Film Studies !

So I'm currently studying film studies at A level and my exam is next month, the second part to the exam is all about British and American film and comparing the two.

I need some help, I obviously know about the American film industry being a lot more successful but I need some facts and useful subjects to talk about in the exam.

Facts in terms of what? Also it depends how you define success.

How both have developed over the years! I'm so confused about the whole exam! I think I just have to talk about the big companies and some facts on them.

Well in terms of most films nowadays being American films with American actors, producers, companies etc.

I can't answer for Britain but American films have always been of the highest quantity; Back when it was mostly France and the US making films, there was a huge competition between them but for different goals: America took the stance of "look how many films we can make!" while France preferred to take their time and invest for quality over quantity. America's stance arguably hasn't changed since the dawn of film. It was only inflated by the effects of the world wars, permitting America to make even more while places like Britain and France had to worry about reconstruction.

I guess it helps to know that it started in New York with the kinetoscope, developing into nickelodeons, the difficulty of having live music, etc. Then the whole red scare blacklisting...There's a lot of info, and it's hard to be brief

Well, it's not all just American films these days.


One thing I find interesting about the difference between USA and UK... is the film age ratings on films. MPAA (American) and the BBFC (British) having such massive differences between their ratings.

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Most British actors are classically trained to some extent. The difference is basically the method of training - in British schools Shakespeare is required learning and stage performance is the basis for acting development. American actors, unless they specifically desire a career on stage, don't have stage acting as part of their training; their training is more workshop based. Hope this helps.

Good luck! My Exam is soon too but it's a little different.

Maybe go into how the movie business uses marketing ploys to scam people out of their cash.


3D for instance is apparently a new tech that's being used to sell movie tickets... yet 3D has actually been around since the late 1800s.

Yeah, there's loads to talk about between the two countries so I can't offer much unless the point is more specific, but what I can say is I always love watching a great British film. Interesting batch of modern directors too: Paul Greengrass and Steve McQueen, and then even the likes of Ben Wheatley, Richard Ayoade etc., they also seem to be pretty knowledgeable when it comes to film and I always find the Film4 projects interesting.

What's yours on and what films do you have to watch/study?

Thanks, that actually really helped

Its better quality 3D! It has developed and I find it a good money making strategy, the more they spent on 3D the more they'll earn from it

thanks, you too! I have to talk about 4 case studies in my exam as well. Not looking forward to it at all

What else do you know about the British/American part of the exam? What has your teacher or aide said? Word-for-word if you have something in writing.

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If you're studying A level, then don't you need to discuss the style quite a bit? I just googled A level and read a little, but I don't know much about it. When comparing American and British styles, American style isn't just Hollywood, there are American independent films too. That may be something to consider.

Generally when watching them, I find I can rely much more on the quality of British films. Too many American films are made solely for the purpose of money, with $100,000,000+ budgets, and revenues sometimes in the billions. With that much money involved there is also corruption. For example the major companies make it hard for small companies to succeed by manipulating the rating system. If you're with the corporations they tell you what you need to change to get a rating that allows your film to air on TV giving you more awareness and a larger revenue. If you're not with the corporation they won't tell you what to change and sensor your movie. I watched a documentary on it, and it can be very difficult for independents in America.

Also a lot of American films are filmed here in Canada. I'm not sure if film location is something you consider in A level.

And then there's the content. Many American films are about wild and crazy things, like an organization that hunts down ghosts and traps them in a box. They have the budgets to do elaborate special effects. British films tend to be on more realistic subject matter.

I don't know if any of that helps.

Yeah that helps a lot, thank you! Kind of answer I was looking for

Glad I could help.

An off the wall suggestion... have a look at International co-funding and marketing films... late 50's and 60's many European countries had all sorts of enticements for American-uropean co-productions... specifically, you could centre in on US/British co-productions... Hammer Films (UK) and AIP (USA) had tremendous amount of success with producing and marketing may titles... one source for background is the book, Flying Through Hollywood By The Seat of My Pants by AIP founder, Sam Arkoff... schalti in Berlin

That's a pretty vague question, can you try to be more specific? Are you comparing content/style or the two industries?