University of St Andrews

Key information

SCOTCAT credits : 20

ECTS credits : 10

Level : SCQF level 7

Semester: 2

Planned timetable: 3.00 pm Mon and Thu, Screening TBC

This module introduces key movements and moments in film history across the first fifty years of film. Students will first examine the major formal, technological, and industrial transformations from cinema's beginnings in the 1890s up to the conversion to sound in the late 1920s. How were films made, exhibited and understood and why did cinema evolve in the ways that it did? Throughout the module, we will examine film history in a global context, exploring international developments in Germany, Soviet Russia, Britain, Japan and Italy. Students will be encouraged to engage with primary materials and to examine critically the methods and approaches for writing and researching film. What can we learn from studying film and how does studying film history help us to better understand cinema and new media today?

Relationship to other modules

Co-requisite(s): If not already passed you must take FM1001

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact: 2 x 1-hour lectures, a 1-hour seminar and screening (typically 2 hours)

Scheduled learning hours: 55

Guided independent study hours: 145

Assessment pattern

As used by St Andrews: 2-hour Written Examination = 50%, Coursework = 50%

As defined by QAA
Written examinations : 50%
Practical examinations : 0%
Coursework: 50%

Re-assessment: 3-hour Written Examination = 100%

Personnel

Module teaching staff: Dr J O'Meara, Dr M Cowan, Dr T Rice, Dr A Jain, Dr E Girelli