Film Studies at the Queensland Academy for Creative Industries challenges students by developing an enhanced appreciation of film text as art, the technology used to create this art, and storytelling mechanisms that allow this process to happen effectively.

Students are immersed in film as an evolving art form. Through a range of processes they will become both literate in interpreting and skilled in expressing themselves within. This acquired knowledge of film language is used by students to critically analyse and deconstruct studied film texts at a sophisticated level of understanding. Students are asked to apply the acquired practical skills of storyboarding and pre-production, filming and editing to create original film works of their own.

As part of the holistic educational approach within the Academy, the course places importance on the humanistic elements contained in the arts. As such, students will develop a broad appreciation of different socio-cultural influences to film content and style across history and nationalities.

As a course that requires sophisticated imagery to be created, technological emphasis in the course is high. Students use MacBook laptops as a personal daily tool, HD digital video cameras and such programs as Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Photoshop, Apple Garage Band, Macromedia and Shake for compositing blue room imagery. The course strives to have the student see the possibilities of creative thought come to fruition.

Assessment

Internal assessment for Film Studies in IB can be considered in the dimensions of:

• Part 1: Textual analysis: the detailed study of film sequences
• Part 2: Film theory and history: the study of films and film-making traditions from more than one country
• Part 3: Creative process: techniques and organisation of production

Projects

During a unit of study, students may be asked to:

• Design and workshop moving picture sequences as a member of a group or solo.
• Critically analyse and deconstruct images and meaning contained in film segments or a genre as a whole.
• Develop an awareness through self-discovery of historical, social and cultural aspects of a particular film or film movement.
• Film, light and compose an accompanying soundtrack and edit a piece of film they have created.
• Discuss work or ideas in verbal or written forms.