Film & Media Studies

In this course, students study films from the Franco regime in Spain and into the Transition to democracy. The films selected in different ways either express or subvert the ideology and iconography of Francoism. The films offer a combination of commercial and art-house cinema. Students explore issues such as the representation of gender, family, nationhood and religion, issues of censorship, ideology, iconography, and the dynamics of spectatorship. 

This course requires students to put theory into practice by cultivating a sense of the history and theory of documentary alongside the chance to make a short documentary film. The first part of the course requires students to produce a short documentary film. The second part of the course charts the historical development of documentary filmmaking through the examination of a number of case studies ranging from the early 20th century to the present day, giving further opportunity to examine the inter-relatedness of theory and practice in the work of well-known documentarists.

This course develops an intersectional understanding of gender and media research, examining the intersection of gender, sexuality, race, and class. Interrogating a broad range of media forms, it introduces key concepts within gender and media scholarship and equips students with the theoretical and methodological tools for undertaking independent research projects. Responding to key debates and events in current popular media culture, topics can include the shifting constructions of femininity, masculinity, transgender, and LGBTIQ+ subjectivities; feminist approaches to media production; industry appropriations of empowerment ideals and "woke capitalism"; and emerging trends of celebrity feminisms. 

This course explores the emergence and transformations of women’s cinema in Britain since the 1950s, with a focus on the contemporary period. It examines the position of women directors within the film industry (mainstream productions and art films) as well as their appropriation of genre and history.

This course surveys realism and formalism in cinema by focusing on key realist and formalist texts; leading formalist and realist filmmakers, and major realist film-making movements. The course introduces film theories and the philosophical debate between realism and formalism. The course focuses on theoretical investigation, but examines realist and formalist theories by closely observing films to which such theories are applied. 

This course looks at some of the varieties of independent cinema that have emerged from America since the early 1980s. Films by directors such as John Waters, Jim Jarmusch, David Lynch, Spike Lee, Todd Haynes, Lisa Cholodenko, and Richard Linklater, are examined both within the context of their cinematic precursors and influences, and the wider social and institutional circumstances that helped to create audiences for them.

This course focuses on the political aspects of Hollywood cinema by questioning the links that exist between the production of films and the ideological structures hidden behind the images. It discusses how genre cinema appears to be a "dream factory" whose specific economic organization is accompanied by ideological and political schemes that should be identified in the perspective of political and cultural studies. The course demonstrates how much cinema contributes to the diffusion of the traditional values of the American Dream and how the big studios manage to find a balance between submission to the commercial constraints imposed by the market, simplification of political phenomena (whether situational or systemic), and artistic research.

This course analyzes a selection of works by Western writers and film directors from 1990s to the present, with the exception of Ishiguro’s short story) which are set in East Asia and/or contain characters from East Asia. It explores the answers to the following central questions: Is the portrayal of East Asian people and cultures in each of these works fairly accurate, or is it conforming to biased existing discourses? Are there correct and incorrect ways to present East Asia in literary and cinematic works?

The course aims to apply logical reasoning to our examinations of racial and cultural issues and to learn to think for ourselves, instead of allowing existing discourses to think for us.

The aim of this lecture is to familiarize students with the various methods of media research (both quantitative and qualitative) and their theoretical backgrounds. Students may already know (and be using) some of the methods and theories, but this course aims to enlighten them of other approaches as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the various methods.

The course includes engagement with videos about media research methods as well as discussion of recent articles from media and communication journals. Students will be expected to introduce each article in class to facilitate the discussion. Students will gain an understanding of the different kinds of media research methods, as well as when, how and why they were developed. This is not a practical course so students will not be taught how to use particular methods, but this course should help them make a more informed choice of research methods for their own projects.

This course aims to familiarize students with digital video production and editing in a broad context of education. It is designed to help students learn the technology, art, pedagogy, and practices involved in effective visual storytelling. With the advancement of digital technologies, making a video program has become much easier than before. Even so, to produce a highly effective and professional video, we need to learn certain production strategies, skills, and theories. This course offers exciting opportunities to learn basic theories and technical skills through the production of high-quality short video programs, using simple devices such as a smartphone. It helps students produce video content that has high educational value in a rapidly changing media environment.