Film Studies

This module introduces the idea of ‘classical Hollywood’ cinema and its role in the development of our understanding of film. Analysing Hollywood as an organising structure for film production, you will identify the production methods employed by the Hollywood studios, the production techniques and practices widely termed as the ‘classical Hollywood style’, and the economic rationale behind the establishment of Hollywood.

During the course of this module, you will look at the idea of film form and how it contributes to the meaning of a film. Considering various components such as narrative, cinematography, editing and sound, this module aims to answer the basic question of: What is a Film?

By covering a number of influential moments in the development of cinema, this module will enable you to identify and contextualise a range of film movements including early cinema and forms of exhibition, Soviet cinema, German Expressionist cinema, Surrealist cinema, documentary cinema, and others. You will also consider how such film movements may prefigure important technical and contextual strands of cinema today.

Building on from your learning in ‘Film Histories, Film Movements I’, this module will focus on a number of influential moments in the development of cinema from the second World War to the present. This will include a range of film movements that may include Italian neo-realism, the French ‘new wave’, Eastern European film movements, US Underground cinema, Antipodean cinema.

You will evaluate a range of critical approaches to film in relation to the social and cultural developments that informed and influenced them. Throughout the module, you will focus on key approaches such as film as art, film as mass culture, authorship, genre and ideology.

Focusing mainly on ‘Screen’ theory, feminism, race and film audiences, this module will allow you to continue your learning from ‘Critical Approaches to Film I’ and study a number of other critical approaches to film.

You will learn to distinguish between the distribution and exhibition sectors of the UK film industry, and to understand their vital roles. Studying the function of distribution companies within the film industry, and the processes of exhibition, a range of professional roles within these sectors will emerge, helping you to understand the work involved and to identify present challenges faced by the industries.

You will learn to write in a concise and entertaining manner in this module, acquiring the writing and editing skills necessary to undertake film reviews, features and interviews. Whilst the module will focus on film-related matters, the skills learned will be highly transferable into other journalistic realms.

Building upon several ideas covered in Year One, you will begin to take a more in depth look at the range of cinema produced across Asia. In addition to covering a variety of cinematic traditions from countries including India, China, Korea and Japan, you will also articulate the differences in aesthetic forms and strategies and critically assess the place of Asian cinemas in the increasingly global film industry.

Focusing on comedy films produced within British cinema, this module will enable you to identify different characteristics associated with various styles of British film comedy. You will also analyse formal strategies employed by comedy filmmakers and various performance techniques utilised by a range of comedic performers within British cinema.

The landscape of American film-making has been affected by a range of economic, social, and cultural changes in recent years. This module will consider these tumultuous changes and address conflicting definitions of independence within a global marketplace. Moreover, the module will also consider the importance of marketing strategies within contemporary film-making.

Introducing students to a number of key directors, onscreen talent, genres, cycles, and movements associated with British cinema, this module will take students on a cultural and historical journey through the cinematic output and production contexts of our very own domestic film industry. Through close textual analysis and an application of a range of critical approaches to film and British cinema students taking the module should also expect to discuss and examine the role of British cinema in articulating and (re)presenting British national identities and sense of ‘nationhood’.

This final module is designed to provide guidance and support throughout your dissertation research. The early part of this module will be delivered in the form of directed staff presentations followed by student discussions. Later, you will be allocated a dissertation supervisor who will engage in one on one supervisory sessions in the run-up to student presentations. The latter part of the module will be based around your completion of a written dissertation directed by discussions of your approach with your supervisor.

You will study important examples of international comic strips, series, and ‘graphic novels’. At a time of proliferating texts inspired by material introduced in comics, a section of the module will look at film and TV adaptations, evaluating the importance of comic-derived material to the modern media landscape. The unique ways in which comics can be said to create meanings will be highlighted, and you will experience creating a narrative with expert guidance.

Themes studied may include the following: Comics and Childhood; The Graphic Novel Era: Comics ‘come of age’; Alan Moore; Comics, Ideology and Form: Case Study of 1970s British Comics; Fandom; Comics and Other Media.

This will let students explore key (transitional) representations of men and masculinity throughout Hollywood history. Beginning with an examination of the pre-code ‘mob men’, moving to representations of men (and dangerous women) in film noir and 1980s muscular hero action pics, among other key masculine characterisations, the module will analyse how the representation of Hollywood’s leading men has always been an altering document, drawn and redrawn to meet the demands of the day. Critical skills concerning gender, identity, and representation theories will come to bear on one of the burgeoning, most hotly-debated areas of the film discipline.

The module will focus on creating programmes for independent cinemas and film festivals. The understanding students will need of the various industrial contexts involved will be covered in areas such as the following: Film Festivals with a case study of The Edinburgh International Film Festival; Programming festival retrospectives with a case study in film at the Viva Spanish and Latin American Festival; Independent Cinemas in the UK and understanding their market with a case study in curating special programmes and seasons for an independent cinema; Initiating Cultural Interventions and working with cinemas with a case study of Chinese Film Forum UK.

Different and radical forms of production and distribution, particularly in the age of the internet, have questioned the existence of a universal, stable film 'mainstream'. However, institutions such as financial backers, major awards and festivals have received feedback that their measures for success are failing to recognise and include women, people of colour, ethnic communities, and queer/trans groups. The same limitations are detectable in the mainstream cinema 'canon'. Consequently, this module asks what is the canon of cinema, what supports it, and how should we evaluate its effects and what is beyond it? 

In this module, we ask ‘What is Film Theory? How did it evolve and which questions does it address?’. We shall critically engage with a number of theory-based approaches to film associated with a number of intellectual positions (for example, semiotic, cognitive, narrative, and political theories), as well as examining the historical links between theory and the development of film studies as a subject within the academy.