National Year 13 Film Studies
Chapters: 5
1. Component 2 Section A: Global film
European film (one) · Film from outside Europe (one)
- World Cinema: How Films from Different Countries Tell Stories – World cinema means films made outside the big Hollywood system, from every part of the world. Each country has its own industry, money, rules and story habits. To study a global film, look at its context (country, time, society), its style (camera, mise-en-scène, editing, sound, acting) and how it differs from the classical Hollywood way of telling stories.
2. Component 2 Section B: Documentary film
One documentary
- Documentary Film: How Real Life Becomes a Film – A documentary is a film about real people and events. But it is never a plain copy of reality: the filmmaker chooses what to film, how to frame it and in which order to edit it. Documentaries come in modes (expository, observational, participatory, performative and more). Filmmakers like Watkins, Broomfield, Longinotto and Moore hold different ideas about how present and how persuasive a filmmaker should be. Digital technology has made filming cheaper and closer, and raised new questions about truth.
3. Component 2 Section C: Film movements, silent cinema
One silent film option
- Silent Cinema: How Films Told Stories Without Sound – From about 1895 to 1929, films had no recorded sound. They used intertitles, live music, strong acting and bold images. Different movements grew: physical comedy in the USA, montage editing in the Soviet Union, expressionist sets and lighting in Germany, and "city symphony" films that turned real streets into rhythm. Critics still argue whether cinema is best when it records reality (realist) or when it reshapes reality to show feeling and ideas (expressive).
4. Component 2 Section D: Film movements, experimental film 1960-2001
One experimental film option
- Experimental Film: Breaking the Rules of Storytelling – Most films tell a story in a straight line: beginning, middle, end. Experimental films from 1960 to 2001 broke this habit. Some run in real time, some run backwards, some are collages of jump cuts and colour, and some loop like dreams. These choices make viewers work, feel unsure and think about how stories are built. Many of these films are linked to an auteur, a director whose personal style and themes show in every film.
5. Component 3: Production (NEA)
Short film or screenplay
- Filmmaking Basics – Making a film happens in three phases: pre-production (idea, script, storyboard, planning), production (shooting with camera, sound and light) and post-production (editing, sound, music, colour and titles). The camera tells the story through shot size (wide, medium, close-up), angle (high, eye level, low) and movement (pan, tilt, tracking). A crew shares the work: director, producer, camera operator, sound recordist, lighting, actors and editor. Editing chooses, cuts and orders clips so the story flows. Animation, such as stop motion, makes still pictures move by showing many frames each second.