FM4

Varieties of Film: Issues and Debates

Aim: to introduce the FM4 exam paper and 3 topic sections.

The structure of the paper• FM4 is split into three sections:

• Section A - World Cinema topics: which is in turn split into 4 different sub-topic areas. This question is worth 35 marks

• Section B - Spectatorship Topics: which is also split into 4 sub-topic areas. This question is worth 35 marks

• Section C - Close Critical Study: a study of a single film. This question is worth 30 marks.

• The exam is 2 and 3/4 hours in length!

Spectatorship topics• There are 4 topic areas in Section B. We will be studying:

• Spectatorship, Popular Film and Emotional Response.

• The exam board asks students to base their understanding of this topic on at least two films in any given genre.

• We will be looking at films within the horror genre and how these films use cinematic language to manipulate audience emotions.

The aims of the section B

• The WJEC specification states the aim of this topic are:

• An understanding of how cinema produces a range of emotional responses in the spectator,using both macro and micro features.

• An appreciation of how spectators seek a range of different experiences when watching films,including experiences that may challenge and disturb.

• An appreciation of cinematic contexts including the significance of audience viewing situations, fandom and cultism in contributing to spectator response.

Specimen Question

• This is an exemplar question form the board’s specimen paper:

• How far is the emotional response to mainstream films triggered by specific techniques used by the filmmakers?

• What is this question asking you to do? Is it asking you to examine the micro or macro aspects?

Emotional Response?

• Before we tackle the more complex issue of spectatorship…… lets get emotional!

• Think about the last three films you watched:• What emotional response(s) did it illicit?• How did it make you feel, during and after the film?• What filmmaking techniques did it use to gain that

emotional response?• Were there any genre conventions used to gain an

emotional response?• Make notes on the sheet.

Genre and emotional response

• Film like any art form should illicit some sort of emotional response from the viewer.

• Brainstorm a list of emotions you could potentially feel from cinema.

• Brainstorm a list of potential emotional responses from the following genres:

• Action• Romantic comedy

• Task: now watch clips from an example of the above genres and make notes on the sheet.

Classic Hollywood and emotional response

• Hollywood in the golden age of the 1940s and 50s used a variety of macro and micro techniques to manipulate emotional responses.

• Look at clips from these two very different films:• ‘Singin in the Rain’ dir: Stanley Donen (1955)• ‘Casablanca’ dir: Michael Curtiz (1943)

• Make notes: Even though your watching the films ‘out of context’, how are the scenes supposed to make you feel?

Mini-case study

• ‘No Country For Old Men’

• Directed by the Coen Brothers (2007)

• Genre: thriller

• Setting: Texas/Mexican border.

• Watch and make notes on three key scenes from the film.