Q. How do the two draft courses compare? OCR and Eduqas A-Level Film Studies Draft specifications
OCR
A-Level Film Studies (Draft)
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Eduqas
A-Level Film Studies (Draft)
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COMMENTS / COMPARISON
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ASSESSMENT STRUCTURE
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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:
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Production of a 5 minute short film
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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.
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This is broken
down as follows:
1.
Non-assessed preliminary activities:
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(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),
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(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.
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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:
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Key
elements of film form: cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing, sound and
performance
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Structural
elements of film form – narrative, processes of narration, role of screenplay
in providing narrative structure, genre
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How
film creates meaning and generates responses, including how it functions as a
medium of representation
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Film
as an aesthetic medium
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The
spectator and spectatorship
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The
social, cultural, political, historical, and institutional, including
production, contexts of film
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Critical
approaches to studying film – conceptions of narrative, ideology, the idea of
the auteur, how film is constructed
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Key
debates (realist vs expressive in film and digital) and filmmaker’s theories
of film
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Similarity rating:
ALMOST IDENTICAL
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Non-Exam Assessed Coursework
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Production/Making Short Film (30%)
A
complete 4-5 minute short film or screenplay plus evaluation
Learners choose to produce one of the following:
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Production of a 4-5 minute short film
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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)
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Paper 1
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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:
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the silent era, (Birth of a Nation, The Goldrush, The Mask Of Zorro,
The General, Sunrise, The Wind)
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1930-1960 (Citizen Kane, Singin In The Rain, Stagecoach, Vertigo,
Double Indemnity, All That Heaven Allows)
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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:
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Soviet montage (Strike, Battleship Potemkin, Man With A Movie Camera)
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German expressionism (Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari,
Metropolis)
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Italian neo-realism (Bicycle Thieves, Rome, La Strada)
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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
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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)
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1961-1990 group is Bonnie and Clyde, One Flew
Over The Cuckoos Nest, Blade Runner, Do The Right Thing
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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:
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Brief Encounter and Atonement
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A Matter of Life and Death
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The Third Man and The Constant Gardeber
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Sapphire and Secrets and Lies
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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.
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Paper 2
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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:
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Section
A: Contemporary British (Pride, Gone Too Far,
Ex-Machina, The Angel’s Share, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Skyfall)
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Section
A: Contemporary US (Guardians Of The Galaxy, The Hunger
Games, Star Wars The Force Awakens, The Dark Knight Rises, Zootopia, Jurassic
World)
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Section
B: Documentary (The Stories We Tell, Searching For
Sugarman, A Syrian Love Story, The Act of Killing, Man On Wire, Citizenfour)
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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Group 1 is:
Pan’s Labyrinth, The
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Ida, Girlhood
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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
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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.
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ADVANTAGES
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OCR:
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“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)
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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.
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Clear specification to centres about the kind of
technical requirements that are expected for production work.
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“Accessible and engaging; attractive to many students
and teachers” (S.Connelly)
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EDUQAS:
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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)
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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)
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“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)
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“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)
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DISADVANTAGES
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OCR:
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“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.
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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)
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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)
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EDUQAS:
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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)
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“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)
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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)
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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)
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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.”
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