My film recommendation is Love, Simon (dir. Greg Berlanti, 2018). This drama/coming of age story takes places in a high school, and the main character is Simon, who has a secret online relationship with another guy from his school. During the film, he’s blackmailed by someone in his class, who threatens to tell everyone his biggest secret – he’s gay. This genre of film isn’t what I usually like and watch often, but this particular film was really enjoyable. Normally, I prefer sci-fi or horror films, but I really enjoyed Love, Simon, mainly because of the intriguing plot and fantastic cast. So far, it has grossed $66.3 million across the world just at the box office. After its release, many celebrities promoted the film – some of them buying out theaters to offer free screenings for members of the public due to the important message that the plot contains.

       IB Learner Profile

• Inquirers: Independence in learning will help film students to analyse plots of movies better than they did before. Naturally, people when watching movies blindly follow the story with no thinking involved – which can make it hard for certain, people to understand movies that use a lot of symbolism and metaphors. Therefore learning to inquire will widen the range of movies the student can watch and understand.

• Knowledgeable: To explore global ideas and learn a broader level of knowledge will help film students to follow along educational films or movies that focus on international significance that is necessary to the film – therefore understanding these ideas will help you to understand the film much better.

• Thinkers: To apply complex problems to one’s thinking can help initiate problem solving which is useful for film students when making assumptions to movies and engaging in the storyline.

• Communicators: To learn to express ideas and collaborate with others, a film student’s mind is filled with creativity and the ability to come up with original concepts and ideas for a story or a movie. The process of teamwork is important within film studies because the course involves group projects that require high levels of creativity.

• Principled: Learning the principles can create a fair environment for groups to work together on film projects so each individual student can express their ideas and be involved, rather than a leader controlling the project.

• Open-minded: Considering other team member’s ideas will help film students to work together smoothly and efficiently with minor complications within the project. Listening to someone’s original ideas, that differ to your original ideas, will help you grow as a person because it opens your mind to more possibilities and creativity that you may not have considered before.

• Caring: Showing compassion towards others will help to encourage people’s ideas and inspire their creative thinking to grow, and it will also help the person showing compassion, skills such as leadership within a group. This is helpful to a film student because better ideas will be used if you have respect and integrity within your team as members won’t be afraid to express them.

• Risk-takers: To explore new ideas and strategies, you are opening up more possibilities for new and more creative concepts and ideas for a film student’s project.

• Balanced: To have balance within your well-being, you can focus on the positive and achieve greater things as you are set on moving forward and developing academically as a person. This is important for film students because one who is balanced will feel more at ease with their work and truly feel as though they are benefiting from the course and will be able to feel pride within their creativity.

• Reflective: To understand your own personal strengths and limitations, you are able to know when you will be helpful and what you can contribute to your work and team. This is important for a film student because it will give order to ideas and won’t have them thrown around randomly and waste time if you know your limitations and what you can actually bring to the table. Plus your strengths will be specifically used within your work therefore your best is applied to everything you do during the course.

Hereditary.

A chilling horror film that focuses on a haunted family, the daughter of which is secretly the host for a demon king. Throughout the film, each member of the family is affected, one by one, until eventually the true intent of the hauntings is exposed.

When watching this film initially, it was not particularly enjoyable to me since i’m not a fan of horror movies. However after digging into the plot and looking at the context, the whole story made sense and came together very well.

not for the faint of heart, there is a good amount of gore in this film and the psychological horror aspect can be upsetting to some viewers.

if i had the choice to watch it again  i probably would not as is not as interesting when you know the whole plot. However it is worth a watch for the first time and watching the plot reveal itself can be very intriguing.

this film is rated 15+

IB learner profile in film studies

Inquirers: asks questions to further their understanding of film

Knowledgeable: wide range of skills and significance understanding of film

Thinkers: has the initiative to think critically and analytically about a film

Communicators: can talk in groups when designing their own film

Principled: is respectful towards peers when working together in group work

Open-minded: has the ability to listen to other people’s ideas and be able to come to a compromise

Caring: cares about film and wants to learn more to further their knowledge

Risk-Takers: can approach unknown films outside of their comfort zone and overcome the challenging aspects of it

Balanced: lets other people speak their mind and open to other ideas, but also being confident in their own ideas

Reflective: will check over work and make sure other people involved in group work feel included

I did Saving Private Ryan because I really like it’s plot and I think that it’s a classic movie. Obviously better  than Jurassic Park, Despite what Sergio says

Click here to view the trailer

What makes a good film?

A good film needs to consist of many smaller, important qualities that will ultimately create a better bigger picture. There are many different micro elements that go into making a scene, and they are all very important. One micro element is the cinematography, which needs to be well thought out in order for it to reflect the mood and setting of the scene. Also, the mise-en-scene must be specific in every detail and well constructed. For example, the colours and lighting used in a scene could be used to reflect a mood or an underlying theme throughout the film. If the wrong colours were used, it could confuse the audience and give them the wrong idea about what is happening. Another important micro element is the editing, that takes place to ensure that the film is the best that it can be. This stage in film production can help to keep the pace of the film, to make sure that it stays relevant to the audience, so they don’t lose interest. Editors can cut out scenes that aren’t necessary, to either keep it interesting or to make sure that the film will fit into its allotted time space. Editing is also important to cut out any mistakes in the film, which could ruin a scene. One more micro element that has a huge impact on the overall effect of a movie is the sound. Many famous movies all have very impressive soundtracks, as they help to create the required atmosphere. The sound can help make a suspenseful scene more tense for the audience by having soft music suddenly become loud, adding to the audience’s shock when it comes to jump scares. The soundtrack can also be very useful to fill space in a film – for example if there are no characters talking, the audience might not like the empty silence.

It is also important to consider macro elements, such as the message or value behind the film. Most films have a message behind them, and this can be explored not only by the characters and their actions, but by scenes and representation. In most films, the characters learn something by the end, and this often reflects the central message that the writers want the audience to realise. The style of the film has to also be carefully considered before and during the filming. For example, if the script has been written for a certain style, but then the director starts using a different style, the film won’t make sense. This also links to the genre of the film, which is important to consider when choosing things like lighting and props. For a horror film, the audience would expect dark scenes with little lighting, because it echoes a suspenseful atmosphere. If a horror film had lots of daylight scenes with few shadows, the intended atmosphere of the scenes would be lost. However, comedy films would generally be better lit, with more scenes set in daylight, as the film would have a more cheerful mood.

Activity 1 film