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.
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What this dot point is asking
Section D of Component 02 studies experimental film (1960 to 2000). This dot point 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. Confirm your centre's set experimental film with OCR.
The answer
What the section requires
OCR sets a menu and centres choose the film, so always confirm yours.
What makes a film experimental
A film is experimental when it deliberately challenges or departs from mainstream (especially classical Hollywood) conventions of narrative and form:
- Non-linear or fragmented narrative.
- Jump cuts and discontinuity.
- Self-reflexive devices (direct address, intertitles, breaking the fourth wall).
- Episodic or open structures.
- A refusal of closure or conventional pleasures.
Where mainstream cinema uses continuity editing, linear cause-and-effect, psychological characters and resolved endings, experimental film does otherwise, deliberately.
Movements and tendencies, 1960 to 2000
The period covers a range:
- European art cinema and new waves (the French New Wave's self-conscious style).
- Avant-garde and underground film.
- Later postmodern features that play with structure, time and genre.
The specialist areas
- Auteur. The experimental film as the work of a distinctive director whose signature is this departure from convention.
- Narrative. How the film reworks or breaks narrative norms.
The departures are deliberate and meaningful, not formlessness.
Examples in context
A strong answer reads the film's form against the mainstream and applies the auteur and narrative lenses.
Try this
Q1. Explain what makes a film experimental. [5 marks]
- What the marker wants. Deliberate challenge to mainstream conventions of narrative and form (non-linearity, discontinuity, self-reflexivity, refusal of closure) (AO1).
Q2. Explain the two specialist study areas for experimental film. [10 marks]
- Cue. Auteur (the director's signature as the experiment itself) and narrative (how the film reworks or breaks narrative norms), applied to the set film (AO1 and AO2).
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of OCR exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
OCR H410/02 202215 marksExplore how the experimental film you have studied challenges mainstream conventions. [15]Show worked answer →
An analysis essay (AO1 and AO2), marked by levels of response. The marker rewards experimental form read against the mainstream.
Method. Identify how the film breaks conventions: non-linear or fragmented narrative, self-conscious style (jump cuts, direct address, intertitles), refusal of closure, or challenge to continuity.
Develop. Show how these choices make meaning and position the viewer differently from a mainstream film, tied to the film's context. Form read against the mainstream reaches the top band.
OCR H410/02 202320 marksDiscuss how far the experimental film you have studied uses narrative in unconventional ways. [20]Show worked answer →
An extended essay (AO1 and AO2), shown at the 20-mark cap (Section D tariff around 20), marked by levels of response.
For. Argue the film uses narrative unconventionally: fragmentation, non-linearity, episodic structure, refusal of resolution, or self-reflexivity, shown through specific choices.
Against. Argue it retains some conventional narrative pleasures, or that its experiment is contained within an accessible film.
Judgement. Reach a view on how far the film's narrative is unconventional, grounded in its form. A clear judgement reaches the top band.
Related dot points
- 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.
- 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.
- The narrative approach. How films organise and tell stories (story and plot, range and depth of narration, structure and order, Todorov's equilibrium, binary oppositions, open and closed narratives), and applying narrative analysis to set films.
An OCR A-Level Film Studies guide to the narrative approach. Covers how films organise and tell stories (story and plot, range and depth of narration, structure and order, Todorov's equilibrium, binary oppositions, open and closed narratives), and applying narrative analysis to set films in the exam.
- The auteur approach. The director as the author of a film, the auteur theory and its origins (politique des auteurs, Sarris), recurring style and theme as a signature, and the critique that filmmaking is collaborative and industrial.
An OCR A-Level Film Studies guide to the auteur approach. Covers the director as the author of a film, the origins of auteur theory (politique des auteurs, Sarris), recurring style and theme as a signature, and the critique that filmmaking is collaborative and industrial, with how to apply it in the exam.
- Meaning, response and the contexts of film. How film form makes meaning and shapes response, and the social, cultural, political, historical and institutional contexts that films are produced and received within, and how to weave context into analysis.
An OCR A-Level Film Studies guide to meaning, response and the contexts of film. Covers how film form makes meaning and shapes the spectator's response, the social, cultural, political, historical and institutional contexts films are produced and received within, and how to weave context into analysis without drifting into history.
Sources & how we know this
- OCR A Level Film Studies (H410) specification — OCR (2023)