AS Film Studies

This stimulating one year course offers students the opportunity to learn the language of film, through both practical and theory based work. Early on, students also learn to analyse film techniques and pick apart how these communicate to the audience. Much of this section is essay based, and some parts of the course share similarities with English Literature. The course welcomes film lovers and suits those who have or haven’t studied film before. Students are also taught the technical and creative elements of film production and are given experience of using high definition cameras, mics, lighting and Final Cut, a semi-professional editing software on macs. In small groups students then plan, shoot, edit and evaluate their own short film sequence. AS Film Studies consists of 40% coursework: VIDEO - production of a two minute opening sequence of a film. ESSAY - analysing a sequence from a film of the student’s choice (1500 words). The rest of the course is exam based, with 3 topics including the British crime genre and how the film industry works. We also compare contemporary British and American films and how they communicate meaning in different countries.

6 GCSEs Grade ‘A*-C’ including B in English Language & C in Maths Does not require GCSE Media or Film studies (but this would be useful).