Welcome to AS Film

StudiesWhat skills do you think you will develop studying film studies?

What do you think we do in Film Studies?

The AS Film Studies course is split in to two distinct sections

FM1 – Exploring Film Form (40%)

FM2 – British & American Film (60%)

Today we will introduce both modules and sample the topics we will be looking at over the next academic year

FM1 – Exploring Film Form (40%)

This unit is coursework based

The unit will focus on the Micro Elements of film and how meaning is constructed

You will be required to complete the following: In-depth analysis – 1,500 word analysis of a film extract of your choice

Creative Project – You must plan, produce and edit a short film or create a series of digital storyboards

What will we be

studying?Micro Elements

You will learn how to ‘read’ a film and analyse how directors can use the micro elements

Cinematography

Performance Sound

Editing

Mise-en-scene

On your handouts note down a definition for each of the terms

Micro Elements

We will identify how the micro elements are manipulated and contribute to sensory impact of the film

Reflecting on our individual responses to films and explore the relationship between films and their spectators

You will then use your knowledge of the micro elements to create a short film or storyboard sequence

Any Questions?

There Will Be Blood

Blade Runner

Star Wars TrilogyIn The Mood For Love

Film StudiesUsing the paper provided make a list of your top ten favourite films – try and provide a reason why these films have made your list

The Godfather Part IIGladiator

UnforgivenSpinal Tap

Vertigo

Dr. Strangelove

Why do we go to the cinema?Working alone, note down answers to the

following questions:

1. What is the purpose of cinema?

2. Why do people go to the cinema?

3. Why role, if any, does film serve in modern society?

Silver Screen... or Mirror? French Film Critic Andre Bazin claimed that

the cinema screen had different meanings for different people

Some, he said, saw the screen as a Mirror

Others thought the screen was a window on the world whilst others felt it was an escape hatch

“The more we see the screen as a mirror rather than an escape hatch, the more we will be prepared for what is to come”

What do you think Bazin was saying with this statement?

What is film?On your handouts provide an example of one film that be can described as:

1. A mirror2. A Window

3. An Escape Hatch

According to Bazin’s definitions what is the purpose of Monster Camp?

Be prepared to explain your answers

Watch the trailer for the ‘Monster Camp’ and answer the following question:

Any Questions?

FM2 – Exam TopicsYou will sit the AS Film Studies examination in May 2013

and will be answering questions on the following areas:

Section A – Audience & Industry

Section B – British Film

Section C – Genre Study

What is film?Film has always been used to discuss and highlight issues that are important to the society that made it

For example –

Invasion of the Body Snatchers was written during the Cold War between the USA & USSR

The films director Don Siegel stated that the aliens in the film represented Russian communists trying to infiltrate the USA during time of war

The aliens are depicted as foreign invaders who pose a threat to the USA – this is how many people saw Communists during this time

What is film?Watch the Trailer for ‘The Terminator’ and answer the following questions:

1. Is this film a Mirror / Window / Escape Hatch

2. What do you think the film is about and what is James Cameron trying to say?

James Cameron stated that he wrote Terminator after a nightmare in which a machine attempted to kill himHe said the film reflected peoples fears that we had become to dependant on technology and if we were not careful its development may spiral out of our control

Director:James Cameron

Budget:$6,400,000

Box Office:$78,019,031

Any Questions?