Film & Media Studies

This course helps students to better appreciate and understand the contemporary cultural and socio-political importance of film 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 21st 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, audio-visual 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.

Why do people believe in conspiracy theories, hold on to misinformed beliefs even in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary, and/or spread rumors that may have little basis in fact? This course explores case studies of the causes, consequences, and tenacity of misinformation. Students able to think about understanding such situations and possible approaches to combat them

This course provides students with an overview of the major developments in the depiction of sport in film. Considering fiction, documentary, and newsreels, the course explore the diverse ways different cultures have depicted sport in film.

This course examines the media industries in Aotearoa New Zealand through a series of case studies, including television, radio, newspapers, telecommunications, and film. These are discussed in terms of how ownership, regulation, funding/revenue, cultural norms and technological convergence affect media practices. It considers how the NZ media sector is influenced by global media markets, how media value chains are changing in response to new media and evolving audience demands, and the public policy issues these raise (e.g. cultural identity, democratic engagement and Maori representation).

This course teaches students the basic structures and syntax of a common programming/scripting language Python. Programming is at the heart of the human control of the digital world; through the use of programming and scripting languages, we can gather, manipulate and share data, create new applications and extend the existing ones. Further, learning the logic, possibilities and limitations of programmatic structures allows us to better appreciate and understand the technology within the greater digital world.