This plan is only available to students commencing 2009 onwards

The Film Studies major offers a comprehensive and innovative course of study that provides students with the critical and practical skills to understand, analyse, and work with the most popular art form of the 20th and 21st centuries. Film Studies courses include historical, theoretical, and cross-cultural studies of film as well as practical courses in video production. Our Film Studies major provides students with intensive study of the discipline, while also enabling them to understand the relations between the discipline and its concerns and other disciplinary fields in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Film Studies contributes to and has its origins in a range of disciplinary fields in the Humanities, including Philosophy and Critical Theory, Aesthetics, Performance Studies, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, Sociology and Gender Studies. For this reason Film Studies is a discipline that enables students to explore a range of debates in the Humanities as they inform—and are informed by—the film and media landscape and its impact on contemporary life. Our courses enable students to study film and related media forms in their historical, cultural, and technological contexts and provide students with an international perspective on the place and history of film in the global media culture.

Subject-specific aims of the major

• To teach the methods of analysis and thinking specific to the discipline of Film Studies
• To generate a broad understanding of the historical development of film as both a specific medium and as part of a constantly evolving media landscape
• To develop an understanding of the questions and issues pertinent to an Australian production context
• To develop an understanding of the aesthetic and ethical dimensions of film form
• To acquire an understanding of a range of national and international contexts for filmmaking
• To promote skills in both practical and theoretical analysis of film texts and film culture
• To develop in students an ability to link creative production with theoretical and critical knowledge

A student who wishes to gain a major sequence in Film Studies must complete 54 units of credit including 12 uoc at level 1, at least 18 uoc at level 2 and at least 18 uoc at level 3 including the capstone course.

Level 1 courses provide the foundational knowledge necessary for upper level study. The S1 gateway courseARTS1060 “Introduction to Film” introduces students to the discipline of Film Studies while the S2 gateway course ARTS1061“Working with Image and Sound” provides an understanding of film as a technological medium through a range of practical exercises and case studies.

Level 2 courses explore a range of film styles, practices and debates in the discipline. Level 2 courses include the study of film genres; the Hollywood system; national cinemas; documentary; and Australian film and television. Level 2 also includes the core course “Contemporary Approaches to Cinema.”

Level 3 courses offer advanced study of key debates in the discipline and close study of particular film and moving image practices. Level 3 courses also include project-based work, both in video production and in film research and writing. Courses cover debates in film history; regional and transnational cinemas; aesthetics and film style; video production; advanced film theory; and the relations between film and other media. Level 3 offers a choice of two capstone courses (“Aspects of Film History,” and “Explorations in Film Theory”).