Learning outcomes of the interactive learning modules for film education

The following lists include a series of learning outcomes that are addressed within the interactive learning modules overall. These are taken from the Framework for Film Education (BFI, 2015). The Framework can be downloaded here: https://www2.bfi.org.uk/screening-literacy-film-education-europe

Outcomes

  1. To develop critical and analytical abilities whereby audiences are able not only to express their reaction to a film but to put it in a filmic context, to see a film as part of an artistic continuum.
  2. There is a critical framework within which students can develop a critical practice whereby they are able to question films they have seen from an aesthetic, emotional and cultural perspective, so that they can see the links between these three experiences and develop a sense of exploration and willingness to watch a wide range of films.
  3. Develop a vocabulary whereby students are able to express their reaction to films as well as their understanding of how, from an aesthetic perspective, these emotions have been aroused. Students can open a dialogue not only with each other but also with the film itself.
  4. The ability to explore the relationship between individual films so that the experience of film is continually developing and effectively is never ending. Each new filmic experience adds to and forever changes our relationship with films that we will see in the future.
  5. The ability to see film within a wider context, both cultural as well as sociological and economic.

Knowledge

  1. To have a knowledge of the context in which a film is made and consumed.
  2. To have a knowledge of the vocabulary necessary to discuss and describe films and our experience of them – this ranging from descriptions of shot types, use of sound (diegetic and non- diegetic) and lighting to ideas on genre, narrative and differences of ways of consumption (cinema, DVD, internet).
  3. Know what experiences and knowledge of other art forms are brought to bear on our watching a film – art, music, literature, etc.

Skills

  1. The ability to translate understanding and reaction to a film into spoken or written (or filmic) descriptions and exposition of the reaction.
  2. To identify and to question.
  3. To reflect and to analyse.
  4. To want to know more about film.
  5. To overcome the frustrations that can be encountered when seeing a new type of film which is not currently part of the audience’s experience.
  6. To be able to give a personal evaluation of a film.

Understanding

  1. To understand the ways in which films tell their story and the ways in which we, as viewers, consume films in different ways.
  2. To understand the dialogue between the “author” of a film (be this the director, the scriptwriter or the actual filmic infrastructure) and the audience.
  3. To understand the context in which not only is the film made but also the context in which the audience views the film.
  4. Understanding film in a new light.
  5. To understand in a way which synthesises our previous understanding of film with new experiences.

Experiences

  1. To offer encounters with the art of film.
  2. The experience of the meeting of the viewer with a work of filmic art.
  3. To develop a sensitivity to different experiences of film.
  4. To experience a wide variety of films both current and from the past.
  5. To experience films not only reflecting national culture but also European and World cultures and to reflect on the
    6. similarities and differences.
  6. To experience a continual reinvention of our understanding of film.

We are including more detailed learning outcomes which we have taken from the WJEC/Eduqas A Level Film Studies specification. Our thanks go to WJEC/Eduqas for permission to reproduce these.

Principal elements
  1. camera shots including point-of-view shots, focus including depth of field, expressive and canted angle shots, handheld camera in contrast to Steadicam technology
  2. composition, including balanced and unbalanced shots.
Creative use of cinematography
  1. camerawork including subjective camera, shifts in focus and depth of field, mixed camera styles, filters.
Conveying messages and values
  1. how shot selection relates to narrative development and conveys messages and values
  2. how lighting, including 3-point lighting, conveys character, atmosphere and messages and values
  3. how cinematography, including lighting, provides psychological insight into character
  4. how all aspects of cinematography can generate multiple connotations and suggest a range of interpretations
  5. how and why different spectators develop different interpretations of the same camera shots and lighting
  6. how cinematography, including lighting, is used to align spectators and how that alignment relates to spectator interpretation of narrative
  7. how cinematography, including lighting, contributes to the ideologies conveyed by a film.
Indication of an auteur approach and film aesthetic
  1. how cinematography including lighting can be indicative of an auteur approach (director or cinematographer)
  2. how cinematography contributes to a film’s overall aesthetic.
Principal elements
  1. setting, props, costume and make-up
  2. staging, movement and off-screen space
  3. how cinematography impacts on mise-en-scène, in particular through variation in depth of field, focus and framing (a significant area of overlap with cinematography).
Creative use of mise-en-scène
  1. how mise-en-scène can be used both naturalistically and expressively
  2. how the principal elements of mise-en-scène can generate multiple connotations and suggest a range of interpretations
  3. how changes in mise-en-scène contribute to character and narrative development.
Conveying messages and values
  1. how mise-en-scène conveys messages and values
  2. how mise-en-scène, including setting, props, costume and make-up, can generate multiple connotations and suggest a range of possible interpretations
  3. how staging, movement and off-screen space are significant in creating meaning and generating response
  4. the significance of motifs used in mise-en-scène, including their patterned repetition
  5. how mise-en-scène is used to align spectators and how that alignment relates to spectator interpretation of narrative
  6. how and why different spectators develop different interpretations of the same mise-en-scène
  7. how mise-en-scène contributes to the ideologies conveyed by a film
  8. how mise-en-scène contributes to a film’s overall aesthetic.
Principal elements
  1. the shot-to-shot relationships of continuity editing including match editing, the 180° rule
  2. montage editing and stylised forms of editing including jump cuts.
Creative use of editing
  1. how editing implies relationships between characters and contributes to narrative development including through editing motifs and their patterned repetition
  2. how the principal elements of editing can generate multiple connotations and suggest a range of interpretations
  3. how visual effects created in post-production are used, including the way they are designed to engage the spectator and create an emotional response
  4. the use of visual effects created in post-production including the tension between the filmmaker's intention to create a particular emotional response and the spectator's actual response.
Conveying messages and values
  1. how editing conveys messages and values
  2. how editing is used to align the spectator and how that alignment relates to spectator interpretation of narrative
  3. how and why different spectators interpret the same editing effects differently
  4. how editing contributes to the ideologies conveyed by a film.
Indication of an auteur approach and film aesthetic
  1. how editing can be indicative of an auteur approach (director or editor)
  2. how editing contributes to a film’s overall aesthetic.
Principal elements
  1. vocal sounds (dialogue and narration), environmental sounds (ambient, sound effects, Foley), music, silence
  2. diegetic or non-diegetic sound
  3. parallel and contrapuntal sound and the distinction between them
  4. multitrack sound mixing and layering, asynchronous sound, sound design.
Creative use of sound
  1. how sound is used expressively
  2. how sound relates to characters and narrative development including the use of sound motifs.
Conveying messages and values
  1. how sound conveys messages and values
  2. how the principal elements of sound can generate multiple connotations and suggest a range of interpretations
  3. how sound is used to align the spectator and how that alignment relates to spectator interpretation of narrative
  4. how and why different spectators interpret the same use of sound differently
  5. how sound contributes to the ideologies conveyed by film.
Indication of an auteur approach and film aesthetic
  1. how sound can be indicative of an auteur approach (director or sound designer)
  2. how sound contributes to a film’s overall aesthetic.
Principal elements
  1. the use of non-verbal communication including physical expression and vocal delivery
  2. the significance of the interaction between actors
  3. performance styles in cinema including method and improvisatory styles
  4. the significance of casting.
Performance as a creative collaboration
  1. the role of directing as a 'choreography' of stage movement
  2. the relationship between performance and cinematography.
Conveying messages and values
  1. how performance conveys messages and values
  2. how performance is used to align the spectator and how that alignment relates to spectator interpretation of narrative
  3. how and why different spectators interpret the same performance differently
  4. how performance contributes to the ideologies conveyed by a film.

Narrative structure requires consideration of the whole film, most obviously in the way a story is told through plot. A practical approach to narrative is to be found in the practice of screenwriting with the idea of the narrative “arc” and the commonly used three-act structure. In addition, mise-en-scène, cinematography and sound can all have a narrative function.

Learners study the following:
  1. how narrative construction reflects plot and expresses temporal duration and ellipsis
  2. narrative devices including voiceover, flashback, the framing narrative, the open ending, repetition and other forms of narrative patterning
  3. how the dramatic qualities of a sequence or scene are constructed, including through dialogue
  4. how narrative construction provides psychological insight into character
  5. ambiguity in narrative including the ambiguous relationship between cause and effect and uncertainty over character identification
  6. how narrative construction is used to align the spectator and how that alignment encourages the adoption of a particular spectator point of view
  7. the significance of narrative structures which are alternative to and/or in opposition to conventional narrative structures, particularly in regard to experimental film
  8. the relationship between the screenplay and the realised film narrative
  9. narrative conventions of mainstream screenwriting, including the construction of dialogue, character and the use of images and sound to convey narrative.