- A chance for students to explore popular mainstream films from Hollywood as well as films outside the mainstream
- Opportunities to plan and make film sequences as well as create a range of other film-related material like web pages and film posters.
- Assessment through two short examinations (50% external assessment) and three main pieces of internally assessed work (50% internal assessment).
Film is perhaps the major – and most popular – art form of the last century and this new GCSE specification is designed to take students’ everyday experience of film and to extend it into learning about the language and techniques that filmmakers use to give a film meaning to its audience. The course begins by looking at films the students will already be familiar with – Hollywood films – through the study of a genre set by the examination board and then encourages students to perhaps watch films from outside Hollywood for the first time through the study of one set film from outside Hollywood.
The course is delivered through a mixture of traditional classroom teaching, combined with the hands-on study of a range of films which are viewed in the class. Students are encouraged to analyse films and extracts and to bring their own experience of watching films to the course.
The course also allows students to undertake some basic production skills within the course assessment. This can include pitches, adverts, storyboards, posters, press packs or magazine articles.