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This section will provide you with details of the various projects you will undertake, as part of yoru education and towards any assessment. As this site evolves, information may move around and be placed in sub pages.
Lower Sixth Projects
Lower Sixth Projects
Autumn Term
Autumn Term
Thorpe Park Fright Nights Documentary
Thorpe Park Fright Nights Documentary
Your task is to research, plan and film a short 3-5m documentary covering Thorpe Park's Fright Nights event.
Intended learning outcomes:
You begin to develop an understanding of some aspects and stages of filmmaking
You refine your research skills to inform your choice of documentary
Research different styles of documentary and gain an appreciation for how others have approached similar topics
You experiment with using cameras to try different styles, gaining some understanding of camera shots, etc
Develop time management skills, along with working with others, taking charge and delivering a product
You are practising key work that will be important for your examined work later in the course
What to submit:
Your submission is split into two parts:
1) your documentary film
2) your supporting evidence (portfolio of evidence)
Your supporting evidence should NOT be a wall of text, but instead guiding the reader/examiner through your process, using annotated pictures, designs, etc. (See the exemplar materials for some ideas, remembering these were for a different end result.)
Submission expectations:
The expectations are set out below. This is a list of expected outcomes, not an order in which you should carry these out.
This is a solo or small group (max two pupils) project. You can, however, use others in your work, such as talent, crew, etc.
As these are important skills, groups should work on all aspects together, so everybody has exposure to the skills being learnt
It should be between 3 and 5 minutes in length, including any intro sequences and ending credits
You should come up with a documentary style and topic.
The work you'll be doing for this project is vastly cut down from the actual coursework elements, including minimal experimentation, etc., due to time.
You should present your supporting evidence (AO 1-3) (PowerPoint ideally) showcasing the work you have done (the portfolio)
Key information - 2 pages max
Tagline (summarising your documentary in one sentence)
Your creative vision and direction (how do you intend this to look and feel, evoke audience emotions, etc.)
Brief (take the core components and make this up to suit your chosen direction)
Research plan
Description of the brand (Thorpe Park and the Fright Nights event)
This should include their logo, the brand 'personality', the brand's 'tone of voice' if it had one, etc.
Extracts or a summary of your research (primary and secondary) - max 2 pages
Do not include all of your research, questionnaire/interview notes, findings, etc., just a summary or selective screen-shots. T
Attempt a mood board - max 1 page
If needed, use stock images (even if unrelated) to give a sense of the theme, vision and tone of your piece.
When taking your own, record the camera settings
Within your documentary genre, you'll likely want to interview. There is a presentation on interviewing and you can look at other artists' interviews and attempt to innovate for your own work
Summary of shooting, lessons learnt and any iterative decisions/filming - max 3 pages.
This is an important section, as it closely ties into what CAIE expect in your actual component portfolios. They want to see that you have experimented, learnt and tried different techniques. They want to see iterative development, whereby you re-work things that didn't go to plan or were poorly received by test audiences, focus groups, peers, etc.
The component work also expects you to compare and contrast with established artists
Halloween Short Film (horror, comedy, thriller)
Halloween Short Film (horror, comedy, thriller)
Intended learning outcomes:
You further develop an understanding of some aspects of the process of filmmaking
You refine your ability to research key influencers (directors, DPs) in the specific genre you are targeting, comparing and contrasting styles
Document and apply the information gained from looking at your chosen influences to your own work
You experiment with using cameras to try different styles, gaining some understanding of camera shots, etc.
Learning how to cast and staff a movie, costume, set and makeup design, etc.
You are practising key work that will be important for your examined work later in the course
What to submit:
Your submission is split into two parts:
1) your short film
2) your supporting evidence
Your supporting evidence should NOT be a wall of text, but instead guiding the reader/examiner through your process, using annotated pictures, designs, etc. (See the exemplar materials for some ideas, remembering these were for a different end result.)
Submission expectations:
The expectations are set out below. This is a list of expected outcomes, not an order in which you should carry these out.
Produce (AO4) a short film with a 5m maximum length (from start to finish)
The film must be horror-themed but can be a straight horror, comedy (e.g. parody) or thriller.
Horror-themed means horror elements and themes (such as paranormal activity, betrail, tragedy, apocalyptic, etc.)
It should be in the style of a chosen creative influence (director or cinematographer)
The maximum age rating should be 15
This can be a group project or individual. The writeup MUST be individual work and unique, even if elements were worked on as a group
You should present your supporting evidence (AO1-3) (OneNote, PowerPoint, Word, etc.) showcasing the work you have done. This should not be a word dump, but a narrated story of what you achieved and learnt
Chosen creative influences in the genre
Analysis of their 'style' and defining motifs, etc.
You may have to research more generally before you select a maximum of three directors/cinematographers on which to focus.
Select a defining work for each, such as Steven Spielberg's Poltergeist
Include some screenshots from their work to highlight the points being made when comparing and contrasting styles
You should detail and probe for the insight each of the selected works provides to you
The journey taken to arrive at your film direction and narrative
e.g. personal photography or personal film used for inspiration
imagery of costume ideas, thematic styles, mood boards, etc
Key criteria/measures of success & evaluation
This should be judged against the brief and intended final outcomes.
Your evaluation should be how well you feel these success criteria were met against what was produced
Storyboards and script should be written and evidenced, while not in full, screenshots or extracts
Your research into set design, costuming, makeup techniques, props, etc.
Evidence that you have investigated and tested creative ideas.
As with so much of this, use photos or other creative ways to evidence your work without walls of text. e.g. testing makeup techniques such as open wound, lighting design, VFX, etc). Your script may go through peer review, and changes resulting from that are discussed and applied to new iterations. CAIE love this kind of evidence.
At all times, demonstrate a learning journey in how prior experience, understanding or knowledge has influenced new decisions and changes.
Your supporting evidence will show that the final piece submitted is the result of evaluative, reflective and critical thinking.
Directing Workshop
Directing Workshop
This term, we will host an approximately 2-hour workshop, where you'll get to work as a team to direct one of your scripts. Given the previous themes, the parameters for this work are:
It will be set in a single room
It revolves around a dysfunctional family
It should blend into a horror or thriller-themed concept, but the specific scene you write doesn’t have to be
It needs to be around 10 minutes long to give us something to work with
You can do this in small groups (2-3), if you wish
You can use FinalDraft, StudioBinder or just plain Word for this. There are also free screenplay writing sites
Spring Term
Spring Term
Summer Term
Summer Term
Upper Sixth Projects
Upper Sixth Projects
Autumn Term
Autumn Term
Spring Term
Spring Term
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