Is taking Film Studies worth it?

Hey, I was wondering, should I take Film Studies? I really want to be a film editor or cinematographer when I'm older and so I guess taking Film Studies A level can give me a bit of experience and it also looks so interesting, I'd love to study it!

However, many people go on about how "easy" Film Studies is and how it's really not well respected by Unis so is it worth taking? Plus I've been advised to take more "academic" subjects because of my current grades at GCSE.

I've never officially "studied" Film before but I've done a few things at school, plus the college I'm planning on going to has a great Film department (last year they got 100% A*-C).

I'm getting straight A/A* at GCSE at the moment and I'm a really hard worker so hopefully I could get a good grade at A level but I can't really determine because I don't study A level so I can't really say much.

I thinking of also taking Maths, Theology/Philosophy, and History as well and possibly an English.

I just really want to know whether Film Studies will be helpful, and also, to any current or post A level Film Studies student: what is Film Studies like in your opinion?

Thanks for any advice! Please could you also check out my other question (http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2621312) because it's a little bit related to this x

Hey, I was wondering, should I take Film Studies? I really want to be a film editor or cinematographer when I'm older and so I guess taking Film Studies A level can give me a bit of experience and it also looks so interesting, I'd love to study it!

However, many people go on about how "easy" Film Studies is and how it's really not well respected by Unis so is it worth taking? Plus I've been advised to take more "academic" subjects because of my current grades at GCSE.

I've never officially "studied" Film before but I've done a few things at school, plus the college I'm planning on going to has a great Film department (last year they got 100% A*-C).

I'm getting straight A/A* at GCSE at the moment and I'm a really hard worker so hopefully I could get a good grade at A level but I can't really determine because I don't study A level so I can't really say much.

I thinking of also taking Maths, Theology/Philosophy, and History as well and possibly an English.

I just really want to know whether Film Studies will be helpful, and also, to any current or post A level Film Studies student: what is Film Studies like in your opinion?

Thanks for any advice! Please could you also check out my other question (http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2621312) because it's a little bit related to this x

Avoid it seriously pick english lit or language it will be way more valuable

Hey, I was wondering, should I take Film Studies? I really want to be a film editor or cinematographer when I'm older and so I guess taking Film Studies A level can give me a bit of experience and it also looks so interesting, I'd love to study it!

However, many people go on about how "easy" Film Studies is and how it's really not well respected by Unis so is it worth taking? Plus I've been advised to take more "academic" subjects because of my current grades at GCSE.

I've never officially "studied" Film before but I've done a few things at school, plus the college I'm planning on going to has a great Film department (last year they got 100% A*-C).

I'm getting straight A/A* at GCSE at the moment and I'm a really hard worker so hopefully I could get a good grade at A level but I can't really determine because I don't study A level so I can't really say much.

I thinking of also taking Maths, Theology/Philosophy, and History as well and possibly an English.

I just really want to know whether Film Studies will be helpful, and also, to any current or post A level Film Studies student: what is Film Studies like in your opinion?

Thanks for any advice! Please could you also check out my other question (http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2621312) because it's a little bit related to this x

What are you hoping to study at university? If you're wanting to go to uni at all. If you'd like to enter the film field in the future as you said you would then I would definitely take it, even if you just do it at AS. It'll definitely give you a feel for the film industry.

I studied Film as an A level, and in all honesty it is very similar to English Literature. It's a very analytical subject, and though it may be deemed easier than a lot of subjects the work load is quite heavy.

I was thinking of possibly doing a joint honours degree, so possibly history and film studies, or English and film studies. Do you think it would be wise to do both Film Studies and English Lit? Like doing 5 A levels?

Well from what you've just said - the key A levels you need are at least History and English Lit. As far as I'm aware, in order to study English at university you need English Literature as an A level (I'm studying English Lit at university right now.) So, if that is something you're considering possibly studying at university then definitely take English Lit. Clearly you're interested in Film studies or you wouldn't be considering doing it as part of your degree, so definitely take it at AS level so that you have an idea of what is involved. 5 A levels is a LOT of work, I personally wouldn't want to do it and I wouldn't advise it but at the same time, if you feel you want to try it then go for it. However, something to consider is that you don't want all of your subjects to suffer because you've got so much work to do.

Thanks! This is really helpful! And I think I'll probably take the 5 A levels because at least I can drop one of them if the workload really is that bad.

p.s. would it be okay to give an overview of the sort of topics that you learn in Film Studies because the information on the college website and from speaking to college teachers is quite limited since they can only really summarise it. Plus, do you have any film recommendations that I should watch beforehand?

No worries! Yeah that sounds like a plan, just don't overdo it

Ooooh I wish I could help but I can hardly remember what I studied in AS now haha. Plus I think every college does something different, you may be with a different exam board to what I was You could email the tutors and ask them what the films are that they're thinking of teaching for AS? I believe that for my AS levels there was an essay on a scene analysis from a film of your choice, and another piece of coursework where you had to create a film through stills/photographs then analyse it. Then the exam was on "Swinging 60's" in London (Blow Up and Alfie) and gangster films (Goodfellas and another gangster film from the 1930s that I cannot for the life of me remember!) Then there was one question on the movie industry in general. But yeah, I would email the college tutors and ask them what they'll be teaching!

But like I said earlier, I would very much compare it to English literature, only you're analysing the films as opposed to books.

When you have more info or whatever feel free to PM me if you have any questions etc

Thanks so much, you don't understand how helpful this is! Loads of people just tell me not to do Film Studies because it's a waste of time but don't actually give me a proper reason, but this is great and sure thing, I'll probably have loads of stuff I need answering because I can never seem to make up my mind hahah

I think people automatically jump to "it's a doss subject, it's easy, it's a waste of time, unis don't accept it" bla bla bla. Yeah, if you're looking to do a Maths or Science subject, it would be a waste of time studying film. People think it's super easy, and put no effort into it - I was the only person to get an A overall in Film at my college, 2 people got Bs and then 20+ people got C-U grades. Regardless of how intelligent you are, it is still a subject you need to do work in. Regardless of having Film as one of my A levels, I still got 5 unconditional offers from universities to study English Literature, 3 of which were Russell Group universities. So please don't listen to anyone who says that universities don't accept it, many of the top universities will view it as a nothing subject but if you're wanting to do Film at university anyway it will be accepted. Plus if you're wanting to study it at uni then it makes complete sense to take it at A level so you know what you're getting yourself in for.

And haha no worries, will be happy to help

I was thinking of possibly doing a joint honours degree, so possibly history and film studies, or English and film studies. Do you think it would be wise to do both Film Studies and English Lit? Like doing 5 A levels?

I would say definitely yes. If you have an interest in film it's a really great subject to do, and I know it has a reputation for being a really easy subject and a bit of a doss but that's not strictly the case. I do 3 essay based subjects for A2 and whilst I'd probably say the lessons for Film are the easiest, in terms of essay writing it's actually my hardest - you're expected to be really specific but comprehensive at the first time which is a really tricky technique to master, and good for preparation in terms of writing essays at a higher level (university.) I do English Lit as well and whilst people would expect that to be a lot harder, in terms of essay writing I find it a lot easier.



If you're planning on doing joint honours Film Studies at Uni then I would definitely go for it at A Level. There's absolutely no way they'd look down at Film Studies as a subject if you're actually applying to do Film, it will help your chances at getting in moreso than hindering them. Even if you decide to study straight History or English I highly doubt they'd look down on Film, it would only be if you were doing something science based that they'd look down. I applied for English and Film Studies joint honours and got 5 offers, and I'm pretty sure doing Film Studies probably helped my chances. So if you're considering Film at Uni level then I'd be even more confident in saying you should choose it

Thanks for the advice! And I guess Film Studies is partly essay based too so skill from History and English could really help me out in that sector. How is Film Studies A Level? I don't personally know anyone who does it so I can't really get a good insight on it

Yeah that's true, as Precious Illusions said it's essentially the same as English but with books instead of films so it would definitely help out in that respect. Personally I really like Film Studies and I'd probably consider it to be my favourite out of the subjects I do. I don't know what exam board you'd end up doing, but I think most people do WJEC which is the one I do, I think they're all pretty similar anyway. In AS I had three exam topics on British films in the 60s, road movies and a topic that was kind of about the film industry in general but didn't include analysis on a particular film or anything. I also had two coursework topics, one of which we could basically pick a one and a half minute clip from any film you want and discuss it based on what we'd learnt so far - I really liked that coursework piece as it gave me so much freedom and I could pretty much talk about whatever I wanted. The other coursework piece was to create an idea for a film and write an extended step outline for a few scenes of it, which was really interesting and the creative aspect helps to vary the course a bit.

For the A2 exam I'm going to be doing world cinema, a spectator topic on emotional responses to popular films and a single film study on Hitchock's Vertigo. Also for coursework we did a small scale project, which was essentially a mini dissertation where you pick a particular approach (auteur, industry, historical etc) and then pick 3 films and research and write about them. We also wrote a small section of a screenplay for a film we made up as well for our creative coursework, I think there's also the option to make a section of a film but we didn't do that at my school. In AS it's mostly very analytical so you're mostly focusing on analysing filmic techniques, narrative, genre etc and also you look a bit at the historical context of films which might be interesting for you if you're interested in History. In A2 we're starting to look more at the theoretical side of things which I find more interesting, especially when you're doing something as fascinating and multi-layered as Vertigo But yeah overall I think it's a really great course, it's really varied in what you do and I think it's pretty much the most liberating subject you could choose. You do get comments from people saying it's not a proper subject and really easy etc etc, but I feel that if you actually made the type of people who say that sit down and try and do the course then they'd probably find it really hard So I'd say definitely go for it, I really don't think it will do you any harm in the future and overall it's a really enjoyable and rewarding course

WOW. This is insanely helpful! Thanks so much, this has really helped with my decision and I think I probably will take Film Studies it sounds so interesting! And sometimes I think that the more art-based subjects are harder than the traditional, essay-based subjects because essentially, to an extent, you really are just memorising facts (even though the content may be harder) but I guess it depends on what you're good at :') but yeah, thanks so much!

p.s. do you wish to go into the film industry when you're older??

That's great, glad I could be of help And yeah working in the film industry would definitely be my dream job!