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.
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What this dot point is asking
The experimental film section's specialist areas are auteur and narrative. This dot point 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.
The answer
The auteur lens in experimental film
What is special here is that the experiment itself is often the signature: the director's habitual departure from convention (a recognisable use of jump cuts, direct address, fragmentation or a particular visual approach). So the auteur reading and the analysis of experimental form become the same thing.
The narrative lens
Reading the film through narrative shows precisely how and to what effect it departs from the norm.
Integrating the two lenses
Because the experiment is both the director's signature and a reworking of narrative, the two lenses reinforce each other:
- The film's unconventional narrative is the expression of an auteur.
- The auteur's signature is a way of telling stories.
The exam skill
Integrate auteur and narrative into one argument about the set film, grounded in specific formal and narrative choices, weigh the limits of each lens, and reach a judgement. The section is marked by levels of response.
Examples in context
A strong answer integrates auteur and narrative into one argument and reaches a judgement.
Try this
Q1. Explain why the experiment is often the auteur's signature in experimental film. [5 marks]
- What the marker wants. The director's habitual departure from convention (jump cuts, fragmentation, self-reflexivity) is itself the recurring signature, so auteur and experimental form coincide (AO1).
Q2. Analyse how the set experimental film breaks classical narrative norms. [10 marks]
- Cue. Show non-linearity, self-reflexivity, episodic structure or refusal of closure against the linear, resolved classical norm, reaching meaning and effect (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 far the experimental film you have studied can be understood as the work of an auteur. [15]Show worked answer →
An analysis essay (AO1 and AO2), marked by levels of response. The marker rewards the auteur lens applied to experimental form.
Method. Identify the director's signature: the recurring experimental style and themes (non-linearity, self-reflexivity, a distinctive visual approach) traced through the set film.
Develop. Show how the experiment is itself the signature, and weigh the collaborative critique. The auteur lens applied to specific form reaches the top band.
OCR H410/02 202320 marksDiscuss how narrative and auteur together help you understand the experimental film you have studied. [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's experimental narrative (fragmentation, self-reflexivity, refusal of closure) is the expression of an auteur's signature, integrating both lenses through specific choices.
Against. Argue the lenses have limits (filmmaking is collaborative; some narrative experiment is conventional within art cinema).
Judgement. Reach a view on how far auteur and narrative explain the film, grounded in its form. A clear judgement reaches the top band.
Related dot points
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Auteur, narrative and choosing critical approaches. How auteur and narrative work as critical approaches, how to match an approach to the question and the set film, combining approaches, and reaching the judgement the higher-tariff levels-of-response essays reward.
An OCR A-Level Film Studies guide to using critical approaches in essays. Covers how auteur and narrative work as critical approaches, matching an approach to the question and the set film, combining approaches, and reaching the judgement the higher-tariff levels-of-response essays reward.
- 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)