IB Film SL case studies
IB Film SL · Put your knowledge to work in context.
IB Film SL is the standard-level film course within the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. It suits students who want to study cinema seriously as an art form and as a cultural practice, and who are willing to analyse films closely, research contexts, and make their own short films. The IB Film SL case studies are 5 cases and about 4,669 words.
1The shot list that wasn't an analysis: rebuilding a close reading in eight days
Priya has eight days to submit a 1,200-word textual analysis of a three-minute sequence (running time 2:14–5:02) from a feature film. Her draft is a 47-line shot list: "ECU of hands, 4 sec; cut to wide, 6 sec; pan left…" Her teacher's only comment is "this is description, not analysis." Priya wants to argue that the sequence is "about isolation", and every piece of evidence she has gathered is a close-up of the protagonist alone.
1,002 words, about 5 min2Two films, two nations, one unfalsifiable comparison
Marco's comparative study compares Ozu's Tokyo Story (Japan, 1953) and De Sica's Bicycle Thieves (Italy, 1948) under the topic "the family in post-war cinema". His 1,400-word draft argues that Ozu's low, static camera expresses "Japanese stoicism and acceptance of fate", while De Sica's location shooting and looser framing express "Italian passion and improvisation".
937 words, about 5 min3Forty-two minutes that don't contain the film he planned
Tomás is making a four-minute portfolio film built on one formal idea: a single unbroken take following his actor through a busy market, ending on a silent close-up. Constraints: a two-day shoot, one DSLR with a single 50 mm lens and no stabiliser, one actor (a classmate) available for 90 minutes on day two only, and permission to film only in a side alley, not the market itself.
948 words, about 5 min4Four people, two scripts, no director
Four students - Ana, Bez, Chen and Dev - have six weeks to research a focus area and produce a three-minute collaborative film plus an individual research presentation. At the start of week three: three planning meetings have been held, Dev has missed four of six scheduled meetings and has not posted in the shared drive for nine days, two versions of the script sit in the drive with neither marked as current, and Bez has quietly taken on camera, editing and scheduling.
909 words, about 5 min5Whose style is she describing? Franchise, department and the auteur problem
Sofia is analysing a three-minute sequence from the fourth instalment of a long-running science-fiction franchise (2022), directed by a filmmaker whose three previous features were low-budget films made outside the studio system. Her draft attributes every stylistic choice to the director: the symmetrical framing, the slow push-in, the orange-and-teal grade, the cutting rhythm, the "emotional distance".
873 words, about 4 min