Department of Film Studies

First year modules

Modules on offer in 2011-2012: Semester2

FM1002: Film History and Historiography

Module Convener: Dr Tom Rice

Lectures: Mondays and Thursdays, 3-4pm in School III.

Screenings: Tuesdays, 7-10pm in Buchanan Lecture Theatre.

Seminars: Weekly (various times, in the Film Studies Boardroom, 99 North Street; or in Seminar Rooms TBD in the Arts Building.

Key Text: David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film History: An Introduction, 3rd Edition (New York: McGraw Hill, 2010)

The book is available from Blackwell bookshop in the Students' Union on St Mary's Place, from Amazon.co.uk, and possibly from Barnardo's Books on Bell Street.

Need help finding your way around? A map might be handy. 

FM1001 | FM1002

20 credits

In this introductory module, we examine key concepts and approaches that are relevant to the study of film. The module aims primarily at the development of skills in film analysis by looking at aspects of film form such as mise-en-scene, editing, cinematography and sound. Film Studies concepts such as genre, auteur, narrative, stardom, acting and the film industry will also be considered. This module introduces students to notions of popular and art cinemas as well as documentary through a range of important cinematic texts.

20 credits

This module introduces key movements and moments in film history such as early cinema; German Expressionism; Soviet montage; Surrealism; Classical Hollywood; Italian Neorealism; or classical Japanese cinema. Consideration will be given to the development of international film industries and movements. We will also examine the process of writing and researching film history and the status of film as an historical artefact. We will look at the kinds of cultural, social and/or political knowledges that can we extract from films of the past, and the ways in which the choices we make in the construction of film histories affect the way in which the cinematic past is understood.