Extended Project Qualification (Pathway One students only

Pathway One students will be expected to take part in the AQA Level 3 Extended Project Qualification (EPQ).

What is an EPQ?

A standalone qualification designed to extend and develop students' skills in independent research and project management.

Is it recognised by universities or employers?

The EPQ is awarded UCAS points worth half an A-level and is recognised by universities and employers; some leading universities, such as Southampton University, make alternative offers to students undertaking an EPQ.

How does the EPQ relate to a student's programme of study?

The EPQ requires students to carry out research on a topic that they have chosen (and is agreed as appropriate by the EPQ coordinator at Moulsham High School) and is not covered by their other qualifications. They then use this research to produce a written report and, in the case of practical projects, an artefact or a production.

A student can take inspiration from something studied in class or something completely unrelated to their studies.

The necessary skills, supervision and assessment of the student’s progress will be carried out by the EPQ coordinator during timetabled periods. It will involve extended autonomous work by the student and will require in total 120 guided learning hours.

Moulsham High School additionally supports EPQ students with a visit to Emmanuel College, Cambridge where they will take part in a research skills workshop with graduates who took the EPQ. This visit includes a tour, lunch, as well as advice on writing Personal Statements and “aiming high”.

Exam Board AQA

LINEAR A-LEVEL

The Film Studies course aims to equip students with the ability to explore and understand the power and fascination of Film as a medium through detailed analysis of a wide range of texts. Films analysed will be old and new, local and global, popular and sometimes unknown. Each unit will introduce students to the conceptual tools and critical questions that film scholars have asked and are asking about the nature, function and value of film. Students will be introduced to films of seminal importance that will challenge, complicate and broaden their understanding of what film is and can be.

Students will demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• a diverse range of 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 and • the different ways in which spectators respond to film.

It also aims to enable learners to:

• apply critical approaches to film and • apply knowledge and understanding of film through either filmmaking or screenwriting.

The specification is additionally designed to reflect the diversity of film culture through both filmmakers and the films they make. The wide choice of films offered includes films by women directors and films which represent particular ethnic and cultural experiences.

The AS exam unit focuses on the film industries of Britain and America – comparing and contrasting their history, ideology and production processes. The exam is case study based and asks students to complete three essays, each exploring different facets of the British and American Film industries.

Component 1 – American Film

Written examination: 1½ hours 35% of qualification

Section A: Hollywood since the 1960s (two-film study)

Three feature length films will be studied for this component.

One two-part question, requiring reference to two Hollywood films, one produced between 1961 and 1990 and the other more recent. There is a choice of question in the second part.

Possible combinations of film are: Bladerunner (Scott, 1982) and Inception (Nolan, 2010) Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1962) and No Django Unchained (Tarantino, 2012) or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Forman, 1975), and No Country for Old Men (Coen Brothers, 2007),

Section B: Contemporary American independent film One two-part question, requiring reference to one contemporary American independent film (produced after 2010). There is a choice of question in the second part.

Students will study Boyhood (Linklater, 2015) for this section.

Component 2: European Film.

Three feature-length films will be studied for this component: one comparative study of a pair of British films and one non-English language European film. • Brief Encounter (Lean, 1945), PG and Atonement (Wright, 2007), 15 • A Matter of Life and Death (Powell & Pressburger, 1946), PG and Brazil (Gilliam, 1985), 15 • The Third Man (Reed, 1949), PG and The Constant Gardener (Meirelles, 2005), 15 • Sapphire (Dearden, 1959), PG and Secrets and Lies (Leigh, 1996), 15.

Section B: Non-English language European film One of the following films will be chosen for study:

• Pan’s Labyrinth (Del Toro, Spain, 2006), 15 • The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Schnabel, France, 2007), 12 • Ida (Pawlikowski, Poland, 2013), 12A • Girlhood (Sciamma, France, 2014), 15.

Component 3: Production

Non-exam assessment 30% of qualification

Students will produce a screenplay for an extract from a film highlighting narrative construction of between 1200 and 1400 words plus a digitally photographed storyboard of a key section from the screenplay (approximately 1½ minutes' screen time, corresponding to approximately 15 storyboard shots).

Evaluative analysis

An evaluative analysis (1000-1250 words) of the production in comparison with other professionally produced films or screenplays.

A-LEVEL Component 1: American and British film

Written examination: 3 hours 35% of qualification

This component assesses knowledge and understanding of six featurelength films.

Section A: Classical Hollywood: One question from a choice of two, requiring reference to one US Hollywood Studio film, gfrom the following choices:

• Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942), U • The Lady from Shanghai (Welles, 1947), PG • Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958), PG • Some Like It Hot (Wilder, 1959), U.

Section B: Hollywood since the 1960s (two-film study) One question from a choice of two, requiring reference to two American films, one produced between 1961 and 1990 and the other more recent: one chosen from group 1 and one chosen from group 2:

Group 1: 1961-1990

• Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967), 15 • One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (Forman, 1975), 15 • Blade Runner (Scott, 1982), 15 • Do the Right Thing (Lee, 1989), 15

Group 2: Recent films

No Country for Old Men (Coen Brothers, 2007), 15 Inception (Nolan, 2010), 12A Django Unchained (Tarantino, 2012), 18 Carol (Haynes, 2015), 15.

Section C: Contemporary American independent film One question from a choice of two, requiring reference to one American independent film, from a choice of:

Winter's Bone (Granik, 2010), 15 Frances Ha! (Baumbach, 2012), 15 Beasts of the Southern Wild (Zeitlin, 2012), 12A Boyhood (Linklater, 2015), 15.

Section D: British film (comparative study) One question from a choice of two, requiring a comparison of two British films, one produced between 1930 and 1960 and the other more recent.

One of the following pairs of British films is studied for comparison: • Brief Encounter (Lean, 1945), PG and Atonement (Wright, 2007), 15 • A Matter of Life and Death (Powell & Pressburger, 1946), PG and Brazil (Gilliam, 1985), 15 • The Third Man (Reed, 1949), PG and The Constant Gardener (Meirelles, 2005), 15 • Sapphire (Dearden, 1959), PG and Secrets and Lies (Leigh, 1996), 15.

Component 2: Varieties of film

Written examination: 3 hours 35% of qualification

This component assesses knowledge and understanding of five feature-length films and one compilation of short films.

Section A: Film movements (two-film study) One question from a choice of two, requiring reference to at least one film from the silent era.

Group 1 (Experimental) • Silent film option – European Expressionist and Surrealist film: The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Wiene, Germany, 1920), U and Un Chien Andalou (Bunuel, France, 1928), 15 • Silent film option - Montage/Constructivism: Man with a Movie Camera (Vertov, USSR, 1929), U and A Propos de Nice (Vigo, 1930), U • Feminist Avant-Garde: Daisies (Chytilova, Czechoslovakia, 1965), 15 and Saute ma ville (Akerman, Belgium, 1968) • Digital experimentation: Timecode (Figgis, US, 2000) 15.

Group 2 • Silent film option - Expressionism and Hollywood Melodrama: Sunrise (Murnau, US 1927), U • Silent film option - Vaudeville and American comedy: Keaton short films - One Week (US, 1920), The Scarecrow (US, 1920), The 'High Sign' (US, 1921), Cops (US, 1922) • French New Wave: Vivre sa vie (Godard, France, 1962), 15 • Asian New Wave: Fallen Angels (Wong, Hong Kong, 1995), 15.

Section B: Documentary film One question from a choice of two, requiring reference to one documentary film from the following options:

• Sisters in Law (Ayisi and Longinotto, Cameroon/UK, 2005), 12A • The Arbor (Barnard, UK, 2010), 15 • Stories We Tell (Polley, Canada, 2012), 12A • 20,000 Days on Earth (Forsyth and Pollard, UK, 2014), 15.

Section C: Global film (two-film study) One question from a choice of two, requiring reference to two global films, one European and one produced outside Europe.

Group 1: Non-English language European film

• Pan’s Labyrinth (Del Toro, Spain, 2006), 15 • The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Schnabel, France, 2007), 12 • Ida (Pawlikowski, Poland, 2013), 12A • Girlhood (Sciamma, France, 2014), 15. Group 2: Non-English language film produced outside Europe • Dil Se (Ratnam, India, 1998), 12 • House of Flying Daggers (Zhang, China, 2004), 15 • Timbuktu (Sissako, Mauritania, 2014), 12A • Wild Tales (Szifrón, Argentina, 2014), 15.

Section D: Short film One question from a choice of two, requiring reference to a compilation of short films.

• About a Girl (Percival, UK, 2001) • Wasp (Arnold, UK, 2003) • High Maintenance (Van, Germany, 2006) • New Boy (Green, Ireland, 2009) • Connect (Abrahams, UK, 2010) • Curfew (Christensen, US, 2012) • The Gunfighter (Kissack, US, 2014)

Component 3: Production

Non-exam assessment 30% of qualification

This component assesses one production and its evaluative analysis. Learners will produce a screenplay for a short film (1600-1800 words) and a digitally photographed storyboard of a key section from the screenplay and an evaluative analysis (1250-1500 words).

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

At least a grade 6 in English Literature and grade 6 English Language are essential as well as a genuine interest in Film.

Exam Board - WJEC