Film Studies

Course summary

Unit 1: Film History Students will study film form in US cinema from the Silent Era to 1990 and European cinema history. For the US cinema section, students will be required to study three set films (one from the Silent Era, one from 1930-1960 and one from 1961-1990). For the European cinema history section, students will be required to study two set films from two major European film movements or stylistic development (e.g. German expressionism, French new wave etc.) Unit 2: Critical Approaches to Film This unit includes three sub-topics – contemporary British and US film, documentary and ideology. For the contemporary British and US film topic, students will be required to study and compare two contemporary set films (one British, one American). For the documentary topic, students will study one set film. And finally, for the ideology topic, students will study three set films with a common theme – one will be a US independent film, one will be an English language but non-US film and the other will be a foreign language film (non-European). Unit 3: Making a Short Film Students will study a selection of short films (fictional and experimental) in preparation for the development of their own short film (fictional or experimental).