Undergraduate Course: Contemporary Cinema (DESI08010)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 2 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | We are moved by the moving image: the cinematic medium shapes our individual and collective experiences and understanding of the world around us in powerful and profound ways. This course helps students to better appreciate and understand the contemporary cultural and socio-political importance of film. It achieves this aim through three central routes. Firstly, a series of nine case studies of important international films released in British cinemas over the past five years illustrates and instantiates a diverse range of key aesthetic, ideological and industrial contexts that twenty-first century filmmakers both contribute to and challenge through the work they produce. Secondly, the weekly case studies are drawn from a range of cinematic traditions, including animation, live-action fiction and documentary filmmaking. Thirdly, and despite their diversity, each of the weekly case studies is taught in such a way as to equip students with some of the foundational critical skills and forms of knowledge associated with the academic study of film. These include: an understanding of the relationship between authorial intent, audiovisual technique and audience experience; an ability to locate and critique individual films within appropriate comparative contexts, such as directorial oeuvre and traditions of film genre; and an informed understanding of the varied range of critical traditions and methodologies that scholars past and present have brought to the study of cinema as both social institution and art form. This course is taught exclusively by filmmakers and film critics from Edinburgh College of Art of Art, School of Design; each case study session is supported by film screenings and seminar tutorials. Ultimately, this course enhances students appreciation of film form and many important critical and creative debates and trends within twenty-first century film culture.
In order to be able to take Contemporary Cinema in semester 2, you MUST be able to attend BOTH the following weekly course teaching sessions:
1. Two hours of lectures per week; AND
2. A weekly one-hour course seminar group.
Please note that the course also contains a weekly film screening. However, attendance at course screenings is OPTIONAL, so long as you make your own arrangements to watch course films in advance of lectures and seminars. |
| Course description |
In order to be able to take Contemporary Cinema in semester 2, you MUST be able to attend BOTH the following weekly course teaching sessions:
1. Two hours of lectures per week; AND
2. A weekly one-hour course seminar group.
Please note that the course also contains a weekly film screening. However, attendance at course screenings is OPTIONAL, so long as you make your own arrangements to watch course films in advance of lectures and seminars.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2022/23, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 305 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 38,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 9,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 5,
Formative Assessment Hours 5,
Summative Assessment Hours 3,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
136 )
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| Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) |
3000 written case study 100%. mid semester formative feedback via 10 mins viva
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Formative Assessment:
Mid-semester, students will receive formative feedback via 10-minute student verbal presentations on their individual choice of film case study.
Summative Assessment:
One 3000-word written case study critique of a contemporary film of a student's own choosing: 100%.
Relationship between Assessment and Learning Outcomes:
The summative submission is assessed against all 3 Learning Outcomes equally.
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| Feedback |
Feedback is given on all assessment within 15 working days of submission. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate an informed understanding of the possible social, emotional and intellectual effects of selected elements of audiovisual technique
- Appreciate the complex interactions between audio visual technique and industrial and ideological context within contemporary film culture
- Articulate a formally, industrially and socially aware written case study critique of one contemporary film of your choosing
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Reading List
Dix, A. Beginning Film Studies (2008). Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Donald, J. and M. Renov (eds.) (2008). The SAGE Handbook of Film Studies. London: SAGE.
McLane, B. A. (2012). A New History of Documentary Film. New York: Continuum.
Nelmes, J. (ed.) (2007), An Introduction to Film Studies, 4th edn. London: Routledge.
Saunders, D. (2010), Documentary. London: Routledge.
Selby, A. (2013). Animation. London: Laurence King.
Wells, P. (2007). Understanding Animation, 2nd edn. London: Routledge.
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Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Merlin Seller
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Stella Bray
Tel: (0131 6)51 5926
Email: |
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