GCSE Film Studies revision guide for WJEC Paper 1 exploring film superhero films

GCSE Film
Studies
Paper 1 Revision:
Exploring Film
(Superhero films)

Courtesy of Samir Chalia
http://manga-ar.deviantart.com/art/Super-Heros-and-SUPER-VILLAINS-Volume-VII-403568165

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Contents:
Section 1: Paper 1 overview Page 3
1. What Paper 1 is about
2. Explanation of how the paper 1 exam works
3. Key things to revise
4. What is a Superhero film?
5. Characters in Superhero films.
6. Props in Superhero films.
7. Designing your own Superhero.
Section 2: Film Language Page 26
8. Film Language terms (aka. micro elements/micro features)
9. Screenshot analysis 1 (camera angles)
10. Screenshot analysis 2 (props)
11. Screenshot analysis 3 (location)
12. Screenshot analysis 4 (lighting and colour)
13. Screenshot analysis 5 (performance)
14. Film extract analysis 1 (sound)
15. Film extract analysis 2 (camera movement)
16. Film extract analysis 3 (everything!)
Section 3: Advertising Page 68
17. How are films advertised?
18. What makes up a film poster?
19. Designing your own film posters
20. What makes up a film website?
21. Designing your own film website
22. How is social media used to promote a film?
23. Film magazines; what are they are how do they promote films?
24. How can other products advertise a film?
25. DVD / Blu-Ray and other media
26. Quick revision test
Section 4: Past Papers/Example Papers Page 124
27. Past Paper number 1
29. Example paper number 1
30. Example paper number 2.

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Section 1: Paper 1 overview
1. What Paper 1 is about
Paper 1 is the first of two exams as part of your Film Studies GCSE.
This Paper is called ‘Exploring Film’ and focuses on films made in America as
part of the Hollywood system. These are films that are made by companies who
are usually based in Hollywood, though these companies also use people and
other companies around the world to help get their films made.
This exam also focuses on one genre (type of film) and this is the Superhero
genre.
Superhero films are usually about one main person who has powers or abilities
that makes them special. These characters often save others and fight
crime/villains with their special powers.
The paper will test 3 main parts of your Film knowledge:
1. Your knowledge and understanding of film language and micro features of
film.
2. Your knowledge and understanding of genre and Superhero films in
particular.
3. Your knowledge and understanding of how films and Superhero films in
particular are advertised or marketed.

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2. Explanation of how the paper 1 works

Paper 1 is a unique exam in many ways, mostly as it’s the only exam that
involves watching part of a film for it!
It is 1 hour 30 minutes long but for about 30 minutes of that time you will not be
able to answer any questions on the exam paper as you will have to watch the
film extracts. You will be able to make notes for some of this time though and it
is VITAL that you not only make as many notes as you can, but that you also
read the questions on the exam paper before you watch the clip, so that you
know what to make notes on. There are a total of 50 marks to be gained from
this exam.
The exam is usually split into four separate questions. They tend to be structured
like this, in very rough terms:
• Q1: Explain technical elements used in the clip. (10)
• Q2: Explain how parts of the clip were from a Superhero film. (10)
• Q3: Study the provided product and explain why it has been designed
like it has. (10)
• Q4: Create a new product and describe what you’ve created. (20)
PRO TIP: Read questions 3 and 4 at the start of the exam as well. That way if
you have made all of the notes you can about the clip in the note-taking time,
you could make notes and plan ideas for later questions.

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How does the clip watching work?
1.At the start of the exam you have a couple of minutes to read the
questions. You will be able to find out what film the clip is from and the
key story will be.
2.You will then watch the film clip through once.
3.After this you will then watch it again.
4.During the second time watching you are able to make notes. You will
then have 10 minutes afterwards to make notes.
5.Finally, you will watch the clip through once more. Again, you can make
notes.
6.After this time, you can then start to answer the question in your exam
booklet.

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What’s the best strategy for watching/making notes?
My suggestion (only if you’re a quick reader/writer) based on the above is to
do this:
1.(At the start of the exam you have a couple of minutes to read the questions.)
Read all of the questions carefully. Pay attention to the name of the
film you will be watching. Have you seen this film? If so, try and
remember the names of key characters and what the story is.
Remember: If you haven’t seen the film it doesn’t matter at all. Pay
particular attention to what question 1 and 2 are asking you to look
at and examine. You will have a choice of micro features to analyse,
make sure that you chose these carefully by only looking
for/analysing the things you know about. Get ready to watch the clip
by thinking about what micro features you need to focus on.
2.(You will then watch the film clip through once.)
Watch the clip through carefully, only really paying attention to
character names, story and key things that make it a Superhero film.
If you’ve seen the clip before, maybe start to think about what your
answers could be for the questions on the exam paper, but focus on
getting used to what is happening and the names of people involved,
thinking about what types of character they are.
3.(After this you will then watch it again. During the second time watching you are able to
make notes.)
When watching, pay close attention to the micro features you will be
answering the question on. Try not to make notes whilst watching this time
round just in case you miss something important or interesting. Remember:
you’re not watching the film for enjoyment, so focus on the things that the
exam paper wants you to focus on.

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4.(You will then have 10 minutes afterwards to make notes.)
These ten minute are vital in getting a good grade in your exam. Start
making your notes by either writing down key things such as names and
things that happen, but the best notes are often answers to the question. If
you’ve been asked to examine sound for example, write down LOADS of
examples of sound in the clip, rather than just one or two things. You
should use all of this 10 minutes and should be writing lots of notes about
question 1 and 2 here. If there’s something you can’t remember, write
down what you need to look or listen for next time round-this is a useful
way of remembering what to pay attention to next time, especially as
you’ll be able to make notes again when watching.
5.(Finally, you will watch the clip through once more. Again, you can make notes.)
This is really the only time you should make notes when watching as it’s
the last chance you will get to do so. Make sure that you don’t spend this
time learning names or what happens, instead make sure that you use this
chance to write down ideas and answers to questions 1 and 2. If you’ve
done this already, double-check your notes, start to borrow ideas from the
clip from question 3 and 4 or give your hand a rest, ready to answer the
questions!
PRO TIP 2: If you make all of the notes you can, you can use any
remaining time to make notes to plan question 3 and 4. If question 4
for example asks you to design a new superhero you could start to
sketch ideas of write down things that you saw in the clip that you
could change and adapt for your own character.

PRO TIP 1: If you’re a quick writer/confident about the film, write your
notes like they’re the full answers. This means that when you can write
your actual answers down you can just copy your notes and then
quickly get onto questions 3 and 4.

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6.(After this time, you can then start to answer the question in your exam booklet.)
The main strategy here should be to answer questions 1 and 2 as quickly
as possible. This is because they’re not worth as much as some later
questions and because you already have the answers in front of you. Start
to copy your notes out and make sure that you’ve written 1 thing you saw
or heard to get 1 mark and make sure that you then explain each point for
another mark. A 6 mark question then needs at least 3 things you saw or
heard in the clip and then a piece of explanation for each to get those 6
marks.
Of course, none of this is of any use if you have not revised. It’s vital that you
are able to identify and explain different features of film language, so practice
plenty before the exam. A typical question 1 will look something like this:
(a) Identify something. ONE mark
(b) Explain why it is used. TWO marks
(c) How are two of the following used to create something. SEVEN marks
• Sound
• Editing
• Mise-en-scene
• Camera angles
• Camera movement
• Special Effects
• Colour
• Lighting
On the exam paper there
will be any 4 of these micro
features. So make sure you
are familiar with each of
these 7 micro features.

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Question 3 is the question that will focus on the advertising/marketing of
films or the Superhero genre. Whatever the question, you will probably be
asked to write in detail for 10 marks. You will often be given something in the
exam to refer to, usually a series of pictures. These pictures are not the answer,
but instead a way of jogging your memory and helping you to get an idea of
what to write about. For example, if the question asks you about how films are
marketed and then the pictures are all of movie posters, it’s a good idea to
focus your answer on how posters help to attract an audience.
As before, make sure that you’re not just writing down 10 things (if the question
asks you how Superhero films are marketed, don’t just write a list of 10 things
you can buy that advertises a Spider-Man film) but that you’re explaining your
examples. For example, whenever you give an example of something, explain
how or why that thing is used to market Superhero films. There is a lot of work
on this later in this guide. See Section 3: Advertising on page 69 for more.
Question 4 is worth the most number of marks and therefore, should be the
question you spend the most amount of time on. This is a creative question and
you will probably need to draw something and think of new products,
characters or marketing material. With 20 minutes of the exam left, you should
be on question 4 and if not, hurry!
Pay very close attention to the questions. If the question asks to
design/draw/think of something or someone for a new film, read carefully

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whether you’ve been given the name of the new film or character already. Also
pay attention if you’ve been asked to think of an actor (is your choice suitable
for the film idea you’ve been given) or a character name if you’ve been
already been told something about them.

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3. Key things to revise:
Question 1: Film language and micro features. Make sure you know these
off by heart and can not only identify them in a clip but explain what they are
and how they are used.
Question 2: What other Superhero films feature similar micro features?
Make sure that you can give examples of costume, props, locations for more
than 1 Superhero film. Make sure that you know the difference between
different micro-features, such as diegetic and non-diegetic sound and can give
examples of how this has been used in different Superhero films. Can you
answer the following questions?
What is a Superhero film? What characters do you see in Superhero films?
What locations are these films usually in? What props get used a lot in
Superhero films? What do costumes usually have on them? What examples of
films do you know of? What things do these films have in common?
Question 3: The film industry is key here. Make sure you study the glossary
at the end of this booklet and know what the words are/mean but can also give
examples of them. Check through older work to make sure that you can give
examples of advertising and marketing for Superhero films. Can you explain
what the examples are of, but also, how they make people want to go and see
the film? Could you explain how different marketing techniques and
merchandise appeal to different people? It’s a good idea to look at examples
of merchandising that might appeal to children and then examples of
merchandising that appeals to adults for example.

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Question 4: Make sure that you know what features you would find on a
poster, a website, a DVD/Blu-Ray case or boxset and what kinds of things get
posted on the social media accounts of films. You need to be able to draw quite
quickly and with detail here, so it might be worth spending some time using the
sheets on page SOMETHING of this booklet but also maybe just copying the
covers of DVDs or of posters you might have.
NOTE: The numbers of marks available for any questions, the number of questions and, well, just
about anything, is based on previous exam papers and so this guide is NOT a guarantee of how
your exam may be structured. This is a guide as to what to revise, NOT a guide as to what the
exam will definitely be.
PRO TIP: In some exams in previous years, people have been asked to think
of a new Superhero film, new Superhero characters, new Superhero
costumes and new merchandise to advertise a new Superhero film. A great
use of revision time is to think and plan ahead of a new Superhero film and
characters. Use the next worksheet to plan these out in case the question
comes up. BUT, remember to read the question carefully: question 4 might
ask you to design a Superhero but might give you the name of the film and
character already, so your idea cannot just be added in. Spend some time
before the exam thinking about not only a new Superhero film, but possible
characters, what their powers would be and how you’d market this film and
to who.

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4. What is a Superhero film?
According to Wikipedia, a Superhero film is:
This is a useful definition, but make sure that you can explain this in your own
words and that you can spot a Superhero film because of the characters, events
in the story or mise-en-scene in a film.
Superhero films are often adaptations of comics or graphic novels. Many
Superhero films are sequels or have been seen in films before.
The definition of a Superhero film can be quite tricky; does an alien with powers
make that character a Superhero? Can a regular person who trains to be really
fit and powerful be called a Superhero? This is one of the questions that you will
need to consider as part of your revision and when in the exam.
In the 80s and 90s, lots of Superhero films were released though these were
often quite silly and not very successful at the Box Office. Due to the
improvement in CGI and filmmakers being able to put things into films that
they’ve never been able to before, the Superhero genre really took off in the
2000s. Hundreds of films were released and series such as the Spiderman and
X-Men series made a lot of money. Not all of these films were well received
though with Spiderman 2 (2004 Dir. Sam Raimi) being successful at the box
office and with critics and audiences, but Spiderman 3 (2007 Dir. Sam Raimi)
was criticised for being too long, having too many characters and being too far
fetched for people to really enjoy. Other films that didn’t do too well include
A superhero film, superhero movie, or superhero motion picture is a film
that is focused on the actions of one or more superheroes: individuals
who usually possess superhuman abilities relative to a normal person and
are dedicated to protecting the public. These films typically
feature action, fantasy and/or science fiction elements, with the first film of
a particular character often including a focus on the origin of the special
powers and the first fight against the character's most famous supervillain,
or archenemy.

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Elektra (2005. Dir. Rob Bowman ) and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
(2003 Dir. Stephen Norrington )
However in 2008, Batman Begins (2008 Dir. Christopher Nolan) proved to be
incredibly popular and successful as a much more serious and darker type of
Superhero film and was quite different in being more ‘realistic’ in showing how
someone could become a superhero. With the release of Iron Man (2008 Dir.
John Favreau) Marvel Studios showed how to not only have a really successful
and enjoyable Superhero film, but also create sequels and even a whole
universe of films that could be linked by characters and stories.
Marvel have dominated the genre since and had huge successes with films such
as Captain America: The First Avenger (2011 Dir. Joe Johnston), Avengers
Assemble (2012 Dir. Joss Whedon) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014 Dir.
James Gunn). However, other studios such as Fox have also had success with
films such as X-Men: First Class (2011. Dir. Matthew Vaughn) and Warner
Brothers made a lot of money with their Batman franchise, concluding with The
Dark Knight Rises (2012 Dir. Christopher Nolan). Other notable and varied
Superhero films include Kick-Ass (2010 Dir. Matthew Vaughn) and V for
Vendetta (2006 Dir. James McTeigue). Of course, there are many, many more
for you to consider, but these are quite a useful bunch to look back over and
revise, most of which we’ve looked at in some way or another in class and for
homework.
Going forward, both Marvel Studios and DC Comics, working with Warner
Brothers Studios, have announced about 20 films in the next 10 years, so the
future of the Superhero genre will continue to be well presented in multiplexes
as well as at home on Blu-Ray and Video on Demand (VoD).
The rest of this section will focus on Superhero films and key aspects of them.
Make sure that you revise carefully by not only reading the examples given, but
complete the activities and ensure that you can answer the questions in the
booklet.

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5. Characters in Superhero films
This is something that we’ve covered a lot in class and you should have a good
grasp of by now. For this revision activity we’ll just cover what characters we
usually see in a superhero films and their definitions. A quick task below will
then ask you to think of some examples of these different characters so that in
the exam you can give examples, as you will almost certainly be asked to do
so.
The character types we have worked on and discussed before are really useful;
if you can identify these characters and explain why they are that character
based on what they do in the clip you’re given in an exam you’ll gain some
easy marks. If you’re asked to and can give other examples of those character
types from other superhero films you’ll get even more marks, so make sure that
you revise them well.
TASK: Use the table on the next page to add some examples of
superhero character types. Even better, use the spare page to add
detail about why those characters suit the character type-use the
definitions on the last page to help you explain and get used to
these descriptions for use in the exam.

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Fatherfigure
Politician/
Bureaucrat
Scientist/
Helper
Loveinterest
Sidekick
AlterEgo
ArchNemesis
Villain
Hero
CharactertypeExamplesofthischaracter
inotherfilms
Why1examplesuitsthis
charactertype

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6. Props in Superhero films
Props are the objects you see in films that help to set the scene, establish
character and provide small bits of detail. The easiest way to think of props is to
imagine a room with ‘stuff’ in the background; those are props!
These can be really useful in helping to tell an audience what genre of film they
are watching, where something is happening or when a scene is supposed to be
set; a scientist’s laboratory will have a very different set of props compared to a
teenage boy’s bedroom for example!
As part of your exam you may be asked to identify some props and explain
how they help to show that this is a superhero film, or maybe design some
props to be used in a new superhero film. You’ll have the chance to do both in
this revision guide.
TASK: To help getting used to identifying props, take a look at these four
screenshots from two genres that are definitely not superhero films, The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre (2003 Dir. Marcus Nispel), The Cabin in the Woods (2012
Dir. Drew Goddard) and two Western films, 3:10 to Yuma (2007 Dir. James
Mangold) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962 Dir. John Ford). Use
the space below and around the screenshots to pick out some props and try to
describe what they are. Then, give a quick reason why this prop helps to make
it a horror or Western film.
This is a really good activity to do as practice for your exam a it focuses on you
not just picking things out, but describing them and explaining their importance.
To revise further, try doing this with other screenshots-find images online or even
just pause a film you’re watching and pick out props you can see that help
create the genre.
PRO TIP: Remember, props are just items. Things like costume, make-up,
lighting and location are also important and together they all form part of the
mise-en-scene. Make sure that in an exam, you only pick out the thing you’ve
been asked to find, unless you’ve been asked to identify mise-en-scene, where
you can then choose lots of different aspects of the film.

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TASK: Use the two empty rooms below to design two locations that could be
used in a superhero film and fill them with props that would be found there. For
example, you could create a scientist’s laboratory and the hero’s house, or the
villain’s base and the love interest’s bedroom.

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7. Designing your own Superhero
A useful revision task to cover all sorts of aspects of superhero films is to design
your own superhero. You may be asked to do this in the exam, though you may
also be asked to design something for a superhero that the exam paper has
given to you. Superheroes come in all shapes and sizes, genders, ages and
with powers that have been created by accident, through training or by birth.
Superheroes usually have strengths, weaknesses, can be easily summed up in a
few words and crucially, are just different enough from other superheroes to be
memorable, but not so unique that they don’t stand out as being really weird
(apart from maybe Ant-Man. Or Squirrel Girl. Or Groot.)
TASK: Use the table below to think of important information for two new
superheroes and then use the next couple of pages to draw what these could
look like. Don’t worry if you don’t have a pencil or colours that you can use-just
make sure that you label the different colours and do it as neatly as possible!

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Superhero name:
Alter-ego:
Super powers:
Day job as alter-ego:
Strengths:
W eaknesses:
Arch enemy:
Arch enemy’s powers:
Key props for superhero:
How would you describe their costume:
Superhero name:
Alter-ego:
Super powers:
Day job as alter-ego:
Strengths:
W eaknesses:
Arch enemy:
Arch enemy’s powers:
Key props for superhero:
How would you describe their costume:

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Section 2: Film language
8. Film Language terms (aka. micro elements/micro
features)
Film language, or micro elements are the things that make up a film. This is the
technical language used to describe how a film works. Good exam answers will
use film language to help describe films in detail and we need to use a specific
vocabulary or set of words to do this.
Paper 1 (and also Paper 2) will test your knowledge and understanding of film
language. You will be expected to understand what these are if written down in
a question on the exam, but to also be able to explain how a micro-element has
been used in other Superhero films and to be able to identify at least 2 micro
features in the film clip in the exam.
The next page features an overall guide as to the different micro features, but
this is only a reminder. You will need to use work from your time on the GCSE
Film Studies course and revise each micro-element in detail, as any of them
could come up in the exam.
The revision sheet is useful in helping you to remember names and key terms
and in some cases (such as sound) is useful because it gives you some words
that you can use to describe things in films. However, to really get the most out
of this revision guide you will need to complete the tasks throughout this guide.
For further practise, use the past papers near the end of this booklet and
concentrate on using film language as much as possible, both by looking at and
by not also not using the guide.

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9. Screenshot analysis 1 (camera angles)

Carefully study the two sets of screenshots, paying close attention to the
camera angle/s used. Then try to answer the question using the correct
language and explaining what camera angle is being used.

Whatcameraangleisbeingusedhere?Whatdoesitallowustosee?Whatdoesthisthentellusabout
thecharactersandtheirsituationbecauseofwhatwecanorcan’tsee?

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In this sequence of shots from
V for Vendetta (2006 Dir. James McTeigue) we
see our hero, called V, being cornered by his enemies, shot and then rising up
despite his injuries to attack them.
These shots are useful in showing how a camera does not have to move and
how choosing different angles can still communicate key ideas to an audience.
TASK: Study the shots carefully and then answer the questions afterwards.

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1. C an you identify what the camera angles are for each of the 7 shots?
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
5
6
7

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2. For each camera angle, add 1 sentence of detail to explain what the
camera angle is telling us as an audience.
3. How do the different camera angles tell us about our hero called V, and
his abilities? Try to give examples of the angles when answering this
question.
4. W hy do you think the camera moves from behind V, to in front of him and
then to the side? W hat do the different angles show and tell us about him
and what is happening?
5. How do the angles make him look like a Superhero?

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10. Screenshot analysis 2 (props)
Props, or to give them their full name, theatrical property, are the objects in a
scene that help to make that place look realistic and not like a set on a film.
They can help to make something look old or new, busy or empty and quiet. In
Superhero films, props are especially important in setting the scene of key
locations and settings of specific characters. For example, how might the props
differ from the Hero to the Villain?
Task: Closely study these two screenshots from Iron Man (2008 Dir. John
Favreau) and look closely the props used in the shots.
In these two screenshots, Tony Stark’s workshop is shown in detail, offering us
an idea about his personality without the film having to tell us directly about
him, his life, his personality, his skills and his hobbies or abilities.
Study the pictures carefully and then answer the questions on the next page. A
useful activity could be to annotate the picture by writing on and highlighting
key props. Maybe make notes on what you can see and what each thing you
tells us about the character of Tony Stark and maybe the film overall.

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1. W hat props can you spot on both pictures?
2. W hat does screenshot 1 tell us about Tony Stark, based just on the
props you can see. (C LUE: look at his desk-looking at all of the things on
there, what does that tell us about him as a person?
3. Screenshot 2 gives us a better view of the workshop. From this we can
learn what kinds of things Tony Stark likes because of the props. W hat
hobbies do you think Tony has and can you describe what Tony is like as
a person because of the props in the shot?
4. The camera angle is much closer to Tony in screenshot 1 than in
screenshot 2. W hat does this help to show us in more detail? In what way
are the props different to screenshot 2 and what do they tell us about how
things might be different to screenshot 2?

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11. Screenshot analysis 3 (location)
Location is important in all films, but in Superhero films they are often used to
quickly tell the audience not only where something is happening, but who lives
there or where might be under attack. Location can also refer to time and
Superhero films sometimes use locations to tell the audience when something
might be happening.
TASK: The next set of images are from Captain America: The First Avenger
(2011 Dir. Joe Johnston) carefully study the pictures below and answer the
questions based on them.

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1. W hat are the locations for each picture and can you guess roughly
what year each location might be in?
2. Explain what you can see that tells us what year these locations might
be in.
3. W hat do we learn about the possible story and the characters just from
the locations we can see?
4. W hich of these locations helps to show off that this film is a Superhero
film? W hat is it about the locations that help to make this film look like a
Superhero film?
5. Finally, what other Superhero films have you seen that has used similar
locations to tell the audience that similar things are happening?
(1=training, 2=transforming, 3=fighting, 4=set in modern day N ew York)

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TASK: Below is a space for you to brainstorm some ideas about typical
locations you find in Superhero films. I’ve added the first 2 for you, but try to
think of at least 3 more locations that you see in many Superhero films.
When you’ve done this, then write around the outside of each as many different
props that you’d expect to find in those locations.

Locationsin
Superherofilms
Villain’slair
Scientist’s
laboratory
Jars
microscopes
Testtubes
machines
blueprints
weapons
maps
slaves

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12. Screenshot analysis 4 (lighting and colour)
Lighting and colour can quickly help set a scene, suggest a mood and
atmosphere or can be used on costumes and props to help make it clear to the
audience what a character is like. In these shots from Kick Ass (2010 Dir.
Matthew Vaughn), we can see how colour and lighting are used to make things
clear and obvious to an audience. Most of these shots use lighting to ensure
that the whole scene can be viewed by the audience, allowing us to see what is
happening in the foreground and background. This also allows us to see any
props, where these scenes are taking place and who these characters are.
Colour is used to show a difference between the young, exciting, main
characters who are dressed in bright costumes and the older, more traditional
adults who are wearing suits or a dull superhero costume.
Lighting and colour are often used to help establish tone or atmosphere for the
film. Brighter, lighter films with plenty of colour and lots of light tend to be
lighter in tone and generally more happy and less serious. These bright and
lively-looking films like Kick-Ass (2010 Dir. Matthew Vaughn),
Spider-Man (2002 Dir. Sam Raimi) and Fantastic Four (2005 Dir. Tim Story)
tend to look more like their original comic books rather than looking realistic
and dramatic.
Darker films with low lighting and limited colour palettes often help to establish
that a film is darker in tone, making it more serious, more gloomy and in some
cases more realistic looking. Films such as Batman Begins (2005 Dir.
Christopher Nolan) V for Vendetta (2006 Dir. James McTeigue) and Man of
Steel (2013 Dir. Zak Snyder) are much darker-looking films and this reflects the
stories, which are quite sombre, gloomy and serious.

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N otice how the room here is so brightly lit that you can see everyone in the
scene AN D all of the background here. W hy has the Director done this?
This screenshot is slightly darker, but you can still see everything clearly. W hy do you think
the background is so brightly lit and clear? W hat does it tell us about the main character do
you think; why might he not mind that he’s being watched?

42

This scene here is very brightly lit so that you can see everything in this scene. W hy has the
Director done this? W hat do we learn about this situation and the two characters?
This bedroom (not the bedroom of either of these characters) is really bright and with lots of
colours in it. W hat might this tell us about that character? W hat does the difference in colours
of the two costumes suggest about them?

43
Look closely at these two sets of images from two Fantastic Four films, one are
promotional images from Fantastic Four (2005 Dir. Tim Story) and the other are
from the new Fantastic Four (2015 Dir. Josh Trank).
What differences are there? How do you think change in lighting and colour
might reflect how the tone will be different? Which film will be the more serious?
Which film looks more ‘fun’ and more like a comic book? Who do you think the
films might be appealing to? Why? Finally, why might there have been a
change in the lighting and colour; what might the point be?

44
TASK: Use the line on the next page to consider what Superhero films you have
seen are like in terms of their lighting and colour and because of this, their tone.
Are the films you have seen dark (realistic, sombre, serious) or light (unrealistic,
light-heated, silly) in their tone? Do they look bright and happy, or dull and
serious or even sad?
It might be worth looking at some screenshots online to help remind you about
the films you have seen and what they look like. If you see different types of
lighting and colour for the same film, consider which you see more of in the film
or what the different scenes are like-not every dark and realistic film will be like
this all the way through; maybe the film is just a mix of both!
3 films have been put in for you, try to add as many other examples as
possible. A good revision technique would be to also write a couple of short
reasons why that film is light and bright, mentioning things like costume, low-key
lighting or bright special effects. Even better, if you’re able to, try to print some
small screenshots and glue them on the line.

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Lightercoloursandlighting
(Lightertone/atmosphere)
Darkercoloursandlighting
(Darkertone/atmosphere)
BatmanandRobin
ManofSteel
CaptainAmerica:
TheFirstAvenger

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13. Screenshot analysis 5 (performance)
Performance is the way in which actors have chosen, or been asked, to play
their character is a certain way. The revision sheet of film language has some
useful terms on it to help you describe the way that actors perform, but the
screenshots on the next page will help you to see the difference between styles
of performance and how this looks to the audience.
Performance is, overall, about a whole person’s movements, the way they say
things, they way they move and the way they react to other people or
situations. Because of this, it’s very difficult to analyse performance just from
pictures and to revise so it’s worth looking on YouTube to find example scenes
of characters from Superhero films (or any film that you know well would be just
as useful) and trying to describe how the actors are making the character
perform. Use the revision sheet of film language to help you do this.
It is possible to look at performance in screenshots though and while it can be
quite tricky to analyse and pick out certain things, there are some things to
remember. Things like costume and props are decided for the actor and even
the script will tell the actor what to do, but how the actor does this and how
they make their face or body look can suggest how different characters can be
and how important performance can be. One way to do this in screenshots is to
analyse an actors face and their body language; this is a useful way of looking
at how actors can differ their performance to portray characters in a certain
way. Even small things like eyebrows, mouths and fingers can be looked at to
help work out how an actor is performing.
TASK: Look at the images on the next page and see which of the selected
words would suit the performances.
Even better, add your own adjectives to describe how the actor looks or what
their performance is like; remember, try to describe what they are like or how
they are acting.

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Use as many as you like in as many
boxes as you like to describe the
performance. Remember to think of
your own as well!
silly
mysterious
serious
confused
scary
playful
dominant
authoritative
worried
scared
troubled
intrigued
happy
confident
shy
approachable
awkward
anxious
imposing
reticent
disturbed
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4
Picture 5
Picture 6
Picture 7

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14. Film extract analysis 1 (sound)
To help revise this section, you will need to access clips from a Superhero film.
Two clips of key scenes from V for Vendetta are listed below for you to look at.
If either of these are removed at any time, search YouTube for “V for Vendetta
fight” and “V for Vendetta explosion” which hopefully should allow you to find
the similar clips.
C lip 1:
Fight in the TV building
http://bit.ly/vforvendettasound1
C lip 2:
O ld Bailey and overture
http://bit.ly/vforvendettasound2
SOUND
EFFECTS!
TASK FO R C LIP 1:
1. First of all, note all of the sound effects you hear in the clip. Try to be
accurate when describing how they sound.

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2. W hy have these sound effects been used? W hat do they suggest about the
main character’s abilities and powers as a Superhero?
3. How do the sound effects create a sense of this being quite a violent film?
W hat sort of effects have been used and how do they contribute to the film
being quite gruesome?

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TASK FO R C LIP 2:
1. First of all, around the outside of the shape below, write down adjectives
to describe the soundtrack and how you and the characters react to it. The
film language, micro-elements revisions sheet has some useful examples that
you may want to use.
Try to be accurate when describing the sound including speed (tempo), pitch,
and volume.

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2. Using your notes, how would you describe the soundtrack used towards the
end of the clip? How would you describe the sound effects that have been used
at the same time?
3. Both the sound effects and the soundtrack seem to be controlled by the main
character V. Does this make them diegetic sound or non-diegetic sounds? W hy?
4. W hat is the significance that it seems like V is controlling the music and
explosions? W hat does the sound suggest about his as a character and his
abilities?
5. How would you describe the scene because of the music? Is this an exciting
scene? A boring scene? A n interesting scene? Explain why and try to describe
the sound accurately when doing so, referring to diegetic or non-diegetic sound
when you do so.

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15. Film extract analysis 2 (camera movement)
To help revise this section, you will need to access suitable clips from a
Superhero film. Two clips of key scenes from Captain America: The First
Avenger are listed below for you to look at. If either of these are removed at
any time, search YouTube for “Captain America training army” and “Captain
America music musical” which hopefully should allow you to find the similar
clips.

On the next pages are some questions that will help you to be able to analyse
camera movement. Both clips have the same questions to help prepare you for
possible questions in the exam.
As a reminder of the types of camera movements, there is a section on the film
language reminder sheet earlier in this pack that describes camera movements
and there is also a task that we’ve done in class before on the next page. To
help with this, you’ll need to access a YouTube video that covers the main
movements.
YouTube video of camera movements:
http://bit.ly/cameramovementrevision
C lip 1:
C aptain America Musical
http://bit.ly/C aptainA mericamusical
C lip 2:
C aptain America Training
http://bit.ly/C aptainA mericatraining

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C lip 1: C aptain A merica Musical
1. Identify and name at least 3 different camera movements used in the clip.
•
•
•
2. Describe when these movements happen in the clip and what the audience
can see as the camera moves.
3. Explain why you think these camera movements have been chosen? W hat do
they help the audience to see and understand?
4. In your opinion, which camera movement is the most interesting or effective
in this clip? W hat does it show us and help us to know more about? W hy is it is
the most interesting or effective?

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C lip 2: C aptain A merica Training
1. Identify and name at least 3 different camera angles used in the clip.
•
•
•
2. Describe when these movements happen in the clip and what the audience
can see as the camera moves.
3. Explain why you think these camera movements have been chosen? W hat do
they help the audience to see and understand?
4. In your opinion, which camera movement is the most interesting or effective
in this clip? W hat does it show us and help us to know more about? W hy is it is
the most interesting or effective?

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16. Film extract analysis 3 (everything!)

To help prepare for Paper 1, this section of revision asks you to watch 2 clips
from a Superhero film and analyse what you are seeing by examining different
aspects of film language. This is excellent practice for your exam and you
should make sure that you make as many notes as possible to help you getting
used to looking at almost everything that you could be asked about.
TASK 1: When you’ve watched the clips, make notes about the film language.
This will be vital for task 2; having a go at answering questions. The key thing
with the questions is being able to give specific examples of film language or
micro-features and explain how or why they’ve been used in the clip.

C lip 1:
X-Men 2: N ight C rawler scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLO Mdddg11A
C lip 2:
X-Men: Introduction to school
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW odksuroHs
PRO TIP: The 9 note sheets in this booklet are a great way to revise key
aspects of film language. A really fun way to revise for the exam is to watch
a variety of film clips, not just superhero films, and get used to identifying
key aspects of micro features. If you want to practice with clips from non-
superhero films, just change the word ‘superhero’ in the questions to
whatever gene of film you’re studying, for example horror. W ebsites like
YouTube and Movieclips.com are really great for this. Find a clip, chose a
micro feature (or 9!) and practice making notes about what you hear and
see. Ask your teacher nicely and they might even photocopy these note
sheets for you!

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CAMERAANGLES

CAMERA
ANGLES

60

CAMERAANGLES

CAMERA
MOVEMENTS

61

CAMERAANGLES

Costume&
Props

62

CAMERAANGLES

Mise-en-scene

63

CAMERAANGLES

performance

64

CAMERAANGLES

editing

65

CAMERAANGLES

specialeffects
and
visualeffects

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TASK 2: These questions can be used as the basis for ANY clip of a superhero
film you choose to watch and analyse, provided that you’ve made notes when
watching!
Film analysis questions
1. Identify and name at least 3 different uses of O N E micro feature.
•
•
•
2. Describe when these examples of a micro feature are used in the clip, making
clear in your answer that you describe when or how they are seen or heard.
3. Explain why you think these examples help to make this clip clearly a
superhero film? W hat do they help the audience to see and understand?
4. In your opinion, which micro element is the most interesting or effective in this
clip? W hat does it show us and help us to know more about? W hy is it is the
most interesting or effective?

67
Glossary
TASK: Use a dictionary or the Internet to find the meaning behind these words
that have been used throughout this guide. If you’re not too sure which meaning
is correct for the word, think carefully and check that the word would make
sense if the sentence that you found and that it relates to film in some way!
• Adaptation
• Blu-Ray
• Box Office
• Colour pallet
• Genre
• Marketing
• Mise-en-scene
• Multiplexes
• Props
• Sequels
• Sombre
• Tone
• Video on Demand (VoD)

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Section 3: advertising
17. How are films advertised?
Films are made for one main reason; to make money for the companies who
make them. Audiences watch films because they hope they will enjoy the film
and this makes money for the company who made the film in the first place.
Making films is expensive; actors need to be paid, the Director needs to get
paid, it costs to hire cameras, to make the sets and costumes and lots more-it’s
quite common for films to cost $50million and more these days, (the most
expensive film ever made is Avatar and that apparently cost more that
$250million to make!) so it’s important that a film is successful in getting people
to pay to watch it. How then, can you tell people that your film is coming out
and then convince people to go and watch it?
Paper 1 will test your understanding and knowledge of how film companies
advertise their films and to who and it usually asks you to come up with some
ideas too. To revise this part of the course, you’ll be asked to recall some facts
and examples, to look at some examples and work out who the target audience
is and then come up with your own ideas.
In order to get high marks in the exam, make sure that you know what
advertising methods look like (posters, websites, social media pages) and have
a good idea of examples of products that have been created to promote a film.
However, the key thing here is to be able to describe how and why these
products convince people to watch a film so there’ll be a chance to explore this
aspect in the next few tasks.

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TASK 1: Use the space below to add as many ideas as you can to think of ways
that you could, or that you have seen, to advertise a film. Start with the obvious
ones, but try and be specific and think of different versions when doing so. For
example, for poster, think of what type of poster and what it’s specific name
would be for each one that you’ve looked at before.
howto
advertise
afilm

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TASK 2: Using the table on the next page, write in some of your ideas from the
last task on how to advertise a film and add ideas about how each one
convinces people to go and see the film.
For example:
One sheet poster: showing who is in the film, what the tagline is, gives an image
of what might happen in the film and the when the film is released.
Convinces people by attracting people who are fans of those actors, showing
and telling what the film is about and by telling people when they can see it.
Happy Meal Toy: A toy shows us what one of the characters looks like or what
they do in the film.
This might convince children to wan to see the film because they want to see
more of that character and what they do in the film.

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Name of product What it shows about the
film
How this convinces people to
go and see the film.

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TASK 3: Use the worksheet on the next page and next to the 5 different
audience types, add which products you think would be suitable for them and
explain in one sentence why suited to them.
This is a really useful task for revision as it’s the kind of question you would
expect to find in a Paper 1 exam, choosing products suitable for a certain
audience. Even if a question like that doesn’t come up, it’s good revision for
thinking about different types of merchandise and so when selecting ideas for
the different groups, try to choose different products or merchandise and again,
think of different reasons as to why it is suitable for that audience.
Finally, pay close attention and think carefully about your ideas-are they suited
to the audience; some people might not like superhero films, so what kinds of
products or merchandise could you use to convince them to come and see your
new superhero film?
PRO TIP: Q uestion 3 on Paper 1 has, in the past, included questions like
“3. How are Superhero movies marketed? You may refer to the resource
material to help you” (2013 Paper, from here: http://pastpapers.download.wjec.co.uk/s13-0155-01-a.pdf)
This question was worth 10 marks, and while it looks like you could just list 10
things, or more, to gain the full marks, the question is a bit more tricky than
this.
First of all, the question wants things to advertise Superhero movies, so make
sure that you’re not including (or making up!) things that aren’t suitable for
the genre. Secondly, the question says “how”, so make sure that you are able
to explain how these things are used. O ne way to do this is to explain what
your examples show from the superhero film it is marketing, but to get the
really high marks you want to be able to explain what it is about those
products that makes them look exciting or interesting and what they do to
attract people who are fans of superhero films.

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PeoplewhoDON’T
likeSupeherofilms
Adults
FansofSuperhero
films
Teenagers
Youngpeople
(12andunder)
AudiencegroupMerchandisesuitableforthemWhymerchandiseissuitable

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18. What makes up a film poster?
Film posters are a traditional and important aspect of advertising a film. In
recent years, lots of different styles of posters have been made so that they can
be used in lots of different places and not just in cinemas, which is where they
originally would have been used. Because there are now so many different
types of posters, they each have their own name and their own features that
make them unique to the place that they are used in. If you were to wander
around any large town you’re likely to see a few different film posters, each
different depending on where they are and for what genre of film they are
advertising. Paper 1 will likely test your knowledge and understanding of film
posters in two possible ways; seeing if you know what kinds of posters exist and
therefore what features they have and what kinds of things a superhero film
would have on it’s poster. It’s also possible that you would be asked to design a
type of poster either for a film that you will need to make up or for a film that
you’ve been given the title or some detail for. In order to do well in Paper 1
then, you need to make sure that you can identify the different features of
different film posters and be able to design your own, so that it has the same
features on it.
For this section, there are 3 tasks; correctly identifying different types of posters
and explaining where they are likely to be used, identifying the different parts
of features of some posters and then finally, designing your own posters. Also
included are some examples of each different type of poster, but not all are
superhero films, just to give you an idea of how the posters look. A great place
online to find lots of different types of posters is the website movieposterdb.com

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TASK 1: Read the descriptions of the poster types carefully, then examine the
examples the posters. Finally, make a note of which type of poster is the correct
name.
Q uad: a quad poster has no set features on it. They can have lots of
information, small amounts of information, lots of images from the film or
very few. A quad poster often borrows part of it’s design from a teaser or
one-sheet poster, but the easy way to spot a quad is because of it’s shape
and size. A quad poster is always shown in landscape, meaning that it is
wider than it is tall.
O ne sheet: a classic movie poster. In a portrait orientation, a one-sheet
is the poster that gives an audience lots of information including things like
who is in the film, who made it, when it will be released, what sort of thing
the story will be about and where you can find more information about
that film.
Bus poster: easy to identify, as these are displayed on the side of a bus!
They can be quite different in shape and size though, as it depends on
what type of bus the poster is on. These posters will usually be quite long
and quite narrow but sometimes look more like a strange ‘T’ shape as they
can have a long section near the middle. This longer section is often used
to add a character or detail about the film in.

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Teaser: teaser posters are released sometimes years before a film is
released. They are usually in the same format as a one-sheet poster, but
contain much less information. Teaser posters are designed to get people
interested in a film by simply telling an audience that the film is being
made and sometimes by offering a rough date for release.
Lobby poster: these type of posters are usually only found in one place-
the lobby of a cinema! They do sometimes appear outside of a cinema
though, so keep an eye out next time you go. They work a bit like teaser
posters in that they are designed to tell people that a film is coming out,
but without giving too much information away. They can be in landscape
or portrait size, but for both the poster will usually look more like a teaser
as it won’t have too much information on it.
Review poster: this type of poster is usually released very close to when
the film is about to be released. This poster is usually quite close in design
to a one-sheet but can be landscape or portrait but most importantly, it
has positive reviews on it that encourage people to go and see the film.
Usually, this type of poster is used for films that aren’t blockbusters or that
have cost a lot of money to make and the producers haven’t been able to
promote it as much as they would like. A review poster allows them to tell
a potential audience how good the film is because of what film critics have
said. Superhero films don’t usually have these type of posters.

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Poster type 1
Poster type 2

78
Poster type 3
Poster type 4

79
Poster type 5
Poster type 6

80
TASK: Having read the description of each type of poster and looked carefully
at the different examples, match the two up by adding the correct number of
poster type next to the correct name. Even better: add a few note sin your own
words to help you describe and remember what each poster is like or how it is
different from other posters.
Bus poster is poster type number…
Lobby poster is poster type number…
Teaser poster is poster type number…
One sheet poster is poster type number…
Review poster is poster type number…
Quad poster is poster type number…

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19. Designing your own film posters
It’s really important that you can design an accurate looking film poster for
Paper 1, just in case a question asks you to do so. You will never be marked on
your artistic ability, instead you just need to show that you know what a poster
for a superhero film would look like. You may not have colouring pencils or
pens to hand in the exam so you can annotate your design to help explain what
colour or picture you want in certain places. If you have to design a poster it’s
also a good idea to add a few small notes to explain the design to help explain
to the person marking your poster that you really understand what a poster
should look like. The key thing is to get rough shapes in the correct places and
to make sure that these are also the correct size – the picture of the main
character should never be small and in a corner for example.
The exam could ask you to do a couple of different things; design a type of
poster (which is why you need to know how each looks) for a film title that you
are given in the exam, design a type of poster for a new superhero film of your
choice or design a new poster type for a superhero film that already exists. The
tasks on the next page will focus on the first two. It would be excellent practise
and revision to use colours and add as much detail as possible as these kinds of
questions are usually worth lots of marks, but try not to spend too long on these
designs as in an exam you would not be able to spend more time than the
marks question is worth (so if this question is worth 10 marks, try to spend
around 10 minutes on it).

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TASK 1: Design a teaser, a one sheet and a quad poster for a new superhero
film called Red Storm.
Remember to label your poster and explain your design with a few notes so
that it’s clear what you are trying to create.
Use the space below here to make notes and doodle ideas and plans.

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TASK 2: Design a teaser, a one sheet and a quad poster for a new superhero
film of your own idea. Make sure that it features at least one main character for
you to include in your designs. Their costume, powers and abilities are up to
you to create.
Remember to label your poster and explain your design with a few notes so
that it’s clear what you are trying to create.
Use the space below here to make notes and doodle ideas and plans.

90
20. What makes up a film website?
As the importance of the internet has increased over the last 20 years, so has
it’s importance to promoting films. It’s important to realise that there’s no set
way that any website should look like, so you won’t be expected to design a
website that shares all of the features you’d get online for a film. However, the
exam paper may ask to list, explain or design a website and, importantly it’s
key features. The things to remember in the exam is that it should be suitable for
a superhero film (so you probably wouldn’t need a section for recipes, or
directions on a map to a local fishing pond for example) and be the kinds of
things that you would expect to see on a film website.
To help in your revision there are two main tasks; the first is a brainstorm to
allow you to come up with a range of ideas for things that you could put onto a
website to promote a superhero film and second of all a chance to design your
own. Like with the last section on posters, there will be two chances to do this,
one for a film title given to you and one for your own idea for a film. You will
also find some screenshots of superhero websites that exists today and an
example or two of older film websites so that you know how your website
should not look. The key thing for any ideas or designs, is that the website and
it’s features are there to make people interested in the film and to try and
convince people to spend money to go and watch the film. Whatever your
ideas are, make sure that they’re useful and not just there for the sake of it.
Pro tip:
As with the movie poster task, if you’re asked to create a website in the
exam, you won’t be marked on your artistic ability. Instead it’s your ideas
and if they seem suitable for a real website and a superhero film. You
won’t be expected to use colours (though it always helps if you can) so
get used to annotating and explaining your ideas by writing around the
outside of your design to make it clear to the examiner what you’re trying
to create and why.

91
TASK 1: Around the outside of the cloud, write down as many different ideas as
possible for features or sections that you could, or would want to find, on a
website that had been set up to promote a new superhero film.
Featuresfora
websiteto
promoteanew
superherofilm

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TASK 2: Using your ideas from before, design a website to promote a new
superhero film called The Sensational Six, a film about six different superheroes
who each have different powers and abilities.

93
TASK 3: Using your ideas from before, design a website to promote a new
superhero film of your idea.

94
Examples of film websites promoting superhero films:

95
Below are two examples of what to avoid when
designing your website. Both are real, though only the
top one is for a film. Both are nasty. Avoid!

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21. How is social media used to promote a film?
Social media has become an increasingly important way of helping to promote
a film. It’s becoming common that a film will have a website simply as a way to
direct people to the different social media accounts and sites. In relation to the
exam, there are two main things you need to know; what examples of social
media accounts are you familiar with and can you suggest ideas for a way to
use social media promote a superhero film?
Film companies love using social media as it allows them to easily create and
send out new material to promote their films. It’s also a way to get fans involved
by also sharing information and opinions about the film and because of this a
lot of promotional material is created for the film companies by fans. In the last
5-10 years websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, tumblr and more
recently snapchat, vine and Periscope have developed to allow people a large
variety of ways to talk about films and share media. The crucial thing is that
each different website or app does it’s own thing, each has it’s own benefits
and key features, so while facebook might let you look at photos from behind
the scenes and comment on them, tumblr allows you to copy gigs and repost
them on your website or blog, helping to promote the film. Websites such as
YouTube allow film companies to easily upload high quality video and often this
is where interviews, behind the scenes videos and trailers are launched first, but
an instagram account allows a film company to quickly show off images and
photos. All of these methods, websites and apps allow people to find out more
information and to connect with a film and it’s stars like never before. In doing
so, the audience and fans are now helping to create a wide network of
information, products and adverts for film like never before. This is something
that could be important to the exam; do you know how films (especially
superhero films) are promoted on social media and can you explain why? Then,
can you give your own ideas as to how to do this?

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Traditionally, TV, radio, print newspapers and magazines and posters would be
the main ways of generating interest in a film and this could be mentioned or
used as a question in the exam, but it’s important that you’re familiar with lots
of different ways that a film can be promoted.
For the exam, you will need to be able to give some examples of social media
platforms such as websites and apps and explain how they have promoted a
film or how they could promote a film. You could also be asked to explain who
that social media platform could be aimed at by considering what it does and
how that might suit some genres and audiences better than others; for example,
it probably wouldn’t make much sense to create a snapchat account to promote
a documentary about the second world war, as it’s likely to appeal to people
above the age of those who regularly use snapchat.
To help revise are two quick tasks, one to identify which audience and which
genre would be best suited to which social networks and why, and then a quick
design task, asking you to create a series of posts that could be sent out from a
social network. Finally, there are a series of images that are screenrgrabs of
social media accounts from various companies and people such as actors,
directors and film studios (not all for superhero films) to give you an idea of
what each might look like.

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Twitter has become the quickest and most immediate
way to access breaking news and information. It’s also
the most accessible way of trying to contact people
involved with the account. Here are some examples of
people making films such as Zach Snyder and David
Ayers revealing the first images form their new films on
twitter and even in the case of Batman vs. Superman,
access to the first trailer.
Here are also examples of a production company and
film channel, Film 4, using twitter to promote what they
will be showing and famous film magazine, Empire,
using twitter to reveal news before they can publish it in
their magazine or on their website.

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Facebook started off as a way for individuals to contact
each other over the internet and to share statuses,
photos and comments, but in recent years has sent a lot
of money creating pages and the timeline, allowing
companies and brands to have their own pages to allow
people to follow them. Film pages on Facebook tend to
be a place where the film company can put a lot of
information, especially photos and videos and can be a
good place for people to chat to each other. Information
isn’t added quite as quickly as twitter, mostly because
Facebook allows you to create longer, more informative
posts, but film companies seem to be moving further
away from their own webostes and more towards
Facebook pages as a way to keep lots of information in
one place.

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There are a range of different ways that films are promoted apart from Twitter and Facebook these days.
Whether it’s a film production company having it’s own YouTube channel to host a range of videos and
trailers, an instagram page to quickly post important photos such as the first look at the new Lex Luthor,
tumblr pages to upload different gifs and images for people to use on their own blogs or even taking over a
page of a website, like this example of Pitch Perfect using BuzzFeed to showcase what a character is like.
Each of these has their own benefits and will try and attract a certain type of audience and this is
something that is changing all of the time. Below is an image from the Pitch Perfect 2 snapchat account,
one of the first films to use the app to engage with
teenage fans.
For the exam, try to find your own
examples of how social media has been used
to promote a superhero film and make sure
that you can explain how each app or website
suits a specific type of audience and why it
suits them. If you can’t find any examples, try
to think of your own ideas but again,
remember: how and why!

101
TASK: Look at the types of audiences on the next page and and decide which
social media or which website would be best to use for those people. Fill in the
boxes to explain what the social media site does, then why it would be best
suited to that audience type.
To help, below are some of the social media sites and apps that are used today
by film companies. Match the logo with the correct name and in your own
words, quickly explain what each one does that makes it different from the
others. This is a really handy piece of revision for the exam as if a question
about promoting a film comes up, you can refer to your ideas here.
Social
media
logo
Nameof
company
Explanationofwhatitdoes
FACEBOOK VINE TWITTER SNAPCHAT YOUTUBE TUMBLR INSTAGRAM
Cross out when you add the correct name the table above,

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PeoplewhoDON’T
likeSupeherofilms
Adults
FansofSuperhero
films
Teenagers
Youngpeople
(12andunder)
AudiencegroupSocialmediasitessuitedtothemWhyit’ssuitable

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TASK: Taking the ideas the last few pages, choose at least two social media
sites and design what you think it could look like or have on it to help promote
a superhero film. It’s up to you to choose whether this is for a superhero film
that exists or one that you want to make up, but make sure that the things you
put on the design are suited to that film, that social media site and the audience
type you are aiming it at. Use the spaces on the next few pages to create your
designs and then use the space below each to explain your design and why it’s
suitable for them.
As part of your revision, spend some time on the internet researching what each
social media site looks like.
Pro tip:
Just like the other design tasks, the examiner will N O T be marking your
work on your ability to draw. They will also N O T be marking your work
(IF there’s a question on using social networks to promote a film) on your
ability to draw what a social network site looks like accurately. For
example, you won’t lose marks for not being able to draw a YouTube
page accurately.
Instead, you would be marked on your ability to show that your social
network contains things that would be suitable for a superhero film and
the correct audience. If the social network you are drawing is to feature
videos, make sure that you create lots of boxes for videos and give them
titles that would be suitable. Similarly, if for a photo-sharing app, make
sure that the boxes for photos are roughly the same size or shape and
make sure that each has a comment that would be appropriate for a
superhero film and the audience.

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Socialmediadesign1
How&whyitwouldbesuitableforasuperherofilmandaudience

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Socialmediadesign2
How&whyitwouldbesuitableforasuperherofilmandaudience

106
24. Film magazines; what are they and how do they
promote films?
For nearly as long as films have been around, film magazines have existed to
help tell people what films are available to watch and to tell people whether the
films are any good or not with film reviews. Film magazine have developed to
also include a large number of their pages to cover film news and previews of
films that will be coming out later in the year or even further away.
In the UK we have two main film magazine, Total Film and Empire magazine.
Both cover news, previews, reviews, special features (such as looking back at
films from a few years ago), interviews and competitions. They exist for two
main reasons; to tell you about films and for them to make money by buying
their magazine. Film companies rely on film magazines to help promote their
film and in the modern day, will work with a film magazine from very early on
when a film is being made to give the magazine pictures and access to the film
sets and actors. This allows film companies to promote their film, even if it’s not
coming out for years and to try and help convince the film magazine to make
the film look good. The whole point of this is to make the film company money,
as the film magazine will convince an audience to go and watch a film.
With the development of the internet and social media, film magazines have
had to adapt quickly-both Empire and Total Film have websites which have on
them almost everything that their magazine have in them and they also have
social media accounts, such as twitter accounts, where they will break news on

107
films before this is in the magazines, simply because it’s quicker, easier and
cheaper to do so. This allows them to use the magazines to go into much more
detail about the news later on. They also use things like podcasts, (mini radio-
shows), periscope accounts and YouTube channels to share other media that
they want to provide, but all of it is designed to get you to buy their magazines.
For the exam, you will be expected to know what a film magazine cover would
look like and how they promote films, especially superhero films. You may also
be asked to design a front cover for a film magazine, either for one that exists
or your own idea for one, to help promote a new superhero film. There are two
tasks on the next few pages to help prepare you for this, as well as some
examples of film magazine covers and a quick analysis that you need to read
and fill the gaps in for.
Pro tip:
It’s really important to remember again that the examiner will N O T be
marking your work on your ability to draw. They will also N O T be
marking your work (IF there’s a question on film magazines) on your
ability to draw what a film character accurately or know all of the
specialist terms for the different parts of a magazine front cover-that’s the
sort of thing a Media exam is for.
However, as with other design tasks, you would be marked on your
ability to show that your film magazine looks something like a real one
would because of the things you choose to put on there. Make sure that
you examine the examples carefully and use these to help in your design
ideas for the tasks below. Most importantly, remember to practice not
only drawing example covers, but do so quite quickly and remember to
explain what your design is, looks like or what colours it would be, to
help show your examiner that you really understand what a magazine
looks like and how you would make it suitable for a superhero film.

108
EXAMPLES
All magazines have similar things in common with what they put on the front. If you are asked to design one, make
sure that you do the same.
Key features include: the name of the magazine at the very top, sometimes slightly covered by the main image.
Main image should be of the film that is the big story that issue and close somewhere, in the biggest writing of
anything other than the magazine title, should be the name of the film. The writing colour and font must be suitable
for the film it is for.
Around the outside, in similar or matching colours, but in smaller writing, should be the names of other films that
the magazine is featuring that month. Sometimes smaller pictures are used to show these other films off, but they
should be kept small. Finally, you must also remember small details such as the magazine cost, what month and
year it comes out and maybe even things like the magazine’s website address. Use the spaces around the outside
of the magazines here to note down anything else you notice that all of the magazines use.

109
TotalFilmhasaverysimilarlayouttoEmpireMagazine.Itusesit’snameofthemagazineattheverytopofthepageandthis
canoftenbecoveredoverorslightlyobscuredbythemainimagethatbelongstotheirmostimportantfilmthatmonth.Like
Empire,theyalsofeatureoverfilmsonthecoverthoughthesepicturesandwritingismuchsmallerthanthemainfilmanddoes
notcoveroverthemainfilm,asit’sthemostimportantthatmonth.Intheseexamples,youcanseehoetheyhaveusedtwo
differentcoverstopromotethesamefilm,hopingthatitwillconvincepeopletobuymorethanonecopyofthemagazineto
collectthedifferentcovers.Youprobablywon’tbeaskedtodesignsomethinglikethisintheexam,butit’sworthlookingatto
seethatthemagazinesareconcernedwithusingthefilmstosellyoutheirmagazinemorethananythingelse.

110

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

TASK: W rite the name of the feature in the correct box above.
Masthead: The name of the magazine, usually is a specific font or colour.
Price/date/website: Usually in small, but placed somewhere quite important.
Main image: Someone or something from the film that is in the magazine the most that month.
Previews: Smaller writing about other key features of films in that issue.
Headline: Name of the main film being featured the most that month.
Sub-heading: Few quick details about the main film.

___________________________

___________________________

111
TASK: Use the next two pages to create two designs for your own film
magazine front cover. Design the first one for a superhero film that you’ve seen
and use the second one for a superhero film that you have made up. For both,
use the space at the bottom of the page to help explain your design. The key
thing when explaining your design is to not explain every small piece of detail
and don’t just rush your picture and expect top use the explanation to cover
everything you’ve done. Instead, use the boxes as a way of practising
explaining why you designed the magazine you did and how it suits both being
a realistic looking magazine cover and the audience and the film well.
As before, try to use colour where you can, as this can show off your
understanding of the film and genre, as well as your understating of magazine
covers, but if you’re not able to, write the name of the colour you would use
around the outside. When using colour for a magazine front cover, notice how
there are usually only 4 or at most 5 different colours used for the masthead,
headline and sub-headings/previews, so try not to use too many!
Finally, try not to spend too long on these designs; in the exam you don’t want
to spend too long as these as you will have other questions to do and there will
often be a space to explain your design. Good revision for this task is to spend
no more than 10 minutes on a good design, and then maybe another 5 minutes
writing clear explanations about your designs.

114
24. How can other products advertise a film?
Of course, it’s not just traditional methods of advertising that help sell a film to
an audience. Whilst trailers, websites, social media accounts, posters and
magazines are all important, merchandise is a massive aspect of film promotion.
Since the release of Star Wars in 1977, film merchandise has become so big
that often, it can make as much, if not more money than the actual can for the
company that made it. Disney’s Frozen (2013) made roughly $1.4billion at the
Box Office worldwide, but has made at least that in merchandise sales in the US
alone. Worldwide and in total, merchandise sales for Frozen is nearer
$2.5billion and will only grow as time goes on.
On the next page are some pictures of the kinds of things that you might see
made as merchandise for a superhero film. As many superhero films come from
ideas in comic books originally, there are often many different pieces of
merchandise that exist already but the release of a film can be a great way to
make even more merchandise to generate more income.
The paper 1 exam may ask you to think of ideas for merchandise to promote a
new superhero film. As with other tasks in this revision guide, you won’t gain
many marks in the exam for just listing some merchandised, but you’ll gain high
marks if you are able to explain why they are useful in helping to promote the
film and who they appeal to and, crucially, why.
There are 2 main tasks here to help you revise and prepare for the exam. The
first is a simple brainstorm of things you’ve either seen or could be used as
merchandise. The second task is to design three pieces of merchandise for a
superhero film that you’ve made up; a t-shirt, a toy and a backpack.

116

TASK 1: Write down as many ideas as possible for items, toys, clothes,
accessories and any other ideas that you’ve seen or can think of for
merchandise for a superhero film. A good place to look to help will be Google!

Merchandisefor
superherofilms

117
TASK 2: Design three pieces of merchandise for a superhero film that you’ve
made up. These should be designs for a t-shirt, a toy and a backpack. To keep
this revision similar to what you might find in an exam, there is no template for
these designs, just a blank box below. Just like other tasks though, you are
encouraged to annotate and explain your designs to help practice getting
higher marks.

118
25. DVD / Blu-Ray and other media
Advertising and promotion for a film doesn’t stop once the film has been
released at the cinema. A film can still make a lot of money once it leaves the
cinema, through DVD & Blu-Ray sales, digital downloads, being shown on Pay-
Per View TV and being made available on legal streaming sites like Netflix. A
key part of this convincing people to rent or buy the film and the most obvious
way of doing this is through the front cover of the film. Traditionally, this would
be on a video, DVD or more recently, a Blu-Ray cover, but in recent years with
digital downloads and streaming options being just as, if not more popular,
these covers have become icons that allow you to see what the film ‘looks’ like
on a computer or TV screen. The Paper 1 exam may ask you to think about a
cover for a superhero film and analyse some of these, or may ask you to design
one or more. In previous years, the exam has asked students to design a box-
set of films, thinking about superhero films that are similar to each other or that
have things in common that would make for an interesting collection of films. It’s
important then, that you’ve spent time through this revision guide thinking about
different superhero films and would be able, if aksed to in an exam, to put
together a few different films as a box set or collection. It’s important to
remember that for websites and services such as iTunes, BlinkBox, Netflix and
Amazon Prime video, the cover you see will be exactly the same as the
DVD/Blu-Ray cover, the only difference is that there won’t be a’back’ cover as
it won’t be needed! Remember this in case this is mentioned in the exam!
For this final design task, there are two small taks to complete; one that aks you
to find things in common between different DVD covers and to see what
features you should include on a DVD cover and secondly, to design a cover
for a DVD of a new superhero film that you have made up.

120
TASK 1: Below, write down as many features of the DVD covers that you see on
all or most of them. These are your key features that you must remember for the
exam. Just like everything else on Paper 1 and in this revision guide though, it’s
not just about rememebring them and then listing them down, you must be able
to give one or two reasons why these key features are used on the cover, to
help sell the film but how and to who?
Key features of a DVD / Blu-Ray/ digital
cover…

121
TASK 2: From what you’ve learned in task 1, design your own DVD/Blu-Ray
cover for a superhero film that you’ve just made up. Remember to include the
key features you’ve identified and, on the next page, explain your design as to
who it is aimed and how it attracts them to the cover and makes them want to
buy it.

BACKCOVERFRONTCOVER

122

What I designed and how it attracts an
audience…

123
26. Quick revision test:
5 key features of a one-sheet poster:
5 key features of a teaser poster:
3 other types of poster, not one-sheet or teaser:
5 key features would of a DVD cover:
5 key things would be important on a website:
3 different ways to use other social media:
5 different products to promote a superhero film:

124
Section 4: Paper papers/example
papers
Over the next few pages you will find 4 different exam papers. The first
two are the exams from 2014 and 2013. The second 2 are exam papers
which I have made up based on the exam papers used by the exam
board.
In the actual exam these exam papers would have an answer booklet that
would give you space to write your answers. For the sake of saving
paper/space, I have NOT included these and advise using lined paper as
an alternative. The answer booklets in an exam are useful as they give you
a sense of how long your answer should be, but the key indicator of this
are the number of marks available for each question. My suggestion is to
roughly aim for 1 mark a minute and to assume that each mark will need
one sentence to allow you to give an answer and explain it in enough
detail to show the examiner that you know what you are writing about!
When practising with these papers, try to do a similar to give you plenty of
practice for the real thing.
Of course, in the real exam the first 20 minutes or so would be used
watching a clip from a chosen film to allow you to answer question 1 and
2. For a variety of reasons, this revision guide does not include these clips.
This is a slight problem in that you need to see the clips, HOWEVER, it is
my suggestion that you can look online as you are likely to find the correct

125
clips if you search accurately enough. Another suggestion is to borrow a
copy of the films listed for the questions and skip to the clips and watch
them 3 times as the exam would allow you to do so.
Finally, question number 3 often comes with a sheet of paper with
examples on to help you answer the question. These have NOT been
included to encourage you to do your own revision and to provide your
own ideas. Perhaps the best way of doing this is to use the revision tasks
from earlier on in this booklet; this should allow you to have plenty of
examples and information available to job your memory. However, in
order to revise in a thorough way, it is suggested that you do not simply
go back through this guide and copy things into your exam revision
answers as you won’t be learning much at all!
Finally, if there’s anything else you need help on or have questions on,
there are PowerPoint presentations available on my SlideShare website
http://www.slideshare.net/ianmorenomelgar and you can also get in
contact via Twitter @Moreno_Melgar

126
(Official paper from 2014)

127
(Official paper from 2013)

128
29. Example paper number 1

129
30. Example paper number 2.

130
Many thanks for your purchase. I hope this revision guide is incredibly
useful and all of the success in the world in your WJEC Film Studies GCSE
exam.
Finally, get in touch with me @Moreno_Melgar if you have any questions
or issues with this or want help in general about GCSE Film Studies. I've
got thousands of activities, worksheets and documents available and will
happily collaborate on designing curriculums, activities and assessment for
Film Studies.

Legal bit:
Images in this guide are copyright of their respectful owners. All images and documents used here are for educational use. If there is an image
appearing that belongs to you and do not wish for it to appear please get in touch. All suggestions and hints are just that and in no way
guarantee that you will get full marks in the exam! Previous exam question have been used to help and advise and the questions I have
created are not to be taken as a guarantee that of the type of questions asked, the likely marks available for those questions or how they could
be marked.

131
Basically; use this guide but make sure you revise, do not be surprised if the exam is different to the ideas in this guide but feel free to send
plenty of praise and feedback if you do happen to perform really well with the help of this guide.

GCSE Film Studies revision guide for WJEC Paper 1 exploring film superhero films

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GCSE Film Studies revision guide for WJEC Paper 1 exploring film superhero films