Faculty of Arts
Cinema studies

Search : Index : Faculty of Arts

Faculty of Arts

1. Prerequisites
2. Requirements for a major
3. Honours entry
4. Honours requirements
    4.1. Pure honours
    4.2. Combined honours
5. Studying overseas
6. Further study
7. Career opportunities
8. For more information
Subject Lists
    First-year subjects
    Second/third-year subjects
    Fourth-year subjects

Cinema studies offers a comprehensive program of study which draws on established links with industry and the professional film community. The program is underpinned by theoretical and interpretive approaches to cinema, television and new entertainment technologies that will assist students in applying this knowledge in practical and professional frameworks. Students benefit directly from the opportunity to explore the creative and professional aspects of the cinematic arts at close range with film directors, organisers of film festivals and film distribution agencies. The academic staff are leaders in their fields and endeavour to provide new and unique approaches to interactive or on-line teaching. With a particular emphasis on viewing and analysis of film, video and television, screenings are an integral part of the program. Graduates of cinema studies find employment in a range of professional capacities and organisations such as film festivals, cinema complexes, the State Film Centre, the Australian Centre of the Moving Image, the Australian Film Institute, and Film Victoria.

Cinema studies deals with the interpretation, history and theory of cinema, television, and new visual media such as computer games and theme park spaces. Subjects cover the areas of film history, Hollywood cinema, art cinemas, documentary, ethnographic film-making, Australian cinema, genre studies (horror, comedy, film noir, the love story, etc.), television, cross-media forms such as comic books, computer games and theme park attractions. Cinema is one of the major visual and aesthetic forms of the 20th and 21st centuries; studies in this area address theoretical issues of spectatorship, postmodernism, historical poetics, postcolonialism, gender, sexuality and the body.

1. Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for first-year cinema studies subjects.

The prerequisite for a second/third-year subject in cinema studies is usually 107-132 Introduction to Hollywood & Art Cinema or 107-133 Introduction to Film Theory.

Students who have completed suitable alternative first-year subjects are advised to consult with the school for permission to enrol. Exemptions may also be granted when second/third-year subjects are taken as part of an approved interdepartmental program with its own entry requirements.

The prerequisite for a third/fourth-year subject in cinema studies is usually three second/third-year subjects in cinema studies (37.5 points).

2. Requirements for a major

A major in cinema studies usually consists of nine 12.5 point subjects, totalling 112.5 points. It comprises:

two first-year subjects in cinema studies (25 points); and
second/third-year subjects in cinema studies (87.5 points).
Two of these subjects (25 points) may be taken from related subjects offered in the School of Fine Arts, Classical Studies and Archaeology or in other departments. A list of these subjects is available from the School.

3. Honours entry

The prerequisites for entry to fourth-year honours in cinema studies are:

completion of all the requirements for the BA;
completion of a major in cinema studies;
an average grade of H2B or higher over the second/third-year subjects within the major.

Entry to honours must be approved by the honours coordinator of the School and the Faculty of Arts honours course adviser. Forms, to be submitted to the School are available from the School office in May and September of each year.

4. Honours requirements

Honours coordinator: Dr Parshia Lee-Stecum

4.1. Pure honours

Students undertaking pure honours in cinema studies must complete:

107-522 Cinema Studies Thesis or 107-523 Cinema Studies Thesis (MYE) (37.5 points); and
107-400 Research Methods; and
four honours subjects in cinema studies (50 points).
With the approval of the honours coordinator one of these subjects (12.5 points) may be a related fourth-year subject from the School of Fine Arts, Classical Studies and Archeology or an approved fourth-year subject from another area of study.

4.2. Combined honours

Students undertaking combined honours in cinema studies and another area of study must complete:

107-522 Cinema Studies Thesis or 107-523 Cinema Studies Thesis (MYE) (37.5 points); and
107-400 Research Methods; and
one honours subject in cinema studies (12.5 points); and
three honours subjects in the combined area of study (37.5 points).

honours thesis in the combined area of study (37.5 points); and
two honours subjects in the combined area of study (25 points); and
107-400 Research Methods; and
two honours subjects in cinema studies (25 points).
combined honours students may replace 107-400 Research Methods with an approved fourth-year research methods seminar in the other area of study.

5. Studying overseas

The Cinema Studies Program in the School of Fine Arts, Classical Studies and Archaeology teaches a cinema studies subject in the United States in the Winter Recess. See subject entry for details:

107-086 City as Film

or
Email: enquiries@asatravinfo.com.au
Web: http://www.asatravinfo.com.au

6. Further study

A BA with a major in cinema studies can lead to a Graduate Diploma in Arts (Cinema Studies) or a Postgraduate Diploma in Arts (Cinema Studies).

An honours degree in cinema studies can lead to MA or PhD degrees.

7. Career opportunities

Career opportunities for graduates in cinema studies are to be found in education and research, and in the arts and the film industry as administrators, media professionals, editors, reviewers, film critics and film archivists.

8. For more information

School of Fine Arts, Classical Studies and Archaeology
Old Pathology Building
The University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010
Tel +61 3 8344 5565
Email: finearts-info@unimelb.edu.au
Web: http://www.sfca.unimelb.edu.au

First-year subjects

107-132 Introduction to Hollywood & Art Cinema
107-133 Introduction to Film Theory

Second/third-year subjects

107-025 Postcolonialism and the Cinema
107-037 Film and the Body
107-075 Art House Cinema & Film Festival Culture
107-076 Contemporary Hollywood Cinema
107-077 Television and Australian Culture
107-078 Italian National Cinemas
107-079 Feminist Film and Television Theory
107-080 Commodity Culture
107-081 Genre Study
107-082 The Entertainment Experience
107-083 Film Noir: Style and History
107-084 Surrealism and the Cinema
107-085 Australian Cinema
107-086 City as Film
107-087 Contemporary Australian Cinema
107-088 Love Stories: Film and Narrative Theory
106-014 Hong Kong Cinema

Fourth-year subjects

107-522 Cinema Studies Thesis
107-523 Cinema Studies Thesis (MYE)
107-400 Research Methods
107-403 Fine Arts 4A
107-421 Contemporary Film Theory
107-426 Computer Games:Interactive Spectatorship
107-427 Film Criticism and the Canon
107-429 Ethnographic and Documentary Cinema
107-431 Postmodernism and the Cinema
107-432 Melodrama, Class and the Cinema
107-440 Hitchcock, Film and Art
107-463 Dream Screen: Film and Psychoanalysis
107-470 Comedy, Cult and the Carnivalesque
107-487 Film, Modernity and the Avant-Garde
100-410 Imaging Australian Life: 1900-2000