Film Studies – (M.A.)

Contents

Students take 90 credits as follows:

Part I
* FX6002 Advanced Film Analysis and Theory (20 credits)

* FX6003 Research Methodologies Seminar (5 credits)

plus 20 credits from the following:

* FX6004 Film, Feminism and Psychoanalysis (10 credits)

* FX6005 Space in Film (10 credits)

* FX6006 Music and Cinema (10 credits)

* FX6007 American Cinema after 1960 (10 credits)

* FX6008 Sociology of Film (10 credits)

* FX6010 Irish Cinema: History, Contexts, Aesthetics (10 credits)

* HS6010 Latin American Cinema (10 credits)

* HS6008 Novel into Film: The Spanish Context (10 credits)

* GE6006 Film and Cultural Memory (10 credits)

* CS6104 Digital Video Capture and Packaging (5 credits)*

* CS6504 Digital Video Project (5 credits)*

*CS6104 and CS6504 must be taken together. Max 6 students

Part II
* FX6001 Dissertation (45 credits)

Note: Not all optional modules may be available in a given year and modules may be cross scheduled.

CORE MODULES

* FX5001 Dissertation (45 credits)

* FX5002 Advanced Film Analysis and Theory (20 credits)

The course introduces students to different aspects of the study of film, which may include all or some of the following topics: conventions and practices (narrative and form; space and frame; alternative and avant-garde practices; genre); film as medium/media (image/representation; sound/music; text/word); film and spectatorship (theories of spectatorship; gender, race and identity; cultural and national identities). Films from Europe, America and World cinema will be studied and students will engage with key concepts in film theory and criticism.

* FX5003 Research Methodologies Seminar (5 credits)

The objective of this module is to introduce students to the research skills and methodologies necessary for postgraduate work, and to assist them in the discovery and development of an MA dissertation topic.

OPTIONAL MODULES
Not all optional modules may be available in any given year. Modules that will be available for 2006/07 are indicated below - but please note that the programme is still subject to amendments.

* FX5004 FilmFeminism and Psychoanalysis(10 credits)

The module's objective is to situate situate the work of a number of (mostly French) film-makers in relation to a range of post-modern theory. In particular, the course will examine the areas of voice, the auditory and the gaze in these films from the perspective of contemporary feminist and psychoanalytical theory.

* FX5005 Space in Film (10 credits)

This course focuses on the question of the construction of space in film, both in the sense of filmed places and of the spatial composition of the frame.

* FX5006 Music and Cinema (10 credits)

The course will offer an introduction to the rapidly emerging field of film music studies, providing students with the critical tools to address a number of key questions: what functions does music perform in film? How does it relate to image and dialogue? Do we actually notice music in the cinema?

* FX5007 American Cinema after 1960

Students will study a range of film texts from American cinema after 1960. Particular attention will be paid to major movements in American cinema, such as the American new wave; feminist filmmaking; African-American cinema; documentary and experimental cinema.

* FX5008 Sociology of Film

This course will examine how sociologists look at three central aspects of the cinema: textual analysis of film as representation; film as production; and film as reception.

* FX500X Irish Cinema

Objectives: To provide students with an understanding of the evolution of film culture in Ireland within historical and contemporary discursive frameworks, and to develop abilities at understanding and analysing a series of indigenous films and foreign films about Ireland as cultural artefacts and artistic expressions.

* CS7301 Digital Video

Aspect ratios and the Frame. Vectors. Motion Graphics and the 2D image. Key frames and Layers. Alpha channel and special effects. HDTV. The camera lens and Optics. Acuity and resolution. Image control-focus-exposure-motion blur-depth of field. Light and lighting for television and video. Directing the documentary.

* GE5006 Film and Cultural Memory

Through a range of German and other films and related theoretical texts, the course will address the ways in which diverse cinematic strategies such as genre, style and performance have been deployed to enable and depict public and private acts of remembering.

* HS5006 Novel into Film: The Spanish Context

The objective of this module is to examine changes that occur in Narrative when moving from one medium (novel) to another (film) against the backdrop of Spain's particular political/cultural circumstances.

* HS5004 Latin American Cinema

This course will explore the evolution of Latin American cinema with particular emphasis on questions of identity - national, personal, political - as they are played out in film-making in the region.