This was the first day of our A level film studies coursework project. We were introduced to the project that we will be undertaking, specifically the first of 6 elements of the production process, research. The others are pre-production, production, post-production, evaluative analysis, and submission.
As part of this stage, we will watch 18 short films chosen by the exam board and write a blog post for each one to analyse it. This will contribute to choosing a group of films that add up to at leat 80 minutes, which we will be using certain elements from to inform the production of our own film. We are encouraged to keep notes on narrative, characters, visuals and other key elects of film form and screenplay techniques. This will also help us practise evaluating our film, which will gain us marks in the alongside the actual end product we will have made by the end of the production process. We will analyse the narrative structure, cinematic influences(key elements of film form, genre, contexts of film), and the creation of meaning and effect through aesthetics and representation in short film.
We were also introduced to the production deadlines and the production brief, which outline what options of techniques our film must include one of, a narrative with a distinctive genre, a narrative with parallel stories, a non-linear narrative or a narrator, and by what dates certain tasks must be completed by. The actual production process, element 3 begins in mid-September. Until then we are researching for the pre-prodiction process, element 2, which begins in early July. I will blog the films that we watch in class and outline elements that I may consider taking inspiration from for my own film, and I will be coming up with initial ideas for my film and what option the exam board has provided to include in it also. Research for the coursework is essentially preparing for how to approach the production process and introducing us to some important concepts that will need to be included in our film and ideas to keep in mind when we come to evaluate them. As the coursework requires specific reference to films where we have taken ideas, we will need to take notes of things that stand out and keep them in mind approaching the production process. “Learners will also be exploring examples of key elements of film form and screenplay techniques during their course of study, which they can apply to their production.” We will be prepared to actually start filing our short films by the beginning of the summer holidays, and up to that point we will be exploring the short film form and what elements they may contain, which ones we may wish to include in our own work, and how to plan, prepare, produce and polish the focus of the coursework.
Finley Cairns A-Level Film Studies Blog 