Approaches to Cinema

Course Content:

Adopting a broadly chronological approach, this module will concentrate on developing
an understanding of the formal and technical aspects of the medium through an analysis
of the emergence of film style, as well as introduce students to the issues and debates
that have shaped Film Studies as an academic discipline.
The intention is to provide students with a clear and comprehensive grounding in some
key concepts that have been developed for the critical understanding of cinema and film.
The course will explore such key formal elements as camerawork, editing, mise-en-scene
and narrative as well as concepts such as genre, stardom, national cinema, context and
audiences in relation to commercial and other film cultures.

Autumn Semester topics:
? The Shot
? Camera Movement
? Classical editing
? Mise-en-scène
? Audiences
? Stars
? The Studio System
? Sound
? Narrative
? Genres

Spring Semester topics:
? German Expressionism
? Soviet Montage
? Surrealism
? National cinema: Japan Kurosawa
? French Poetic Realism
? Italian Neorealism
? Auteurs/Art Cinema
? The French New Wave
? New German Cinema
? Cult cinema, taste, subversion
? European & World cinema: Globalisation

Teaching: Weekly 2 hour film screenings, one hour lectures and 2 hour seminars

Assessment:
STUDY OPTION 1:
1. Portfolio: may include a presentation, a textual analysis and an essay.
STUDY OPTION 2 OR STUDY OPTION 3: 1,500 word essay.

Study Option 1 = Whole Year
Study Option 2 = Autumn
Study Option 3 = Spring/summer