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Northern Ireland · CCEAQ&A
Moving Image ArtsQ&A by dot point
A short Q&A bank for every Northern Ireland Moving Image Arts syllabus dot point. Each question and answer is drawn directly from our worked dot-point page, so you can scan key concepts before opening the long-form answer.
A2 1 Advanced Portfolio
A2 2 Advanced Critical Response
- The A2 2 exam skills: structured comparative analysis of unseen film clips using film-language and film-movement knowledge, and writing director's notes that translate an unseen script extract into specific film-language decisions.5Q&A pairs
- The Classical Hollywood style: continuity editing, the goal-driven protagonist, cause-and-effect narrative, the studio system, invisible technique and closure, and its place as the dominant model of mainstream film.3Q&A pairs
- The French New Wave movement: jump cuts and discontinuous editing, location shooting and handheld camera, the auteur theory, self-reflexivity and playfulness, open narratives, the historical and critical context, and how to recognise it in a clip.3Q&A pairs
- The German Expressionist movement: distorted mise-en-scene and set design, chiaroscuro and low-key lighting, stylised performance, themes of madness and the uncanny, the post-war historical context, and its influence on later cinema.3Q&A pairs
- The Italian Neo-Realist movement: location shooting, non-professional actors, everyday stories of the poor and working class, natural light and long takes, social purpose, the post-war context, and how to recognise realist technique in a clip.3Q&A pairs
- The Soviet Montage movement: the Kuleshov effect, Eisenstein's theory of dialectical montage and the types of montage, Pudovkin's constructive editing, the historical context, and how to recognise montage technique in a clip.3Q&A pairs
AS 1 Foundation Portfolio
AS 2 Critical Response
- Cinematography as film language: shot sizes and framing, camera angle and height, camera movement, focus and depth of field, lens choice, and how these communicate meaning.3Q&A pairs
- Editing as film language: continuity editing and its rules, transitions (cut, dissolve, fade, wipe), pace and rhythm, montage and the Kuleshov effect, eyeline match, shot-reverse-shot, and how editing creates meaning.3Q&A pairs
- Mise-en-scene as a tool of film language: setting and location, lighting, costume and make-up, props, staging and blocking, colour, and composition within the frame, and how they generate meaning.3Q&A pairs
- Narrative and genre as film language: linear and non-linear structure, the three-act structure, Todorov's equilibrium model, open and closed narratives, genre conventions and iconography, and how structure and genre create meaning.3Q&A pairs
- Realism and formalism as the two foundational approaches to film: their aims, their characteristic use of mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound, key theorists (Bazin and the realists; the Soviet formalists), and how to recognise each in a clip.3Q&A pairs
- Sound as film language: diegetic and non-diegetic sound, dialogue, sound effects, ambient sound, music and score, synchronous and asynchronous sound, the sound bridge, and how sound creates meaning.3Q&A pairs