mediapgce2016: September 2016

Q. How do the two draft courses compare? OCR and Eduqas A-Level Film Studies Draft specifications

	OCR A-Level Film Studies (Draft)	Eduqas A-Level Film Studies (Draft)	COMMENTS / COMPARISON
ASSESSMENT STRUCTURE
	Production/Making Short Film (30%) Production of a 4-5 minute short film or screenplay plus evaluation Learners must study one compilation of British short fiction films + one compilation of British short experimental films. Then, choose from following: - Production of a 5 minute short film - Production of a 10 minute screenplay for a short film (incorporating a digitally photographed storyboard, illustrating careful construction of mise en scene and shot selection, minimum of 20 photographed key frames) Then, write an evaluative analysis of the production in relation to professionally produced set short films. - This is broken down as follows: 1. Non-assessed preliminary activities: - (1a) research (“learners must watch and make notes on each of: [Short Fiction category] Slap, The Voorman, Orbit Ever After, Tight Jeans, Dog Altogether, The Ellington Kid; [Short Experimental: Swimmer, Over, Edmond, White Morning, Beat, Echo, looking at narrative conventions of short film, dramatic qualities, narratives used against conventions of feature film production), - (1b) planning (draft script, writing a location report, notes on casting considerations, storyboard, series of screen tests with notes) 2. Production work (60 marks): see above. 3. Individual Evaluation (30 marks): must use specific terminology, evaluate and analyse, make use of appropriate critical approaches, and discuss micro-elements of film.	Initial Notes on Framework for Analysis for Eduqas, for all 3 components: Throughout the course, the following elements should be considered at all points. They are considered a framework* for the course:* - Key elements of film form: cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing, sound and performance - Structural elements of film form – narrative, processes of narration, role of screenplay in providing narrative structure, genre - How film creates meaning and generates responses, including how it functions as a medium of representation - Film as an aesthetic medium - The spectator and spectatorship - The social, cultural, political, historical, and institutional, including production, contexts of film - Critical approaches to studying film – conceptions of narrative, ideology, the idea of the auteur, how film is constructed - Key debates (realist vs expressive in film and digital) and filmmaker’s theories of film	Similarity rating: ALMOST IDENTICAL
*Non-Exam Assessed Coursework*		Production/Making Short Film (30%) A complete 4-5 minute short film or screenplay plus evaluation Learners choose to produce one of the following: - Production of a 4-5 minute short film - Production of a screenplay for a short film (1600-1800 words) and a digitally photographed storyboard of a key section from the screenplay Then, write an evaluative analysis (1250-1500 words)
*Paper 1*	Film History (35%) [2 hour exam] A mixture of five short and extended questions Study of at least 3 U.S. set films from different periods: - the silent era, (Birth of a Nation, The Goldrush, The Mask Of Zorro, The General, Sunrise, The Wind) - 1930-1960 (Citizen Kane, Singin In The Rain, Stagecoach, Vertigo, Double Indemnity, All That Heaven Allows) - 1961-1990 (2001: A Space Odyssey, Raging Bull, E.T., Do The Right Thing, The Conversation, West Side Story) Plus at least 2 films from two movements, choose from: - Soviet montage (Strike, Battleship Potemkin, Man With A Movie Camera) - German expressionism (Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Metropolis) - Italian neo-realism (Bicycle Thieves, Rome, La Strada) - French newwave (The 400 Blows, A Bout De Souffle, Cleo From 5to7) There is also a list of key concepts (Micro-elements of film, aesthetics, contexts, and movements/developments) that should be studied, and a list of them is included under the following sections: Cinematography, editing, mise-en-scene, sound, performance, the significance of aesthetics, social/cultural/political/historical/institutional contexts, critical approaches to narrative, and critical approaches associated with film. As part of this, students will consider at least two of the theories of film of the following filmmakers: Eisenstein, Kuleshov, Godard, Truffaut, Hitchcock, Scorsese	American and British Film (35%) [3 hour exam] Four essay style questions based on study of six films Six feature length films: Section A: Classical Hollywood (include reference to one US Hollywood studio film) chosen from following: - Casablanca, The Lady from Shanghai, Vertigo, Some Like It Hot Section B: Hollywood since the 1960s (two film study) [reference to two films, one produced between 1961-1990 and one more recent) - 1961-1990 group is Bonnie and Clyde, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, Blade Runner, Do The Right Thing - Recent films group is No Country For Old Men, Inception, Django Unchained, Carol Section C: Contemporary American Independent film: One of the following is studied: - Winters Bone, Frances Ha!, Beasts of The Southern Wild, Boyhood Section D: British (comparative study) [comparison of two British films, one produced between 1930-1960 and one more recent]. One of the following pairs is studied for comparison: - Brief Encounter and Atonement - A Matter of Life and Death - The Third Man and The Constant Gardeber - Sapphire and Secrets and Lies	Similarity rating: Choice of film varies, and areas of study are different from paper to paper. For example, French new wave is covered in paper 1 of OCR, but paper 2 of Eduqas. Each course has a different emphasis on which movements are important/worthy of study.
*Paper 2*	Critical Approaches To Film (35%) [2 hour exam] Three essay type responses Critical approaches to narrative, genre, representations and spectatorship. Must study one film from EACH of the below categories: - Section A: Contemporary British (Pride, Gone Too Far, Ex-Machina, The Angel’s Share, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Skyfall) - Section A: Contemporary US (Guardians Of The Galaxy, The Hunger Games, Star Wars The Force Awakens, The Dark Knight Rises, Zootopia, Jurassic World) - Section B: Documentary (The Stories We Tell, Searching For Sugarman, A Syrian Love Story, The Act of Killing, Man On Wire, Citizenfour) - Section C: Ideology (Choose Thematic Category First, 1. Family And Home, 2. Outsiders or 3. Conflict, and then choose 3 films from same theme but from different categories): Non-European Non-English language: (Family: A Separation, Our Little Sister; Outsiders: Yojimbo, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Conflict: Battle of Algiers, The Grandmaster) English language, Non-US: (Family: Room, Animal Kingdom; Outsiders: The Babadook, The Piano; Conflict: District 9, Mad Max) US independent: (Family: Moonrise Kingdom, Tree of Life; Outsiders: A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, Elephant; Conflict: The Hurt Locker, Whiplash) The second component is broken down into topics and key ideas: narrative, genre, representations, contexts of filmmaking, meaning and responses: spectatorship, digital film and new possibilities for cinema, auteurism, ideology.	Varieties of film (35%) [3 hour exam] Four essay style questions based on five feature films and a compilation of short films Section A: Film movements (two-film study) Two films representing film movements are studied, one from group 1 below and one from group 2 below. At least one silent film must be selected from across the groups. - Group 1 (Experimental) is: SILENT: European Expressionist and Surrealist film: The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, U, Un Chien Andalou SILENT: Montage/Constructivism: Man With A Movie Camera, U, A Propos De Nice Feminist Avant-Garde: Daisies, 15, Saute Ma Ville Digital Experimentation: Timecode - Group 2 is: SILENT: Expressionism and Hollywood Melodrama: Sunrise, U SILENT: Vaudeville and American Comedy: Keaton Short Films – One Week, The Scarecrow, The High Sign, Cops French New Wave: Vivre Sa Vie Asian New Wave: Fallen Angels Section B: Documentary film: Requires reference to one documentary film. - Sisters In Law, The Arbor, Stories We Tell, 20,000 Days On Earth Section C: Global film (two film study) Must reference two global films, one non-English language European and one Non-English language produced outside Europe. - Group 1 is: Pan’s Labyrinth, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Ida, Girlhood - Group 2 is: Dil Se, House of Flying Daggers, Timbuktu, Wild Tales Section D: Short film: Must reference a compilation of short film. All of these films are studied: - About A Girl, Wasp, High Maintenance, New Boy, Connect, Curfew, The Gunfighter	Similarity rating: Choice of film varies, and areas of study are different from paper to paper. For example, French new wave is covered in paper 1 of OCR, but paper 2 of Eduqas. Each course has a different emphasis on which movements are important/worthy of study.
ADVANTAGES
OCR: - “Requires a similarly extensive range of films to be studied to the Eduqas A-Level course, but without having to sit two three-hour terminal exams” (S.Connelly) - Scope of choice: Although the range of film movements and styles are prescriptive, “students can choose from a more diverse range of both films and directors” than the equivalent Eduqas course. - Clear specification to centres about the kind of technical requirements that are expected for production work. - “Accessible and engaging; attractive to many students and teachers” (S.Connelly)		EDUQAS: - A good introduction to Film Studies degree. “The breadth of and demands made by the course mean that effectively it works as a Film Studies degree in miniature” (S.Connelly). It is an attempt to get away from the ‘dumbing down’ label. “The Eduqas AS and A-Level Film Studies courses are impressive, challenging and robust qualifications which clearly establish the subject as an intellectual discipline.” (S.Connelly) - Lots of content and an attempt to compress much into the degree: “no one with any knowledge of education will be able to accuse it of lack of rigour” (S.Connelly) - “A very clear framework for the study of the required film text set out in eight distinct sections… many teachers and students will find this a clear and helpful guide to terms of reference used in both the exams and the academic discipline more widely.” (S.Connelly) - “The option to do a non-practical production in the form of a screenplay will be a plus point for some centres, especially those with limited resources.” (S.Connelly)
DISADVANTAGES
OCR: - “Greater choice sometimes brings greater complexity” (S.Connelly); giving students the chance to answer a mixture of long and short questions means that they must be used to both approaches. - Frameworks and technical terminology not always clear: “Finally, the framework for studying film is perhaps not explained as clearly as it could be, with contexts, meanings and ‘micro-elements of film form’ sometimes used seemingly interchangeably to describe the knowledge and understanding that students are expected to apply to the set film texts.” (S.Connelly) - The engagement and accessibility [of this course] does sometimes seem to be achieved by perhaps taking some short cuts that other qualifications do not take.” (S.Connelly)		EDUQAS: - Demanding and difficult: “The breadth of and demands made by the course mean that effectively it works as a Film Studies degree in miniature, with students being expected to watch, analyse and make film at a level previously not required of students in this age group” (S.Connelly) - “The sheer scale of the A-Level qualification will be a daunting prospect for many teachers and students and there is some sense that the content of the course has been deliberately designed to make it seem difficult” (S.Connelly) - Difficult for teachers, as well as students: “The length of the terminal exams and the scale of the production work alongside this will mean that as well as teaching time, teachers will have to put aside time to teach students the skills required to produce a self-contained film (as opposed to an extract) as well as preparing them to face the kind of exam that students have not had to participate in since the late 1990s.” (S.Connelly) - Prescriptive: “Teachers will have their own sense of what would constitute influential and significant silent, European or Hollywood texts, but most will be dismayed to see a fairly limited focus on films made by black and Asian directors… there is no real option for centres to explore diverse and unusual film texts outside the mainstream or the fairly limited purview of well-established film journals, and this, in turn, denies students the opportunity to discuss fairly integral questions of cultural value, taste and social class. For some teachers the relatively limited choice of films will mean that their work is easier, while for others this restriction will be an opportunity missed.” (S.Connelly) - Demanding nature might mean that teaching standards fall: “The scale and content of the qualification may mean that students and teachers are hard pushed to have time to consider the issues brought up by texts, and end up instead learning a set of rote arguments about the very many films they have watched.”