2024/25 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

COMM1830 Introduction to Cinema

20 creditsClass Size: 149

Module manager: Tracey Mollett
Email: T.L.Mollett@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2024/25

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

This module equips students with a case-study-based historical overview of developments in cinema history. Through a series of ten lectures and linked screenings, students are introduced to the form, culture, economics and ideology of the moving image.

Objectives

This module employs a case study approach to enable students to analyse and evaluate the significance of individual films, filmmakers, genres, movements and national cinemas to the history of cinema as a whole, forming empirical links between different film cultures and historical periods and applying film theory to the analysis of film. The module will also equip students with the tools of textual analysis, exploring film form, style, narrative, technology and genre.

Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
1) Describe and discuss some developments in the history of cinema, giving examples of significant films, filmmakers, genres, and movements
2) Analyse film, drawing on an understanding of form, style, technique, and genre
3) Apply film theory in a close analysis of a film clip

Skills learning outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
4) Critical thinking skills – the ability to weigh up different arguments and perspectives on cinema’s history, using supporting evidence to form arguments and ideas.
5) Academic writing skills – the ability to write in a clear, concise, focused and structured manner, via a set essay on an aspect of cinema history and an audio-visual analysis brief.

Syllabus

Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Film Screenings	10	3.00	30.00
Lecture	10	1.00	10.00
Seminar	10	1.00	10.00
Private study hours			150.00
Total Contact hours			50.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Progress and understanding is monitored in seminars through weekly discussions of the film and through engagement with set questions on the reading material. It can also be monitored through discussions with the module leader and seminar tutors during office hours.  For the formal analysis assignment, student progress is monitored through practice formal analysis exercises in seminars, which are presented to seminar tutors and their peers, for constructive criticism. This can then be fed forward into their formal analysis assignment. For the essay assignment, student progress is monitored through the pitching of essay plans to the seminar tutor and their peers, for constructive criticism. This can then be fed forward into their essay. 

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Assignment	Essay (2500 words)	60.00
Assignment	Close analysis of a film sequence (1500 words)	40.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Resit available in accordance with original assessment briefs.

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 30/04/2024

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