Comparative Study

Use of audio-visual material and copyright

On-screen text, keynote slides, still images, animations, audio recordings and carefully selected and relevant clips from the selected films are all permitted within the comparative study, where appropriate. The primary weight of audio-visual evidence must come from the two chosen films and the student’s recorded voice. While the length of film clips a student can use is not dictated, the clip length should directly match the specific point being made by the student in the recorded commentary.

• Each student must use legal copies of their two chosen films in order to extract the video or audio content for editing into the comparative study. Once the final comparative study has been submitted for assessment to the IB, each student must ensure that the extracted media files are destroyed.

• Students must be aware that their work is solely for academic purposes and that they are not permitted to share or distribute any copyright-protected content used in the comparative study outside of the IB without the express written consent of the copyright holder(s).

• Students are required to clearly reference the two chosen films in the submitted list of sources.

• It is the responsibility of the student to obtain, extract and delete any copyright materials used for this task.

Black slate

The comparative study must begin with a 10-second black slate (included in the total time limit) that clearly states the chosen task components using on-screen text. The student’s recorded commentary, which begins simultaneously with the black slate, should address the justification of these task components

Academic honesty and on-screen citation

All sources must be acknowledged following the protocol of the referencing style chosen by the school.

• If a student uses work, ideas or images belonging to another person in the comparative study, the student must acknowledge the source as an on-screen citation during the submitted multimedia study, either as a voiced reference as part of the recorded commentary or as on-screen text.

• Students must also submit a separate list of these sources using a standard style of referencing in a consistent manner.

• A student’s failure to appropriately acknowledge a source used in the recorded multimedia comparative study (as outlined in the “Use of audio-visual material and copyright” section), will be investigated by the IB as a potential breach of regulations that may result in a penalty imposed by the IB final award committee.