Courses / Module

Given the centrality of moving image media to contemporary global culture, not only as entertainment but also as forms of communication and self-expression, Film and Screen Studies can justifiably be considered a liberal arts subject in the 21st century. The goals of this elective stream are to introduce students in the first semester to a rigorous, disciplinary approach to film and screen media, focusing on the technical vocabulary for understanding and analyzing the visual and aural attributes of moving image media, with some coverage of its cultural history and social and economic significance. The second semester builds on this foundation, allowing students to explore film and screen culture in a disciplinary or interdisciplinary context, in relation to national cultures, to genre, to other arts, including music, and to literary source material. In addition, there are some third year modules that might offer students further elective options for the study of film and culture, in Geography (Cinema and the City) and German.

Format:
The Introduction to Film Studies module establishes an intellectual foundation in the history and aesthetics of cinema, covering the basic technical skills for the analysis of narrative, visual form, and sound elements. In the second semester, students choose a module that offers a particular context for cinema and screen media and allows students to engage with aesthetic, historical and cultural aspects of film and visual culture producing writing and analysis across a diversity of written assessments.

Outline of module
Introduction to Film Studies
This class provides an introduction to film as an aesthetic, economic, and cultural phenomenon. Mastering the vocabulary associated with narrative, editing, cinematography, mise-en-scene, and sound, which are the fundamental tools required for the close analysis of film texts, lays the groundwork for the interpretive analysis of film texts. We will
further consider key historical, economic and ideological contexts that inform the production and consumption of films and film genres. Topics that link to second semester modules will be incorporated.