Newcastle University

Film Studies

This subject is offered by the School of Modern Languages.

Subject summary

Newcastle University has a long tradition of teaching film at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Students can study film at undergraduate level from a variety of different aspects, which range from national cinemas, Hollywood genres, theories of gender, narrative and spectatorship, and popular culture.

Staff cover a wide range of specialisms in the study of film and visual media, in particular focusing on international cinema, with modules offered on Algerian, British, Chinese, French, Japanese, Spanish and Latin American and US cinemas. Topics covered include questions of genre, the auteur, national cinemas, theories of gender, narrative and spectatorship, and representations of identities.

The University has excellent facilities which support the study of film. The Open Access Centre located in the Old Library Building houses the School of Modern Languages’ film collection and also offers individual and group viewing facilities. The School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics has an extensive film library which is updated annually.

Local resources in the city include the Tyneside Cinema which screens classics, experimental and foreign language films, and The Star and Shadow cinema which screens classic, independent and experimental films and shorts, as well as the usual multiplexes. There is an IMAX screen at the Odeon Metrocentre.

Pre-requisites

No practical film-making is involved, but the course aims to provide an introduction to film both as an art form and as a manifestation of popular culture. Teaching generally takes the form of lecture & seminar format, with screenings of core film texts. Students are advised to read one of the standard introductions to the subject:

• David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction, McGraw Hill 2004, paperback
• James Monaco, How to read a Film, OUP 2000, paperback

Examples of Film Studies modules offered