IB Film is a course for post-16 study, a group 6 subject with the International Baccalaureate curriculum. The course began as a mainstream IB subject in September 2008. It can be studied at either Standard or Higher Level. There are three curriculum areas: textual analysis, film theory and history and creative process. There is no final written examination.
 

Part 1- Textual Analysis Students will learn how to comment on the following elements of film and on the relationships between them: construction according to narrative or other formal organizing principles• representation of characters and issues • camera angles, shots and movement • editing and sequencing • lighting, shade and colour • sound • location and set design • features determining genre • target audience • historical, economic, and sociocultural factors Consider the extract from Steven Spielberg's 1998 award winning film 'Saving Private Ryan'. What can we say about issues and target audience? What do you notice about the colour or the sound? What about camera shots and movements?  Film making is a very deliberate process, and little appears on screen by chance. What concerns us above all else is to understand what Spielberg is trying to achieve in using the range of techniques that he has chosen to use.
Part 2 - Film theory and history Film theory and history. Students will be encouraged to ask such questions as: • Who made this? • Why? • What can we tell about the film-maker(s)? • For who was it made? How does it address its audience? What is the nature of our engagement with film? • What tradition is it in (for example, American gangster film, science fiction film)? Again, can you answer these questions in respect to Saving Private Ryan?
Part 3 - Creative process Stages in film making process include initial planning (finding and researching the idea), and technical planning (storyboarding, shot selection, production scheduling etc.) moving on to the physical production (determining locations, acquiring costumes and props, photography, etc.) concluding with post-production (editing, addition of music titles etc.) See films made by IB Film students.