The course will interrogate advanced topics in Film Studies, drawn from a variety of geographical areas, historical periods, analytical approaches and theoretical frameworks. Study will contrast contemporary paradigms, practices and methods at the cutting edge of the field with more foundational critical explorations of the film medium.

10 weeks, 3 hours lectures/seminars (30 teaching hours in total)

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Short essay - 40%, maximum 2,000 words, to be submitted halfway through the course.

Long essay - 60%, maximum 3,000 words, to be submitted at the end of the semester.

The course aims to:

■ Familiarise students with advanced approaches to selected key movements in the development of film theory (e.g. semiotics, authorship, genre, psychoanalysis, reception/audience studies, etc.) and their significance in the constitution of Film Studies

■ Provide opportunities for exploring the historical development and contexts of film as a medium (e.g. technological, geographical, cultural, social and industrial developments)

■ Cultivate the critical skills needed to analyse and critique film texts (e.g. close reading, critical analysis and an appreciation of film form)

■ Analyse the interrelatedness of theoretical, historical and critical approaches to Film Studies

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Analyse selected key contributions to the development of film theory, with reference to relevant film texts

■ Outline key historical developments of film as a medium, supported by relevant evidential sources

■ Apply appropriate critical skills and research methodologies in critiquing and analysing film texts

■ Conduct guided research in Film Studies and communicate their findings orally and in writing within appropriate academic forms

■ Construct coherent, lucid and accurate written and verbal responses to key questions within the field of Film Studies

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.