QE FILM STUDIES

Hello all,

Hope you are well and excited about the prospect of a new chapter in your education. This is the part where you get to specialise and explore subjects that excite and fascinate you. We think that Film is about as fascinating and exciting as it gets. It's a shame we can't offer the face-to-face bridging experience, but hopefully, this site will provide some insights into what studying Film offers and what it will mean for you to be a Film student at QE.

There are two ways to approach the site. The tabs along the top bar enable you to dive right in, looking at what we study and where it can lead you. There is a also a sample lesson designed to give you a flavour of the way we take films apart, alongside details of trips and some further viewing if you want to immerse yourself in Film over the summer. However, if you need a more in-depth explanation of what studying Film involves and how we approach our delivery of the course then there's more detailed information listed below that you can scroll down to if you wish.

If you have any questions about the course then don't hesitate to contact us.

All the very best,

The Film Teaching Team

Mark Dodsworth (Course Leader) mdodsworth@qeliz.ac.uk

Anthony Lupton alupton@qeliz.ac.uk

Anthony Myers amyers@qeliz.ac.uk

DETAILED INFORMATION

Here's what you would have heard by way of a more detailed introduction to the subject if you'd been able to sit in a bridging class...

1. We look after you. We've got a tremendous track record for supporting our students, whether you're confident and talkative or shy and quiet, we make sure that the way we teach helps you make progress without putting you in awkward situations or inducing anxiety. Our ‘views of students’ responses are outstanding and have been for well over a decade.

2. You'll be successful. QE A-Level Film Studies pass rate is 100% and over the years we average over 60% of our students securing A-B grades - a figure that makes Film one of the most successful subjects at the college and well above the subject’s national average.

3. We're mindful of the fact that for most of you this is a very new subject. The vast majority of our new students haven't studied Film before. Some have taken Media Studies at GCSE, but for many its a subject they have an interest in but no prior academic engagement with. Regardless of your skills and knowledge at the outset we make sure that you quickly develop the confidence to study Film at a very impressive level. All you need to study the subject is an enthusiasm for it, a Grade 4 or above in English and the college's general entry requirements.

4. Film offers many different things to a broad range of students and works equally well with very different combinations of subjects. Our Film students are a very diverse group. The course content is carefully balanced to ensure it engages all students. We strive for a 50:50 mixed cohort and ensure that the films we screen are diverse, covering a wide range of issues (click on the 'What We Explore' tab to find out more). We challenge stereotypes, resist tired, outdated ideas, and encourage you to intelligently question the films we explore.

Every year we have students studying Film alongside all sort of combinations. The subject combines well with English Literature and/or English Language, making the most of those subjects' shared approaches to taking texts apart and analysing them, developing skills as an analytical writer and producing imaginative work as a creative writer. We have a significant number of Film students who combine their studies with Media or Art subjects, developing technical skills, engaging in analysis of screen culture, increasing their ability to make and understand images. Meanwhile, we have lots of students of History, Psychology, Sociology, Politics, Philosophy...largely because films are about the world we live in and part of our exploration of them involves exploring their contexts and messages and their impact on us and society. That is just a snapshot. Film knits together a wide variety of subjects and there are no prohibited combinations.

5. It's not an easy option but it is accessible and exciting. Part of the excitement in studying films comes from the realisation that they are complex, layered cultural texts that can be interpreted in a wide range of ways and explored using an array of theoretical frameworks - theories that will challenge not just the way you watch/read a film but how you view culture and society too. Furthermore, alongside studying popular Hollywood Film, we look at edgy independent films, hard-hitting British films, Global films that challenge us to look at our world differently, experimental films, documentaries, short films...That process broadens your horizons and takes you out of your comfort zone as viewers. Overall then, Film is accessible, fast-moving, dynamic and entertaining, but also just as demanding as any other A-level.

6. Alongside the set films we study there are significant opportunities for you to set the agenda and explore the stories, genres and styles that interest you. As well as writing about the films we all study on the course you can develop your analytical skills by taking apart sequences from films and television shows that interest you, develop your own creative ideas through your screenwriting and filmmaking, and consolidate the ideas and theories explored in class by exploring moving image texts outside of class too. The course's 30% coursework component is an area that you can have real ownership of, producing creative practical work that will be distinct and individual to you.

Overall then, A-Level Film is a course that opens your eyes to the many ways films and tv shows communicate ideas, generate emotions and manipulate audience responses. In other words, to study Film is to become a very confident and sophisticated 'reader' of moving images, enabling you to understand how and why they take the form they do, encouraging you to appreciate just how sophisticated they are. It is a startling, surprising and rewarding subject that takes an area of our culture that we already enjoy and unveils its inner workings.

As we're studying Film we're also developing a really useful, wide range of transferable skills that equip you for an exciting future. You'll become a better writer, a highly proficient analytical thinker, a strong creative writer and a technically-gifted maker of films. As teachers we teach you the skills of screenwriting and filmmaking, supporting your learning and ensuring you grow in confidence and sophistication regardless of your starting point. All the technical skills you need are taught in class. In addition, you can choose which creative discipline you want to focus on, creative screenplay writing and/or practical filmmaking, so you can play to your strengths and fulfil your own interests.

Employment in the creative industries accounts for well over 2 million jobs in the UK and the sector is growing at double the rate of the economy as a whole. Given the nature of our evolving society, the fact that films can now be shot, edited or analysed quickly, digitally, at home or in more traditional studio-based set ups, is only going to open up more doors in the sector.

Film’s blend of analytical skills, written skills and practical skills is highly regarded by universities and has been since the 1960s. The subject’s mix of English Literature-style close reading of texts, visual literacy, socio-political aspects, business/marketing elements and creativity means it is rightly seen as a complex academic course that produces multi-talented individuals.

The 70:30 ratio of exam to coursework means strong written ability is developed and complex theory explored but practical skills, independence and organisational acumen are also fostered through scriptwriting, filmmaking and photographic storyboarding.

Our students get a great deal from the course and we're sure that you will too.