Cinema beyond the cinema
- Course Code: HF235
- Dates: 22/06/24 - 22/06/24
- Time: 10:30 - 16:30
- Taught: Sat, Daytime
- Duration: 1 session
- Location: Keeley Street
- Tutor: Paul Sutton
Course Code: HF235
Duration: 1 session
Please note: We offer a wide variety of financial support to make courses affordable. Just visit our online Help Centre for more information on a range of topics including fees, online learning and FAQs.
What is the course about?
The course will introduce you to different models and possibilities of narrative form and structure in the fiction feature film, as well as to a variety of alternatives to narrative as a means of organising film material, particularly within the fields of documentary and experimental filmmaking. It also encourages critical awareness of the conventional boundaries of cinema by exploring moving image works not normally classed as such, for example public information films, home movies and archive footage. Alongside this focus on film form and structure, the course will explore the different spaces, media platforms and cultural contexts where cinema can be encountered and experienced, and will encourage reflection on the interdependences of film form and exhibition context.
What will we cover?
• The history of narrative film form in the fiction feature film
• The history of alternatives to narrative form
• An exploration of the boundaries of cinema
• An examination of public information films, home movies and archive footage.
• A consideration of the different spaces, media platforms and cultural contexts where cinema can be encountered and experienced.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
• Demonstrate a broad knowledge of the range of formal and experiential possibilities which cinema offers
• Demonstrate knowledge of the different spaces, media platforms and cultural contexts in which cinema is encountered and experience
• Have a critical understanding of the interrelationship of film form and exhibition context
• reflect critically on the conventional cultural boundaries that distinguish cinema from other varieties of moving image production
• have the capacity to appreciate, and be able to comprehend, a variety of film forms beyond the narrative fiction feature film
• have acquired skills and specialist vocabulary in the analysis of both narrative and non-narrative film forms.
What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?
The course is suitable for all levels and you do not require any particular skills - just an enthusiasm for film and discussing film.
How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?
The course will be delivered by the tutor with small and large group discussions. Short film extracts will be screened throughout.
Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?
You will require a pen and paper (or laptop/device) but the tutor will provide all other materials such as handouts.
When I've finished, what course can I do next?
Look for other film studies courses on the web at www.citylit.ac.uk/history, culture and writing/film studies.
Dr. Paul Sutton is an independent film scholar who has taught Film Studies in UK higher education for over 25 years. His research covers psychoanalytic and film theory as well as Italian and French cinema and critical theory. He has published articles in journals such as Screen, French Studies and the Journal for Cultural Research. He is currently writing a psychoanalytic book on film spectatorship, Afterwardsness in Film, and has recently published work on television as a form of palliative care, and an assessment of the films of the Italian experimental filmmaker Ugo Nespolo.
Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.