abateman | Friday October 16, 2015
Categories: Theory, Film Theory, Hot Entries
Life, as no doubt we have all noticed, is for the most part rather more mundane and less predictable than that and films like Chungking Express seek to capture that ‘normality’. The real messages that the film is trying to convey about Hong Kong, its people, their relationships, globalisation and the apprehension felt in the run up to the handover of Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule in 1997 is told not through the traditional narrative structure but through the visual elements such as…
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Rob Miller | Monday September 15, 2014
Categories: EDUQAS A2, Theory, OCR A Level, EDUQAS A Level, OCR A2, A Level, Hot Entries, Audience, Representation, Key Concepts
The following theorists represent a selection of film theorists (from many) whose work can be cited in both A Level Film Studies coursework and external assessment, for both WJEC and OCR. For example, OCR Film Studies Section B F633 suggests: “candidates are encouraged to engage with critical frameworks relevant to the topic area? e.g. Film Regulation, Authorship and Film and Audience Experience while WJEC Film Studies FM4 states that students should: “apply key concepts and critical…
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Emily Hughes | Tuesday March 18, 2014
Categories: EDUQAS A2, Theory, EDUQAS A Level, EDUQAS AS, Spectatorship Theory, A Level, Hot Entries, Audience, Film Language, Representation, Key Concepts
click on image to enlarge The movies: flickering images running past our eyes at 24 frames per second. They have the power to make us cry, make us sit on the edge of our seat, exhilarate and infuriate but how? The narratives that unfold in front of us are products, made up stories. The events we see on screen are just actors pretending to be other people, increasingly a lot of what we see is so devoid of reality that it is created on a computer through CGI, it’s all just make believe. So…
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jclarke | Tuesday February 11, 2014
Categories: Theory, Film Theory, EDUQAS A Level, EDUQAS AS, British Film, Production Companies, A Level, Film Industry, Hot Entries, Film Distribution, Film Marketing, Film Publicity, Audience, Film Promotion, Film Analysis, Film Language, Representation, Films & Case Studies, Non-Hollywood Films, Genres & Case Studies, Analysis, Key Concepts
click on image to enlarge While we often first think and refer to contemporary examples of film stars when we study film, it’s useful and valuable to consider film stars whose work has featured across several decades. More specifically for us as British audiences, it’s of particular interest to consider British film stars both in terms of the interest of their performances, and also in terms of how these performances offer representations of national identity and gender in combination.…
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jclarke | Saturday November 30, 2013
Categories: EDUQAS A2, Theory, OCR A Level, EDUQAS A Level, OCR A2, Production Companies, Spectatorship Theory, A Level, Film Industry, Hot Entries, Film Distribution, Censorship & Regulation, Film Marketing, Film Publicity, Audience, Film Promotion, Film Analysis, Film Language, Representation, Analysis, Key Concepts
click on image to enlarge Cinema is now nearly 120 years old and it’s a magnificently broad, deep, complex and exciting subject. It’s understandably easy to think that the way films are now is how they have always been, in terms of their technology and particularly how they organize (tell) their stories. However, this isn’t the case and so it’s important for us to be aware that all forms of cultural expression evolve across time and that they are subject to many influences, intended or…
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Amy Charlewood | Tuesday November 19, 2013
Categories: EDUQAS A2, Theory, EDUQAS A Level, EDUQAS AS, Experimental, Avant-Garde, Documentary, Spectatorship Theory, Cinema Verite, A Level, Hot Entries, Audience, Film Analysis, Film Language, Representation, Genres & Case Studies, Analysis, Key Concepts
click on image to enlarge Definition and Introduction As one might expect the term experimental cinema is difficult to define clearly and by its very nature avoids simplistic categorisation. Within the movement itself there has been frequent debate over its definition. Fred Camper discusses experimental film-makers such as Peter Kubelka and Stan Brackage who questioned titles like ‘Avant-garde’ for suggesting experimental cinema is intrinsically European, ‘different…
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Amy Charlewood | Monday February 04, 2013
Categories: EDUQAS A2, Theory, Film Theory, EDUQAS A Level, Amores Perros, World Cinema, A Level, Hot Entries, Audience, Film Analysis, Film Language, Representation, Films & Case Studies, Analysis, Key Concepts
It is important to firstly consider the context of this unit as an exploration of world cinema. World cinema is difficult to define; with most definitions reverting to that it can be defined simply as any cinema outside of the globally dominant industry of Hollywood or any non English language cinema. Often discussed as an alternative to Hollywood’s ‘dream factory’, World cinema tends to be perceived as possessing certain features offering an insight into another country’s culture, a…
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jclarke | Thursday December 20, 2012
Categories: Theory, Film Theory, EDUQAS A Level, EDUQAS AS, Social Realism, British Film, Production Companies, A Level, Film Industry, Hot Entries, Film Distribution, Film Marketing, Film Publicity, Audience, Film Promotion, Film Analysis, Trainspotting, Film Language, Representation, Films & Case Studies, Non-Hollywood Films, Genres & Case Studies, Analysis, Key Concepts
Ewan McGregor is a major British film star who has appeared in a wide range of films that have been released globally since 1994. His career has combined performances in a range of lower budgeted feature films and work in highly budgeted, event films released by the major film studios. Over the course of almost twenty years McGregor has appeared in nearly fifty films. Professionally trained as an actor at London’s Guildhall, McGregor hails from Scotland and the narrative of his career…
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nicoleponsford | Thursday August 23, 2012
Categories: Theory, Film Theory, A Level, GCSE, Hot Entries, Film Language, Key Concepts
Apparatus Film Theory ‘Apparatus’ is another word for the means in which a specific production is created. In the case of film / cinema, the film projector and the screen. Apparatus Theory is a model of spectatorship and institutions. It argues that cinema is ideological (based on ideas) because the films are created to represent reality. This means that because film is created to illustrate different ideas, everything has meaning - from the camerawork to the editing. It argues that…
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Richard Gent | Wednesday April 25, 2012
Categories: Theory, Film Theory, Micro Analysis, Hot Entries, Shot Analysis, Film Analysis, Representation, Analysis, Key Concepts
We had an enquiry recently about Postmodernism which led to some productive responses. Ellen Grundy’s approach involved: (L)ooking at representation and postcolonialism (as follows): A research task on Gurinder Chadha and her films. How do her life and the themes of her films suggest a post colonial identity? For example Bend it like Beckham as a coming together of different ethnicities / cultures. The classic clip of going for an ‘English’ in Goodness Gracious Me that turns…
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vikiwalden | Thursday November 17, 2011
Categories: Theory, Film Theory, A Level, Hot Entries, Film Analysis, Film Language, Analysis, Key Concepts
What is Auteur Theory? There are various debates underlining the existence of Auteurs; how to define an “Auteur? has been much theorized. The original concept took birth in the pages of the Cahiers du Cinema in the 1950s, particularly voiced by French Nouvelle Vague filmmaker, Francois Truffaut. Truffaut was both very critical of the trend in French cinema to identify the author as the screenwriter and very aware of both his, and his other Nouvelle Vague counterparts’ signature styles. In…
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