IB Film condenses into one year class

Next year, Film Study teacher Pierce Bello will phase out Film Study II, and the course will be condensed into one year.
Previously, IB Film was a two year course offered as both a standard level and a higher level course. For the 2018-2019 school year, HL will be reserved exclusively for seniors previously enrolled in Film, while anyone else interested will have the option of taking IB Film Study, a one year standard level course.
Bello said condensing the course might enable more students to take it.
“We have a good problem here at Marshall,” Bello said. “ [There are] so many great electives that it is difficult for any elective to compete with other classes. The problem with having any two year class is that some kids can’t commit to a two-year class. I feel that more students are going to be able to take IB Film from a one year format instead of a two-year format.”
Bello said a one-year course will help seniors receive IB credit and show colleges that they are serious about studying film without requiring the same level of commitment as a two-year class.
“Lots of seniors take the class and they can’t get credit for taking it right now in our current two year model, as assessments are in the second year of the course,” Bello said. “So now seniors can take a one-year model and get the credit for it to show colleges that they are serious about studying film in depth.”
As a one-year course, IB Film Study will contain the same primary elements as the two-year course, but instruction will be condensed and streamlined.
“I’m going to call it Diet IB Film,” Bello said. “What we would do normally over a two-year model we are going to condense into ninth months. [I’m going to] take out the fluff of IB Film. It is going to be a leaner, tighter course.”
Despite Bello’s plans to maximize class time, the time constraints concern senior and IB Film Study II HL student Elizabeth Fretz.
“There’s so much to cover in terms of basic film terminology, film history, film theory, and production,” Fretz said. “I don’t know how there will be time to do assessments like production portfolio and independent study while also learning content.”
The new IB Film Study format eliminates an HL course; the IB Diploma requires candidates to complete three HL classes.
“[The elimination of HL] impacted my decision about taking [IB Film] at first, but I found out a way to fit it into my schedule,” sophomore Aisha Hinds said.
Bello said the change will be best for the majority of students.
“I think that the impact will be minimal to [IB diploma candidates], but will be great for the kids that will take SL,” Bello said.