Film Studies

Intent – why do we teach what we teach in Film Studies? 

Film is the most important cultural innovation of the 20th century and a most influential major art form of the last hundred years. Its academic study is consistently highly regarded at university level and the industry's impact on the national and global economy continues to boom. According to a report from the PwC the UK film industry revenue will climb nearly 90% between 2020 and 2025 with the UK being the second biggest exporter globally of television and third greatest exporter of film. The film and media industry in the UK alone employs over half a million people and contributes enormously to the UK economy, bringing in vast amounts of money, consequently there are substantial career opportunities for those with a background in Film Studies. All media begins with film. Furthermore, as young Londoners studying Film Studies at KS4 and KS5 it may be of interest to know that, according to the British Film Institute, 61% of the UK film and video production workforce is based in London.

As film is the most advanced artform of humankind we believe nothing can come close to it as a way of reflecting life but also inspiring and influencing the way we live and understand the world. It is created to educate, entertain and give a voice to all societies and cultures across the globe.  

The intention of the A Level Film Studies and GCSE Film Studies curriculum at Harris Academy Chobham is to broaden knowledge and understanding of the global film industry in the hope young people use films as a way to stimulate reflection on their own lives and place in the world as global citizens. Students will become experts in an academic discipline that deals with various theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to cinema as an art form and a medium. Additionally, offering openings for learners to express their own practical interests as potential filmmakers and film academics with the vision of them going into the film and media industry at some level after completing a film based course at university or through an apprenticeship. All while instilling a lifelong love of film.

It is our intention that through the study of Film Studies, our students should develop the following knowledge, skills and qualities:

• Build upon learners' enthusiasm for film and develop an appreciation of film across its many different forms.
• Introduce learners to a wide variety of cinematic experiences through films which have been important in the history and development of film.
• Explore a culturally diverse range of cinema from different national contexts, genres and time periods.
• Develop a critical awareness of films and their contexts.
• Develop an appreciation and understanding of film as an aesthetic medium.
• Develop an understanding of the relationship between film and film technology over time.
• Develop core analysis skills through studying the ways in which meanings and responses are generated in film.
• Develop film literacy skills including film language.
• Develop an understanding of the link between theory and practice in relation to filmmaking.
• Develop students’ life skills, e.g. formal presentations, group work, higher order thinking, discussion and debate.

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Implementation – how do we teach Film Studies? 

Our Film Studies curriculum at KS4 and KS5  is taught through an academic approach to the artform and requires deep critical analysis. A diverse range of film types make the course both fascinating and challenging. Like English Literature, but replacing the written word with the moving image and sound, audio visual analysis and critique.

Film provides more than just knowledge; it provides training in analytical thinking and develops a variety of transferable skills.

Film Studies at KS4 and KS5 is delivered through a lens of knowledge and understanding encompassing macro elements of representation, genre, narrative and the spectator, underpinned by micro elements of cinematography, sound, editing and mise-en-scene across industry and context. Implementation involves:

• A diverse range of film, including documentary, film from the silent era, experimental film and short film
• The significance of film and film practice in national, global and historical contexts
• Film and its key contexts (including social, cultural, political, historical and technological contexts)
• How films generate meanings and responses
• Film as an aesthetic medium
• The different ways in which spectators respond to film.

The Eduqas KS5 A Level Film Studies specification and KS4 GCSE Film Studies specification aims to introduce learners to a wide variety of films in order to broaden their knowledge and understanding of film and the range of responses films can generate. The Eduqas specifications therefore offers opportunities to study mainstream American films from the past and the present as well as a range of recent and contemporary British films, American independent films and global films, both non-English language and English language. The historical range of film represented in those films is extended by the study of silent film and significant film movements so that learners can gain a sense of the development of film from its early years to its still emerging digital future. Studies in documentary, experimental and short films aim to add to the breadth of the rich experience.

Production work is a crucial part of this specification and is integral to the implementation process of Film Studies at both KS4 and KS5. Studying a diverse range of films from several different contexts aims to give students the opportunity to apply their knowledge and understanding of how films are constructed to their own filmmaking and screenwriting. This is intended to enable students to create high quality film and screenplay work as well as provide an informed filmmaker's perspective on their own study of film.

Harris Academy Chobham’s implementation reflects the diversity of film culture through both filmmakers and the films they make. The wide choice of films offered includes films by women and people of the global majority, and films which represent particular ethnic and cultural experiences. Over sixty films are offered at A Level from which eleven feature-length films are carefully chosen. While at GCSE level over 30 films are offered from which six are carefully chosen. In addition, a compilation of short films will be studied.

Studying Film Studies at Harris Academy Chobham connects you to real industry. Film Studies experience will not only be in the classroom. As young Londoners, Film Studies students at both KS4 and KS5 will be presented with opportunities to learn from real industry experts through film screenings, Q&A sessions, careers talks, filmmaking workshops, creativity development and opportunities to create and exhibit art in increasingly global London institutions including the October Gallery, British Film Institute, Film and Video Workshop, Roundhouse Theatre and BFI Film Academy.

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Impact – What are the outcomes from Film Studies?

By the end of their KS4 and KS5 Film Studies learning journey students at Harris Academy Chobham will have been required to: 

Knowledge and Skills

• Demonstrate a complex knowledge and understanding of core and specialist elements of film. These include cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing, sound and performance, meaning and response, representations and aesthetics, contexts, spectatorship, narrative, ideology, auteur critical debates and filmmakers’ theories.
• Analyse and compare films, including through the use of critical approaches and evaluate the significance of these critical approaches.
• Analyse and evaluate their own work in relation to other professionally produced work.
• Apply the knowledge and understanding of elements of film to the production of a screenplay.

Think, Speak and Write

• Think critically and reflectively about the complexity and beauty of film and the societies it speaks about and to.
• Speak and write in an articulate with sophisticated manner using subject specific academic vocabulary accurately as film academics and creatives to answer questions and hypothesise about themes ranging from poverty and race, to love and ambition to death and grace.

Lead

• demonstrate a perceptive, critical and deep thinking appreciation of the world locally, nationally and globally, in turn developing their sense of social justice and the role film and themselves play in moving societies forward.

This leads to highly successful exam outcomes at the end of KS4 and Post-16 while there are also a number of Harris Academy Chobham students who go on to study Film or Media or other creative academic courses at higher education institutions, some highlights are below:

2023 – Olufemi – Language, Culture and Communication at Warwick University

2023 – Hairat – Graphic Design at Loughborough University

2023 – Esther – English Literature with Digital Media and Communications at University of Birmingham

2023 – Kirandeep – Film Studies at King’s College London

2023 – Darrel – Film and Media at University of Kent

2023 – Jessica – History of Art at University of Cambridge

2023 – Shatae – Law at Royal Holloway