Handbook 1996 : Faculty of Arts
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Cinema Studies (Department of Fine Arts (Art History and Cinema Studies))

• Overview
• Prerequisites
• Requirements for a Major
• Entry to Honours:
• Cinema Studies and Art History or Another Approved Discipline
• Opportunities for Further Study
• For more information
• Subject Descriptions
  • Fourth Year Honours

Overview

Cinema Studies involves areas and issues which are concerned with interpreting and analysing the visual media and their function in contemporary culture. The courses will involve a study of a variety of visual media in particular the cinema but also including television, new technologies and the print media and focus will centre on the study of various film movements and genres (including Hollywood, art, and national cinemas), film history, developments in film theory and methods of interpreting the visual media, the analysis of the social and ideological implications of the media, and the study of approaches to understanding the relationship between film image and spectator. In the light of our culture's growing emphasis on spectacle and the visual the programme is valuable in providing students with various skills with which to understand one of the most dominant forms in twentieth century culture.

Career opportunities for graduates of Cinema Studies can include many sectors such as education, the arts and the film industry where they can work as administrators, media professionals, teachers, editors, reviewers, film critics and film archivists.

The Department of Fine Arts (Art History and Cinema Studies), offers subjects in two interrelated areas of study: Art History and Cinema Studies. Cinema Studies subjects are listed below. Not all subjects are offered each year, but the Department tries to offer, in alternate years, several of its subjects so that they may be taken at second or third year level.

Prerequisites

There are no specific prerequisites for entry to Cinema Studies.

Requirements for a Major

A major in Cinema Studies consists of five subjects offered by the Department at second and third year level, totalling 83.3 points. At least three of these subjects should be specifically Cinema Studies Units. The other two may be approved related subjects from the Art History non Cinema Studies Area. For a Pass major in the Department of Fine Arts (Art History and Cinema Studies), refer to entry under Fine Arts (Art History and Cinema Studies)

Entry to Honours:

The Department of Fine Arts (Art History and Cinema Studies) offers two programs in Cinema Studies leading to the Honours Fourth Year; either Cinema Studies combined with Art History or Cinema Studies combined with another approved discipline. The prerequisite for entry into this combination is normally an average overall grade of at least H2B in an approved Cinema Studies major and satisfactory completion of an approved Art History major or satisfactory completion of prerequisites for entry into Honours in another approved Discipline. Admission to fourth year honours is subject to the completion of the requirements of a pass degree and must first be approved by the Head of Department. All intending Honours Students in Cinema Studies must also include in their major the unit 111-360 Film Theory and Research.

Cinema Studies and Art History or Another Approved Discipline

Cinema Studies Honours may be combined with Art History or another approved Discipline within the University, such as English (Cultural Studies). All Fourth year Cinema Studies honours students are required to enrol in '111-421 Contemporary Film Theory' in Semester One.

Opportunities for Further Study

Cinema Studies can lead to postgraduate diplomas in Art History, Art Curatorship and Cinema Studies. An Honours Degree in Art History or Cinema Studies can lead to MA or Ph. D degrees in these areas.

For more information

For further information please contact:

The Department of Fine Arts (Art History and Cinema Studies)

The University of Melbourne

telephone (03) 9344 5565

Subject Descriptions

• 111-105 Introduction To Cinema A: Classical Hollywood and Art Cinema (First semester)
• 111-106 Introduction To Cinema B: Film History and Australian Film
• 111-108 Visual Cultures (Second semester)
• 111-246/346 International Art Cinema
• 111-247/347 Contemporary Hollywood Cinema
• 111-248/348 Television and Australian Import Culture
• 111-252/352 National Cinemas and Cultural Difference
• 111-253/353 Feminist Film Theory
• 111-254/354 Commodity Culture: Myth, Meaning and Advertising (Second semester)
• 111-255/355 Genre Study (Semester One)
• 111-256/356 The Entertainment Experience: Cross-Media Forms and Interactive Technologies (Second semester)
• 111-257/357 Film Noir: Style and History
• 111-258/358 Surrealism and the Cinema (Semester One)
• 111-259/359 The Re-Make: Ideology and Aesthetics
• 111-360 Film Theory and Research (Second semester)
• 111-361 The Love Story: Film and Narrative Theory
• 111-362 Australian Cinema (Second semester)

Fourth Year Honours

Coordinator: Dr Roger Benjamin.

General Objectives for fourth-year Cinema Studies subjects

Students completing fourth-year Cinema Studies should:

• have an advanced understanding of particular aspects of film interpretation and film theory, and a competence particular methods employed in the discipline of Cinema Studies;
• have advanced skills in oral and written communication skills relevant to the discipline, including presenting an argument, marshalling and documenting evidence, and advanced bibliographic skills;
• have shown in the honours thesis the capacity to initiate and and pursue through the completion of a research project.

• 111-499 Cinema Studies Honours Thesis
• 111-421 Contemporary Film Theory (First semester)
• 111-422 Genre Theory: Science Fiction and Horror
• 111-431 Sexuality and the Cinema
• 111-432 Media Mythologies (Second semester)
• 111-461 The Love Story: Film and Narrative Theory
• 111-462 Australian Cinema (Second semester)
• 111-463 Dream Screen: Film and Psychoanalysis
• 111-464 The Cinematic Body: Theories of Spectatorship
• 111-465 Comedy, Cult and the Carnivalesque (Second semester)

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Handbook 1996 : Faculty of Arts

Status:          Official 1996
Date created:    Oct 10 1995
Last modified:   Oct 10 1995
Authorised by:   Academic Registrar
Email enquiries: Course_Information@registrar.unimelb.edu.au

Copyright © University of Melbourne 1995,1996.