The questions from the June 2010 paper were as follows.

1. ‘One of the great pleaures of popular cinema is surrendering to the film experience and allowing ourselves to be emotionally manipulated’. Discuss this statement with reference to the films that you have studied for this topic.

The best responses did the following:

• A detailed and sophisticated knowledge and understanding of the films studied, particularly their affective characterisitcs
• A sound appreciation of the variety of ways in which emotional response in the spectator is generated – with the ability to offer detailed analysis of different ways in which the popular film examples chosen manipulate response
• An ability to develop an argument that focuses very directly on the pleasure of surrendering to manipulation. A variety of examples will be very effective in demonstrating this. The detail of the argument may be on whether we “allow ourselves” to be manipulated or controlled by the mechanisims at work within the film.
• The argument may be extended, burrowing deeper into questions of complicity and questioning wheter in fact, we have the capacity as spectators to simultaneously stand inside and outside the experience.

2. ‘Emotional response to a popular film is dependent on the ways in which we are made to identify with particular characters’. How far has this been your experience?

• A detailed and sophisticated knowledge and understanding of the films studied, particularly their affective characterisitcs
• A sound appreciation of the variety of ways in which emotional response in the spectator is generated – with the ability to offer a detailed account of character construction and the wyas in which systems of identification are set up.
• An  ability to develop an argument demonstrating the extent to which identification with character is a key component of the pleasure the spectator takes from the film viewing experience.
• This argument may be extened by means of comparison with other factors that determine the spectator’s emotional response, including detailed reference to macro or micro features of film form.

Posted in FM4 Popular Film and Emotional Response

Here are 2 example questions for the unit of work on Popular Film and Emotional Response.

1. ‘One of the great pleasures of popular cinema is surrendering to the film experience and allowing ourselvesto be emotionally manipulated.’ Discuss this statement with reference to the films you have studied for this topic.

2.’Emotional response to a popular film is dependent on the ways in which we are made to identify with particular characters.’ How far has this been your experience?

In the exam you will have to choose one question to answer, you must refer to at least 2 films but will be better off writing about 3. You should compare and contrast the films and discuss similarities and differences between them. You should pick up on specific scenes and discuss how they had an impact on you or if they failed to have an impact on you. You will need to be able to discuss micro features as well as placing the film in context and relating it to your own viewing experience.

Posted in FM4 Popular Film and Emotional Response

Section B of FM4 focuses on Spectatorship and you have studied Popular Cinema and Emotional Response. You have a choice of 2 questions of which you answer 1. You must refer to at least 2 films in your answer and should use the ones studied in class as the main examples but you can also refer to your own examples. The films we have studied foucs around Melodrama or ‘Shock’ you must be able to refer in detail to textual examples to help back up your points.

Sample exam questions

1. Explore possible reasons to explain why a second or third viewing of a film can actually increase the emotional response rather than lessen it.

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

Posted in FM4 Popular Film and Emotional Response

To help you with the censorship topic it would be useful to look at both the BBFC website and also the SBBFC (Student BBFC) website. Both of these sites contain very useful information about censorship and how it works in the UK. The SBBFC website also has a number of useful case studies that examine specific films and issues surrounding them.

Tags: BBFC, Censorship, SBBFC
Posted in FM4 Popular Film and Emotional Response

13T Film Reviews

A Clockwork Orange : ONE | TWO | THREE | FOUR

Borat : ONE | TWO | THREE

Romper Stomper : ONE

Posted in FM4 Popular Film and Emotional Response