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EnglandFilm Studies

Documentary film (Component 02)

4 dot points across 4 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do you analyse the set documentary in the OCR exam, bringing together film form, mode, a filmmaker's theory and the critical debates?

Analysing the set documentary. Bringing together film form, the documentary mode, a filmmaker's theory and the critical debates (realism, ethics, digital) into a single exam answer on the set documentary, and the levels-of-response essay skills the section rewards.
An OCR A-Level Film Studies guide to analysing the set documentary in the exam. Covers bringing together film form, the documentary mode, a filmmaker's theory and the critical debates (realism, ethics, digital) into a single levels-of-response essay, and the exam skills the documentary section rewards.
16 min answer →

What is a filmmaker's theory in OCR Film Studies, and how do you apply one to the set documentary?

Documentary and a filmmaker's theory. What a filmmaker's theory is, examples (Vertov's kino-eye, Grierson's social purpose, Nichols on documentary), how to apply a chosen filmmaker's theory to the set documentary, and the specialist requirement of the section.
An OCR A-Level Film Studies guide to applying a filmmaker's theory to documentary. Covers what a filmmaker's theory is, examples (Vertov's kino-eye, Grierson's social purpose, Nichols on documentary), and how to apply a chosen filmmaker's theory to the set documentary, which is the specialist requirement of the section.
16 min answer →

What are the critical debates around documentary in OCR Film Studies, and how do realism, truth, ethics and digital technology bear on the set documentary?

Documentary critical debates: realism and digital technology. The debate over documentary's claim to truth and realism, the ethics of representing real people, and how digital technology has changed documentary production, manipulation and distribution.
An OCR A-Level Film Studies guide to the critical debates around documentary. Covers the debate over documentary's claim to truth and realism, the ethics of representing real people, and how digital technology has changed documentary production, manipulation and distribution, applied to the set documentary.
16 min answer →

What is documentary film in OCR Film Studies, and what are Nichols's modes of documentary?

Documentary form and modes. What documentary is and how it constructs reality, the expository, observational, participatory, reflexive, poetic and performative modes (Nichols), and how documentary uses film form to make arguments.
An OCR A-Level Film Studies guide to documentary form and modes. Covers what documentary is and how it constructs reality, Nichols's modes of documentary (expository, observational, participatory, reflexive, poetic, performative), and how documentary uses film form to make arguments, with how to analyse the set documentary.
17 min answer →