A first exercise towards the independent study

February 13, 2014

As we all know, the independent study for IB film is a monstrously complex beast of a summative assessment task. For those of you who have read some of my earlier posts, in particular my reviews of the 2013 examiners’ report, the section devoted to the...

The studio system and film texts

January 25, 2014

In the student blog This month I posted an entry which offers an introduction to the Hollywood studio system through the lens of the star system (most students seem to find this route palatable). I realised in writing this, and the significant degree of editing it...

Examination Report 2013 part 3 – The Independent Study

December 29, 2013

In my blogs entries over the last month or so I’ve ben reviewing the 2013 examiners’ report. I’ve divided these so that I can explore the observations on each of the three assessment components in detail. In this entry I’ll try to interpret...

2013 Examiner’s report – production portfolio

November 19, 2013

This years examiner’s report offers the usual recurring complaints of the failure of candidates to meet the formal requirements for each assessment component, which are frankly unforgivable mostly of the teachers in supervising these candidates, as the...

An assignment idea or discussion topic for learning some key technical concepts and terminology

October 9, 2013

Ok so you’ve ‘done’ shot types, used a powerpoint or projected stills. That’s fab for the basics, but what about their implementation in actual films, why these shot selections or camera movement might have been deployed, this isn’t at...

Not sucking at the Independent Study

September 3, 2013

How independent studies are marked (by me). In today’s post I’ve set out rather a lengthy document. This attempts to explain just how independent studies will be assessed using the current IB film criteria (at least by me and most of my team/s).  As...