Creative Arts
The creative arts department comprises Art & Design, Photography and Media and Film Studies. Click on curriculum maps below and the subject links on the right to find out more about each subject.
Art & Textiles Curriculum Mapping
Photography Curriculum Mapping
Art & Design
COURSE OVERVIEW
Art & Design is offered across all three key stages. In the foundation years projects are taught through investigation into and experimentation surrounding a variety of disciplines. The yearly teaching programmes for Years 7, 8 & 9 are organised into a variety of projects of differing lengths. They each provide strong links to the key stage Art & Design National Curriculum and help build a strong foundation for those wishing to study at Art or Textiles at GCSE level. Interwoven into all projects are opportunities to develop student’s analytical and evaluative skills and develop their understanding of the formal elements.
Art & Design is delivered, successfully, at both GCSE and A level. We aim to deliver high quality teaching, provide access to a wide range of resources, demonstrate strong subject knowledge as well as a passionate delivery, this ensures we are able to facilitate a high level of learning through project work, problem solving and research. Students will be working with a range of materials and media, undertaking printmaking, drawing, painting, photography and 3D workshops throughout this courses. External visits provide opportunities for students to not only gather primary research for their projects, but help inspire and develop an understanding of possible future career progression paths into the Creative industries.
It is intended that we both inspire and nurture confident, articulate, analytical and reflective learners who go on to pursue a career in the wider creative industry.
Year 7 theme – Natural Form
Foundation skills workshops covering the formal elements
Spirals: putting the formal elements into practice
Year 8 theme - Viewpoints
Ceramic project: exploring an artist and/or cultural differences
Art with a Heart: exploration of pupils own views, opinions and beliefs
Expressionism portraiture: exploring emotions through the Expressionist Art movement to create a mixed-media outcome
Year 9 theme – Great British Values
Grayson Perry project – exploring current icons for a teenager today to create a personalised bank note
Peter Blake – understanding popular culture and consumerism, working in groups to make a paper waistcoat
Yinka Shonibare – develop an understanding of cultures and learning a variety of print making techniques
All GCSE and A Level project titles are subject to change, however some examples are listed below.
GCSE themes
Students complete two coursework projects in Years 10 and 11.
GCSE Art – Force and My Surroundings
In Year 11 Art students will undertake an externally set assignment set by the examination board with the final piece being completed under examination conditions.
A level themes
All Year 12 students will complete a term of skills workshops building a foundation of new skills and techniques required at A level. Students will then complete one coursework project with a theme of their choosing and produce a written personal essay that supports their project.
All year 13 students will undertake an externally set assignment set by the examination board with the final piece being completed under examination conditions.
Textiles
COURSE OVERVIEW
Textiles is offered as an option at both GCSE and A level through an Art & Design specification. We aim to deliver high quality teaching, provide access to a wide range of resources, demonstrate strong subject knowledge as well as a passionate delivery, this ensures we are able to facilitate a high level of learning through project work, problem solving and research. Students will experiment with new techniques and create samples through investigating printmaking, stitching, weaving, applique, fashion design and digital textiles whilst developing an understanding of a wide range of textile artists. External visits provide opportunities for students to not only gather primary research for their projects but help inspire and develop an understanding of future career progression paths into the Creative industries.
It is intended that we both inspire and nurture confident, articulate, analytical and reflective learners who go on to pursue a career in the wider creative industry.
All GCSE and A Level project titles are subject to change, however some examples are listed below.
GCSE Themes:
Students complete two coursework projects in Years 10 and 11.
GCSE Textiles – Coastal and Surfaces
In Year 11 Textiles students will undertake an externally set assignment set by the examination board with the final piece being completed under examination conditions.
A level themes:
All Year 12 students will complete a term of skills workshops building a foundation of new skills and techniques required at A level. Students will then complete one coursework project with a theme of their choosing and produce a written personal essay that supports their project.
All year 13 students will undertake an externally set assignment set by the examination board with the final piece being completed under examination conditions.
Photography
Course overview
Photography is only available as an option in Key Stage 5/Sixth Form.
Students will have the opportunity to learn; camera control; studio lighting; how to use specialist equipment; how to use editing software. All the while they will reinforce their understanding of the formal elements and composition and develop their analytical and evaluative skills.
High quality teaching, access to a wide range of industry standard resources, strong subject knowledge and passionate delivery ensures we are able to deliver a high level of learning though project work, problem solving and research. Our aim is to produce confident, articulate and creative learners armed with all the photographic skills necessary to compete for University places or in the workplace.
A level Courses/Topics
Year 12- Learning the art of photography, culminating in an Externally Set Assignment.
Year 13- Personal Investigation and Externally Set Assignment
Why choose the subject?
• Learn to express yourself creatively
• Learn to problem solve and research
• Experiment with photography technique, extensive professional studio equipment and industry standard editing software
• Develop your ways of seeing the world and your creativity
• Learn skills for life, technical ability and build confidence
• Open doors to a creative future
Common questions
Q. What year can I take Photography?
A. Year 12
Q. Can anyone take Photography?
A. Yes, there are no exam grade restrictions but a C or better in English is helpful. It’s more important that you are enthusiastic and want to learn.
Q. What trips are there?
A. Two compulsory visits; usually London and one other plus a biannual residential visit to Paris
Useful links
Media Studies and Film Studies
Course Overview
-
Media and Film Studies is offered from Year 9 onwards at the school, encompassing both Level 2 and Level 3 courses.
Film Studies: Film Studies is an academic GCSE course of study where students are challenged to understand the technical aspects and wider meanings of a range of cinematic texts. Films range from classic Hollywood and British films to World Cinema. This open, exploratory approach to cinema as a form is continued for the AS and A2 courses, combining the creative and the evaluative. Across Levels 2 and 3 in Film Studies, students have a mixed diet of production (using photography as well as video to create original film texts such as posters, trailers and title sequences) and analysis (learning the basics of Film Theory and applying key terms and ideas to specific texts and genres). We follow the WJEC course for both Level 2 and Level 3 Film Studies. Both Levels are assessed through a mix of coursework and examined units.
Media Studies: Media Studies also begins at Year 9 and is a more vocationally orientated course. There is more emphasis on production activities and, rather than focusing on one main specialist form, students get to experience television, music video, advertising, magazines and, of course, film as well. Students currently follow the WJEC Creative and Media Level 2 course that is equivalent to one GCSE. This course is more vocational in design although it does also contain an extended examined unit in Year 11 alongside 2 major coursework units. Due to the focus on a range of media forms and technologies, this course would suit an independently minded student keen to develop a wide range of creative and analytical skills across a diverse number of platforms, from Youtube to print.
At Level 3, the vocational focus is maintained with the OCR Technicals qualification. This is an entirely coursework assessed qualification at present, with students able to produce more extended and finely honed original media texts across the forms of print and video. There is one extended written analysis of a media text of their choice, usually a film. The course once again suits those who prefer a more hands-on approach to learning, requiring excellent organisation, commitment to the development of creative ideas over a sustained period of time and a genuine interest in the possibilities of digital media.
Film Topics at GCSE
British Cinema
Hollywood Cinema
Film Promotion and Marketing
Skills for Film Analysis
Video and Audio Editing Skills
Media Topics at Level 2
Induction into practical skills
Audience research
High Concept TV Production
Advertising Print Media
Making Music Video
Documentary
Short films
Film Topics at A level
Micro analysis skills in editing, cinematography, sound, performance and mise en scene
Macro analysis of narrative and genre
Studying British Horror
Film Marketing
Studying American Cinema
Film Production
World Cinema
Spectators and Effects Debate
Media Technicals Level 3
Product analysis
Film Editing
TV editing
TV production
Film Production
Music video
Photography
Graphic Design
AdvertisingWhy choose Media and Film
You enjoy independent learning
You relish creative opportunities
You enjoy working in vocational and simulated settings
You like the challenge of using professional digital software packages
You are curious about new and emergent ideas about cultural forms and their effects
You want to develop a skill set of tools that will allow you to deconstruct the sparkling surfaces of popular culture.
You want to think a little more closely about the kind of world we live in.
FAQ
A. No, of course not. You study films by developing a great range of analytical tools, both aesthetic and technical. You also get to use digital technology to make your own short film sequences and promotional campaigns.
Q. Is Media an easy subject?
A. No, if you want to sit back and stare at the ceiling, then Media is not the subject for you. You are expected to be engaged and independent rising to the challenge of being allowed access to expensive digital equipment and sophisticated modes of analysis covering a wide range of traditions and forms.
Q. Why choose Film and not Media.
A. You cannot choose both as they are totally different subjects with different academic trajectories. Film is more academically respected while Media is more closely linked to the industry (whilst we cannot guarantee a job at the end of it). So, if you are more academically inclined, have a passion for film in particular rather than the media as whole, and enjoy writing extended essays as much as getting behind the camera, then Film might be for you.
Useful links
Guardian Media
Sight and Sound
Ofcom
BBC
Creative Media
Level 2 Creative and Media course (GCSE)
WJEC’s Level 1 / 2 qualification in Creative and Media offers students the chance to develop knowledge, skills and understanding through tasks set in realistic work-related contexts.
Students can develop their own individual interests, reflecting their educational or career aims. There is the flexibility to focus purely on one subject area, or to combine different creative pathways, such as magazine design and video production. There is a strong emphasis on developing specialist skills related to the chosen creative and media area. All these units give learners plenty of time to experiment, acquire skills and really improve, before moving on to create final products.
The units that we do at Charles Darwin School are:
Unit 1 Creating a Proposal in Response to a Brief- an externally assessed exam that makes up 25% of the final GCSE grade
Unit 2 Creating an Outcome in Response to a Brief- internally assessed creative production in print or audio-visual media, worth 25%.
Unit 3 Skills Development in Moving Image Production- - internally assessed creative production across a range of different video forms, worth 50% of the final grade.
This combination of specialist and transferable skills supports progression to further education, employment or training. An external assessment ensures an appropriately demanding qualification, whilst enabling learners to apply their creativity and research skills. The qualification is included in the performance tables in both England and Wales.
OCR Level 3 Cambridge Technical Certificate in Digital Media (AS)
OCR Level 3 Cambridge Technical Extended Certificate in Digital Media (A2)
The OCR Technicals Level 3 course is an exciting vocational qualification, full of refreshing and exciting content that’s up to date, engaging and fit for purpose. This relatively new course has been designed following extensive consultation with universities, employers and industry specialists to make sure that you will gain the right combination of knowledge, understanding and skills required for the 21st century.
With a wide range of centre assessed units with practical and wider project-
based assessment opportunities, as well as examined units on a) Media products
and audiences and; b) Pre-production and planning, this course of study offers you the chance of a focused yet diverse and challenging qualification which perfectly
complements the other subjects you take at Key Stage 5 alongside other vocational qualifications or A Levels.
We complete 3 units in year 12 that count for an AS level qualification. These units include a mandatory examined one that introduces you to a wide range analytical techniques in preparation for an externally set paper taken at the end of the academic year.
The rest of the two units in Year 12 are practical in focus although all include some research into similar products and audience tastes. Unit 21 asks you to develop a proposal for a new youth orientated television series, using a mix of research, planning and creative skills. You then have to pitch your ideas to the client, gaining feedback before developing your final proposal. This final proposal is then taken forward to the second internally assessed production unit, Unit 3 (Create a Media Product). This challenges you to make the opening sequence to the television product you have developed.
In Year 13, we continue with a further 3 units to make up the A level equivalent award. These include two internally assessed coursework units and an external examined unit focusing on pre-production and planning. The two coursework based pieces include a ‘Portfolio Unit’ that allow you to develop a Showreel celebrating your creative achievements across the course as well as an ‘Advertising Unit’ that can be in various forms, including a music video production or a film trailer.
Take this course if you are independent, creative and enjoy responsibility and active learning. It will suit anyone interested in a wide range of creative media forms.
The focus on creative production units means that you have to be an organised, focused person, willing to put in extra time after school.
Film Studies
Film Studies is now available at both GCSE and Sixth Form.
The WJEC Film Studies GCSE course is the most academically demanding course that we offer at Media level 2 here at Charles Darwin School. We are running the course following the success and popularity of the A-level Film Studies course which was introduced in 2010. The introduction of GCSE Film Studies allows students from Year 9 onwards to follow a specialist pathway through what remains a respected academic discipline across Levels 2 and 3. It is an exciting and stimulating course that requires above all a love and fascination for contemporary film. If you want to find out about the wider context of contemporary film, then this is the course for you. The course requires a mix of academic and creative skills due to its balance of exams and controlled conditions production work.
Skills required:
Choose this course if you have a passion for film and all its possibilities and histories. You should be open-minded and willing to consider cultural materials and ideas you may never have come across before. You will need a mix of practical, creative and traditional academic skills, including the ability to integrate theoretical materials from film studies pedagogy with your own individual critical opinions informed by your values and tastes. Creatively, you should be interested in exploring the film form across a range of contexts and traditions, developing production skills such as camerawork with deep thinking skills connected to the generation of original and sophisticated film products of your own.
Assessment:
Paper 1 of the exam currently focuses on ‘Superhero’ films (but this may change as specifications are regularly updated), is worth 30% of the final grade and tests student knowledge about the ways such films are made (in Hollywood), the kind of film language they use (such as camerawork, special effects, and acting styles) and the way that audiences relate to them.
Paper 2 of the exam is worth 20% and is titled ‘Exploring Films Outside Hollywood’. We select a film from a board designated list of films made outside the US to analyse and study in depth. The purpose of this section is to look at a film in detail your son or daughter may have never experienced before.
Finally, the controlled conditions coursework (worth 50%) is based on the interests and tastes of the student, who selects a film to study and then plan a range of creative tasks that take certain aspects of this film- its genre or narrative- as a starting point for original work. This practical work follows the established film industry model of developing a pitch, planning materials, making a film production of some kind and then reviewing it.
Potential Careers:
Film Studies at GCSE is perhaps the first step you can make in a career within the film industry. In order to succeed in the film business, however, you will need to show a commitment beyond the school curriculum by attempting as much work experience as is possible in your own time, perhaps beginning with the television industry or small specialist post production houses based in and around London.
More realistically, Film Studies is a respected and academically rigorous course of study that sits well with other Arts and Humanities subjects and thus would allow ambitions for future careers in a number of professional arenas. It can also be followed further at the school’s Sixth Form and lead to a valuable degree course that, once again, can open doors to a number of potential careers.
The OCR Film Studies A level is an academically demanding but simulating and wonderfully varied course of study.This new and upgraded specification differs slightly from the previous course that has been running here successfully for some time now, but keeps at its core the opportunity to lose yourself in film, be fascinated by the history and power of the screen image. The examined units are now worth a significantly higher percentage than the single coursework unit, with a split of 70% for the two exams and a single short film production unit worth 30% of the final A2 grade. In addition to this, the Film Studies coursework production has an almost equal focus on extended written analysis of a range of micro elements as it does on creative production work. Therefore, it could no longer fairly be called a creative, production based course, but closer to the English Literature model of evaluating texts. It is for this reason that we insist on C grades in English Literature AND Language for you to take A level Film.
In short, in Film Studies, it is the different theoretical approaches and use of specialist terms that really form the heart of the course. It also specialises in one particular media form, that of Film. So, it is a course only suitable for those with both a passion for film already but also, more crucially, a desire to find out so much more about film history and film cultures in other parts of the world, including Hollywood, European and non-European cinema. It also requires the study of films from different historical periods, such as the Silent Era, films made between 1930 and 196, as well as and alongside contemporary developments in the cinematic art form.
More specifically, the film studies course offers you a set of analytical tools that will help you understand and enjoy films even more than you do already, as well as offering you new cinematic experiences. Film is the most open, stimulating and diverse art form, so if you want to find out more about the way it reflects experiences, messages and values about the world, choose this course!