FIL-40001 - Module Specification
School of Humanities
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2023/24

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2023/24

The module aims to introduce students to and further develop their knowledge of historical and contemporary Film Theory. Film Studies is a broad and challenging discipline involving the rigorous and critical study of films from around the world. It is an exciting and relatively new academic discipline that allows students to develop skills in critical argument, and involves imaginative engagement with films from past and present and from a variety of different global cultures. Recognizing that film has become one of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries&© most preeminent and influential forms of both art and mass entertainment, the module will allow students to investigate the possibilities and limitations of film language and its influence on how we understand our own (and others&©) history, as well as our various forms of identity (individual, national, sexual, racial). Thus, the module will also help develop an understanding of how films function within the cultures of which they are part, as well as the ways in which the formal characteristics of film have developed over time and across diverse cultures. Topics covered will include authorship in film, and theories of the auteur; genre theory in its historical development and its modern configurations; issues of national cinemas, aesthetics and identities; ideologies about gender and race, and how these impact on the ways identity is generated in film. The module will address these questions in terms of theoretical readings; at the same time it will investigate how these issues are played out in practice, by examining specific films and the techniques used within them to generate meaning.

To provide the knowledge and skills necessary for the advanced critical analysis of theories related to contemporary film theory and practice.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Engage critically with theories related to historical and contemporary film: 1
Communicate in written form a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness of current issues in the academic study of film aesthetics: 1
Identify and explain issues of form and style with respect to a variety of film genres: 1
Research independently areas related to historical and contemporary film theory: 1
Use high levels of presentation, referencing and bibliographical skills commensurate with written work at the postgraduate level: 1
Reflect and critically assess the cultural politics of film production in a global context: 1

Study hours

10 hours of individual supervision with project supervisor
140 hours reading and viewing of primary and secondary texts, including the viewing of relevant films/series.
150 hours preparation and delivery of final essay.

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment