Film StudiesQ&A by dot point

Critical debates and the named debates. What a critical debate is in Eduqas Film Studies, the named debates (the realist debate, the aesthetic debate, the narrative debate, the digital debate), how each attaches to documentary and the film movements, and how to argue a debate about a set film and reach a judgement.

Producing the short film or screenplay. Applying the key elements of film form deliberately in original production, the workflow from concept and brief to a finished short film or a screenplay and storyboard, and the AO3 skills of controlling film form to make meaning that the production is marked on.

The auteur study area. The idea of the director as author, the recurring signature of style and theme across a body of work, the politique des auteurs and its critics, and how to apply auteur as the specialist study area for the Hollywood comparative study while weighing the collaborative and industrial critique.

The evaluative analysis. The written reflection (around 1600 to 1800 words) that analyses the NEA production in relation to one or more set films, with reference to film form, meaning and response and contexts, how it is assessed within AO3, and how to write a self-critical, evidenced evaluation rather than a description.

The ideology study area. How films encode values and beliefs (about class, gender, race, nation), dominant ideology and hegemony, whether a film reinforces or challenges them, preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings, and applying ideology as the specialist area for American film since 2005 and British film since 1995.

The Production NEA: the brief and options. The production options (a short film of around four to five minutes, or a screenplay for a short film with a digitally photographed storyboard), the annual Eduqas brief, the evaluative analysis, how the NEA is assessed (AO3, 30 per cent), and its relationship to the rest of the course.

The spectatorship study area. How films position and are received by audiences (alignment, allegiance, identification, the gaze, active and passive spectatorship, preferred and oppositional readings), and applying spectatorship as the specialist area for American film since 2005 and as a tool across the course.

Analysing the set documentary. Bringing together documentary film form, the dominant mode, a filmmaker's theory and the critical debates into a single analysis of the set documentary, building the fact file and the synoptic argument the Section B essay rewards.

Documentary critical debates. The debates about documentary truth and objectivity versus construction (the realist debate), and the impact of digital technology on documentary (the digital debate), applied as the critical debates specialist area to the set documentary.

Documentary form and modes. The key elements of film form in documentary, and Bill Nichols's modes of documentary (expository, observational, participatory, reflexive, performative), and how the mode shapes the relationship between filmmaker, subject and spectator and the documentary's claim on the real.

Documentary meaning and ethics. How documentary represents its subject and makes meaning, the emotional and intellectual response it shapes, and the ethical questions of consent, fairness, the treatment of vulnerable subjects and the filmmaker's responsibility, applied to the set documentary.

The filmmakers' theories of documentary. The specialist study area in which a documentary maker's stated theory of documentary practice (on truth, ethics, the filmmaker's presence and the treatment of the subject) is applied to the set documentary, comparing the film's practice with the theory.

Cinematography and lighting. Framing and composition, shot scale, camera angle and height, camera movement, focus and lens choice, and lighting and colour, and how each cinematographic choice makes meaning and shapes the spectator's response.

Editing and montage. The selection and ordering of shots, continuity editing and its alternatives, transitions, montage, the cut, and rhythm and pace, and how editing constructs space, time and meaning and shapes the spectator's response.

Meaning and response, and the contexts of film. Film as a medium of representation and as an aesthetic medium, how form generates emotional and intellectual responses, and the social, cultural, political, historical and institutional contexts of a film, woven into analysis of film form.

Mise-en-scene and staging. Setting and location, props, costume, hair and make-up, the lighting design and the staging and composition of figures within the frame, and how every arranged element makes meaning and shapes the spectator's response.

Sound in film. Diegetic and non-diegetic sound, dialogue, sound effects, music (score and song) and silence, synchronous and asynchronous sound, sound bridges and the soundscape, and how sound makes meaning and shapes the spectator's response. Performance in film is included here, since voice and the body carry sound and meaning together.

The key elements of film form. Cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing, sound and performance as the core toolkit applied to every set film, combining with narrative and genre, and with meaning, response and the contexts of film, to make meaning and shape the spectator's response.

Analysing silent film form. How cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing, physical performance, intertitles and musical accompaniment carry meaning in silent film, with the distinctive styles of German Expressionism, Soviet montage and silent comedy as worked cases.

Experimental film (1960 to 1999). Studying experimental and avant-garde film as a film movement through film form and context, its non-conventional uses of form (non-narrative structure, unconventional editing and sound, the relationship to art and gallery exhibition), with the narrative debate as the specialist study area, in Section D of Component 2.

Silent cinema as a film movement. Studying silent film (often including German Expressionism, Soviet montage or silent comedy) as a film movement through film form and context, with the aesthetic debate as the specialist study area, in Section C of Component 2.

The aesthetic debate. The critical debate about the artistic value of film (film as art versus entertainment, the role of form and style in aesthetic value, formalism and realism), applied as the specialist study area to silent cinema in Section C of Component 2.

The narrative debate in experimental film. The critical debate about the place and necessity of narrative in film, whether film needs a conventional story, and what experimental film offers instead (structure, pattern, duration, experience), applied as the specialist study area to experimental film in Section D.

The Component 2 essay approach. The structure of the Global filmmaking perspectives paper (global film, documentary, silent cinema, experimental film), the one-essay-from-two format, how the sections differ in their study areas, and how to write an essay that analyses through film form and applies the right approach to reach a judgement.

The global film comparative study. Comparing one European film and one film produced outside Europe in a non-English language through the core study areas only (film form, meaning and response, contexts), in Section A of Component 2, the only section with no specialist study area attached.

The narrative study area. Story and plot, the range and depth of narration, narrative structure (linear, non-linear, multi-strand), character function, time and space, and closure or openness, and how narrative is constructed through film form and read across the course (the specialist area for British film since 1995).

World cinema contexts and distribution. The national, cultural, social and political contexts of global film, the art cinema tradition, national film industries and funding, and how distribution, subtitling and the festival circuit shape how global films are made and reach audiences.

American film since 2005. A study of two contemporary American films (often one mainstream and one independent) through film form and context, with spectatorship and ideology as the specialist study areas, in Section B of Component 1.

British film since 1995. A study of two British films made since 1995 through film form and context, with narrative and ideology as the specialist study areas, including British social realism and representations of national identity, in Section C of Component 1.

Classical and New Hollywood. The studio system, the classical style and the Production Code (1930 to 1960), the collapse of the studios and the rise of the New Hollywood (1961 to 1990), and how the institutional and historical context of each shaped its film form.

The Component 1 comparative essay. The structure of the Varieties of film and filmmaking paper, the one-essay-from-two format, how the comparative and single-film sections are marked by levels of response, and how to plan and write an essay that compares directly, applies the specialist area and reaches a judgement.

The Hollywood comparative study (1930 to 1990). Comparing one Classical Hollywood film (1930 to 1960) with one New Hollywood film (1961 to 1990) through film form and context, with auteur as the specialist study area, in Section A of Component 1.