Why study Film Studies?

Studying Film will deepen your understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the major art form of the last 120 years. We have all been ‘cineliterate’ since early childhood, but few realise what a complex act of decoding we take on when we watch a film. Studying cinema as a medium, as art and as a social and economic institution, you will engage with a wide range of different kinds of films, developing skills of observation, critical analysis, and personal reflection.

What does the course involve?

You will be introduced to the diverse range of film forms and film styles that have developed in different places through the history of cinema. This will include analysing how film ‘works’; how the interaction between spectator and the use of editing, sound and visual storytelling creates meaning. There will be opportunities to put this learning into practice through practical filmmaking. We will also analyse how the context of filmmaking affects style and ideology through study of a diverse range of film, including Hollywood genre films, experimental film, and British cinema. There will also be a focus on international film movements. With its emphases on visual storytelling and response, Film Studies extends areas of experience covered by Literature, Theatre and Art History specifications. With its emphases on depth and diversity, it goes much further than Media Studies in providing a foundation in the study of film texts, producers, audiences, messages, and critical approaches. With its emphases on the interaction between audiences and film and psychoanalytical approaches to reading cinema, there are links with the Social Sciences. With its emphases on the context of film production, there are parallels with the study of History.

How will I be assessed?

The A Level course will involve two exams: one focusing on American and British film, the other on varieties of film. Exams will total 70% of the mark. 30% will come from a creative production of either a short film (4-5 minutes) or a screenplay (1600- 1800 words), plus an evaluative analysis of the creative work.

Leading to a career in?

Filmmaking, film theory, film criticism and film history, the social sciences, the media, journalism the performing arts, and marketing.