Year One course content
Component One:
American Film students will complete a comparative study of two mainstream Hollywood films produced between 1930 and 1990 and one single American independent film. The comparative study will be focused on the core areas of film foregrounding, a comparison of contexts – how contexts are reflected in film, how knowledge of contexts increases understanding, and how films generate meanings and responses. In the single independent American film section, students will explore the film’s non-mainstream cinema subject matter and the stylistic features associated with lower budget production.
Component Two:
European Film students will examine two British Films and one European Film focusing again on the core study areas of film and the specialist study areas of narrative, spectatorship, and genre. As with Component One, students will also identify clear points of comparison suggested by the institutional and production contexts of the films, the era, countries, and cultures in which they were made.
Component Three:
Film Production is a crucial and synoptic part of the A-Level course, giving students the opportunity to put into practice the filmmaking ideas they develop throughout their academic study. Knowledge of film form is intended to enable students to produce high quality film and screenplay work as well as provide them with a filmmaker’s perspective on the films they study. Students must also provide a written evaluative analysis of the production. A production brief is set by the exam board for students to follow.
Year Two course content
Component One:
Varieties of Film and Filmmaking students build on the knowledge gained in Year One of the course and study additional films from the mainstream American and British film industries. Whilst the emphasis of the comparative study will be on contexts, all core study areas will be relevant to this component so that students can compare in detail the way contexts are reflected in the films studied. In addition, students are required to explore the specialist study areas of auteur, spectatorship, ideology, and narrative.
Component Two:
For the Global Filmmaking Perspectives component, students will examine a wider range of films from outside Europe and America and study documentary, experimental, and silent films. This further extends the student’s range and diversity of narrative film, each representing a distinct geographical, social, cultural world and a particular expressive use of film form. In addition, students are required to explore the specialist study areas of auteur, critical debate, film theory, and narrative.
Component Three:
The Film Production component has the same requirement as Year One but students are expected to write a larger and more detailed written evaluative analysis of the production.
