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Film Studies?

~vola

By ~vola
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~vola

~vola

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Hi, I'm vola, and I'm an alcoholic new to IB Survival. I used to be on ibscrewed before spambots ate it. On a lark I decided to visit the site, see what's become of it, and it now links to here. Having just completed IB (with a respectable 33 points), I felt like I should join to see what advice and experience I can offer to newblets joining the ranks of the damned IB.

So, scrolling through this particular part of the forum, I noticed no one seems to be taking film studies. I did, and I came out of it with a 5 and an intense hatred of being in production. Now I'm curious. If anyone is taking film, come out of the woodwork! Let's compare notes. I wanna know what it's like at your school. How does your class work, what kinds of movies do you watch, what did you write about for your EA, that kind of thing. I'll also be glad to field questions about the class, if your school is considering it as another 6th area option.

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Lean

Lean

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I wish my school would have offered Film, but they didnt. But I still did the EE in Film and got an A on that.

I did it on Fassbinder. My question was something like In what ways does Rainer Werner Fassbinder use film techniques to depict intense relationships in "Die Bitteren Traenen der Petra von Kant", Querelle, and 2 other films, cant remember.

What was your title?

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~vola

~vola

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Mine was a study of the tradition of musical film across four cultures. I studied Singin' in the Rain (USA), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (India), Oliver! (UK), and Une femme est une femme (France). Granted, the last one being a Godard film and all, it probably doesn't technically count. But at that point I stopped caring enough to find another musical that was neither American, British or a Bollywood film, and Une femme at least references Singin' in the Rain. And includes music. And fostered my hatred of Godard films. Misogynistic hack.

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~vola

~vola

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I have no idea what that paper scored, but I came out of the class with a 5 overall. I don't know where/how/when I can get the score breakdowns for each subject.

I dunno if my paper would be terribly interesting, to be honest. XD I tend to ramble a bit and generally sound like I'm making stuff up. I'm surprised I can still stand to watch a musical after that; finishing that damned paper was one of only twice I ended up skipping a day of school due to exhaustion. I finished it at 4:30 AM the day it was due and just had my mother take the paper in, since she works at my high school. My dad woke me up that morning, I managed to mumble something about having been asleep for an hour and a half, and he let me stay home. XD I would've been completely useless that day anyway, may as well not bother to go.

You seem to have had a better grasp on the nature of the paper, or at least it sounds that way. My brain might just be in Summer Mode. XD

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~vola

~vola

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Nah, I did my EE in English, about Shakespeare and feminism and his treatment of female lead characters. And, of course, about 2 days after turning in my final copy, I find a tiny little book hiding in the reference section of the library about precisely that. But, you know, what can you do?

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~vola

~vola

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Film studies really doesnt seem to be very popular. How many were in your class?

We had a grand total of I think around 14 both years. There were 8 people in the Class of 2009 who took film, anyway; it's a two-year program, and both years are taught simultaneously. The seniors and juniors just have different projects.

How is the exam for the IB film like? What type of questions do they ask? Do we have to prepare a lot for the exam by memorizing stuff etc.?

IB Film doesn't have a written exam in the same fashion as other subjects. The external assessment for IB Film is a 10-12 page (SL) or 12-15 page (HL) screenplay for a fictional documentary regarding a subject of film history or theory. The internal assessment consists of the production portfolio, which basically means "write, storyboard, shoot, edit, and polish a 4-5 minute (SL) movie or a 6-7 minute (HL) movie," and the 10-minute oral analysis of a five-minute segment of one of three prescribed films. We're allowed to work in groups for the production portfolio, but I ended up working alone. But you have to do your own written post-production materials, so you really can't coast through the class and expect to get a decent mark.

I didn't even know Film Studies was an IB course... wow... haha

It just got out of pilot this year, I'm not surprised you're not familiar with it. Hopefully it'll gain popularity in spite of the current economic climate that may discourage IB schools from adding new course selections to their repertoire.

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samt_mansha

samt_mansha

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Well I have taken film studies, the classes were very active in the beginning but in the second year they have become a bore, although some are very enthusiastic, But i hate to say that our teacher lacks required knowledge to conducts classes, But it seems we will survive (hopefully). But One thing is for sure, with films you learn so much more that films, its a great and easy grade, but also a wonderful way to explore the untouched areas. And yeah, we are the only school in india with film. Hoping that they will certainly improve in future, but its not like we haven't done anything, we went so see sharukh khan's movie Billu barber's shooting on sets. it was an amazing experience, also we've had some workshops with industry professionals.

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  • 2 weeks later...
tayu

tayu

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I'm writing my EE on Film, but my school doesn't offer film as a subject, so I'm kind of stuck as to how to approach it. I would like to write an expository essay on how the film Barton Fink should be classified as a drama. I have one text book on Film Art that I've been using extensively, but nothing else. I'm beginning to get worried that I'll have no other references to cite, and too little information to complete my essay.

Oh, and I think I'll be using Citizen Kane as a comparison, assuming that it's the archetype of the Drama genre.

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Lean

Lean

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First of all you need to familiarise yourself with the film techniques. From mise en scene to cinematography including panning, and so on. Cause the EE is about your research skills and so on more than the actual content. So make sure you have an overview on the general techniques. This is the foundation on which your essay will be based. (I was in the same situation, never studied film, and did my EE in it) I did mine on how does Rainer Werner Fassbinder use film techniques to depict intense love relationships in ... . Yours is gonna be different. Yours could be a more direct comparison. If you are gonna discuss a genre such as drama I would suggest you have a firm understanding of the basics that make it a drama. Maybe use each of these criteria as a 1 part of your essay, each part discussing how this applies to the films differently. Have 3 or 4 parts to your essay.

Think about your essay title carefully, as this again will form marks, rather than the actual content. If the question is badly phrased, then the content is gonna be offtopic or whatever.

As to information on your topic, there must be tons of websites out there.

Secondly go to your library in your town as well as school and check what they have on film and your filmmakers. It might be worth getting a book from amazon too.

If you can get an interview or email contact which is relevant, than you just need to make sure it really fits into your essay. Its not worth it to just plonk it in there, you dont the marks you want for that. A book which is really interesting and may come in handy is "how to read a film", not quite sure by whom it is now.

Oh and have a look for making offs and that kinda stuff. on any coen films, cause they might be quite relevant I found. Great to quote from.

Good luck

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~Lc~

~Lc~

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I didn't even know Film Studies was an IB course... wow... haha

I was enjoying the flow of this thread until the abrupt cut of your useless post :)

please refrain from doing so in the future. Keep your awes to yourself unless it is relevant and beneficial to the thread. Everyone else please continue :)

EDIT: Lean than you for your very enlightening post. helpful point granted!

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Berns099

Berns099

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Film IB has been a wonderful subject for me. There's only 5 people in my class, which is a plus and the teacher is quite enthusiastic and has a vast knowledge of film. We have three periods per week (1 1/2 hours each) of which two are devoted to theory and one to practical work. We've studied documentaries (on which we did a mock Independent Study comparing the notion of truth in Man with the Movie Camera and Salesman), Hitchcock, representation of children in horror, the Nouvelle Vague, as well as many other small topics, such as a very interesting comparison we did as a class between Salaam Bombay and Slumdog Millionaire.

For my Independent Study I'm focusing on coming of age films through fantasy. I still don't know what the focus will be, but I'll be studying:

Fanny and Alexander (Sweden)

The Wizard of Oz (US)

Spirited Away (Japan)

Pan's Labyrinth (Spain)

I am also doing my EE on Film and my question is:

In what ways do Wong Kar Wai's films use cinematography to depict the nature of romantic relationships?

Quite interesting.

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  • 1 year later...
~Lc~

~Lc~

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Really helpful comments for the film :D, I'm just starting my course and my teacher has advised me to take film Hl instead of Sl as it is easier. Having taken film studies what would you guys recommend?

the last person to post in this thread was over a year ago. Please refrain from reviving really old threads. I appreciate you have benefited from previous posts, however the people who conversed here are not here anymore so this is a bit useless!

I'm gonna lock the thread. If you want to get your question answered please start a new thread!

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~Lc~

~Lc~

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Automatic generated message

This topic has been closed by a moderator.

Reason: Old thread revived. Please read the rules before posting!

If you disagree with this action, please report this post, and a moderator or administrator will review it.

Kind regards,

IB Survival Staff

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