GCSE film studies 2025-2027
Monday, October 19, 2026
History of Film
The 16 Key Milestones in Film History
- 1895: The first moving images are projected to an audience by the Lumière brothers (The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station).
- 1895–1927: The silent cinema era, establishing core techniques in cinematography, editing, lighting, and mise-en-scène (with pioneers like Buster Keaton).
- 1920s–1930: The emergence and consolidation of the Hollywood studio system.
- 1926–1927: Release of The Jazz Singer (directed by Alan Crosland), the first feature film with a synchronized soundtrack.
- 1935: Release of Becky Sharp (directed by Rouben Mamoulian), the first feature-length three-strip Technicolor film.
- 1948: The Paramount Decree (court case) ends studio vertical integration (where studios owned production, distribution, and exhibition).
- 1950s: The rise of widescreen formats (Cinemascope/Cinerama) and 3D cinema to combat declining attendance caused by television.
- Late 1950s: The invention of lightweight, portable handheld cameras, heavily impacting documentary filmmaking and the French New Wave (Breathless).
- 1975: Garrett Brown invents the Steadicam, allowing smooth, fluid camera movement.
- 1990s: Widespread adoption of Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI), shifting practical special effects to digital visual effects (pioneered by Industrial Light & Magic).
- 1995: Release of Toy Story (directed by John Lasseter / Pixar), the first feature-length computer-animated film.
- 2000s: Rise of citizen filmmaking using affordable lightweight cameras and mobile phones.
- 2007: Netflix launches as a legal streaming service for film and TV.
- 2010s: Emergence of feature-length films shot entirely on iPhones (such as Tangerine in 2015 and Unsane in 2018).
- 2017: Digital and physical streaming/download sales overtake DVD sales for the first time.
- 2018: Avengers: Infinity War becomes the first mainstream Hollywood film shot entirely using IMAX cameras
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
Tuesday, October 6, 2026
Monday, September 21, 2026
Thursday, May 21, 2026
Practise filming task
Plus they must include the following and try and incorporate into some improvised narrative alongside the obligatory shots above:
- Over the shoulder reflection in the mirror shot
- Cloud tracking shot - they move and film clouds tracking and then tilt down
- Over the shoulder someone drawing
- Two shot low angle reaction shot with expression
- then from their point of view at what they're looking at
- Wormseye long shot of someone walking towards the camera
- Foot shots walking into frame, past frame, out of frame hold still for long shot before and after
- Looking through window/door in L9 filming from the inside
- Two shot standing without knowing the other is there on each side of a door or wall
- Arrange a serious of props from bags, or around the room that would tell you something about the character and slowly pan across these
- Record an off screen conversation
Thursday, March 26, 2026
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