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what is film studies Alevel like?

Hi guys, I'm deciding what to take for my A-levels for this September and I'm quite an arty, creative person who loves doing coursework than theory based lessons, I've come across Film Studies as a course for A-level however is it worth doing? what are the lessons like and what do you have to do during the 2 years for both AS and A2 , Thanks

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Original post by GracCraw1
Hi guys, I'm deciding what to take for my A-levels for this September and I'm quite an arty, creative person who loves doing coursework than theory based lessons, I've come across Film Studies as a course for A-level however is it worth doing? what are the lessons like and what do you have to do during the 2 years for both AS and A2 , Thanks


Do you know what exam board you'll be on?
Reply 2
Original post by emiloujess
Do you know what exam board you'll be on?

WJEC I believe
Reply 3
Original post by GracCraw1
Hi guys, I'm deciding what to take for my A-levels for this September and I'm quite an arty, creative person who loves doing coursework than theory based lessons, I've come across Film Studies as a course for A-level however is it worth doing? what are the lessons like and what do you have to do during the 2 years for both AS and A2 , Thanks


Film studies are being dropped soon due to reforms as they think its too soft and a waste of time. If your arty and like coursework why not do level 3 btec art?
Reply 4
Original post by mjrd
Film studies are being dropped soon due to reforms as they think its too soft and a waste of time. If your arty and like coursework why not do level 3 btec art?

unfortunately my local sixth form does not offer many BTECs which is annoying, however the sixth form I'm going to offers Fine Art, Graphic Design, Product Design, Media, Photography and the film studies
Original post by GracCraw1
WJEC I believe


Same here :smile: The course material does vary slightly so I can only tell you what I've done (and will be doing next year)

AS:
Section A - Producers & Audiences. There were topics like 3D, Video on Demand, Stars, Independent Cinema, Production, Distribution, Exhibition, High-Concept films, low-budget films.
Section B - Ewan McGregor. 3 films studied in-depth looking for themes, messages & values. I believe the other actor that we could have studied was Julie Christie.
Section C - Gangster Genre. 2 films studied in-depth looking for similarities and differences. The films we studied we Goodfellas and Bonnie & Clyde.
Coursework - Worth 40%. First piece was an analytical essay to analyse a 3-min film scene. Second piece was a creative project, we could choose to make a storyboard or an extended step outline.

A2:
Section A: Mexican Cinema. 3 films studied in-depth, one supporting film
Section B: Popular Film & Emotional Response. 3 films chosen which all give the same emotion to an audience. We study how and why these emotions are manipulated from the audience.
Section C: In-depth case study of ONE film. We're doing Fight Club :smile:
Coursework: Worth 50% this time. First piece is we get to choose our own question (I've done mine on Paul Walker :biggrin: ) and have to write a certain amount of words on it. Second piece is we can choose between writing a script or another Extended Step Outline


As for the lessons themselves... I have really enjoyed studying Film, even though I'm not a creative person. I honestly cannot be happier that I chose it (I was originally studying maths) and it has given me some really useful skills.

If you do end up taking Film Studies and you get stuck on something, just PM me :smile:
Reply 6
Original post by GracCraw1
unfortunately my local sixth form does not offer many BTECs which is annoying, however the sixth form I'm going to offers Fine Art, Graphic Design, Product Design, Media, Photography and the film studies


Are you thinking of doing all art subjects or a mix of subjects? Media studdies was due to be scrapped but its not now been reinstated so it might be better than film studdies.
Original post by mjrd
Film studies are being dropped soon due to reforms as they think its too soft and a waste of time. If your arty and like coursework why not do level 3 btec art?



I don't think it's being dropped for next year... our college is certainly still taking students in
Reply 8
Original post by emiloujess
I don't think it's being dropped for next year... our college is certainly still taking students in


Next yr is the last year for it.
Original post by mjrd
Film studies are being dropped soon due to reforms as they think its too soft and a waste of time. If your arty and like coursework why not do level 3 btec art?


I was also worried that Film Studies was a 'soft' subject. However I have asked around unis and as long as my other subjects are relevant I will not be at a disadvantage.
Reply 10
Original post by mjrd
Are you thinking of doing all art subjects or a mix of subjects? Media studdies was due to be scrapped but its not now been reinstated so it might be better than film studdies.

Ideally I'm wanting to do 3 A-levels that are art based as the other choices don't really appeal to me, tbh Im not planning to go university but if I at least get some A-levels then hopefully start looking for other routes. I did GCSE media and got a B at the end, the course was ok but media would be a last resort as it didn't really appeal to me, I only choose it as it looked quite creative at the time, that's y I was looking towards film studies but still unsure
Reply 11
Original post by emiloujess
Same here :smile: The course material does vary slightly so I can only tell you what I've done (and will be doing next year)

AS:
Section A - Producers & Audiences. There were topics like 3D, Video on Demand, Stars, Independent Cinema, Production, Distribution, Exhibition, High-Concept films, low-budget films.
Section B - Ewan McGregor. 3 films studied in-depth looking for themes, messages & values. I believe the other actor that we could have studied was Julie Christie.
Section C - Gangster Genre. 2 films studied in-depth looking for similarities and differences. The films we studied we Goodfellas and Bonnie & Clyde.
Coursework - Worth 40%. First piece was an analytical essay to analyse a 3-min film scene. Second piece was a creative project, we could choose to make a storyboard or an extended step outline.

A2:
Section A: Mexican Cinema. 3 films studied in-depth, one supporting film
Section B: Popular Film & Emotional Response. 3 films chosen which all give the same emotion to an audience. We study how and why these emotions are manipulated from the audience.
Section C: In-depth case study of ONE film. We're doing Fight Club :smile:
Coursework: Worth 50% this time. First piece is we get to choose our own question (I've done mine on Paul Walker :biggrin: ) and have to write a certain amount of words on it. Second piece is we can choose between writing a script or another Extended Step Outline


As for the lessons themselves... I have really enjoyed studying Film, even though I'm not a creative person. I honestly cannot be happier that I chose it (I was originally studying maths) and it has given me some really useful skills.

If you do end up taking Film Studies and you get stuck on something, just PM me :smile:

:smile:THANK YOU!!:smile: this is sooooo detailed gives me exactly what the course is/does omg thanks so much for taking the time to write this for me, it definitely gives me something to work off and figure what I should do. It does sound fun this course, when you started AS and A2 did you find the essays long and challenging---and was there much theory for exams or did you have to write essays in the exams , thanks !!x
Original post by GracCraw1
:smile:THANK YOU!!:smile: this is sooooo detailed gives me exactly what the course is/does omg thanks so much for taking the time to write this for me, it definitely gives me something to work off and figure what I should do. It does sound fun this course, when you started AS and A2 did you find the essays long and challenging---and was there much theory for exams or did you have to write essays in the exams , thanks !!x


No problem :smile: I don't officially start A2 until September, we have just started research for the coursework. Each exam is 3 40 mark essays, there is 1 exam for AS and 1 for A2. The structure for the essays are actually fairly simple once you understand what the question is asking of you. For some films we did have to study the background and context for them - For example, poverty in Italy, Thatcher's Britain and The Great Depression. However we analyse film scenes far more.
Negative Post, Warning.

What is A-levels for?
Showing your competence and ability to study hard and get work done ontop of being able to balance life/ EC's and such.

It's main/only purpose is for universities to judge you and for you to have a base knowledge if you're studying something similar in University e.g Maths --> Maths, Chemistry --> Medicine, Physics --> Engineering.

Picking your subjects will allow you to enjoy them....but so? You're going to study for fun then when you realise you cannot get anywhere with those subjects you'll feel destroyed. No matter if you get A*A*A* no top university will look at you still. All your hard work will lead you to an average university at best.

So why? Why do it?

Pick something harder. If you ask me the point of studying is meerly to show you are a hard worker. The content is not too useful.
Hardest workers --> Oxbridge
People who relax and don't value education --> X 'metropolitan'
Reply 14
Original post by emiloujess
No problem :smile: I don't officially start A2 until September, we have just started research for the coursework. Each exam is 3 40 mark essays, there is 1 exam for AS and 1 for A2. The structure for the essays are actually fairly simple once you understand what the question is asking of you. For some films we did have to study the background and context for them - For example, poverty in Italy, Thatcher's Britain and The Great Depression. However we analyse film scenes far more.

With the coursework, do you have to do a moving image or just storyboard on your own ideas of a film, and how hard is it?
and from your own experience how was the homework? were they demanding? like was it every lesson you got sum and were they all essays
I'm soughta bad at writing essays as I tend to waffle a lot and don't get down to the main point, but is the essay structure for the questions easy to grasp or was it a while before you got familiar with the structure?
sorry for piling all these questions on you, just really wanna know that I'm make the right decision before going forward with course but thanks so much for helping me x
Original post by GracCraw1
With the coursework, do you have to do a moving image or just storyboard on your own ideas of a film, and how hard is it?
and from your own experience how was the homework? were they demanding? like was it every lesson you got sum and were they all essays
I'm soughta bad at writing essays as I tend to waffle a lot and don't get down to the main point, but is the essay structure for the questions easy to grasp or was it a while before you got familiar with the structure?
sorry for piling all these questions on you, just really wanna know that I'm make the right decision before going forward with course but thanks so much for helping me x


It's ok I love the subject so therefore love talking about it lol :smile:
The storyboard is between 10-25 still pictures of a scene that you have come up with. It wasn't that hard, I got a B even though I'm not a creative person. The analytical essay was my best one though, I got an A :biggrin:
We didn't really get essays as homework, mostly it was just carrying out our own case studies or writing up analysis of scenes ready to be handed in. As for the exam essays, they were fairly straightforward. I was rubbish at essays and I got the hang of it :smile: If you get an exam question which asks you to construct an argument like we did this year it's a complete gift. You do have 2 questions to choose from in each exam section though. Basically if you support every point you make with a scene analysis (or contextual analysis depending on the question) you'll do great. I waffled on a lot in my mock exams and I never got anything below a B, so it can be a good thing :smile:
Reply 16
Original post by emiloujess
It's ok I love the subject so therefore love talking about it lol :smile:
The storyboard is between 10-25 still pictures of a scene that you have come up with. It wasn't that hard, I got a B even though I'm not a creative person. The analytical essay was my best one though, I got an A :biggrin:
We didn't really get essays as homework, mostly it was just carrying out our own case studies or writing up analysis of scenes ready to be handed in. As for the exam essays, they were fairly straightforward. I was rubbish at essays and I got the hang of it :smile: If you get an exam question which asks you to construct an argument like we did this year it's a complete gift. You do have 2 questions to choose from in each exam section though. Basically if you support every point you make with a scene analysis (or contextual analysis depending on the question) you'll do great. I waffled on a lot in my mock exams and I never got anything below a B, so it can be a good thing :smile:

omg that is so reassuring to find out, thank you so much for all this, it has encouraged me to take film studies on along with art and graphics for A-level, it sounds fun, specially when u get the hang of it and adjust to the work---is there a specific wjec AS book for film studies thanks x:smile::smile:
Original post by GracCraw1
omg that is so reassuring to find out, thank you so much for all this, it has encouraged me to take film studies on along with art and graphics for A-level, it sounds fun, specially when u get the hang of it and adjust to the work---is there a specific wjec AS book for film studies thanks x:smile::smile:


Umm again it might differ depending on the college. This is the one we were told to buy but we didn't use it much tbh.
If you do any of the same modules I did just PM me if you need help x :smile:
image.jpg
Reply 18
Original post by emiloujess
Umm again it might differ depending on the college. This is the one we were told to buy but we didn't use it much tbh.
If you do any of the same modules I did just PM me if you need help x :smile:
image.jpg

Thank you:smile::smile:!! u have been the greatest help, uve summed up so much stuff so grateful for the info and kind offers, gd luck for A2 x:smile:
Original post by GracCraw1
Thank you:smile::smile:!! u have been the greatest help, uve summed up so much stuff so grateful for the info and kind offers, gd luck for A2 x:smile:


Thanks! I hope I get the grades this time as I completely messed up last year (was doing maths and sciences subjects) and good luck for starting your A-Levels in September, I'm sure you'll do great! x

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