Film is the most important art form of the last 150 years. Not only does it entertain and captivate but it can also stimulate debate and change minds. As an art form, it functions at the intersection with commerce and industry, generating hundreds of millions, in some cases billions of dollars whilst simultaneously providing audiences with unforgettable experiences. Simply put the movies are magic.
In Film Studies, we look at some of the mechanics that drive the cinematic experience whilst also enhancing its pleasure. By the end of the course you will be fully cine-literate, able to analyse and think about films as groups and movements but also as cultural artefacts representative of the time and place in which they were made. You will have engaged with filmmaking as a practical pursuit as well, through writing screenplays and directing short films yourselves.
Films Studies is now taught in all the best universities in the world, including St Andrews and Cambridge in the UK, and is often taken as a joint degree alongside English Literature with which it shares many characteristics.
As an A-Level, The subject combines particularly well with Art, English, History, Classics, Modern Languages, Psychology and Business Studies, though since it is multidisciplinary, Film Studies can complement any combination of subjects.
The course is assessed through two written exam papers worth 35% of the overall A-Level grade each, and a coursework component worth 30%.
For the exams we will study the following films in relation specific key concepts.
Hollywood 1930-1990
- Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942)
- Do The Right Thing (Lee, 1989)
American Film Since 2005
- No Country For Old Men (Coen Bros, 2005)
- Frances Ha! (Baumbach, 2012)
British Film Since 1995
- Trainspotting (Boyle, 1996)
- Shaun of the Dead (Wright, 2004)
Global Film
- Victoria (Schipper, Germany, 2015)
- Wild Tales (Szifron, Argentina, 2014)
Documentary Film
- Amy (Kapadia, UK, 2015)
- Kurt and Courtney, Broomfield, UK, 1998)
Film Movements – Silent Cinema
Film Movements – Experimental Cinema
- Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, US, 1994)
For the coursework unit, each student will write and direct their own 5 minute short using their colleagues from the class as crew.