This is an exciting, two-year course designed to introduce students to the critical analysis of films from around the world and the skills required to script, edit, shoot and ultimately produce their own portfolio of short films.
The Course and Assessment
Portfolio and Film Reel – SL = 40% & HL = 25% Reel 1, Year 12 due in November Reel 2, Year 12 due in March Reel 2, Year 13 due in October Students at SL and HL undertake a variety of filmmaking exercises in a range of film production roles in order to fulfill a series of defined filmmaker’s intentions. Students acquire and develop practical skills and techniques through participation in film exercises, creative explorations and the creation of at least one completed short film. Students reflect on how learning has further contributed to their understanding of film production roles and the extent to which their filmmaker’s intentions were fulfilled. Each student submits a film portfolio for assessment that includes Portfolio Pages (3 pages maximum per film production role) and a list of all sources used and a film reel (3 minutes maximum per film production role, including one completed film).
Collaborative Film Project – HL only = 35% Year 13 – due in February Students must work collaboratively to plan and create an original completed film. Core production teams of two to four students will produce a short film and each write a project report that supports and evidences their chosen film production role. The focus of this task is on the nature of collaboration throughout the creative process and on the student’s ability to effectively contribute to the successful realization of the group’s agreed intentions. In the written work, students will need to make clear links to films and filmmakers they have encountered, concepts and contexts explored, and skills and techniques acquired during the course.
Comparative Study – SL = 30% & HL = 20% Year 13 – due in September Students at SL and HL carry out research into a chosen area of film focus (genre, theory or film movement), identifying and comparing two films from within that area and presenting their discoveries as a recorded multimedia comparative study – in essence, a 10-minute documentary. The films must be selected from different time periods and from different cultural contexts.
Textual Analysis – SL = 30% & HL = 20% Year 13 – due in November . Students at both SL and HL demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of how meaning is constructed in film. They do this through a written analysis of a prescribed film text, based on a chosen extract (lasting no more than five minutes) from a film that is nominated by the exam board. Students consider the cultural context of the film and a variety of film elements in their analysis, which is written using appropriate subject-specific terminology. Each student submits a written textual analysis (1,750 words maximum) and a list of all sources used. There is no final examination
Course objectives DP film students require courage, passion and curiosity.• Courage—to experiment and create, to explore ideas through action and to harness imagination. • Passion—to communicate and to act communally, and to research and formulate ideas, communicating discoveries in a variety of forms. • Curiosity—about themselves and others and the world around them, and about the limitless possibilities of human expression through film. Who is this course for? Any student who wants to explore their creativity and develop a range of skills in communication, film production and analysis Entry requirements Film is an ab initio subject and, as such has no minimum required attainment from GCSE.
Future pathways Students interested in the discipline have gone on to study film, media, communications and advertising. Equally, with an average score above Level 5, the majority of students use Film as a positive addition to their overall IB score.