FILM AND VISUAL CULTURE

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr A Marcus

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

This is a compulsory course for entry into the Honours Film and Visual Culture programme.

Overview

This course considers the theme of 'what is cinema', and what distinguishes it as an art form and source of spectacle. We explore the cinematic experience and the role of spectatorship in the process of engagement. Drawing upon an eclectic mix of case studies from mainstream and experimental cinema from different film genres and periods in American, European and world cinema, the course will highlight the vernacular development of what made cinema the dominant art form of the 20th century. Through the prism of other art forms such as photography, painting, theatre, music, architecture, television and new media, we will identify the intertextual relationships film has with other areas, as a means of exploring the poetics of cinema.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures, 1 one-hour tutorial per week and 1 three-hour screening.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment: Eight short WebCT submissions (40%); 1 essay 1,500-2,000 words (40%) and tutorial assessment (20%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr K Ravetto-Biagioli

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above who have passed FS 1503, or by permission of the Head of School.

Notes

This is a compulsory course for entry into the Honours Film and Visual Culture programme.

Overview

This survey course is designed to give a general over view of the major developments in filmmaking. This course will focus on how silent and avant-garde cinema influenced the aesthetics and politics of what we consider to be classic cinema. It covers the period from the fin-de-siècle up to the new filmic styles that emerge in the immediate aftermath of WWII, and begins by placing cinema in the realm of the visual and spatial arts. We will treat film as a product of the industrial age, as an element of urban culture, and as a means of imaginary transportation.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures, 1 one-hour tutorial per week, 2 three-hour screenings per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%). In-course assessment: one 1,500-2,000 word essay (40%) and tutorial assessment (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr K Ravetto-Biagioli

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above who have passed FS 1503 or by permission of the Head of School.

Notes

This is a compulsory course for entry into the Honours Film and Visual Culture programme.

Overview

This course examines how cinema has responded to social, political and aesthetic crises in the second half of the twentieth century. It explores how New Wave film-making in Europe responded to the crisis in cinema whereby the dominant classical model was no longer considered viable, examining the role of the author, of formal experimentation and of social critique. It will further tackles the questions of national and third cinema, before going on to look at how contemporary cinema addresses fragmentation, social division, and change.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures, 1 one-hour tutorial and 2 three-hour screenings per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%). In-course assessment: one 1,500-2,000 word essay (40%) and tutorial assessment (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr S Ward

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above. Admission subject to approval by the Head of School.

Overview

The course will focus on the representation of key 'cinematic cities' such as New York, Los Angeles, Paris and Berlin, examining the relationship between the cinema and the urban environment and focusing on specific thematic issues. These include: the city and cinematic visions of utopia/dystopia; the city and the figure of the detective/flâneur/flâneuse; the city as site of cultural encounter and social conflict; the city as a site of globalisation; the city and consumption; the city and the development/reworking of cinematic tradition.

Structure

1 two-hour lecture and 1 one-hour seminar per week plus 2 three-hour film screenings per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (50%) and in-course assessment: one 2,000-2,500 word essay (40%) and seminar work (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr S Ward

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above or by permission of the Head of School.

Co-requisites

Passes in Film Studies courses at level 1 and 2 or equivalent.

Notes

This course will not be available in session 2008/09.

Overview

This course traces the development of the road movie genre over the course of the twentieth century, focusing principally on adaptations of the genre since the 1960s. It will consider the limits and possibilities of genre as a category of analysis, as well as addressing a series of key topics including: the relationship between cinema and the automobile; the road trip and the American imagination; non-US versions of the genre; the role played by gender in the genre; the function that urban and rural spaces have in shaping the journeys in these films; the political dimensions of the road movie.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week plus 2 three-hour film screenings per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (50%) and in-course assessment: one 2,000-2,500 word essay (40%), and seminar work (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr N Lubecker

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above. Admission subject to approval by the Head of School.

Co-requisites

Passes in Film Studies courses at Level 1 and 2 or equivalent.

Notes

This course will not be available in session 2008/09.

Overview

The course focuses on a number of contemporary films that depict uncomfortable situations and refuse to provide the viewer with a sense of release (an ultimate experience of catharsis). The films discussed often deliver ethical or political messages and they do so by aiming for the body of the viewer: we feel them in our stomach. Thereby these films distinguish themselves from the Brecht-inspired political films of the late 60s and early 70s.

The course will situate the feel-bad film historically and in relation to other genres. Questions discussed include: What is the ethical and/or political ambition of the feel-bad film? How can we describe the "contract" between director and spectator? What role does the ending play in these films?

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week, 2 three-hour film screenings per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (50%) and in-course assessment: one 2,000-2,500 word essay (40%), and seminar work (10%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr N Lubecker

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above or by permission of the Head of School.

Co-requisites

Passes in film studies courses at level 1 and 2, or equivalent.

Overview

Catharsis is a central notion in drama and film studies. Originally a medical concept meaning 'purification' or 'cleansing', in drama theory it has been associated with the idea that tragic plays would allow spectators a release from intense feelings of pity and fear.

According to a film studies' cliché the classic Hollywood film is cathartic: it calls for the emotional investment of the spectator and ultimately delivers a strong experience of release. The European art film, on the other hand, keeps viewers at emotional distance, refuses closure and thereby encourages a more intellectual and critical engagement with the film. After a discussion of the historical legitimacy of this cliché, the course will examine the status of catharsis in a series of films by contemporary directors like Bruno Dumont, Lars von Trier, Michael Haneke, Carlos Reygadas, Catherine Breillat and others.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week. Plus screenings (3 hours per week).

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment: one essay 2,000-2,500 words (40%); seminar assessment (10%); 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Marcus

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above. Admission subject to approval by the Head of School.

Co-requisites

Passes in Film Studies courses at level 1 and 2, or equivalent.

Notes

This course will not be available in session 2008/09.

Overview

This course will examine and analyse key technical developments, narrative strategies, and salient methodologies in a selection of documentary films and docu-dramas from 1895 to the present day. The case studies discussed will be primarily French, British and American films made for the cinema and television. Issues of representation and realism will be analysed. When considering the narrative topics of the case studies, students will analyse the social, cultural, and political issues the films raise. The course will encourage students to engage with appropriate theoretical, methodological and textual analyses towards an understanding of the popularity and complexitites of documentary film and the docu-drama genre.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week plus 2 three-hour film screening per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (50%) and in-course assessment: one 2,000-2,500 word essay (40%), and seminar work (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Marcus

Pre-requisites

Available only to film studies and film and visual culture students in Programme Year 3 or above or b permission of the Head of School.

Overview

This course will allow students to engage in documentary production exercises, putting into practice methodologies they have studied through a series of screenings, workshops and seminar discussions. Students will research a topic, film it on digital video and complete the project through post-production.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week plus 1 three-hour film screening per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1st project assessment (20%), 2nd project assessment (30%), reflective logbook (40%), seminar work (10%).

Resit: One 5,000 word essay (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr K Ravetto-Biagioli

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above or by approval of the Head of School.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2008/09.

Overview

This course traces the history of the image of the femme fatale that has shaped the way we look at and represent sexuality, our notions of fashion, gesture, and social-political roles. The course will explore the transformations of the femme fatale as an icon of feminine decadence in early cinema to a sexually aggressive figure, and a parodic figure in late 20th century film. It will scrutinize the sexual positioning of the feminine in relation to the modern aestheticized sexual discourse by tracing the reconfiguration of the femme fatale as an icon for sexual ambiguity as she appears in images of camp, classic film noir and those dark feminine figures present in the 1980's and 1990's thriller genre.

Structure

1 hour lecture, two hour saminar plus 1 three-hour film screenings per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (50%) and in-course assessment: one 2,000-2,500 word essay (40%), and seminar work (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr K Ravetto-Biagioli

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above. Admission subject to approval by the Head of School.

Co-requisites

Passes in Film Studies courses at level 1 and 2 or equivalent.

Notes

This course will not be available in session 2008/09.

Overview

The course focuses on non-Hollywood films (fiction and documentary), drawn mainly from Africa, Asia and Latin America. We will examine how these films diverge from, as well as respond to, the visual language of Hollywood and European Cinema, questioning Western interpretations and aestheticizations of history. One of the main concerns of many Trans-cultural cinema is coming to terms with problems of identity, history and politics caused by colonialism, nationalism and traditionalism. We will discuss the processes of identifying oneself and others, and of establishing systems of power based on hierarchical notions of difference and identity.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week plus 2 three-hour film screenings per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment: 1 essay 2,000-2,500 words (40%): 1 essay 2,500-3,000 words (50%) seminar assessment (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr K Ravetto-Biagioli

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above or by permission of the Head of School.

Overview

This course will focus on the Internet and its impact on individual and group identity formations; the question of intellectual property that emerges from digital technology, hacker culture, file-sharing, etc; the reconfiguration of the notion of embodiment and gender relations; modes of dissemination of entertainment, ideas, information, and values; the culture of surveillance and webcams; political and policy regulations; ludic expression and digital art / music; the role of design in simulating social/cultural formations.

Structure

1 two-hour seminar per week and 1 two-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment: 1 web-based project with critical writing (essay of 3,000 words) (60%); in-class assessment (40%).

Resit: Web-based project with essay of 3,000 words (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr K Ravetto-Biagioli

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or by permission of the Head of School.

Co-requisites

FS 2002 and FS 2505

Notes

This course will not be available in session 2008/09.

Overview

Noir questions social distinctions between good and evil. Noir synbolizes a series of social problems from crime and corruption to questions of sexual difference, masculine identity and social authority. We will examine the transformation of the genre from the depression era (pulp, comics, early gangster films) to the post-war detective genre as a reflection the cold war culture, and finally conclude with the return of noir. Concentrating on the change in mode of historical narration, space, urban culture, identity, and sense of self in neo-noir texts and films, we will trace the transformations of the city, but also the transformation of sound-scapes, from West Coast Cool Jazz to lounge music and the more futuristic sounds of Blade runner.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 final essay of 2,500-3,000 words (50%); and 1 mid-term essay of 1,500-2,000 words (30%), and tutorial assessment (20%).

Resit: 1 essay of 5,000 words (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Marcus

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or the programme or above or by permission of the Head of School.

Overview

This course will explore the role of panoptic observation within contemporary society and its historical roots. The course will examine the way in which our society has embraced a public surveillance application of CCTV and web cam culture, augmented by digital cameras, the mobile phone camera and use of home web cams. Through a series of seminars and screenings, the course will study how this use of technology has impacted on social life and our sense of personal and collective identity. Students will investigate this cultural practice by creating a personal web site that maps an interpretative panoptic vision through a series of short films and associated web content, and edit a longer film for monitoring a video installation. Technical tuition in web site creation and filming will be provided.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar and a screening session per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 web-based project (30%); 1 video installation project (30%), a 2,500-3,000 word critical essay (30%) and SAM (10%).

Resit: web-based project with essay of 5,000 words (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Stewart

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Level 3 or by permission of the Head of Department.

Co-requisites

This course may not be included as part of a graduating curriculum with GM 3554 (Wozu Kunst? Art and Activism in the German-Speaking Countries A) or GM 4554 (Wozu Kunst? Art and Activism in the German-Speaking Countries B). It will be available in 2008/09 and in alternate sessions thereafter.

Overview

This course sets out to examine what might be called, following Walter Benjamin, the place of the 'politicisation of the aesthetic', in a world increasingly dominated by the cultural economy. The course concentrates on the work of artists who believe that art can and should be used to effect social and political change, looking at how such work can be understood and evaluated. The course provides a series of case studies, drawing on art forms as varied as film and experimental video art, architecture, new media, conceptual art and performance art, and dealing with themes such as urban interventions and regeneration, feminism, community art, art and the environment, anti-globalisation and anti-war protest, and the right to culture. The current practice of socially-engaged art exemplified by collectives such as 'Wockenklausur' and movements such as 'New Genre Public Art' will be contextualised through critical anaylsis of socially and politically engaged art at key points over the past century, including avant-garde conceptions of engaged art and the activist art of the 1960s (eg Fluxus).

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week, one trip to an Aberdeen gallery or project, film screenings (to be arranged).

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (50%); in-course assessment: 1 written assignment 2,500-3,000 words (40%) and seminar work (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Jubb

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or by permission of the Head of School.

Co-requisites

FS 2002 and FS 2505

Notes

This FS course may be taken only as part of the degree programme of MA with Single Honours in Film and Visual Culture and the MA with Joint or Combined Honours including Film Studies; Designated degree of MA in Film Studies. It may not be taken as part of the degree programme of MA with Single Honours in French Studies; MA with Joint or Combined Honours including French Studies; Designated degree of MA in French.

It may not be included as part of a graduating curriculum with FR 3536 or FR 4536.

It will be available in 2008-09 and in alternate sessions thereafter.

Overview

An introductory overview of the history of the French cinema will be followed by detailed study of a number of films. The introductions will stress the particular stutus of film as a serious art form in France, and the position of the French cinema in relation to that of the rest of Europe and Hollywood. It will study the cinema's response to and reflection of hte major historical events of the twentieth century in France. The detailed study will be organized chronologically from the 1900s up to the 1980s, but will concentrate on the aesthetic and formal aspects of the films to be studied.

Structure

2 one-hour seminars per week, plus film screenings of the set films; individual supervision of students' projects.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment: three written assignments 2,500-3,000 words (25% each) and 1 project (25%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr S Ward

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4. Admission subject to approval by the Head of School.

Co-requisites

This course may not be included as part of a graduating curriculum with FS 35FA. It will be available in 2008/09 and in alternate sessions thereafter.

Overview

The course will focus on the representation of key 'cinematic cities' such as New York, Los Angeles, Paris and Berlin, examining the relationship between the cinema and the urban environment and focusing on specific thematic issues. These include; the city and cinematic visions of utopia/dystopia; the city and the figure of the detective/flâneur/flâneuse; the city as site of cultural encounter and social conflict; the city as site of globalisation; the city and consumption; the city and the development/reworking of cinematic tradition. Both the essay component and the examination component of the course specifically require students to engage with conceptual issues surrounding the representation of the urban environment on film.

Structure

1 two-hour lecture and 1 one-hour seminar per week plus 1 three-hour film screening per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (50%) and in-course assessment: one 2,500-3,000 word essay (40%), and seminar work (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr K Ravetto-Biagioli

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4 or by permission of the Head of School.

Co-requisites

Passes in Film Studies courses at level 1 and 2, or equivalent.

Notes

This course will not be available in session 2008/09.

Overview

The course is designed to question what is the relation of politics, economics and social conditions to images? Is there a new aesthetic of politics through television, photojournalism and new media? How does such globalization to what media pundits call a "global event" or "history in the making"? How is image understood in the age of neo-capitalism, and how do identity politics affect the way we read images? The course will start with a discussion of what constitutes a global event, an historic event and a global media event. We will then look at how certain events have been treated as global events, examining how these events are embedded in a historical discourse and how such discourses are in turn aestheticized.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars and 1 three-hour screening per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Two 2,500-3,000 word essays (40%) each and seminar work (20%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr N Lubecker

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4 or by permission by the Head of School.

Co-requisites

Passes in film studies courses at level 1 and 2, or equivalent.

Notes

This course may not be included as part of a graduating curriculum with Catharsis Culture?

Overview

Catharsis is a central notion in drama and film studies. Originally a medical concept meaning 'purification' or 'cleansing', in drama theory it has been associated with the idea that tragic plays would allow spectators a release from intense feelings of pity and fear.

According to a film studies' cliché the classic Hollywood film is cathartic: it calls for the emotional investment of the spectator and ultimately delivers a strong experience of release. The European art film, on the other hand, keeps viewers at emotional distance, refuses closure and thereby encourages a more intellectual and critical engagement with the film. After a discussion of the historical legitimacy of this cliché (drawing on texts from, the course will examine the status of catharsis in a series of films by contemporary directors like Bruno Dumont, Lars von Trier, Michael Haneke, Carlos Reygadas, Catherine Breillat and others.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week. Plus screenings (3 hours per week).

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment: one essay 2,500-3,000 words (40%), seminar assessment (10%), 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour examination (100%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr A Marcus

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours Film Studies students or by permission of the Head of School.

Notes

This is a 6-week course.

Overview

This course will allow students to engage in documentary production exercises, putting into practice methodologies they have studied through a series of screenings, workshops and seminar discussions. Students will research a topic, film it and complete the project through post-production.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week plus 2 three-hour film screenings per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One project assessment (40%), one logbook assessment (50%) and seminar work (10%).


Resit: Candidates achieving a CAS mark of 6-8 may be awarded compensatory level 1 credit. Candidates achieving a CAS mark of less than 6 will be required to submit themselves for re-assessment and should contact the Course Co-ordinator for further details.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr S Ward

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4, or by permission of the Head of School.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2008/09.

Overview

The course follows Wenders's career as a director from his early films (Alice in the Cities and Wrong Movement) through to his later more 'mainstream' success (Paris, Texas, Wings of Desire and Buena Vista Social Club), investigating his palce within New German Cinema, his ambivalent attitude towards America and Germany, his presentation of masculinity, as well as his relationship and the cinematic tradition and more generally to the history of visual culture (not just film, but also photography and architecture).

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week and 2 three-hour film screenings per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment: 1 essay 2,500-3,000 words (80%), and seminar assessment mark (20%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor R Ruiz

Pre-requisites

Available only to senior honours Film Studies students or by permission of the Head of School.

Co-requisites

FS 40IA: Documentary Film Production.

Notes

This is a 6-week course.

Overview

This course will allow students to engage in filmed dramatic scenarios, putting into practice methodologies they have studied through a series of screenings, workshops and seminar discussions. Students will research a topic, cast and film it on digital video and complete the project through post-production.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week plus 2 three-hour film screenings per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One project assessment (40%), one logbook assessment (50%) and seminar work (10%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

To be advised

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students in Film Studies.

Notes

The field work aspects of this course may pose difficulties to some students with disabilities. If this arises, alternative arrangements will be made available. Any student wishing to discuss this further should contact the School Disability Co-ordinator.

Overview

This course will provide students with guidance on writing a dissertation on a topic approved by the Head of School.

Structure

Required field work: visits to other libraries by individual students.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Dissertation (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr K Ravetto-Biagioli

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 4 or above or by permission of the Head of School.

Overview

This course will focus on the Internet and its impact on individual and group identity formations; the question of intellectual property that emerges from digital technology, hacker culture, file-sharing, etc: the reconfiguration of the notion of embodiment and gender relations; modes of dissemination of entertainment, ideas, information, and values; the culture of surveillance and webcams; political and policy regulations; ludic expression and digital arts / music; the role of the design in simulating social/cultural formations.

Structure

1 two-hour seminar per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 web-based project with critical writing (essay of 4,000 words) (60%); written responses to critical material (40%).

Resit: Web-based project with essay of 5,000 words (100%).