Introduction To Film Studies

AY2024/2025 Semester 1

The course provides an introduction to the discipline of cinema studies, structured as a survey of important films in the history of the development of cinema, from the age of the silent movies to the present digital age. Students will, therefore, enlarge their knowledge of cinema through an exposure of the great classic films and be taught basic film terminology, as well as formal and critical analyses. In the process, they will gain a general awareness of film history and movements; and be taught the basic skills necessary to read or analyse a film critically. They will learn about film theory and the various genres of narrative cinema to better understand how cinematic movements and theoretical ideas were born, and how film cultures and criticisms have developed globally. To that end, students will study feature films from the major film production centres around the world.