In Film Studies, students are expected to critically analyse film form, engage in cultural debates and apply theoretical thinking to a set of challenging texts. It is a particularly engaging and academically rigorous course and students who study it characteristically bring a high level of enthusiasm for this innovative and culturally significant art from. During the course students will encounter a rich variety of film in all forms including mainstream, short, documentary and experimental alongside mainstream American, contemporary British, American independent and global films. A study of film will also allow students to consider ideological viewpoints offered through the moving image and consider key historical events on a global scale which, in turn, influence representations and thematic concerns.
How will the course be structured?
Paper 1: Varieties of film and filmmaking
- Section A: Hollywood 1930-1990 Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942) and Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967)
- Section B: American film since 2005 La La Land (Chazelle, 2016) and Frances Ha! (Baumbach, 2012)
- Section C: British film since 1995 Trainspotting (Boyle, 1996) and This is England (Meadows, 2006)
Paper 2: Global filmmaking perspectives
- Section A: Global film Pan's Labyrinth (Del Toro, Spain, 2006) and City of God (Mereilles, Brazil, 2002)
- Section B: Documentary film Amy (Kapadia, UK, 2015)
- Section C: Film movements
One of the following:
Keaton shorts - One Week (1920), The Scarecrow (1920), The 'High Sign' (1921) and Cops (1922)
Man With a Movie Camera (Vertov, USSR, 1929) and A Propos de Nice (Vigo, 1930)
Strike (Eisenstein, USSR, 1924)
Sunrise (Murnau, US, 1927)
Spies (Lang, Germany, 1928) - Section D: Film Movements Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, US, 1994)
Coursework: Production and Evaluation
Production (40 marks)
- Option 1: Film and edit a short film (4-5 minutes)
- Option 2: Write a screenplay for a short film (1600-1800 words)
Evaluation (20 marks)
Written evaluation of product (1600-1800 words)