Film History

6 ECTS credits
150 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1019714CER for all students in the 1st semester at a (C) Bachelor - specialised level.

Semester

1st semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Possible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Enrollment Requirements

Students in the bachelor Communicatiewetenschappen must have taken ‘Communicatiewetenschappen I’, before they can enroll in this course. Students in the bachelor Social Sciences must have taken ‘Introduction to Communication Studies’, before they can enroll in this course.

Taught in

Dutch

Faculty

Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool

Department

Communication Sciences

Educational team

Kevin Smets (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

31 contact hours Lecture
119 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

This course offers a broad historical overview of the development of film. The course is structured according to six units with a focus on (1) film as a medium, (2) film technique, (3) the langue of film, (4) film industry, (5) movements and aesthetics and (6) political and social dimensions of film. While the main emphasis is on the history of narrative feature film, we will also pay attention other types of film (e.g. documentary film, animation film) and to the relations to television and other media. Throughout the course, students become acquianted not only with classics of Western film history (Europe, Hollywood), but also with plenty non-Western cases. The lectures include a series of clips, available to students via Canvas. Students are required to attend (at least) 6 film screenings at Cinematek, where the lectures also take place.

Course material

Digital course material (Required) : Slides, teksten en fragmenten, Canvas
Handbook (Required) : Film: een nieuwe geschiedenis, Smets, Kevin, ASP Editions, te verschijnen september-oktober 2022, 2022

Additional info

Not applicable.

Learning Outcomes

General Competencies

This course contributes to the following general learning results of the bachelor in communication sciences:

students have specific knowledge and understanding of the diverse paradigms, main theoretical currents, concepts and research traditions within communication scientific approaches to media and culture,
students demonstrate insight in the underlying human and worldview and (the historical development of) assumptions of the diverse paradigms, main theoretical currents, concepts and research traditions in general and their approach to the relation between media, communication and society in particular,
students have knowledge and understanding of historical and recent developments in media and communication,
students show a critical attitude with regard to sources and literature,
students can develop their own scientifically grounded judgement and act in the spirit of free inquiry – i.e. with an open, critical-constructive and a-dogmatic attitude. Students do not seek ‘ultimate truths’, yet respond to scientific debate and the relative uncertainty of insights from an open position,
students demonstrate an interested, studious and inquisitive attitude and have an open attitude to life long and independent learning.

Specific learning results of this course are:

To be able to analyse the key phases of the medium film as well as its aesthetic, technological, economic and social functions.
To have knowledge about and insight into the stylistic paradigms and production circumstances of film production.
To be able to recognize different conceptions about film history and situate them within a particular historical, geographical and ideological context.
To be able to situate the key authors, concepts and influential theories in the field of film studies and explain them within their historical context.
To be able to specify relations between film and other (visual) art and media, and to reflect on these relations in a critical way.
To be able to conduct a simple film analysis focusing on narration, style and form, based on existing films or fragments.
To be able to identify the key pioneers of film history and situate them within the broader developments of the medium.
To be able to discuss films from the film series (this includes recognizing and defining their narrative and styllistic elements) and to situate them within the broader developments of the medium

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Written Exam with a relative weight of 70 which comprises 70% of the final mark.
Written Assignment: Essay with a relative weight of 30 which comprises 30% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Not applicable.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context