Extended Essays in Film

I need to be crystal clear here, The following reflects my personal opinion, and my remarks in no way reflect IB thinking or policy.

However many examiners of the Extended Essay are also teachers of Film, and their students do benefit from the insights they provide into the processes of assessment, so why shouldn’t anyone else?

The point of this post is mostly as a warning to grade eleven students in the IB.

If you’re considering making film studies the academic area for your extended essay and aren’t in an IB fim studies course, DON’T.

You may love films, but the IB and the Extended essay is about much more than your passions, it is a serious research paper, an opportunity for you to demonstrate an ability to research a topic to a reasonably high level within an academic context. Candidates who select film studies for their Extended essay are required to select a topic which allows them to demonstrate a good working knowledge of academic frameworks and critical approaches in Film studies, as well as skills in textual analysis.

Your love of film alone is unlikely to equip you suffuciently to demonstrate these in any measure enough to ensure success in the Extended essay.

It would be like someone not studying Geography writing an EE on the Geology of the Western Sahara, you just have to know the basic lingua franca of the academic area of study.

The truth is that the IB is tough enough without unnecessarily loading extra learning on to yourself, however much you may love film.

Choose wisely