EAS1034 - Film Studies: An Introduction
2022/3 Module description
| Staff | Dr Lisa Smithstead - Convenor |
|---|---|
| Credit Value | 15 |
| ECTS Value | 7.5 |
| NQF Level | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Co-requisites | None |
| Duration of Module | Term 2: 11 weeks; |
Module description
This module aims to introduce you to the study of film, allowing you to analyse diverse modes of film form and style. It shows you cinema through a range of critical lenses or frames, introducing you to the key critical and theoretical concepts in film studies.
Module aims
- To introduce you to the study of film, allowing you to analyse diverse modes of film form and style. It shows you cinema through a range of critical lenses or frames, introducing you to the key critical and theoretical concepts in film studies. The module offers students practice in developing and using a vocabulary to analyse film elements such as editing, framing, staging, camera movement, composition and sound; storytelling and point of view; acting and performance. It then moves on to cover key theoretical
ILO: Module-specific skills
- 1. Demonstrate a critical appreciation of some of the dominant concepts, methods and debates informing the study of film and the cinema
- 2. Demonstrate an ability to analyse the form and content of particular films
- 3. Demonstrate an awareness of the variety of ways in which films can be compared and contrasted with one another
- 4. Demonstrate an understanding of how different traditions of filmmaking can differ from those of Hollywood
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
- 5. Demonstrate a basic ability to analyse film of different periods and to relate its concerns and its modes of expression to its historical context
- 6. Demonstrate fundamental skills in the close formal, thematic, generic, and authorial analysis of different kinds of films
- 7. Demonstrate fundamental skills in the research and evaluation of relevant critical and historical materials for the study of film
- 8. Demonstrate a basic ability to interrelate texts and discourses specific to their own discipline with issues in the wider context of cultural and intellectual history
- 9. Demonstrate a basic ability to understand and analyse relevant theoretical ideas, and to apply these ideas to films
ILO: Personal and key skills
- 10. Through seminar work, demonstrate basic communication skills, and an ability to work both individually and in groups
- 11. Through writing assessments, demonstrate appropriate research and bibliographic skills, a basic capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument, and a capacity to write clear and correct prose
- 12. Through research for seminars and essays, demonstrate basic proficiency in information retrieval and analysis
Syllabus plan
Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:
BLOCK 1: The Film Studies Toolkit
- Cinematography and mise-en-scene
- Approaches to Editing
- Narrative and Narration
- Contemporary Narrative Styles
- Film Sound
- Group Presentations
BLOCK 2: Debates and Approaches in Film Theory
- Transnational cinemas
- Spectatorship and the Gaze
- Authorship
- Genre
- Star Theory
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 55 | 95 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 11 | 11 x 1 hour lectures |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 11 | 11 x 1 hour seminars |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 33 | 11 x 3 hour film viewings |
| Guided independent study | 20 | Study group meetings and preparation |
| Guided independent study | 42 | Module preparation (individual) |
| Guided independent study | 33 | Reading, research and essay preparation |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 word sequence analysis | 500 words | 1-9, 11-12 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for office hours follow-up |
| Small group critical analysis | 15 minutes | 1-9 | Instant feedback from tutor, supplemented by feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 90 | 1500 words | 1-9, 11-12 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for office hours follow-up. |
| Module participation | 10 | Continuous | 1-10, 12 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for office hours follow-up |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 1500 word essay | 1-9, 11-12 | Referral/Deferral period |
| Module participation | Repeat study or Mitigation | 1-10, 12 | Referral/Deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Indicative Viewing:
- Gravity (Alfonso Cauron, 2013).
- Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, USSR, 1925)
- Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, UK, 1960)
- Hugo (Martin Scorsese, US, 2011)
- It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, US, 1946)
- Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959).
- Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, US, 1954)
- Maleficent (Robert Stromberg, US, 2014)
- Babel (Alejandro González Iñárritu, US & Mexico, 2006)
- Charade (Stanley Donen, USA, 1963)
Indicative Key Reading:
- David Bordwell, The McGraw-Hill Film Viewer's Guide.
- David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art, chapters entitled 'The Shot: Mise en Scene', 'The Shot: Cinematographic Properties' and 'The Relation of Shot to Shot: Editing'.
- Vance Kepley Jr. 'Spatial Articulation in the Classical Cinema.' Wide Angle 5:3 (1983), pp.50-8.
Indicative Secondary Reading:
- Dan North, 'The 180-degree Rule' (http://drnorth.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/the-180-degree-rule/)
- David Bordwell & Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction (various editions).
- David Bordwell, The McGraw-Hill Film Viewer's Guide (McGraw Hill, 2001).
- Barry Keith Grant (ed.) Auteurs and Authorship (Blackwell, 2008).
- John Hill & Pamela Church Gibson, The Oxford Guide to Film Studies (Oxford UP, 1998).
- James Monaco, How to Read a Film (OUP USA, 2000).
- Steve Neale, Genre and Hollywood (Routledge, 2000).
- Robert Stam, Film Theory: An Introduction (Blackwell, 2000).
Module has an active ELE page?
Yes
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
- ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11517
- Spectacular Attractions blog – http://drnorth.wordpress.com/
- Yale Film Studies – http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/
- David Bordwell – http://www.davidbordwell.net/
- The Bioscope – http://bioscopic.wordpress.com/
Indicative learning resources - Other resources
- The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum collections
Available as distance learning?
No
Origin date
2011
Last revision date
08/07/2020
Key words search
Film, English
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