EXAMINERS REPORT : Production

COMPONENT 3: PRODUCTION 


General Comments 

 Component 3 offers a significant synoptic opportunity to apply knowledge gained elsewhere in the Specification through the demonstration of practical skills. To quote the Specification: Production is a crucial and synoptic part of the specification, giving learners the opportunity to put into practice the filmmaking ideas they develop throughout their course of study. The study of film form in particular is intended to enable learners to produce high quality short films and screenplays as well as provide them with a filmmaker's perspective on the films they study.

 Centres were able to engage their candidates with the concepts around the short film, through some dynamic use of the short film compilation set by WJEC, and candidates were able to select appropriate films to study, applying this study to their own productions. This is impressive and Centres should rightly be congratulated on successfully delivering this new approach to teaching and contextualising production.


Candidates offered an incredible diverse range of short films and screenplays encompassing a wide variety of styles and influences. The impact of the short film compilation was significant across the majority of candidates’ work, with direct and visible application of learning at all levels. This is highly creditable and is not only a testament to individual engagement, but also to the high-quality teaching they received.



Comments on individual questions/sections 

Option 1: Short Film

There was evident excitement and pleasure in making the short films, and there was a marked difference in focus created by the dual demands of applying learning from the short film compilation, and of the Production Brief. It is without question that candidates who engaged directly with the Production Brief achieved the best results. Candidates engaged well with the concept of the narrative twist and with the narrative portraying conflict between two characters, and those applying experimental film techniques to their productions were able to utilise both the narrative which begins with an enigma, and the narrative which establishes and develops a single character. The options and influences gave opportunity for an incredible level of diversity, and application of learning, with everything from horror and sci-fi films through to Chris Markeresque meditations on life being created.

It was particularly pleasing to see candidates making the decision to create narratives that were within their abilities to deliver, and enlisting participants (huge thanks to willing or unwilling friends and family members) to assist in this creation. In doing this, candidates engaged with wider learning and developed transferable skills that will see them into the future.

Option 2: Screenplay for a Short Film (and accompanying Storyboard)

As with the film production, there was a wide range of subjects delivered through the creation of screenplays, with many exploring genre, and many revealing significant study of screenplays and of screenwriting. This is commendable and is to be encouraged. The narrative which begins with an enigma, and the narrative which establishes and develops a single character were the most prevalent, with the narrative which portrays conflict between two central characters, and the narrative twist also having significant presence. Again, candidates were able to offer diverse screenplays from comedies to intense psychological dramas, and were able to engage well with the constraints of duration and with the demands of the short film form. Candidates performed best here where they were encouraged to work from their own enthusiasms and interests, and where this was informed by the study of screenwriting itself. The study of screenwriting, be it through techniques (of characterisation, dialogue, or structure), or concepts (such as myth, psychology, or story) has had a dramatic impact on the quality of screenplays produced, and the application of learning here has given the screenplays significant depth and quality. Candidates generally were able to exemplify their screenplays through an appropriately constructed storyboard. It is essential that candidates select a sequence to storyboard that offers them the best opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of filmmaking techniques. It is imperative that candidates use this opportunity to display their knowledge of constructional devices, and it is advisable that they do so within the storyboard template available on the Eduqas A Level Film Studies Resources website. The storyboard is the place for more focus on technical audio/visual instructions and the best work had some excellent detail in this section. Centres who used the WJEC template or used the headings from it, had greater success in providing the correct amount of detail to accompany the images. Some images were difficult to see: too dark, upside down or shot in portrait. The best photographs were taken in landscape where composition and lighting had been considered. The advice for film-making about the close up and an identifiable protagonist is also relevant here, too many storyboards have a predominance of one shot type, often the long shot or mid shot. Candidates are advised to think about shot durations as long durations for each shot had a real effect on pacing and were not well thought out.


Evaluative Analysis The new Specification added a significant additional demand to the reflection on production, with the inclusion of reference to the short film compilation. Candidates were able to take to this task with ease, and were able to deploy their knowledge of their chosen films with aplomb, offering structural and textual analysis, and connecting this to their own production work. This is to be applauded and highly commended. With the short films as a contextualising structure, candidates were able to produced tight, focused reflections on their production work, and were able to analyse construction, stylistic features, demonstration of influence, and structural elements. Most importantly, they were then able to demonstrate their knowledge of how all of this creates meaning and effect.  The majority of candidates were able to make references to the short film compilation throughout their analyses, and some took a more segmented approach, detailing their used of the short films, and then moving on to talk about other elements. A limited number of Centres candidates approached this task as an analytical essay, deconstructing the short films in detail, and this is an approach that did not give candidates enough scope to focus on their own production work, and is to be discouraged.




Summary of key points • Production work should focus on the Production Brief. Time spent exploring and exemplifying how the four options work within short films would be beneficial to candidate understanding. • The short film compilation offers a wide range of short films, and candidates should be encouraged to select films that have some relationship to their intended productions. Selecting a film to be used in the negative (how they did not influence, or how they deployed techniques that were not used) is not the best approach, and candidates would be better advised to structure their work to demonstrate the application of concepts/techniques from their chosen films. • Production work requires study. Candidates making films should study practical short film filmmaking techniques and should apply them. Candidates creating screenplays should study short film screenwriting techniques and should apply them. Both are distinct disciplines and candidates who undertake such study inevitably produce better results. • Production work that was directly and explicitly focused on one of the options from the Production Brief tended to be work that achieved higher marks. It is worth taking time to measure progress against the chosen option so that its use and visibility can be assessed and mediated where necessary. • In general, the storyboard which accompanies the screenplay requires more attention from centres and candidates. • The short film compilation is designed to inform the production work, and as such should be intrinsic to its development. Therefore, in the development stages of the work, it is useful to consider how the chosen films have been used, and whether their influence is evident in the production work. This process of using the films can be further explored in the Evaluative Analysis. • A reminder please that written work should still be annotated before it is uploaded. Some centres completed coversheets from the previous year and as the coversheet had changed to include a new GDPR section, as well as the separation of the marks as outlined above, it is vital that centres use the most current version. • Please ensure that non-film sources such as books, people and very often TV shows are not cited as cinematic influences; ‘Pretty Little Liars’ and ‘Black Mirror’ seem to have been very popular with this year’s cohort and was mentioned inappropriately by quite a few of the candidates. © WJEC CBAC Ltd. 23 • Ensure that candidates identify the chosen brief from the list of four in the specification on the coversheet; some candidates just identified which type of work it was (screenplay or filmmaking) rather than referring to the specific brief chosen. It would be good practice for candidates to refer to the brief at the start of the Evaluative Analysis too which many did, evaluating the ways that their piece met the brief. • Please be aware that there should be no instructions for cinematography and editing within the screenplay. These ideas should be expressed in the illustrative storyboard. In a similar way to the filmmaking, the best pieces had few characters and had created carefully written and convincing dialogue for these, which created a clear sense of character.