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Notes/Persian/Paper 2 Section C: the film (پاسخ به فیلم)
Notes · PersianUK · A-Levels

Paper 2 Section C: the film (پاسخ به فیلم)

This topic carries Paper 2 Section C, the written response to a prescribed film, worth 45 marks with a choice of two questions on the chosen film and a recommended 300 to 350 words. Section C exists only for students who answered a question on one literary text in Section B: a candidate who answers on two literary texts does not complete Section C at all, and answering on two films is not permitted in any circumstances. The three grids applied to a Section C essay are the same three applied to a Section B essay, individually: critical and analytical response out of 20 for AO4, range of grammatical structures and vocabulary out of 15 for AO3, and accuracy of language out of 10 for AO3. Because film is the medium most likely to tempt a candidate into retelling, this topic is built around the opposite discipline: the Persian vocabulary that lets you write about how a film is made rather than what happens in it, evidence as the located scene, and an essay structure that keeps plot summary out. The three films the specification lists are named in the final section, with the caveat that you should confirm the current Appendix 1 for your series.

5 sections·~31 min reading time·4 competencies·Level Foundation 1 · Standard 2 · Advanced 2

T·111111 / 12
Exam profile
AO4 · Respond critically and analytically to a prescribed Persian-language filmAO3 · Deploy a range of grammatical structures and cinematic vocabulary in an extended Persian essayAO3 · Apply Persian grammar and syntax accurately across an extended written responseAO2 · Read Persian-language writing about film closely, including reviews and criticism
Operators:تحلیل کنیدبررسی کنیدارزیابی کنیدنقد کنیدمقایسه کنیداستدلال کنیدنتیجه بگیریدشاهد بیاورید

basic level

At first-year standard the expectation is a clear position supported by scenes the student can locate, expressed in correct Persian, with the basic cinematic vocabulary used accurately and with plot summary already minimised.

higher level

The full A-Level expects the argument to be about film-making rather than about story: framing, duration, editing, sound and light treated as choices; a counter-reading raised and answered from the film itself; and Persian that sustains complex structures across three hundred and fifty words.

Depth

Reading depth: In depth

Text

Text size: Standard

Contents · 5 sections▾
  1. Paper 2 Section C: the film (پاسخ به فیلم)
    • 01What Section C asks, and who is allowed to answer it○
    • 02The Persian vocabulary of film, and what each word lets you claim◐
    • 03Evidence as the located scene●
    • 04Writing about a film without summarising it●
    • 05The Appendix 1 films, and a caveat about the list◐
§ 01

What Section C asks, and who is allowed to answer it#

●○○FoundationLPPearson Edexcel 9PN0 Paper 2 Section C (written response to works, films, 45 marks)LPPearson Edexcel 9PN0 Paper 2: students must not answer questions on two films

Key points

Section C is conditional in a way no other section of this qualification is, and the condition is worth stating precisely. Students who answer only one question on a literary text in Section B must write an extended response on one of the films listed in Appendix 1. Students who answer questions on two literary texts do not complete Section C at all. And answering on two films is not permitted. So Section C is not an alternative available to everyone; it is the second half of one of the two legal combinations, and which combination you are in was decided at the start of the course when you chose your two works.
The mechanics match Section B exactly. There is a choice of two questions on your chosen film. The recommended length is 300 to 350 words and the whole essay is marked regardless of length. The recommended time for Sections B and C together is two hours ten minutes for 90 marks, so roughly an hour and five minutes per essay including planning. The three grids are the same three, applied to this essay individually: critical and analytical response out of 20, range out of 15, accuracy out of 10. All questions are set in Persian and answered in Persian, and no dictionary and no documentation relating to the works may be taken in.
The AO4 grid's language applies here in its film sense and it is worth translating that into practice. Selecting relevant material means choosing scenes because they answer the question, not because you remember them well. Presenting and justifying points of view means having a position about the film-making and saying why. Developing arguments means the second paragraph building on the first rather than starting again. Drawing conclusions based on understanding means a conclusion that follows from what you showed. And evaluating issues, themes and cultural and social contexts means the film's setting and subject are legitimately part of your analysis — a film's world is not off-limits, it just is not the whole essay.
One thing to settle before the examination: whether you are writing about the film as a made object or as a story. The grids reward the first. A film is a set of decisions — what to show, from where, for how long, with what sound, in what order — and every one of those decisions can be argued about. A story is what happens, and what happens is not in dispute. Candidates who write about story produce essays that are accurate, fluent and mid-band; candidates who write about decisions produce essays that can reach the top band even when their Persian is no better.
Worked example

Paper 2 Section C: turning a story question into a film-making question

The question is: «کارگردان چگونه تنش میان دو شخصیت اصلی را می‌سازد؟» A candidate's instinct is to narrate the argument between them. Show how to convert that instinct into an answer about decisions, and plan the essay in Persian.

  1. 01Notice that the question's verb is می‌سازد, builds

    The question does not ask what the tension is; it asks how it is constructed. چگونه ... می‌سازد is a question about means, and the means available to a director are framing, distance, duration, editing, sound and light. So the essay's four paragraphs should each be about one of those means, not about one stage of the quarrel. Reading the question's verb before planning is a habit worth building: بررسی کنید, ارزیابی کنید, چگونه and تا چه اندازه each demand a different shape of answer.

  2. 02Paragraph one: refine and take a position, sixty words

    تنش در این فیلم بیشتر از آنکه در گفت‌وگو باشد، در فاصله‌ی دوربین و در تدوین ساخته می‌شود. In this film the tension is built less in the dialogue than in the camera's distance and in the editing. بیشتر از آنکه ... باشد is the comparative construction with a subjunctive, and it is the exact shape of a position on a how question: not this, but that, with a reason to follow.

  3. 03Paragraphs two and three: one means each, one located scene each

    Paragraph two takes framing: در صحنه‌ای که دو شخصیت در یک اتاق‌اند، دوربین آنان را در یک نما کنار هم نمی‌گیرد, in a scene where the two characters are in one room, the camera does not take them side by side in a single shot. Then say what that shows. Paragraph three takes editing or sound and does the same. Two means, two located scenes, two interpretations. Nothing about who said what.

  4. 04Paragraph four: the counter-reading, and the conclusion that answers the question's verb

    می‌توان گفت که این‌ها انتخاب‌های فنی‌اند و نه معنایی؛ اما اگر چنین بود، در صحنه‌های آرام‌تر همان الگو دیده می‌شد، در حالی که آنجا دوربین هر دو را با هم نشان می‌دهد. Then conclude by answering چگونه directly: بنابراین تنش در این فیلم پیش از آنکه گفته شود، دیده می‌شود. So in this film the tension is seen before it is spoken. A conclusion that answers the question's own verb reads as a conclusion; one that summarises the plot reads as an ending.

Result: تنش در این فیلم بیشتر از آنکه در گفت‌وگو باشد، در فاصله‌ی دوربین و در تدوین ساخته می‌شود. Two middle paragraphs, one on framing and one on editing or sound, each with a located scene and an interpretation; then a counter-reading answered from the film, and a conclusion that answers چگونه: تنش در این فیلم پیش از آنکه گفته شود، دیده می‌شود.

Exam focus

  • Section C is only for candidates who answered on one literary text in Section B. Two texts means no Section C.
  • Same three grids as Section B, applied individually. Twenty-five of forty-five marks are for your Persian.
  • Write about decisions, not about story. It is the difference between a mid-band and a top-band essay.

Typical mistakes

  • Planning to answer on two films. It is explicitly not permitted.
  • Assuming Section C is optional for everyone. It is compulsory for one of the two legal combinations.
  • Spending longer on the film essay because it is easier to write about. Both essays are worth 45.
  • Treating the film's social setting as off-limits. The AO4 grid names cultural and social contexts explicitly.

Active revision

دو ترکیب مجاز برگه‌ی دوم را بنویسید و توضیح دهید که در هر ترکیب کدام بخش‌ها را پاسخ می‌دهید؛ سپس سه پرسش احتمالی برای فیلم خود بسازید که هیچ‌کدام با بازگویی داستان پاسخ داده نشود

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Persian (9PN0) specification (Pearson Edexcel)

§ 02

The Persian vocabulary of film, and what each word lets you claim#

●●○StandardLPPearson Edexcel 9PN0 Paper 2 Section C: range of grammatical structures and vocabulary (AO3) /15LPPearson Edexcel 9PN0 Paper 2 Section A (translation into Persian)

Eight cinematic terms and the claims they license

The words that turn impressions into claimsTable with 4 columns and 8 rows, Data: Term · What it names · The claim it licenses · Watch out for; namaa · The shot · Framing is a choice · It is not the same as a scene; bardaasht · The take · Duration carries meaning · A long take is not a long scene; sahne · The scene · A unit you can locate · Locate it; do not retell it; filmnaame · The screenplay · Words apart from images · Credit the writer, not the director; kaargardaani · Direction · Decisions, not accidents · Not every choice is the director's; tadvin · Editing · Order and rhythm · Cuts you notice and cuts you do not; sedaa · Sound as a whole · What is heard, not only seen · Score and sound design differ; nurpardaazi · Lighting · Visibility is a decision · Darkness is a choice tooTERMWHAT IT NAMESTHE CLAIM IT LICENSESWATCH OUT FORnamaaThe shotFraming is a choiceIt is not the same as ascenebardaashtThe takeDuration carries meaningA long take is not a longscenesahneThe sceneA unit you can locateLocate it; do not retell itfilmnaameThe screenplayWords apart from imagesCredit the writer, not thedirectorkaargardaaniDirectionDecisions, not accidentsNot every choice is thedirector'stadvinEditingOrder and rhythmCuts you notice and cuts youdo notsedaaSound as a wholeWhat is heard, not only seenScore and sound designdiffernurpardaaziLightingVisibility is a decisionDarkness is a choice too
Fig. 1Each word in the first column is worth learning because of the third: a term you can use precisely converts an impression into a claim an examiner can be persuaded by. The fourth column carries the confusions that are visible to a reader who knows film. The terms are romanised and the table is in English because the figure engine emits no direction attribute and has no bidi handling; every one of these words is given in Persian script in the prose above, and those are the forms you must write.

Key points

The vocabulary is short and every word in it earns its place by licensing a particular kind of claim. نما is the shot, the basic unit of what the camera records without a cut; برداشت is the take, and its length is a choice with meaning; صحنه is the scene, the unit you will locate your evidence in; فیلم‌نامه is the screenplay, which is written by someone who may not be the director; کارگردانی is direction; تدوین is editing, the arrangement of shots in order and rhythm; صدابرداری is sound recording and موسیقی متن is the score, which are different things; and نورپردازی is lighting. Add بازیگری for acting, دکور for the set, and تصویربرداری or فیلم‌برداری for cinematography.
The reason to learn these rather than to write in general terms is that each of them turns an impression into an arguable claim. Saying that a scene feels tense is an impression. Saying that the scene is built from short takes with no music is a description of decisions, and it can be checked, argued with and built on. That is the whole difference between a mid-band and a top-band Section C essay, and it costs about a dozen words of vocabulary. The words are also directly examinable in Paper 2 Section A, since a translation passage may be about the arts, so the investment pays twice in the same paper.
Two distinctions cause most of the errors. The first is نما against صحنه: a shot is what the camera records between two cuts, a scene is a unit of action that may contain many shots, and using one for the other will be visible to any examiner who knows film. The second is صدا against موسیقی: what is heard in a film includes dialogue, ambient sound, silence and score, and a claim about the score is not a claim about the sound design. Being precise about these two pairs is a cheap way to sound like someone who has thought about film rather than someone who has watched one.
One more caution about attribution, which matters for both accuracy and honesty. Not every decision in a film is the director's. The screenplay is the screenwriter's, the images are made with a cinematographer, the cut is made with an editor, and performances are the actors'. Persian criticism attributes carefully and so should you: کارگردان in some sentences, فیلم‌نامه‌نویس or تدوین‌گر in others, and فیلم itself as the subject where the responsibility is collective — فیلم این صحنه را با دو نما می‌سازد, the film builds this scene from two shots. That last construction is often the safest and it reads as more sophisticated than attributing everything to one person.
Worked example

Paper 2 Section A: a paragraph of film criticism from English into Persian

Translate into Persian and justify each decision. 'The film keeps its camera at a distance for most of the first half. When it finally moves closer, nothing new is said, and yet the scene feels different. The change is not in the screenplay but in the framing.'

  1. 01Sentence one: a habitual present with a compound verb and a time adverbial

    فیلم در بیشتر نیمه‌ی نخست، دوربین را دور نگه می‌دارد. Making فیلم the subject rather than کارگردان is the safe attribution discussed above. دوربین را carries را because it is a specific camera, the film's own. نگه داشتن, to keep, is a compound verb; دور is the adverbial complement. And note the word order: time adverbial, object, complement, verb, which is the Persian default and should be built in that order rather than patched from English.

  2. 02Sentence two, first clause: a temporal clause with سرانجام

    هنگامی که سرانجام نزدیک‌تر می‌رود is When it finally moves closer. سرانجام, finally, is the formal choice over بالاخره and suits critical register. نزدیک‌تر is the comparative with a half-space. هنگامی که is the written when; وقتی که is the ordinary alternative and either is acceptable, but consistency of register across a paragraph is itself part of what the range grid reads.

  3. 03Sentence two, second and third clauses: a negative and a concessive

    چیز تازه‌ای گفته نمی‌شود، و با این حال صحنه دیگرگون به نظر می‌رسد. Nothing new is said, and yet the scene seems different. چیز تازه‌ای is an indefinite subject of a passive, so no را; گفته نمی‌شود is a negative present passive. با این حال is the standard and yet. به نظر رسیدن, to seem, is a compound verb and is the right verb for feels here, since احساس کردن would need a person to do the feeling and the English has none.

  4. 04Sentence three: the نه ... بلکه reframe, which is the paragraph's point

    این تغییر نه در فیلم‌نامه، بلکه در قاب‌بندی است. The change is not in the screenplay but in the framing. قاب‌بندی, framing, is a transparent compound with a half-space, built from قاب, frame. The نه ... بلکه pair repeats the preposition در on both sides, as Persian requires. And note that the whole paragraph has now used four cinematic terms — دوربین, صحنه, فیلم‌نامه, قاب‌بندی — which is precisely the lexical range the AO3 grid at Paper 2 rewards, delivered by translating faithfully rather than by ornamenting.

Result: فیلم در بیشتر نیمه‌ی نخست، دوربین را دور نگه می‌دارد. هنگامی که سرانجام نزدیک‌تر می‌رود، چیز تازه‌ای گفته نمی‌شود، و با این حال صحنه دیگرگون به نظر می‌رسد. این تغییر نه در فیلم‌نامه، بلکه در قاب‌بندی است.

Exam focus

  • Learn a dozen words precisely. Each converts an impression into an arguable claim.
  • Keep نما and صحنه apart, and keep صدا and موسیقی متن apart. These two confusions are the visible ones.
  • Attribute carefully, or make فیلم the subject. Not every decision belongs to the director.

Typical mistakes

  • Using صحنه for a single shot. A scene may contain many shots and the distinction is basic.
  • Attributing the screenplay's choices to the director without evidence.
  • Writing about music when you mean sound. Ambient sound and silence are part of the design too.
  • Writing in general adjectives — زیبا, قوی, تأثیرگذار — instead of naming the decision that produced the effect.

Active revision

دوازده واژه‌ی سینمایی فارسی را بنویسید و برای هر کدام یک جمله بسازید که ادعایی مشخص درباره‌ی یک فیلم بیان کند، نه یک احساس کلی

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: GCE AS and A level subject content for modern foreign languages (Department for Education)

§ 03

Evidence as the located scene#

●●●AdvancedLPPearson Edexcel 9PN0 Paper 2: students should justify their points of view, arguments and conclusions with evidence from the works

Key points

Evidence in a film essay is the located scene, and the method is the same as for a literary text with one addition. A located scene is specific — a particular moment, not a recurring motif; identifiable — you can say roughly where in the film it falls, in which act or after which turning point; and describable without narration — you say what is shown and how, not what happens next. The addition is that in film there are two layers to describe: what is in the frame, and how the frame presents it. A candidate who describes only the first has written about the story; the second is where the analysis is.
The Persian for locating a scene is a small set of phrases. در صحنه‌ای که ... , in a scene where; در نمای پایانی ... , in the closing shot; آنجا که دوربین ... , where the camera; در لحظه‌ای که ... , in the moment when. And for describing presentation: دوربین ثابت می‌ماند, the camera stays still; دوربین از پشت سر او را دنبال می‌کند, the camera follows her from behind; صحنه بدون موسیقی است, the scene is without music; برش پیش از پایان گفت‌وگو رخ می‌دهد, the cut happens before the conversation ends. Each of those is a fact about the film that supports an argument and cannot be got from a plot summary.
The most productive question to ask of any scene is what it does not do, because absence is a decision and decisions are what you are analysing. Is there music where you would expect music? Does the camera cut to the person being addressed, or stay on the speaker? Is the room shown before the people in it? Does the film show the event or only its aftermath? An answer built around a considered absence — این صحنه موسیقی ندارد، در حالی که صحنه‌های مشابه در همین فیلم دارند, this scene has no music where comparable scenes in the same film do — is almost always stronger than one built around a presence, because the comparison is built in.
As with the literary text, invent nothing. Do not invent a shot, a line of dialogue, a piece of music or a detail of the set. Do not describe a scene you half remember. And do not write about a film you have not watched in full; a film essay built on a summary read somewhere is visible to any examiner who has watched the film, and the specification's rule about evidence coming from the work is not satisfied by evidence coming from writing about the work. Watch your film more than once, with a notebook, and record scenes by what they show and how — that notebook is the whole preparation for this section.
Worked example

Paper 2 Section C: one evidenced paragraph built on an absence

Build a middle paragraph arguing that a film withholds judgement on its central conflict. Use a located scene and an absence, and write it in Persian.

  1. 01Move one: state the claim about the film-making, not about the story

    فیلم درباره‌ی این کشمکش داوری نمی‌کند، و این خودداری در ساختِ صحنه‌ها دیده می‌شود نه در گفت‌وگوها. The film does not judge this conflict, and that restraint is visible in how the scenes are built rather than in the dialogue. خودداری, restraint or abstention, names the thing you are going to evidence. Putting the location of the evidence in the claim — در ساخت صحنه‌ها — tells the examiner what kind of paragraph this will be.

  2. 02Move two: locate the scene and describe the frame

    در صحنه‌ای که دو طرف رودرروی هم قرار می‌گیرند، دوربین ثابت می‌ماند و هیچ‌یک را در نمای نزدیک نشان نمی‌دهد. In a scene where the two sides face each other, the camera stays still and shows neither in close-up. Two facts about the film, both checkable, both about presentation. رودرروی هم قرار گرفتن is a compound verb phrase; نمای نزدیک is the close-up.

  3. 03Move three: name the absence and compare it inside the film

    همچنین این صحنه موسیقی ندارد، در حالی که فیلم در جاهای دیگر از موسیقی برای هدایت احساس بهره می‌گیرد. This scene also has no music, whereas elsewhere the film uses music to steer feeling. The comparison inside the same film is what makes the absence evidential rather than merely observed: if the film never used music, its absence here would prove nothing. هدایت احساس, the steering of feeling, is an ezafe chain, and بهره گرفتن از takes از.

  4. 04Move four: interpret, then answer the objection

    همین دو انتخاب، تماشاگر را از راهنمایی محروم می‌کنند و داوری را به او وامی‌گذارند. می‌توان گفت که این تنها کم‌هزینه‌ترین راه فیلم‌برداری بوده است؛ اما در همین فیلم صحنه‌های ساده‌تر با نماهای بیشتری ساخته شده‌اند. These two choices deprive the viewer of guidance and leave the judgement to them. One could say this was merely the cheapest way to shoot; but in this same film simpler scenes are built from more shots. محروم کردن از takes از; واگذاشتن به is to leave to. The objection is raised impersonally and answered with a second observation from the film itself, which is the pattern to reuse.

Result: فیلم درباره‌ی این کشمکش داوری نمی‌کند، و این خودداری در ساخت صحنه‌ها دیده می‌شود نه در گفت‌وگوها. در صحنه‌ای که دو طرف رودرروی هم قرار می‌گیرند، دوربین ثابت می‌ماند و هیچ‌یک را در نمای نزدیک نشان نمی‌دهد؛ همچنین این صحنه موسیقی ندارد، در حالی که فیلم در جاهای دیگر از موسیقی برای هدایت احساس بهره می‌گیرد. همین دو انتخاب، تماشاگر را از راهنمایی محروم می‌کنند و داوری را به او وامی‌گذارند. می‌توان گفت که این تنها کم‌هزینه‌ترین راه فیلم‌برداری بوده است؛ اما در همین فیلم صحنه‌های ساده‌تر با نماهای بیشتری ساخته شده‌اند.

Exam focus

  • Two layers: what is in the frame, and how the frame presents it. The second is where the marks are.
  • Ask what the scene does not do. Considered absence is stronger evidence than presence, because the comparison is built in.
  • Watch the film more than once with a notebook, recording what is shown and how.

Typical mistakes

  • Describing what happens and calling it evidence. Evidence is how it is shown.
  • Inventing a shot or a line to make a point land. It is a fabrication and an examiner who knows the film will see it.
  • Writing about a film from a summary. The evidence must come from the work.
  • Using a recurring motif as a located scene. A motif is a claim; a scene is what supports it.

Active revision

پنج صحنه از فیلم خود را انتخاب کنید و برای هر کدام دو جمله بنویسید: نخست آنچه در قاب دیده می‌شود و سپس شیوه‌ی نشان دادن آن؛ زیر هر کدام یک ادعا بنویسید که آن صحنه پشتیبانی‌اش می‌کند

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Persian (9PN0) specification (Pearson Edexcel)

§ 04

Writing about a film without summarising it#

●●●AdvancedLPPearson Edexcel 9PN0 Paper 2: critical and analytical response (AO4) /20 per essay

Key points

Plot summary is the single largest waste of words in a Section C essay and it is worth understanding why candidates produce it. It happens because a film is experienced as a sequence, so recall arrives as a sequence, and writing what you recall produces narration. The fix is structural rather than moral: if your four paragraphs are organised by means — framing, editing, sound, performance — rather than by chronology, narration becomes impossible, because no paragraph corresponds to a stretch of the film. Organise by decision and the summary problem solves itself. It is worth adding that the examiner has seen the film, probably many times, and is marking a large number of essays on it. Narration therefore tells them nothing they do not already know while consuming words that could have carried an argument, and it does so in a way that is immediately recognisable — a paragraph of retelling reads as retelling from its first verb. The essays that stand out in this section are the ones whose opening sentence could not have been written by someone who had merely watched the film once.
A small amount of orientation is legitimate and necessary. Your examiner knows the film, but a sentence establishing which part of it you are discussing is not summary, it is location: در نیمه‌ی دوم فیلم، پس از آنکه دو شخصیت از هم جدا می‌شوند is orientation and costs twelve words. What is not legitimate is a paragraph explaining what led to that point. The test is simple: if a sentence would still be true and useful to a reader who has seen the film, it is analysis or orientation; if it is only useful to someone who has not, it is summary and should be cut.
Persian offers a few constructions that make analytical writing about film flow, and they are worth having ready. Nominalisation lets you refer to a decision as a thing: انتخابِ نمای دور, the choice of the distant shot; نبودِ موسیقی, the absence of music; کوتاهیِ برداشت‌ها, the shortness of the takes. Those noun phrases become subjects, which is what a sentence about decisions needs. And the impersonal passive lets you describe without attributing: این صحنه در یک نما فیلم‌برداری شده است, this scene has been shot in a single take. Both keep the sentence's subject on the film-making rather than on the characters.
One further habit: quantify nothing you have not counted, and describe nothing you have not seen twice. It is tempting to write that a film has many long takes or that the camera rarely moves, and both are empirical claims about a work you watched at home. If you have not counted, hedge honestly — بارها, often; در چند صحنه‌ی کلیدی, in several key scenes — or restrict the claim to the scenes you can name. A hedged accurate claim is worth more than a confident one that the examiner, who has watched the film many times, knows to be wrong.
Worked example

Paper 2 Section C: the same paragraph written twice, as summary and as analysis

Compare two versions of a paragraph on the same scene, and identify exactly what changes between them. Write both in Persian.

  1. 01Version one, the summary version

    در این صحنه شخصیت اصلی به خانه بازمی‌گردد و می‌بیند که کسی آنجا نیست. او چند لحظه می‌ایستد، سپس به آشپزخانه می‌رود و در را می‌بندد. این صحنه نشان می‌دهد که او تنهاست. Every sentence narrates. The final sentence gestures at meaning but supplies no evidence for it, because nothing that precedes it is evidence — it is all what happened, which is not in dispute.

  2. 02What is wrong with it, precisely

    It is not that the sentences are inaccurate; they may be perfectly accurate. It is that none of them is a claim. A claim is something a reader could disagree with. That the character returns home is not disagreeable. That the film shows the empty room before it shows him is a fact about the film-making that supports an interpretation and could be argued against. The summary version has no purchase for the AO4 grid to grip.

  3. 03Version two, the analytical version

    این صحنه با نمایی از اتاق خالی آغاز می‌شود و شخصیت تنها پس از آن وارد قاب می‌شود؛ خانه پیش از ساکنش دیده می‌شود. برش‌ها بلندند و صدایی جز صدای در نیست. همین ترتیب و همین سکوت است که تنهایی را می‌سازند، پیش از آنکه هیچ جمله‌ای درباره‌ی آن گفته شود. Note the cleft همین ... است که carrying the interpretation, the nominalisation ترتیب, and the fact that no character does anything as the subject of a sentence.

  4. 04The difference, stated as a rule you can apply

    Version two contains the same scene and roughly the same number of words, but its subjects are the film's decisions — the shot, the cuts, the sound, the order — rather than the character's actions. That is the whole rule and it can be applied mechanically while writing: look at the subject of each sentence, and if it is a character doing something, rewrite it so that the subject is something the film does. A single pass with that rule converts a mid-band paragraph into a top-band one without changing a single fact.

Result: این صحنه با نمایی از اتاق خالی آغاز می‌شود و شخصیت تنها پس از آن وارد قاب می‌شود؛ خانه پیش از ساکنش دیده می‌شود. برش‌ها بلندند و صدایی جز صدای در نیست. همین ترتیب و همین سکوت است که تنهایی را می‌سازند، پیش از آنکه هیچ جمله‌ای درباره‌ی آن گفته شود.

Exam focus

  • Organise the essay by means, not by chronology. Narration then becomes structurally impossible.
  • Orientation is one sentence. Anything longer is summary and should be cut.
  • Use nominalisation to make decisions the subject of your sentences.

Typical mistakes

  • Opening with a paragraph of plot. It is the commonest and most expensive error in this section.
  • Claiming a frequency you have not counted. Hedge or restrict the claim to named scenes.
  • Making characters the subject of every sentence. The essay is about the film, not about them.
  • Explaining the story to an examiner who knows it better than you do.

Active revision

یک بند صد کلمه‌ای درباره‌ی فیلم خود بنویسید که در آن هیچ فعل روایی به کار نرود؛ تنها از اسم‌های ساخته‌شده مانند «انتخاب»، «نبود»، «کوتاهی» و از مجهول استفاده کنید

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Persian (9PN0) specification (Pearson Edexcel)

§ 05

The Appendix 1 films, and a caveat about the list#

●●○StandardLPPearson Edexcel 9PN0 Appendix 1 (prescribed literary texts and films)LPPearson Edexcel 9PN0 Paper 1 Section B (reading)

Key points

Appendix 1 of this specification lists three films, all of them feature length, and the specification says so explicitly. They are the Asghar Farhadi film of 2011 that the appendix prints as جدایی سیمین از نادر; آفساید, directed by جعفر پناهی, dated 2006; and سوپراستار, directed by تهمینه میلانی, dated 2009. Two of the three are by directors who also appear in international distribution, and one of the three is by a woman director — a fact worth noting because it interacts with the Theme 3 research subject on women's participation in the arts, as the topic on that theme explains.
One point about the first of those titles is worth making carefully, because it is a fact about the specification rather than about the film. The appendix prints the two names in the order سیمین از نادر, whereas the film's own Persian title places them the other way round, as جدایی نادر از سیمین; in English distribution it is known as A Separation. Treat the appendix as the authority for which film may be answered on, and use the film's own title when you write about it. The general rule stands regardless: confirm the current Appendix 1 for your series against Pearson's own documents, because prescribed lists are revised between issues.
Choosing among three films is a decision worth making on grounds other than which you enjoyed. Ask which film you can watch repeatedly with a notebook; which one gives you scenes whose construction you can describe, rather than scenes whose story you remember; and which one you can find Persian-language writing about, since reading Persian criticism of your film is both preparation for this essay and preparation for Paper 1 Section B, where a review is one of the likely text types. And ask whether the film's subject overlaps with the research subject you are considering, because if it does, one of the two must change.
Finally, a note on what you should and should not claim about these works in an examination. Name them accurately, with director and date as the appendix gives them. Describe scenes you have watched. Do not reproduce a plot summary or a critical judgement you have read as though it were your own observation, and do not quote dialogue from memory — a misremembered line is worse than no line, and no mark requires one. Everything you write about a film should be something you could point to on a second viewing, which is a good test to apply to every sentence as you write it.
Worked example

Paper 1 Section B: reading a Persian film review, which prepares two papers at once

متن: «این فیلم بیش از آنکه درباره‌ی یک تصمیم باشد، درباره‌ی هزینه‌ی آن است. کارگردان بیشتر صحنه‌ها را در فضاهای بسته می‌گیرد و به‌ندرت بیرون را نشان می‌دهد؛ منتقدی نوشته است که این انتخاب فیلم را خفه می‌کند، اما به نظر من همین بسته بودن است که فشار را قابل لمس می‌کند.» پرسش الف: نویسنده و آن منتقد دیگر بر سر چه چیزی اختلاف دارند؟ پرسش ب: نویسنده موضع خود را چگونه نشان می‌دهد؟

  1. 01(a) Identify the shared observation before the disagreement

    Both agree on the fact: the film is shot mostly in enclosed spaces. They disagree about its effect — خفه می‌کند, suffocates, against قابل لمس می‌کند, makes tangible. So write: هر دو می‌پذیرند که فیلم بیشتر در فضاهای بسته گرفته شده است؛ اختلاف بر سر اثر این انتخاب است، نه بر سر خودِ آن. Locating the agreement first is the same move that Paper 3 Section B rewards, and it works identically here.

  2. 02(b) Find the three markers of the writer's own position

    First, به نظر من, which marks the judgement explicitly as the writer's own. Second, the cleft همین بسته بودن است که, which puts the disputed element in focus and asserts a positive reading of it. Third, the concessive اما, which frames the critic's view as the position being answered rather than the position being reported. Three markers, and the answer should name all three.

  3. 03Write the answer naming the devices, not merely the opinion

    نویسنده موضع خود را با سه نشانه آشکار می‌کند: عبارت «به نظر من»، ساختار «همین ... است که» که عنصر مورد اختلاف را برجسته می‌کند، و حرف ربط «اما» که دیدگاه منتقد را به موضع مقابل تبدیل می‌کند. Naming the constructions rather than paraphrasing the opinion is what a stance question is actually asking for, and it is where this kind of question separates candidates.

  4. 04Notice why this text is double preparation

    Everything in this short review is also usable in Paper 2 Section C: the observation about enclosed spaces is a claim about film-making, not about story; the phrase فضاهای بسته is exactly the vocabulary you need; and the review models the move of stating a decision and then arguing about its effect. Reading Persian criticism of your prescribed film prepares Section B of Paper 1 and Section C of Paper 2 at the same time, which makes it the highest-return reading you can do in this course.

Result: الف: هر دو می‌پذیرند که فیلم بیشتر در فضاهای بسته گرفته شده است؛ اختلاف بر سر اثر این انتخاب است، نه بر سر خودِ آن. ب: نویسنده موضع خود را با سه نشانه آشکار می‌کند: عبارت «به نظر من»، ساختار «همین ... است که» که عنصر مورد اختلاف را برجسته می‌کند، و حرف ربط «اما» که دیدگاه منتقد را به موضع مقابل تبدیل می‌کند.

Exam focus

  • Confirm the current Appendix 1 for your series. Prescribed lists are revised.
  • Choose the film you can watch repeatedly and describe structurally, not the one you liked best.
  • Check your film against your research subject before committing to either.

Typical mistakes

  • Assuming a list from a revision guide is current. The specification is the authority.
  • Quoting dialogue from memory. A misremembered line is worse than none and no mark requires one.
  • Reproducing a critic's reading as your own observation. It is not your evidence and it often shows.
  • Choosing a film whose subject collides with your research subject. One of the two will have to change.

Active revision

فهرست کنونی پیوست یک را از سند رسمی پیرسون بررسی کنید و سه فیلم را با نام کارگردان و سال بنویسید؛ سپس برای فیلمی که برگزیده‌اید سه نقد فارسی پیدا کنید و از هر کدام یک ادعای مشخص یادداشت کنید

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Persian (9PN0) specification (Pearson Edexcel)

Contents

Section -- / 05

    • 01What Section C asks, and who is allowed to answer it○
    • 02The Persian vocabulary of film, and what each word lets you claim◐
    • 03Evidence as the located scene●
    • 04Writing about a film without summarising it●
    • 05The Appendix 1 films, and a caveat about the list◐

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From notes into training

Paper 2 Section C: the film (پاسخ به فیلم)

Reinforce this topic with matching tasks from the question bank.

~31
min
4
Competencies
Practise

References & sources

Sources

Pearson Edexcel

  • Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Persian (9PN0) specification

Department for Education

  • GCE AS and A level subject content for modern foreign languages

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Paper 2 Section B: the literary text (پاسخ به آثار ادبی)

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Paper 1 Section C: the research question (بخش ج: پرسش پژوهشی)

EuraStudy·Notes T·11·MMXXVI

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