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EnglandFilm Studies

Silent and experimental film (Component 02 film movements)

5 dot points across 5 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do you analyse the film form of a silent film in the OCR exam, given there is no synchronised dialogue?

Analysing silent film form. Reading the cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing, stylised performance, intertitles and musical accompaniment of a silent film, and writing the levels-of-response essay that the silent cinema section rewards.
An OCR A-Level Film Studies guide to analysing silent film form. Covers reading the cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing, stylised performance, intertitles and musical accompaniment of a silent film, and writing the levels-of-response essay the silent cinema section rewards.
16 min answer →

What does the OCR experimental film 1960 to 2000 study require, and what makes a film experimental?

Experimental film (1960 to 2000). What the study requires, what makes a film experimental (challenging mainstream conventions of narrative and form), the movements and tendencies of the period, and the specialist focus on auteur and narrative.
An OCR A-Level Film Studies guide to experimental film (1960 to 2000) in Component 02. Covers what the study requires, what makes a film experimental (challenging mainstream conventions of narrative and form), the movements and tendencies of the period, and the specialist focus on auteur and narrative.
17 min answer →

How do you apply auteur and narrative to the set experimental film, the two specialist study areas for the section?

Applying auteur and narrative to experimental film. How the director's signature works in experimental film, how experimental narrative breaks classical norms (non-linearity, self-reflexivity, refusal of closure), and integrating both into the Section D essay.
An OCR A-Level Film Studies guide to applying auteur and narrative to experimental film. Covers how the director's signature works in experimental film, how experimental narrative breaks classical norms (non-linearity, self-reflexivity, refusal of closure), and integrating both into the Section D essay.
16 min answer →

What are German Expressionism, Soviet montage and silent comedy, and what aesthetics define each silent movement?

Silent film movements: German Expressionism, Soviet montage and silent comedy. The aesthetics, key techniques, historical contexts and influence of the major silent movements, as the basis for studying a set silent film as part of a movement.
An OCR A-Level Film Studies guide to the silent film movements. Covers German Expressionism, Soviet montage and silent comedy: the aesthetics, key techniques, historical contexts and influence of each, as the basis for studying a set silent film as part of a movement.
16 min answer →

What does the OCR silent cinema study require, and how is silent cinema studied as a film movement?

Silent cinema as a film movement. What the silent cinema study requires, studying silent film as a movement (its historical context, aesthetics and development), how meaning is made without synchronised dialogue, and the specialist focus on film movements and stylistic development.
An OCR A-Level Film Studies guide to silent cinema as a film movement. Covers what the silent cinema study requires, studying silent film as a movement (its historical context, aesthetics and development), how meaning is made without synchronised dialogue, and the specialist focus on film movements and stylistic development.
17 min answer →