Core Course - Michaelmas term

The core course is comprised of two ‘strands’. The first, strand, ‘Theorising Moving Images’ combines classical and contemporary film/media theory with work in aesthetic theory. This strand is intended to be both grounding/grounded and expansive/experimental. The second strand, ‘Topics in Film and Screen Studies’, explores a range specific research areas (e.g., early cinema) and methodological problems (e.g., interpretation in historical context).

Film and Screen Studies Research Seminar (Michaelmas-Lent Terms)

Students are expected to attend all of our research seminars. Before the beginning of the Lent and Easter terms, students will be asked to submit a dossier of responses to/reflections on these master classes and seminars. If you cannot make a given week for any pressing reason, you must choose another research seminar (in Cambridge or elsewhere) on a germane topic that can serve as the object of a response. Each dossier entry should be between 250 and 500 words. The dossier is not assessed, but feedback on it will be offered by the MPhil convenor.

Presentations

Students will collaborate in pairs or small groups on a presentation to be delivered in the discussion seminars for the ‘Theorising Moving Images’ strand. These will be assigned in the preliminary meeting held before the beginning of term. The presentations are compulsory but un-assessed.

Assessment

Students will develop an independent essay topic, to be supervised by faculty teaching on the core course (as well as by Film and Screen Studies faculty who are not teaching on the core course in a given year). Essays must engage in some significant way with the required reading from at least one of the core sessions from either strand.