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Viewing entries from category: Theory

Amores Perros A Level Film Case Study »

Richard Gent | Tuesday March 28, 2023

Categories: Analysis, Film Analysis, Shot Analysis, Title Sequences, Films & Case Studies, World Cinema, Amores Perros, Genres & Case Studies, Mexican, Social Realism, Key Concepts, Audience, Film Language, Genre, Narrative, Representation, Research, Starters, KS5 Film Studies Starters, Theory, Auteur Theory, Film Theory

Copyright © 2018 Edusites. All rights reserved. Permission granted to reproduce for educational use within the subscribing school only. Copying or lending of any part of this document in any form or by any means to external bodies and / or individuals is prohibited. In studying a film such as Amores Perros, a film that’s widely regarded as a ‘classic’, there’s a wealth of discourse to engage with. Worth noting immediately is that translated into English, the title…
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IB Film Theory, History and Textual Analysis »

Richard Gent | Friday January 26, 2018

Categories: IB Film, IB, IB Film Resources, Analysis, Film History, Film Industry, Films & Case Studies, American, Hollywood Films, Non-Hollywood Films, Silent Era, World Cinema, Genres & Case Studies, Key Concepts, Audience, Film Language, Genre, Narrative, Representation, Key Skills, Research, Film Research, Theory, Auteur Theory, Film Theory, Queer Theory, Spectatorship Theory

So what do we need to do for students and teachers to perform brilliantly? Our resources are a guide to producing critically autonomous students who gain a wide range of skills in the study of film and truly make the transition from film fan to film student. Reading film Examine film as an art form, studying a broad range of film texts from a variety of cultural contexts and analysing how film elements combine to create meaning. Contextualising film Explore the evolution of film across time and…
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Teaching Film with Edusites »

Barry Rainsford | Wednesday September 13, 2017

Categories: A Level, OCR A Level, EDUQAS A Level, Analysis, Film Analysis, Film Industry, Films & Case Studies, Key Concepts, Audience, Film Language, Genre, Narrative, Representation, Key Skills, Cinematography, Editing, Filming, Mise-en-Scene, Planning, Pre-Production, Reflective Analysis, A Level Film, Posters, Theory, Auteur Theory, Film Theory, Queer Theory, Spectatorship Theory, Theorists

The Edusites programme of study for A Level Film has been designed to provide a Core Unit for each term to help students develop the right level of knowledge and understanding of the key critical approaches and all the framework concepts of narrative, genre, representations, and spectatorship.  Our NEA Support Materials will focus on Making a Short Film for OCR NEA and Production for Eduqas NEA. Edusites A Level Film Programme of Study: Unit 1 Language+ OCR - click to view Unit 1 Language+…
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The Effective Use of Theory in Film Studies »

abateman | Friday October 16, 2015

Categories: Hot Entries, Theory, Film Theory

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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Happy Together (Hong Kong 1997) Case Study »

jclarke | Tuesday October 07, 2014

Categories: A Level, EDUQAS A Level, EDUQAS A2, FM4, Section C: Single Film Critical Study, Analysis, Film Analysis, Film Industry, Film Distribution, Film Marketing, Films & Case Studies, World Cinema, Happy Together, Genres & Case Studies, Drama, Romance, Hot Entries, Theory, Auteur Theory, Queer Theory

click on image to enlarge FM4: Varieties of Film Experience – Issues and Debates Section C: Single Film – Critical Study Introduction Happy Together is a feature film directed by Wong Kar-wai. It was released in 1997, the year that Hong Kong’s governance from Britain ended and governance from China began. The fact that Happy Together begins with passports being stamped might well resonate with Hong Kong audiences particularly with when the film was released. We might suggest that a…
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Recommended A2 Film Studies Theorists »

Rob Miller | Monday September 15, 2014

Categories: A Level, OCR A Level, OCR A2, EDUQAS A Level, EDUQAS A2, FM3, FM4, Section A: World Cinema, Section B: Spectatorship Topics, Section C: Single Film Critical Study, Hot Entries, Key Concepts, Audience, Representation, Theory, Theorists

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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WJEC A2 Film Studies FM4 Section A World Cinema Bollywood A Grade Exemplar »

Rob Miller | Wednesday September 03, 2014

Categories: A Level, EDUQAS A Level, EDUQAS A2, FM4, Section A: World Cinema, Analysis, Film Analysis, Films & Case Studies, World Cinema, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Shree 420, Genres & Case Studies, Bollywood, Hot Entries, Key Concepts, Audience, Film Language, Representation, Theory, Auteur Theory

click on image to enlarge By comparing the cinematic styles used in the films you have studied for this topic, is it possible to identify a distinctive ‘National Cinema’? Indian cinema means different things to different people and there are a lot of different cinematic styles originating from the Indian subcontinent. Stereotypically, when western audiences without cultural capital or knowledge think of Indian films the iconic name ‘Bollywood’ comes to mind, or less widely known outside…
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WJEC AS/A2 Film Studies Suspension of Disbelief Believing in Make Believe »

Emily Hughes | Tuesday March 18, 2014

Categories: A Level, EDUQAS A Level, EDUQAS AS, FM1, EDUQAS A2, FM4, Section B: Spectatorship Topics, Hot Entries, Key Concepts, Audience, Film Language, Representation, Theory, Spectatorship Theory

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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Julie Christie: British Film and Stars »

jclarke | Tuesday February 11, 2014

Categories: A Level, EDUQAS A Level, EDUQAS AS, FM2, Section B: British Film Topics, Analysis, Film Analysis, Film Industry, Film Distribution, Film Marketing, Film Publicity, Film Promotion, Production Companies, Films & Case Studies, Non-Hollywood Films, Genres & Case Studies, British Film, Hot Entries, Key Concepts, Audience, Film Language, Representation, Theory, Film Theory

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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Spectatorship and Early Cinema Before 1917 »

jclarke | Saturday November 30, 2013

Categories: A Level, OCR A Level, OCR A2, OCR AS, EDUQAS A Level, EDUQAS A2, FM4, Section B: Spectatorship Topics, Analysis, Film Analysis, Film History, Cinema in Context, Film Industry, Censorship & Regulation, Copyright & Licensing, Film Distribution, Film Marketing, Film Publicity, Film Promotion, Production Companies, Hot Entries, Key Concepts, Audience, Film Language, Representation, Theory, Spectatorship Theory

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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Spectatorship Experimental/Expanded Film: Meshes of the Afternoon & Tarnation »

Amy Charlewood | Tuesday November 19, 2013

Categories: A Level, EDUQAS A Level, EDUQAS AS, EDUQAS A2, FM4, Section B: Spectatorship Topics, Analysis, Film Analysis, Genres & Case Studies, Avant-Garde, Cinema Verite, Documentary, Experimental, Hot Entries, Key Concepts, Audience, Film Language, Representation, Theory, Spectatorship Theory

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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Authorship in Contemporary Cinema: The Films of Danny Boyle and Tim Burton »

jclarke | Tuesday November 19, 2013

Categories: A Level, OCR A Level, OCR A2, OCR AS, EDUQAS A Level, EDUQAS AS, EDUQAS A2, Analysis, Film Analysis, Films & Case Studies, Directors, Danny Boyle, Tim Burton, Hot Entries, Theory, Auteur Theory, Film Theory

click on image to enlarge As we know, there are a fascinating range of ways in which to explore what cinema is; for example: how it achieves its impact on an audience, how technology informs creative choices and how a particular film can tell us something of the culture that produced it. These are all ways of understanding the relationship between text and context. However, the concept that remains perhaps most popular, accessible and fundamental to our thinking about cinema, perhaps because it…
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World Cinema Topics: Empowering Women - Volver (2006) and Amores Perros (2000) »

Amy Charlewood | Monday February 04, 2013

Categories: A Level, EDUQAS A Level, EDUQAS A2, FM4, Section A: World Cinema, Analysis, Film Analysis, Films & Case Studies, World Cinema, Amores Perros, Volver, Hot Entries, Key Concepts, Audience, Film Language, Representation, Theory, Film Theory

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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Ewan McGregor: British Film and Stars »

jclarke | Thursday December 20, 2012

Categories: A Level, EDUQAS A Level, EDUQAS AS, FM2, Section B: British Film Topics, Analysis, Film Analysis, Film Industry, Film Distribution, Film Marketing, Film Publicity, Film Promotion, Production Companies, Films & Case Studies, Non-Hollywood Films, Trainspotting, Genres & Case Studies, British Film, Social Realism, Hot Entries, Key Concepts, Audience, Film Language, Representation, Theory, Film Theory

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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Film Theory and Language »

nicoleponsford | Thursday August 23, 2012

Categories: GCSE, A Level, Hot Entries, Key Concepts, Film Language, Theory, Film Theory

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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Postcolonialism & Cultural Imperalism »

Richard Gent | Wednesday April 25, 2012

Categories: Analysis, Film Analysis, Micro Analysis, Shot Analysis, Hot Entries, Key Concepts, Representation, Theory, Film Theory

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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Understanding Auteur Theory »

vikiwalden | Thursday November 17, 2011

Categories: A Level, Analysis, Film Analysis, Hot Entries, Key Concepts, Film Language, Theory, Film Theory

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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