Week Zero: Presentation Prep

(Structure)
Lesson Objectives
In this lesson, the student will:

prepare for upcoming oral presentation

assemble portfolio documentation

The Final Stages of Preparation

You are quickly approaching the end of your preparation time for the Presentation. So
this lesson will be brief and let you get to work. You also have ongoing work on your
Independent Study to conclude, as well as wrapping up your short film production and
the finalizing of your Production Portfolio. Stay focused and you should find your way
through. There is quite a bit going on at once, so do not let it all pile up on the last week.
You are almost there!
Tips and Strategies

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You might have a question about order and structure. What do you talk about first? It is
up to you. Many students will start by identifying the extract as specifically as possible,
so the context is clear. He or she will, typically, save the rationale for either the opening
remarks or the closing remarks. Beyond that, the structure will be in your hands.

Consider having your strongest areas early on, but save a good strong one for the end
as well. This way, your weaker discussion comprises the middle section, but you know
you have already built up some confidence (and your listener's interest) early on.
As you prepare, remember your notes can only be short prompts, rather than written
passages. Put them in the order you want to discuss them, and you are all set. If you
put your notes on cards that have a single word or short phrase on them to remind you
of the next section you want to cover, you give yourself two really important advantages:
1.

You assure yourself that you will be speaking in oral paragraphs, rather than
proceeding in a shot-by-shot manner. The card should say something like "film
noir cinematography," as a reminder to discuss the cinematographic elements
in the entire extract that reveal an influence from film noir.

2.

You can actually experiment a little with structure. Keep your first card and
last card in the same place, but then shuffle all the middle cards randomly. You
should be able to do a practice presentation at any time, in any order. You
might, quite accidentally, discover an order to the presentation that works
better than your original plan.

Be sure to have a card that has names and dates you might have trouble memorizing.
This is not a memorization task, and having such a card is not considered malpractice.
Be sure you know how to pronounce names correctly, especially if they come from a
culture that is foreign to you. Poor pronunciation is not only disrespectful, but it also
highlights your lack of professionalism and care.
Practice a few times before the recording day arrives. Make sure you do not go over the
10-minute maximum. Be sure you use formal diction and you speak slowly and clearly.
Speakers tend to speed up when nervous, so take that into account. Practice continuing
on, despite making a mistake. Take a deep breath, count to three, and pick up where
you left off.
Practice like it is the real thing. It will be, soon!

Week One: Presentation Prep

(Selection)
Lesson Objectives
In this lesson, the student will:

prepare for his or her upcoming Oral Presentation

The Moment Has Arrived

The days of merely preparing for a practice oral Presentation are now over. It is time to
get ready for the real thing. This week, your instructor will provide you with a list of three
films. It is at your instructor's discretion to select films you can handle and will give you
the best chance of showcasing your knowledge of Film.
One or more exemplars (Presentations done by former students) may be made
available to you for study. If so, do take the time to listen to them and then, feel free to
talk with your instructor about what makes the exemplar successful or not. Doing so will
also help to remind you what a Presentation sounds like, and recognize they are done
by students just like you.
Time Limits
The Presentation must be on a continuous five-minute extract from a prescribed film.
You may not choose bits and pieces from different parts of the film; the extract must be
continuous. It must be five minutes long, give or take a few seconds, so make sure to
select an extract that fits within that parameter. You will have four weeks of preparation
time.
Your presentation will be no longer than 10 minutes, but it should be close to the
maximum in order to fully develop your analysis. When you sit down to record it, you will
do so in one sitting with one continuous recording. You will not be able to stop or go
back and fix things later. You hit the "record" button, talk for up to 10 minutes and then,
hit "stop."

Notes
You may use notes for the Presentation, but only as a memory aid to help remind you of
all the topics you wanted to cover. The reading of prepared passages or pre-written
Presentations is absolutely forbidden. You should know the material so well that a quick
glance at your notes triggers a whole set of insights and connections you can then
deliver without reading them. Think of it as if you were a teacher delivering a minilecture on the extract you have chosen. No one likes to be read to from a podium. What
an audience wants is to be engaged by someone who really knows what he or she is
talking about. Anyone who is literate can read, but only a Film scholar can draw out
ideas in the moment, without using a script.
Research and Analysis
Shot-by-shot analysis may form a part of your Presentation, but you may not carry out
your analysis entirely in this manner. In other words, you must not go on like this, "In the
first shot we see... Then, in the next shot... Now, after that shot, we cut to..." You may,
indeed, need to discuss a sequence of shots briefly, in order to make some valid point
about editing rhythm, for instance, but you must not structure your entire Presentation
along these lines. The proper way to handle the structure is to find an aspect to discuss,
such as lighting, and then make all the relevant points about lighting for the entire
extract. Think of the organization like oral paragraphs, with each one unified by a
specific topic area.
Outside research is not required for this task, but is encouraged, especially for making
points about sociocultural context. If you do consult any sources in your preparation
(even the special features on the DVD) then, you must acknowledge them on the cover
sheet, which you will fill out during the wrap-up of the course. You will also acknowledge
sources when you upload.
Although you should play the extract again for yourself right before you start recording
just to get everything fresh in your mind, the playing of the film must not form any part of
your Presentation. Do not hit the "play" button at all. Your instructor and your future
examiner will only hear you. There will be no video aspect to what you submit. You have
to be able to make your points without pointing at a screen.

Extract Selection

The first step is to select your film from the list of three. If you have time, watch all three
before you make your selection. If not, maybe take a quick look at the Internet Movie
Database to see which one grabs you. Or, you can trust your instinct. Or, throw a dart at
the list. It is up to you.
Watch the film a few times, each time taking some general notes about the interesting
aspects. You might make a list of possible-five minute extracts, so watching with a
stopwatch could come in handy.

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You might also benefit from a little thinking about this assignment from the outside, from
the examiner's perspective. Although each examiner tries very diligently to treat each
exam as an individual case, consider that he or she will review many Presentations
during any given exam session, and you should, therefore, think about ways you can
set your Presentation apart from the others. Extract selection can make a difference
here. Do you really want to choose the "famous" sequence from that particular film, the
one everyone else will pick? Or, do you want to shine by selecting a not-so-obvious
extract and really pulling out everything you possibly can from it? It may not always be
wise to choose your "favorite" part of the film if that part does not allow you to explore a
whole array of the ways films make meaning.
Also remember, you want to avoid any film that is even remotely associated with
your Independent Study project. It may happen that your instructor, given the choices
made available from the IB for the prescribed films, was not able to select three that had
no connections to anyone's IS project. You, therefore, need to place that restriction on
yourself. If it becomes apparent you have "double-dipped," or covered two assessments
with one film, you run the risk of a reduction in your final marks for both projects.
Choose wisely.

Targets for the Week

Choose your extract. Grab a parent, or a friend, or a sibling, and explain to them why
you have chosen this extract (your rationale). If they think you have made a good case
for your selection, then you are ready to prepare. Watch your extract numerous times. If
you have not already done so, watch the entire film a few times as well. One viewing will
not suffice to be able to draw the conclusions that make for a successful Presentation.
Research the background and socio-economic elements of the film (Background and
Content). Try to gain an understanding of the filmmaker(s) and the environment from
which they come. Identify the genre of the film, its box office success, how the film was
received by critics, and similar information (look at OP marksheet).

Week Two: Presentation Prep

(Textual)
Continue to research your project. You should be working on the textual analysis
elements (Focused Analysis) this week (look at the OP marksheet) and finalize your
research. By the end of this week you should have a good understanding of what will
be presented in your OP.

Week Three: Presentation Prep

(Practice)
Lesson Objectives
In this lesson, the student will:

prepare for his or her upcoming Oral Presentation

participate in production meetings and share a film cut to a test audience

Presentation Preparation Continues

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As you continue to prepare for your Presentation, it is always useful to keep the
descriptors in the markbands fully in mind, just to make sure you will hit all the important
areas before your time is up. This week's lesson will review those descriptors.
There are five markbands for the Presentation component. They all contain the same
criteria, but with different evaluative descriptors for each one. Each criterion will have
some version of the following descending order: excellent, good, satisfactory, limited,
little to none. Although there is some subjectivity inherent in such a scale (where exactly
is the border between "excellent" and "good"?), it is still an effective instrument for an
examiner to use to evaluate your level of achievement. The examiner will assign a
"best-fit" mark.
In this recap, we will focus on the top markband, recognizing the criteria are the same,
just with different adjectives attributed to the level of success.

Evaluative Interpretation
Your Presentation needs to be coherent (hold together as a unit), incisive (go beyond
surface details), insightful (be original and knowledgeable), and detailed(work through
specific examples). It needs to be an evaluative interpretation of the extract, one in
which you not only discuss what it means but also, how and why it is effective at
achieving its intent.

Understanding of Film Language

Your Presentation needs to demonstrate your understanding of how meaning is
constructed through the use of film language. You have observed, on several
occasions, how the concept of film language has a dual nature. It is partly that you use
the correct terminology to discuss film-oriented aspects, but it is also the recognition
that all those techniques and production aspects carry a meaning, or a message in
themselves. Film language is both knowing what a canted angle is and using the
proper term in your Presentation, but also knowing the canted angle means the world is
slightly off-center and out-of-balance. Film language is both qualities. To get full marks
here, you must be comfortable addressing both.
Link the Extract
Your Presentation needs to properly place the extract in terms of its relationship to
the film as a whole. This does not merely refer to the narrative, or storyline, although it
certainly is that as well. What you need to do here is branch out, or link, the specific
aspects from the extract to the rest of the film. Does this technique appear in other
places in the film? Used the same way or different? The answers to questions of that
nature will help you fulfill this criterion.
Genre Conventions
Your Presentation needs to demonstrate your awareness of the film's genre. This
means not only knowing to what genre it belongs, but why. You need to discussgenre
conventions and expectations, and whether or not the extract creates, meets, or
subverts them. Remember, your theory lessons in relation to the difference between
a genre and a tradition, as well as the importance of identifying the correctsub-genre,
as the case may be.

Sociocultural Context
Your Presentation needs to place the extract (and the entire film) in a
broadersociocultural context.

During what time period was it made?

What historical or cultural influences have shaped its creation?

Does it fit into an established era of film history? How so?

How does it fit in the director's larger body of work, if you are discussing it
through the lens of auteur theory? How so?

Outside research will be important here. Remember to distinguish between the

historical/cultural era the film portrays versus the historical/cultural era when it was
made. Do not confuse the two.
Director's Intent
Your Presentation needs to analyze the director's intent. This is not something to be
dealt with in a single sentence but should permeate your entire presentation. The
reasons why the directors makes choices should be at the forefront of your
presentation.

Why were certain artistic choices made in this extract?

What was the intended effect?

What was the meaning the director wanted to convey?

How did the choices made work to achieve that meaning?

Audience Response
Your Presentation needs to discuss audience response at the time of its release
and/or subsequently. There are a variety of audience types, and you have been
studying them in your theory lessons. Put that knowledge to work here. There are the
casual viewers, the fans, the reviewers, the critics, and the scholars, and each one
might offer differing responses to the extract. Remember, some films are initially hits or

failures, but then audience response changes over time. If you can bring those
responses to your discussion, usually as a result of research, then you will be able to
satisfy this criterion.
Simple Description
Your Presentation must only contain negligible simple description. This is the only
"negative" criterion in the markband, in that it identifies what you should not do. That is,
you should avoid making comments that simply describe, as opposed to comments that
analyze and evaluate. Assume your examiner has seen the film several times, knows it
really well, and does not need to be told details of the plot, or other simple descriptions
such as these. If you must describe, do so quickly and just to establish the context for
your point, then get right to it. Ten minutes go by very quickly, and you cannot afford to
waste time with simple description.
Simple Description
Your Presentation must only contain negligible simple description. This is the only
"negative" criterion in the markband, in that it identifies what you should not do. That is,
you should avoid making comments that simply describe, as opposed to comments that
analyze and evaluate. Assume your examiner has seen the film several times, knows it
really well, and does not need to be told details of the plot, or other simple descriptions
such as these. If you must describe, do so quickly and just to establish the context for
your point, then get right to it. Ten minutes go by very quickly, and you cannot afford to
waste time with simple description.
Rationale
Finally, your Presentation also needs to include a rationale for the selection of the
extract. This is where your "I" comes in. "I chose this extract because..." Out of all the
five-minute extracts in this two-hour film:

Why did you choose this one?

What makes it important or stand out?

What do you appreciate in it?

Week Four: Final Presentation

(Record)
Lesson Objectives
In this lesson, the student will have their Oral Presentation recorded. This work will be
recorded by the student's SBC and sent to the examiner.
It All Comes Down to This
You have done practice oral Presentations on two other occasions during the run of
this course, so you should feel confident, poised, and comfortable. You have learned a
great deal about how films make meaning. Now, you simply have to demonstrate your
level of mastery to an examiner. The last three weeks of preparation will now pay off as
you record your final Presentation for the course, and complete the first of the three
major assessments for IB Film.
Review this entire lesson prior to recording, so you have the protocols fresh in your
mind. Then, when you are ready, start your recording.
Formal Opening

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When you start recording pause a few seconds. Then say the following:

your name

your IB candidate number

the words "Film, Standard Level"

Pause for a few seconds and then, start your analysis.

This is the standard opening for oral presentations and helps identify the file, if needed.
Do not start with, "Hi, my name is..." This is a plain, simple, and formal identifier. Note,
when the instructions say to pause, that means an actual, literal pause, not hitting the
"pause" button. Once you start recording, you may not stop until you are done.
Record. Wait for three seconds. "John Smith. IB Candidate Number 1234-123. Film.
Standard Level." Wait for three seconds. Start talking.
Just like that. With your name and candidate number, obviously.
Recording Methods

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Getty Images / Thinkstock
Whatever method you have of recording a digital audio file will do the trick here. If you
are recording at your computer workstation, just make sure themicrophone is on and
use your operating system's built-in sound recorder. If you use Audacity, or a similar
program, you can record with that program. You can go the long way around, by
recording onto your camera, capturing the footage, and then exporting only

the audio track. Your mobile devices often will have a sound recorder as well. Do a few
tests, and make sure you have levels set appropriately for clarity.
Make sure you will not be disturbed for at least 10 minutes.
Find the audio file (you might need to export it first), and get it ready for upload.

Some Reminders About Academic Integrity

It is essential, as previously discussed in other lessons, you complete this task in the
intended manner. Students who have a traditional classroom setup for IB Film must
record their Presentations in the presence of their instructors. For obvious reasons, this
would be impractical for an online course. In much the same manner your instructor
relies on your integrity when you take your weekly quizzes, he or she also depends on
you to accomplish your Presentation without simply reading aloud from a prepared text.
You may have notes to help you if you get stuck, but the discussion should be carried
out extemporaneously. Reading aloud from a pre-written document reveals very little of
what you have actually mastered about Film. When you can talk about your extract,
intelligently and insightfully, without reading, then you really show you know your stuff.

2012 Comstock / Getty Images / Thinkstock

If an examiner suspects academic malpractice, you could run the risk of not earning
credit for your coursework.
Some More Friendly Reminders
Remember, failure to meet all the formal requirements (length and nature of extract,
length of Presentation, etc.) will automatically prevent you from achieving the top two
markbands, regardless of the quality of your Presentation. Take care you have covered
everything.

Also, remember you are not allowed to actually play your extract during the
Presentation. If you need to refer to specific shots and scenesas you shouldthen be
sure to provide enough specific detail such that your instructor will know exactly to what
shot you are referencing.

Formal Requirements
Just so you have them all in one place, here are the formal requirements for the
Presentation.

The Presentation must be no longer than 10 minutes.

The Presentation must feature a no longer than five-minute continuous

extract from one of the three prescribed films.

It must be apparent the student is only using notes as a memory aid and not
reading from a prepared document.

The student must identify him- or herself prior to beginning, according to the
established formal opening.

Evaluated Requirements
The additional evaluated requirements are based upon the descriptors in the
markbands for this task.

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The student offers a coherent, incisive, insightful, detailed, evaluative

interpretation of the extract.

The student demonstrates understanding of how meaning is created through

the use of film language.

The student demonstrates an awareness of the extract's relationship to the

film as a whole.

The student demonstrates awareness of the film's genre.

The student places the extract/film in a broader sociocultural context.

The student analyzes the director's intention.

The student discusses responses from audiences, reviewer, critics, or

scholars at the time of its original release and/or subsequently.

The student includes only negligible simple description.

The student provides a clear and through analysis.

The student provides a thoughtful rationale for the selection of the extract.

Remember, all this information is also included in the IB Film guide.

Keep in mind, your examiner operates from the assumption you have nearly completed
your course in IB Film, and your ability to discuss film should be adept and include a
varied array of concepts from film history, film theory, and practical production
experience.