Course description
MA
One year full-time, two years part-time
Programme description
This MA offers you the opportunity to explore key aspects of film analysis, theory, history and practice. If you have already studied film at undergraduate level, you will be able to deepen your knowledge here. If this is your first in-depth engagement with film, you will be introduced to some of the liveliest and most important chapters in the history of cinema. You will be able to pursue your own particular interests in a dissertation on a topic of your choice. The MA also includes an element of practical work and the study of production practices.
From the earliest days of British cinema, London was the location of most British studios and it remains the national focal point for studying film. Our provision at Queen Mary is enhanced by our proximity to major cultural centres such as the British Film Institute, which includes the BFI Southbank, National Library and National Archive, the Institute of Contemporary Arts and the Ciné- Lumière at the French Institute. The MA attracts high numbers of well-qualified applicants from the UK and overseas each year. It is both a valuable qualification in its own right and particularly useful for applicants wishing to study subsequently for an MPhil or PhD in Film Studies.
Programme outline
The core module spans two semesters and provides an introduction to film analysis and theory, an overview of national and transnational cinemas (focusing on films from the USA, Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia and Latin America), and an outline of film history during the twentieth century. You will also be introduced to aspects of film production and practice, including the technology of photography and its use in the feature film, cinematography and the continuity system and its relationship to the development of directorial style. You can also choose two single-semester options from a range including:
* 9/11 and American Film (subject to approval)
* Auteur Direction
* Comedies of Desire
* Films of Powell and Pressburger (subject to approval)
* Film History: Hollywood and the Second World War
* Frame, Space, Time: Approaches to the Experiences of Film
* History, Fiction and Memory in French Cinema
* Hollywood’s Vietnam
* Introduction to Film Archives
* Married to the Mob?: Mafia representations in Hollywood and Italian Cinema
* Soviet Montage Cinema
* Paris on the Screen
* Sighting Gender and Sexuality in Latin American Film.
You may be permitted to take one option offered as part of another MA programme in the School or within the Faculty of Arts, provided that the MA convenor agrees that this would be beneficial for your intellectual development and research plans. In the case of options outside the School, admission to such modules requires the further agreement of the module convenor. This arrangement is also extended to include an option offered as part of the MA in Global Cinema and the Transcultural at SOAS, the MA in Screen Studies at Goldsmiths, the MA in History of Film and Visual Media at Birkbeck, the MA in Film Studies at UCL, or the MA in Contemporary Cinema Cultures at KCL.
Assessment
You will submit three essays for the core module, one of 2,000 words and two of 3,000 words, and one 4,000-word essay for each of the two options. At the end of August you will submit a dissertation of 10,000 to 12,000 words.
