Film Studies syllabus, dot point by dot point

Institutional contexts and the development of film: how films are produced, distributed and exhibited, the difference between mainstream and independent film, and key developments in the history of film and film technology that learners study as a timeline.

The contexts of film as a core study area: the social, cultural, historical and political contexts in which a film is produced and received, and how these contexts shape its content, its representations and the way audiences understand it.

The production component (Component 3, NEA): an overview of the non-examined assessment, in which learners produce either a moving image extract or a screenplay extract from a set brief, plus an evaluative analysis, drawing on the film form and influences studied across the course.

Exam technique: the structure of the two written components and the assessment objectives, and how to answer film-language questions by analysing the key elements of film form (naming the technique, describing the effect and explaining the meaning) and by managing time across stepped and extended questions.

Cinematography as a key element of film form: camerawork (shot type, camera angle, camera movement, framing and composition, focus and depth of field) and lighting and colour, and how each choice creates meaning and generates a response in the viewer.

Editing as a key element of film form: how shots are selected and joined, including transitions (cut, fade, dissolve, wipe), continuity editing, the pace and rhythm of cutting, and montage and juxtaposition, and how these create meaning and generate a response.

Sound as a key element of film form: diegetic and non-diegetic sound, dialogue, the musical score, sound effects, silence and the sound bridge, and how these create meaning and generate a response in the viewer.

Mise-en-scene as a key element of film form: everything placed within the frame, including setting and location, props, costume, hair and make-up, staging and blocking, and the use of lighting and colour within the scene, and how these create meaning and generate a response.

Performance as an element of film form: how actors create meaning through facial expression, gesture and body language, movement and posture, vocal delivery (tone, pace and volume) and the use of space between characters (proxemics), and how this generates a response.

Aesthetics and film style as a study area: how the combined elements of film form create a distinctive look, feel and atmosphere, including visual style, tone and the idea of the auteur, and how style itself carries meaning.

Genre as a study area: how films are grouped by shared conventions, including iconography, settings, character types, narratives and themes, and the ideas of repetition and variation, sub-genre and hybridity, and why genre matters to audiences and the industry.

Narrative as a study area: how a film is structured, including plot and story, openings and endings, linear and non-linear structure, the function of characters, binary oppositions, and models such as Todorov's equilibrium, and how narrative shapes meaning and response.

Representation as a study area: how film constructs versions of people, places, groups, issues and events through selection and film form, including stereotypes, point of view and ideology, and how representations can be questioned and read for their messages and values.

Contemporary UK film and specialist writing (Component 2, Section C): studying a contemporary UK film with a focus on aesthetics and film style, and answering the stepped specialist-writing question that builds towards an extended, evaluative response.

Global film (Component 2, Sections A and B): studying a global English-language film with a focus on narrative, and a global non-English-language film with a focus on representation, applying the key elements of film form and considering cultural context.

The US film comparative study (Component 1, Section A): comparing two mainstream US films from different eras, focusing on the key elements of film form and how each film reflects its historical and institutional context, and writing a comparison rather than two separate analyses.

The US independent film (Component 1, Section B): studying a US independent film with a focus on the key elements of film form and on representation, and on how being made outside the major studio system shapes the film's style and subject matter.