Experimental Cinemas

Assessment: essay (1500 words) [40%], essay (2500 words) OR programming project (2500 words) (comprising 2000-word programme and 500-word rationale) OR experimental film (3-5 min.) accompanied by critical reflection (800 words) [60%] [all elements of assessment must be attempted; an overall pass is sufficient, provided that any failed components achieve marks within the condonable fail range (30-39%)]
This module offers a detailed and wide-ranging exploration of the place of experimental cinemas within film history and the contemporary field of moving-image media. Drawing on examples from a range of historical and national contexts, it combines study and analysis of the creative, formal and stylistic dimensions of experimental cinema with a focus upon the cultural processes and institutions that sustain experimental cinemas and establish for them tactical spaces within a broader continuum of moving image production. As well as critically examining the well-documented historical lineages of avant-garde cinema, the module will consider what, and how, the notion of ?experiment? might mean in relation to documentary, fiction feature film production, artists? moving image work and contemporary digital multimedia. Building upon the broad-based and expansive introduction to different film forms covered in the module Forms of Cinema, Experimental Cinemas encourages in students an open-minded, historically-informed approach to discovering and comprehending a wide range of experimental practices in cinema.