Assessment guide

Educerie · IB Diploma · Film

Why there is no practice paper for this subject. Film is assessed entirely by coursework — a written textual analysis, a filmed comparative study, a portfolio and, at HL, a collaborative film. There is no written examination in any session, so there is nothing for Educerie to mock. This guide and the accompanying checklist let you assess your own work against what each component rewards.

The components, and what each is really testing

Textual analysis (SL and HL)

A close analysis of a short extract from a prescribed film.

This is where Topic 1 is examined directly. What separates strong work:

Timecodes on every observation. Without them, claims cannot be verified and are treated as impressions.
Analysis of patterns and changes, not of isolated shots. The most valuable observation in any extract is usually where an established pattern breaks.
Sound analysed as seriously as image. This alone lifts most student analyses, because most ignore it.
Alternatives named. "The camera remains static where a track was available" locates the decision, which is what makes it analysable.
Contextual material used where it illuminates the extract, not as a biography of the director bolted onto the front.

The failure mode is plot recount. Test your draft by asking: could someone who read the screenplay have written this? If yes, it is not film analysis.

Comparative study (SL and HL)

A filmed video essay comparing films from different cultural contexts, with a stated area of inquiry.

Two things decide the grade. First, the basis of comparison must be genuine: the films should be comparable in a way that produces insight rather than a list of similarities and differences. "Both use flashbacks" is not an area of inquiry; "how each film uses flashback to establish the unreliability of a narrator, given different conventions of realism in their two traditions" is.

Second, it is a video essay and is assessed as one. Your own use of image, sound and editing is part of the argument. An essay read aloud over static screenshots forfeits the form's advantages — you can show two shots side by side, match cutting rhythms, let sound overlap. Use that.

Film portfolio (SL and HL)

Your work in film production roles, with reflection.

The portfolio assesses decisions, not output. For each role, the assessment wants: what you were trying to achieve, what you chose, what happened, and what you would do differently. Documented failure is worth more than an unexamined success.

Show the same role at intervals so development is visible, and photograph or record process — you cannot document a setup after you have struck it.

Collaborative film project (HL only)

A completed film made as a team, each member in a defined role.

The assessment is of your role within the collaboration, so the boundaries of your responsibility must be clear, and your reflection must address the collaboration honestly — including where the team's decisions constrained yours, and what you did about it.

What separates strong work across all components

Timecodes and specifics. Every claim locatable.

Sound taken seriously. Consistently the fastest available improvement.

Change analysed over state. What develops across a sequence beats what is true of one shot.

Breadth of cinema. More than one national cinema, engaged on its own terms.

Reflection that decides. Every reflective passage ends in a change.

How to audit your own work

Count the timecodes. Fewer than one per paragraph is thin.
Search for the word "shows". "This shows that the character is sad" is usually a restatement wearing an analytical hat. Replace with what the technique does to the viewer.
Delete every plot sentence. What remains is your analysis. If little remains, that is the finding.
Check for sound. If your analysis has no paragraph on sound, you have analysed half the film.
Name one alternative per major claim. What could the filmmaker have done instead?

Educerie · written from the published IB Diploma Programme structure for Film, first assessment 2023. Original text. This subject has no written examination. Last reviewed 5 September 2026.