A Talented Bunch: Media & Film at Alleyn's

This year we have celebrated 25 years of Media and Film Studies at Alleyn’s School with a range of events including the Always Alleyn's Film, TV & Media Networking event, Ideas@Alleyn's talks by actor Julian Glover (Roper's 1952) and Oscar-winning executive producer Reno Antoniades (Tulley's 1984), and a pupil presentation from movie vehicle designer Nico Ferrari (Spurgeon's 2005).

Head of Film Studies Mark Grogan looks back over the arrival and development of these subjects at Alleyn's and looks forward to why ‘media literacy’ remains a vital element of any truly holistic education. 

In an era where the influence of the analogue and electronic media has declined, and the proliferation of digital media has transformed the landscape of entertainment and information consumption, ‘media literacy’ remains a crucial skill for students to learn as we travel deeper into the 21st century. 

Media Studies was first examined at Alleyn's in 1999 having been launched in a moment of madness or inspiration (you decide) by the then Head of English, Paul Kingman. Introduced alongside Business Studies, Politics, and Psychology, Media Studies was included in this expansion of the 16+ curriculum because of the interest of our students and their enlightened parents, many of whom were associated with the creative industries. 

With the arrival of Advanced Subsidiary (AS) levels as part of Curriculum 2000, newly promoted Head of English Lindsay Gabbitas, and the school’s first Head of Media, Antonia Geldeard, made the mistake of employing me in September 2001 to help teach this burgeoning subject. AS Media Studies was upgraded to a full A level course in 2007 and, due to Mr. Gove’s reforms, we switched to A level Film Studies in 2017. 

Lindsay remembers the first cohort of students as being a talented bunch, and it's been downhill ever since. The class included Philip Abraham (Tulley's 2000), who later became a filmmaker, and the actor, director, presenter and now teacher Donal Coonan (Tulley's 2000), who went on to study PPE at Oxford, and who has single-handedly disproved to me the notion of PPE as a 'Mickey Mouse’ subject by being one of its few graduates to do something useful with their lives. Over 25 years, alumni of Media and Film have also successfully flocked to the red brick and RAAC universities of the UK, and abroad, making their mark in the creative industries too. 

There is an ignoble history of dismissing Media Studies as ‘soft’ in the national press, and this opinion was sometimes repeated in the early days by less progressive teaching colleagues. Importantly all those staff who shared this opinion with us ‘sleep with the fishes’ now (and anyone who can tell me which film that phrase relates to wins the Film Studies prize). 

Initially hidden in the upper reaches of E Block, Media Studies flourished in 221, a room where the first significant assessment of a student’s ability was if they could find it. This didn’t change following our move into the EAB in 2008 where we added the additional test of being able to remember the 5-digit combination code for the door, put there not to keep intruders out, but students in. 

We have been here, combining our parvenu status with a location close to the fatty snacks of EA Bean (AKA Costa) and enjoying the ability to overhear all the gossip shared by unsuspecting students and staff on the sundeck, ever since. 

So, what does Film Studies offer the students of today? 

For scholars like David Buckingham, ‘media literacy’ is essential to enable young people to navigate and evaluate the array of media content they encounter daily. A fully rounded education empowers young people to understand how the digital media works and equips them with the skills to participate actively and responsibly in the digital world. Understanding the media's role in shaping public perception and societal values is fundamental to fostering informed, engaged citizens. 

Film holds a central place in this drive towards ‘media literacy’ due to its foundational ability to convey complex narratives and emotions through immersive vision and sound. Understanding the language of film — the use of cinematography, lighting or editing - is crucial for students to be able to critically analyze the world around them.  

But the best film education goes beyond textual analysis, engaging young people in the creation of films. This hands-on approach not only enhances critical thinking but cultivates creativity and technical skills that are increasingly valuable in the age of digital production. Having integrated film into the 16+ curriculum for 25 years, we have helped prepare a generation of students to not only navigate our media-saturated world but contribute to it. 

And as alumni of Alleyn’s, you will recognize the privilege of an elite academic institution, however, one that fails to prepare its students for the complexities of modern life through a rigorous education in media literacy, cannot be considered truly comprehensive. 

So, beyond being able to explain why Un Chien Andalou isn’t really about dogs, here are three of the wider digital challenges that we should prepare our students for: 

Spotting misinformation: Young people need to be able to discern credible sources from false information, as misinformation can spread rapidly through social media platforms. The increasing sophistication of deepfake technology will create ever more convincing false images, complicating the ability to trust what they see and hear online. 

Safeguarding: With increasing amounts of personal data shared online, students must understand the significance of cybersecurity, as well as how to avoid safeguarding issues around cyberbullying, online grooming, and exposure to inappropriate content. 

The Ethics of AI: Understanding the ethical implications of using digital AI resources in academic work, and awareness of how biases in algorithms and AI can create echo chambers and limit their online experiences, are increasingly essential. 

Much has changed since the arrival of our first single Casablanca Avio digital video editing system and Panasonic RX13 VHS-C video camera in 1999. The sleek Macs running Adobe Premiere and Final Cut Pro, and the several Canon DSLRs & Go Pros all attest to the rise of digital technology. Yet, despite the ascendancy of all this binary encoding, we must still ensure our students don’t always decode the world in black and white.