OCR A-Level Film Studies British and global film: a complete overview

This module covers two areas of OCR Film Studies: British film since 1995 (Section C of the Film History paper) and global film (Section A of the Critical Approaches paper), along with the narrative approach and world cinema contexts that support them. This overview ties the module together; each section has a matching dot-point page. Always confirm your centre's set films with OCR.

British film since 1995 and ideology

A study of one British film since 1995 through film form and narrative, with ideology as the specialist area. British cinema engages directly with class, gender, nation and region, often through a social-realist tradition. The skill is to read whose story is told, how groups are represented and how the ending resolves, and to judge whether the film reinforces or challenges dominant ideology, tied to British context.

British social realism

The tradition behind many British set films: naturalistic performance, location shooting, an observational style, regional dialogue and often unresolved endings. These conventions are formal choices that construct authenticity and carry ideology, and they are in part a national response to a small, publicly funded industry overshadowed by Hollywood.

The global film comparative study

A direct comparison of two global films, one European and one from outside Europe, through film form, narrative and context. World cinema can differ from Hollywood in narrative tradition, genre, cultural specificity and production conditions, and these differences should be read as meaningful choices, not faults.

Narrative and world cinema contexts

The narrative approach (story and plot, range and depth, Todorov, oppositions, open and closed) is the toolkit for analysing how films tell stories. World cinema contexts (national industries, funding, the festival circuit, subtitling) shape both what a global film is and how it reaches us.