- We Need To Talk About Kevin (Ramsay, 2011, 15)- Sightseers (Wheatley, 2012, 15)- Under the Skin (Glazer, 2013, 15)
FILM CORE AREAS (studied in every film): 1. Cinematography
(camera and lighting) 2. Mise-en-scene3. Editing4. Sound 5. Performance6. Meaning and Response 7. Context
Specialist Areas of Study 1. Spectatorship2. Narrative3. Ideology4. Auteur5. Critical Debates6. Film-makers’ Theories
FILM CORE AREAS (to be studied in every film): Cinematography (camera and lighting) Mise-en-scene, Editing, Sound, Performance, Meaning and Response & Context
Component 1: Component 2:
Section A: Hollywood (1930-1990)Auteur
Section A: Global Film Core Film Areas only
Section B: American Film since 2005 Spectatorship & Ideology
Section B: Documentary FilmCritical Debates 1 & Film-makers’ Theories
Section C: British Film since 1995Narrative & Ideology
Section C: Silent CinemaCritical Debates 2
Section D: Experimental Film (1960-2000)Narrative & Auteur
Specialist Areas of Study • Spectatorship
Films are generally constructed to provide the spectator with a particular viewing position, most often aligning the spectator with a specific character or point of view. This in turn raises questions about how ‘determined’ spectators' responses to a film are and how far spectators can and do resist the position they are given. Learners will thus consider how far spectators are ‘passive’ or ‘active’ in their responses to film and how social and cultural factors, as well as the specific viewing conditions in which a film is seen, influence spectators' responses.
Specialist Areas of Study • Narrative
The study of narrative is one way of examining the story of a film and exploring how it is structured, ordered and why this has been done. Narrative also asks the viewer to consider from whose viewpoint we are experiencing the story and whether this has an effect on what we see, hear and experience.
Specialist Areas of Study • Ideology
The concept of a film as ideological involves exploring what ideologies are conveyed by a film as well as those which inform it which may, for example, reveal that a film reinforces or challenges dominant beliefs and attitudes within a society.
Specialist Areas of Study • Auteur
Sees filmmakers as creative decision-makers, responsible for the selection and construction process in films which experiment with narrative and film form. Learners should consider what ‘signatures’ can be identified for a film as a result of a more experimental approach to the filmmaking process.
Specialist Areas of Study • Critical Debates
Occurs in the exploration of the opposition between the realist and the expressive cinema (silent film)AND…The significance of digital technology in film (documentary)
Specialist Areas of Study • Film-makers’ Theories
The documentary film will be explored in relation to key filmmakers from the genre. The documentary film studied may either directly embody aspects of these theories or work in a way that strongly challenges these theories. In either case, the theories will provide a means of exploring different approaches to documentary film and filmmaking.
Component 3 (Coursework)• Creation of a short film screenplay, inc. one of following:
Narrative… i) twist, ii) begin with an enigma, iii) establish & develop a single character, or iv) portrays a conflict between two charactersLength: 1600/1800 words – 7 pages / minutesInclusion: Digital photograph storyboard of a key section of script (approx. 2 minutes of screenplay – 20 storyboard shots)
Identify the sequence & pick a film technique for the film shot
shown
CinematographyEditingSound
Mise-en-scènePerformance
Identifyan element (i.e. costume, prop, or
setting) & standard meaning
Outline an example of how this element is used and the
meaning created
Explore how it creates the
mood, style, or aesthetic of the
film (genre)?
Name the characters & pick
an aspect to explore for the film shown
Todorov’s 5 stages
Aristotle’s 3 actsPropp’s archetypesStrauss’ Opposition
Representation
Outline theroles of these
characters’ character types,
using the aspects
Explore how your chosen aspect
presents a key message / value /
theme
Explore how genre
conventions are used in each film
Explore the context of this
film: social, cultural,
historical, political, or production
Explore a theme from the
film: how characters / narratives
reveal theme; inc. similarities& differences
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5
3.1 3.2
Identify the sequence & pick a film technique for the film shot
shown
CinematographyEditingSound
Mise-en-scènePerformance
Identifyan element (i.e. costume, prop, or
setting) & standard meaning
Outline an example of how this element is used and the
meaning created
Explore how it creates the
mood, style, or aesthetic of the
film (genre)?
Name the characters & pick
an aspect to explore for the film shown
Todorov’s 5 stages
Aristotle’s 3 actsPropp’s archetypesStrauss’ Opposition
Representation
Outline theroles of these
characters’ character types,
using the aspects
Explore how your chosen aspect
presents a key message / value /
theme
Explore how genre
conventions are used in each film
Explore the context of this
film: social, cultural,
historical, political, or production
Explore a theme from the
film: how characters / narratives
reveal theme; inc. similarities& differences
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5
3.1 3.2
Identify the sequence & pick a film technique for the film shot
shown
CinematographyEditingSound
Mise-en-scènePerformance
Identifyan element (i.e. costume, prop, or
setting) & standard meaning
Outline an example of how this element is used and the
meaning created
Explore how it creates the
mood, style, or aesthetic of the
film (genre)?
Name the characters & pick
an aspect to explore for the film shown
Todorov’s 5 stages
Aristotle’s 3 actsPropp’s archetypesStrauss’ Opposition
Representation
Outline theroles of these
characters’ character types,
using the aspects
Explore how your chosen aspect
presents a key message / value /
theme
Explore how genre
conventions are used in each film
Explore the context of this
film: social, cultural,
historical, political, or production
Explore a theme from the
film: how characters / narratives
reveal theme; inc. similarities& differences
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5
3.1 3.2
Identify the sequence & pick a film technique for the film shot
shown
CinematographyEditingSound
Mise-en-scènePerformance
Identifyan element (i.e. costume, prop, or
setting) & standard meaning
Outline an example of how this element is used and the
meaning created
Explore how it creates the
mood, style, or aesthetic of the
film (genre)?
Name the characters & pick
an aspect to explore for the film shown
Todorov’s 5 stages
Aristotle’s 3 actsPropp’s archetypesStrauss’ Opposition
Representation
Outline theroles of these
characters’ character types,
using the aspects
Explore how your chosen aspect
presents a key message / value /
theme
Explore how genre
conventions are used in each film
Explore the context of this
film: social, cultural,
historical, political, or production
Explore a theme from the
film: how characters / narratives
reveal theme; inc. similarities& differences
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5
3.1 3.2