Sunday Times Secondary School of the Year 2023

St. Mary's Grammar School

Moving Image Arts

SPECIFIC AIMS OF THE DEPARTMENT

The Moving Image Arts Department aims to provide students with the ability to:

  • Develop critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving skills.

  • Understand how to manage a project from beginning to completion.

  • Develop transferable technical skills in using film-making equipment, computer hardware, and software.

  • Acquire knowledge and understanding of Film Language, Genres, Movements and Contexts.

  • Allow students to express themselves through the medium of film and sound; and

  • Provide students with the requisite skill and knowledge to enable them to take their first steps to a career in Creative Media, which is the fastest growing industry in Northern Ireland.

  • Moving Image Arts will equip students with transferrable skills such as critical thinking, independent learning and project management that are invaluable in a wide range of third level courses of study.

OVERVIEW OF KEY STAGE 4 CURRICULUM 

INTRODUCTION TO GCSE MOVING IMAGE ARTS

This qualification is a linear specification with three components. Component 1 is an online examination and worth 40 percent (40%), Component 2 is controlled assessment and worth 20 percent (20%), and Component 3 is controlled assessment and worth 40 percent (40%).

 

Component 1 (Year 12):

Critical Understanding of Creative and Technical Moving Image Production

Component 1 is a compulsory online theory examination which lasts 1 hour 30 mins duration. This examination will be taken by students in Year 12 and will be the culmination of learning from Years 11 and 12.

 

The examination features:

  • A range of previously unseen audio and visual short film sequences.

  • Questions that assess knowledge and understanding of film language, practices, techniques, and contexts.

  • Scenario-based questions that assess creative and production management skills; and

  • Questions that assess analysis and evaluation of film language, audience, and purpose.

Students will sit the Component 1 examination at the end of Year 12. The examination will be set and marked by CCEA.

 

Component 2 (Year 11):

Acquisition of Skills in Moving Image Production

Component 2 will be undertaken in Year 11 and is made up of four compulsory controlled assessment tasks (coursework). Students complete the following four tasks specified in the Component 2 Task Booklet which are:

  • Storyboarding.

  • Camera and editing.

  • Sound; and

  • Animation.

The tasks will be set by CCEA. Teachers in school will mark the tasks and they will go to CCEA for moderation (to receive their final grades) at the end of Year 12. All tasks will be submitted to CCEA in digital format.

Component 3 (Year 12):

Planning and Making a Moving Image Product

Component 3 will be undertaken in Year 12 and builds on knowledge and experience gained in Year 11. It is a compulsory controlled assessment portfolio where students are asked to produce a live-action or animated film portfolio from a selection of genre-specific production briefs that we provide.

The portfolio must feature:

  • A research analysis.

  • Preproduction material.

  • A completed moving image product; and

  • An evaluation.

Again, these tasks will be set by CCEA. Teachers in school will mark the tasks and they will go to CCEA for moderation (to receive their final grades) at the end of Year 12. All tasks will be submitted to CCEA in digital format.

OVERVIEW OF KEY STAGE 5 CURRICULUM

INTRODUCTION TO A LEVEL MOVING IMAGE ARTS

At Key Stage 5, the Moving Image Arts Department offers Moving Image Arts (MIA) at AS and A2 Level. Students follow the CCEA specification.

At AS and A2, Moving Image Arts is delivered over eleven periods per fortnight.

At AS Level, students must successfully complete two units.

A further two units must be successfully completed at A2 Level.

 

AS LEVEL COURSE CONTENT

Unit 1: MIA Creative Production: Foundation Portfolio (70% of AS / 35% of A Level)

This unit is Coursework and requires students to produce the following and will be covered in Five Stages:

  • Stage 1: A written Statement of Intention and Film Synopsis (1200 words).

  • Stage 2: Creative Pre-Production. Written and illustrated pre-production materials to include a Screenplay, Storyboard and Shot List which provides evidence of management, organisation and planning of time and resources.

  • Stage 3: Planning, Design and Organisation. A fully illustrated Director’s Notebook.

  • Stage 4: Creative Production and Post-Production. Shoot and edit a film approximately of 3 to 5 minutes in duration.

  • Stage 5: An Evaluation (1200 words).

 

Unit 2: MIA Critical Response (30% of AS / 15% of A Level)

This unit requires students to complete a 1 hour 30-minute compulsory external online examination with previously unseen moving image clips. The content of the examination will be based on the CCEA Moving Image Arts curriculum and will be delivered during lessons on with following areas in focus:

  • Classical Hollywood Style,

  • Realism in Hollywood,

  • The Hollywood studio system,

  • German Expressionism,

  • Film Noir and American Expressionism and,

  • Soviet Montage.

 

 

A2 LEVEL COURSE CONTENT

Unit 1: MIA Creative Production and Research: Advanced Portfolio (35% of A2)

This unit is Coursework requires students to produce the following and will be covered in Five Stages:

 

  • Stage 1: A written Illustrated Essay and Film Synopsis (1400 words).

  • Stage 2: Creative Pre-Production. Written and illustrated pre-production materials to include a Screenplay, Storyboard and Shot List which provides evidence of management, organisation and planning of time and resources.

  • Stage 3: Planning, Design and Organisation. A fully illustrated Director’s Notebook.

  • Stage 4: Creative Production and Post-Production. Shoot and edit a film approximately of 5 to 7 minutes in duration.

  • Stage 5: An Evaluation (1400 words).

 

Unit 2: MIA Critical Response and Specialisation (15% of A2)

This unit requires students to complete a 2-hour 15-minute compulsory external online examination with unseen moving image clips and optional art form specialisation with pre-set moving image clips. The content of the examination will be based on the CCEA Moving Image Arts curriculum and will be delivered during lessons on with following areas in focus:

  • Realism in World Cinema,

  • Italian Neo-Realism,

  • The French New Wave and Cinéma Vérité,

  • Poetic Realism,

  • Experimenting with narrative,

  • Creative exercise and,

  • Comparative analysis.

ADDITIONAL SUBJECT INFROMATION

FACILITIES, RESOURCES AND EXTERNAL LINKS

The Moving Image Arts Department has a fully equipped Moving Image Arts suite, complete with film-making equipment, computer hardware and software, lighting, and sound technology. We seek to enhance the education of our students by providing them with access to professional filmmakers and, we have an association with The Nerve Centre in Derry which goes back many years. We have facilitated in-school workshops where professionals from The Nerve Centre have worked with our students in specialist areas ranging from Camera and Lighting techniques for filmmaking, Editing and Special Effects.

 

Awards