Embedded Files
The units we study offer a wide-ranging exploration of many different aspects of film. Ultimately, our studies lead us towards two exams that total 70% of the A-Level and a coursework portfolio that accounts for the remaining 30%. Our approach to teaching Film ensures that regardless of your starting point you are highly supported in your studies, helping you to become confident and sophisticated learners.
The poster images indicate the set texts that we view and analyse in class, but there are also many other sequences from other films that we use to increase our understanding of each topic area. Broadly speaking, we teach the Paper 1 content in Year 1 and Paper 2 content in Year 2. Meanwhile, we develop your coursework skills in screenwriting and filmmaking in Year 1 and then produce really polished creative work in Year 2.
AMERICAN FILM SINCE 2005
Paper 1 Exam (35% of the overall A-Level)
Spectacular modern Hollywood films and left field Independent films are the focus of this topic. As well as examining how filmmakers use technical strategies to maximise the drama, excitement and emotion of these films we will also explore how their messages are constructed. The major theory linked to this topic is 'spectatorship' - the study of how audience reactions are controlled by a filmmaker's decisions.
Paper 1 Exam (35% of the overall A-Level)
Spectacular modern Hollywood films and left field Independent films are the focus of this topic. As well as examining how filmmakers use technical strategies to maximise the drama, excitement and emotion of these films we will also explore how their messages are constructed. The major theory linked to this topic is 'spectatorship' - the study of how audience reactions are controlled by a filmmaker's decisions.
BRITISH FILM SINCE 1995
Paper 1 Exam
Two hard-hitting British films are at the heart of this study of how our society is presented on screen. As well as considering how the political and gender-related messages of the films are generated we also use this topic to explore 'narrative theory', addressing how storytelling approaches differ and why particular ways of structuring and presenting plot are especially powerful.
Paper 1 Exam
Two hard-hitting British films are at the heart of this study of how our society is presented on screen. As well as considering how the political and gender-related messages of the films are generated we also use this topic to explore 'narrative theory', addressing how storytelling approaches differ and why particular ways of structuring and presenting plot are especially powerful.
HOLLYWOOD 1930-1990
Paper 1 Exam
Two classics from very different eras. This unit allows us to analyse the work of directors Alfred Hitchcock and Milos Forman. Studying these films means we can explore context, and the idea that films absorb many of the issues and attitudes circulating in society at the time of their production. We also consider the significant changes in Hollywood filmmaking as times, technologies, production processes and audience expectations shift from Classical Hollywood to New Hollywood.
Paper 1 Exam
Two classics from very different eras. This unit allows us to analyse the work of directors Alfred Hitchcock and Milos Forman. Studying these films means we can explore context, and the idea that films absorb many of the issues and attitudes circulating in society at the time of their production. We also consider the significant changes in Hollywood filmmaking as times, technologies, production processes and audience expectations shift from Classical Hollywood to New Hollywood.
GLOBAL FILM
Paper 2 Exam (35% of the overall A-Level)
The first of the Paper 2 topics involves studying two of the most successful Global films ever made. Pan's Labyrinth blends magical fantasy with hard-hitting war drama, while Parasite is a twisty thriller that confronts us with the poverty and inequalities of life in Korea. Both films are gripping, but they also deal with important issues. Despite the subtitles these films are two of the most popular in the eyes of our students.
Paper 2 Exam (35% of the overall A-Level)
The first of the Paper 2 topics involves studying two of the most successful Global films ever made. Pan's Labyrinth blends magical fantasy with hard-hitting war drama, while Parasite is a twisty thriller that confronts us with the poverty and inequalities of life in Korea. Both films are gripping, but they also deal with important issues. Despite the subtitles these films are two of the most popular in the eyes of our students.
EXPERIMENTAL FILM
Paper 2 Exam
David Lynch breaks the rules. This unit, focussing predominantly on the auteur director's groundbreaking, game-changing Mulholland Drive (but also exploring his daring strategies in other films too), looks at the way cinema's rule book can be challenged through startlingly new and confrontational approaches to story structure, character, genre and style. We use this topic to introduce some big ideas about the way the media has changed the way we view and present our world, tackling challenging ideas in the process.
Paper 2 Exam
David Lynch breaks the rules. This unit, focussing predominantly on the auteur director's groundbreaking, game-changing Mulholland Drive (but also exploring his daring strategies in other films too), looks at the way cinema's rule book can be challenged through startlingly new and confrontational approaches to story structure, character, genre and style. We use this topic to introduce some big ideas about the way the media has changed the way we view and present our world, tackling challenging ideas in the process.
DOCUMENTARY
Paper 2 Exam
As the runaway success of multiple netflix documentaries attests, documentaries have never been more popular. This unit looks at the various ways in which 'truth', our sympathies, and the dramatic impact of reality are manipulated by filmmakers. As tense, emotionally affecting and thrilling as fiction, documentary is an increasingly eye-opening and controversial form of filmmaking.
Paper 2 Exam
As the runaway success of multiple netflix documentaries attests, documentaries have never been more popular. This unit looks at the various ways in which 'truth', our sympathies, and the dramatic impact of reality are manipulated by filmmakers. As tense, emotionally affecting and thrilling as fiction, documentary is an increasingly eye-opening and controversial form of filmmaking.
SILENT CINEMA
Paper 2 Exam
Understanding where it all began is important to any knowledge of Film. Here we explore silent cinema's roots and look at one particularly strange and exciting movement in silent film: German Expressionism. Using Fritz Lang's Spies as a case study we consider how talented filmmakers managed to communicate ideas, story and atmosphere without dialogue, learning about the roots of the sophisticated visual language that we all take for granted today.
Paper 2 Exam
Understanding where it all began is important to any knowledge of Film. Here we explore silent cinema's roots and look at one particularly strange and exciting movement in silent film: German Expressionism. Using Fritz Lang's Spies as a case study we consider how talented filmmakers managed to communicate ideas, story and atmosphere without dialogue, learning about the roots of the sophisticated visual language that we all take for granted today.
COURSEWORK
Component 3
Worth 30% of the overall A-Level
Filmmaking? Screenwriting? Both?Your coursework is your opportunity to develop your own stories, build your own worlds and tackle the issues you want to tackle. After learning advanced skills as a camera operator, editor, sound designer and screenwriter you are given the opportunity to first produce skills development work and then create a more polished final production. Working as an individual - but always fully supported by your teachers - you'll use industry-standard software to create highly professional and terrifically rewarding films.
Component 3
Worth 30% of the overall A-Level
Filmmaking? Screenwriting? Both?Your coursework is your opportunity to develop your own stories, build your own worlds and tackle the issues you want to tackle. After learning advanced skills as a camera operator, editor, sound designer and screenwriter you are given the opportunity to first produce skills development work and then create a more polished final production. Working as an individual - but always fully supported by your teachers - you'll use industry-standard software to create highly professional and terrifically rewarding films.
bridging final promo (Converted).movFilmmaking
The show reel embedded above splices together a range of clips from student work. As you can seen it's a diverse mix led by students' own individual passions. Fantasy? Thriller? Horror? Drama? Science Fiction? Mainstream? Experimental? You decide.
The show reel embedded above splices together a range of clips from student work. As you can seen it's a diverse mix led by students' own individual passions. Fantasy? Thriller? Horror? Drama? Science Fiction? Mainstream? Experimental? You decide.
Screenplay Production
Screenwriting enables you to invent a world and explore dramatic possibilities as soon as you start to type. Its one of the most addictive creative acts you can imagine. We teach you to produce screenplays of a professional standard, following professional formatting conventions, and put into action the sophisticated knowledge of narrative (story) structures you have learned on the course. There is nothing that separates your work from that of the writers behind your favourite films and TV shows. Take a look at some of the scripts you can access via the link below to see where this can lead you...
https://www.dailyscript.com/movie.html
Screenwriting enables you to invent a world and explore dramatic possibilities as soon as you start to type. Its one of the most addictive creative acts you can imagine. We teach you to produce screenplays of a professional standard, following professional formatting conventions, and put into action the sophisticated knowledge of narrative (story) structures you have learned on the course. There is nothing that separates your work from that of the writers behind your favourite films and TV shows. Take a look at some of the scripts you can access via the link below to see where this can lead you...
https://www.dailyscript.com/movie.html
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