Films for analysis (max: 5 minutes)

[Liam]

I have been tasked by my school with running a Film Studies GCSE as enrichment. Having done some research, I have found the WJEC Film Studies GCSE. In this GCSE, there is a section which involves the pupils studying a film that was created outside of Hollywood. The list is below:

Amélie

Bend It Like Beckham

The Boy in Striped Pyjamas

The Devil's Backbone

Persepolis

Ratcatcher

Rabbit-Proof Fence

Tsotsi

The Wave

Yasmin

Which of these films do you think might be the easiest to analyse for character/location/themes/issues? Also, which is most likely to be engaging to a group of 13-14 year old children?

I have seen Amelie, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Persepolis. At this moment, I wouldn't touch TBITSP with a bargepole because I hate the film. The other two are good, but Persepolis specifically might struggle to engage the pupils. The rest, I have no idea about. Any assistance will be really appreciated.

[Skummy]

In terms of location, themes and issues, it might be a little difficult for the age group, but Persepolis is by far the strongest.

Rabbit-proof Fence is one of the dullest films I've ever seen. It's a depressing, if interesting, story, but one of those where someone leaning over and saying "...you know, this is based on a true story" doesn't make the movie any less shit.

[RPS]

Beckham would definitely appeal to 13-14 year olds. It's good because it uses the Hollywood cliche and tropes, but flips them on their head.

[LL!]

Beckham would definitely appeal to 13-14 year olds. It's good because it uses the Hollywood cliche and tropes, but flips them on their head.

This, pretty much. It's probably going to be the easiest concepts to explain to the kids, really. Other than that, from the ones I've seen, I'd say Amelie might work as well. Though, when I was 13-14, I probably wouldn't have been interested in it.

[Liam]

Any particularly worthwhile mentions from the other selection of films that I haven't seen?

[Benjamin]

Bend It Like Beckham would be the easiest, definitely, and the most engaging to that age group.

The only other one I've seen is The Devil's Backbone, which is around the Spanish Civil War time and has aspects of history and politics in it, so I don't know if 13-14 year olds still like that.

[Jimmy]

Yeah, Bend It Like Beckham definitely would be for your age group. It's non subtitled, for a starter, which turns a lot of people of that age off. You've got the football element to interest the guys on some level, you've got a recognisable star in Keira Knightly and it's all straight forward enough. A few of 'em might well have seen it already, too.

There's a good chance a few will really like others - but there will be a lot who just aren't ready for it.

[Liam]

Ok, so now some more help is needed.

Pupils have to complete a micro-analysis of a film of their choice, which involves them looking at two out of cinematography, editing, sound and mise-en-scene. The scene analysed must be no longer than five minutes long.

We can do this as a class though, where we discuss several options, and then they choose the one they want to develop further.

Any recommendations? I'm looking at stuff like the shower scene in Psycho. I'm assuming it would have to be 15-rated at the highest, as it is a GCSE course.

Also, it is not allowed to be a superhero film, as that is the genre study they have to complete seperately.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[TKz]

I remember doing this in Film Studies! Oh man, that was a ton of fun. I think I did Aliens and the quick scene where Ripley makes her way towards the hive towards the end. The cool thing about it is that this can apply to pretty much any scene in nearly any film if you're remotely good at film studies. I'm surprised there's an age limit though, I seem to recall the classes I did featured a waiver for the younger kids that their parents could sign.

Some good ones would be anything from Edgar Wright, that's like a fucking treasure chest of editing techniques, sound and cinematography right there. Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim. But another great one is the tracking shot scene from Goodfellas, or just about anything from Goodfellas. You're really going to be looking for scenes that feature a ton of fun stuff to pick up on. A lot of the classic "I've done a year of Film Studies so I know my shit" fan favorite films work really well for this, because they're great examples of classic films that use those techniques and it's really obvious and easy to pick up on, but still leaves a lot of room for awesome interpretation. The Shining, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Gladiator are all good shouts.

[Liam]

I could give a waiver I guess. That was just a suggestion from me.

The idea of looking at some Edgar Wright stuff would be pretty cool.

Will also have a little bit of a look at Gladiator again - love it myself, and am sure there is a lot to be said about it.

[Liam]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2mQJK3xVeY

I think this will be one that I use. Good for camera shots and for sound, let alone the other stuff.

This will be another one.

Probably need about three to four more specific choices.

[Benjamin]

I have no idea if this applies at all, as I seem to be the only one on EWB that didn't go to film school, but having just watched the Untouchables, the scene at the train station is bad ass.

[Liam]

In hindsight, it'll need to be from films I can show them up to the scene itself, as it would make sense (naturally) for them to have context.

How long into Gladiator does the unmasking happen? Don't have a DVD to check it out at the moment.

Shower Scene happens fairly early on, so is ok.

Can't be too far into a film, realistically.

[Liam]

Potential.

[TroutMaskReplica]

The start of Citizen Kane is abit of a classic to look at. Maybe Irreversible or a Tarkovsky film for something abit more out there? Tokyo Story too?

[Liam]

My pupils don't do anything out of their comfort zone very well - has meant I've ditched a few ideas.

They seemed to visibly shrink when I put on the opening to 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' last week.

[Jimmy]

Yeah, I can't imagine Tarkovsky or Ozu are going to really do it for GCSE students. Anything in a foreign language is going to turn off like 90%. Could always do something from Shawshank? That's quite accessible. Could even try something from Lord of the Rings, I'm sure there's plenty of scenes in there that could be worth doing. When we did something like this in 6th form, we analysed the first 5 minutes of Alien as there's so much going on, but also not that much either.

[RPS]

Opening of Touch of Evil: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_of_Evil. Pretty iconic.

The Pool Hall scene from My Life to Live: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Life_to_Live. Good for a more avant garde perspective.

The birthday scene in The Birds: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birds_%28film%29

[Monkey D. Lars]

http://www.ign.com/top/movie-moments

You mean this kind of stuff?

Like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ccVu992CYE

That bike jump, o boy it's still amazing.

[Monkey D. Lars]

And I still love these clips:

And offcourse HERE'S JOHNNY!