A Level Film Studies

Enrich your existing appreciation and enjoyment of film.

Come with us on a journey and extend your ability to analyse film. You will study cinema from different countries, genres and film movements, learning how to use critical frameworks to evaluate how meaning is produced. Become confidently cine-literate with this fascinating course.

About the Course

You will learn how to ‘read’ a film, considering cinematography, mise en scene, editing, performance and sound. You will also analyse the relationship between the text and the spectator and production contexts. The course covers texts from early cinema history, experimental film movements and contemporary cinema.

Some of the texts you will look at on the course are Vertigo, Do the Right Thing, Breathless, The Hurt Locker and Skyfall. The course also allows you to express your creativity through the production of a short film or screenplay.

Opportunities unique to this course

Students can participate in courses with the British FilmInstitute, work for WaterspriteFilm Festival and meet visiting industry professionals. There are plenty of opportunities to get involved in projects within college, nationally and even internationally as part of the wider film community.

• Sunrise (F.W Murnau 1927)
• Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock 1958)
• Do The Right Thing (Spike Lee 1989)

• Surrealism: Un Chien Andalou (Luis Bunuel 1929) & L’Age D’Or (Luis Bunuel 1930)
• French New Wave: A Bout De Souffle (Jean-Luc Godard 1960)

• Skyfall (Sam Mendes 2012)
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens (J.J Abrams 2015)

• Searching for Sugarman (Malik Bendjelloul 2012)

Section C: Ideology (Theme: Conflict)

• The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow 2008)
• District 9 (Neil Blomkamp 2009)
• The Grandmaster (Wong Kar-Wai 2013)

• Short film or screenplay/digital storyboard
• Evaluation

Consists of two written papers and one non-exam assessment:

Paper 1: Film history (2hr, 35%)

Paper 2: Critical approaches to film (2hr, 35%)

Non-examined assessment: Making a short film (30%)

You need to be qualified by both the relevant Admissions Score AND the predicted GCSE grade for each A level you apply for.

Please go to the College website to find the most up-to-date entry requirements for each A level that we offer: https://www.hillsroad.ac.uk/study-with-us/a-level-subjects

You can also visit www.hillsroad.ac.uk/apply to find out more about making your application.

Many students go on to study film at university, progressing to a range of areas within the creative industries, including visual effects, journalism and film production. Studying film at A level also evidences a student’s ability to write extended prose.

For more information and to read the FAQs for this subject visit www.hillsroad.ac.uk/film-studies