Course Catalogue

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This course seeks to give students a good grounding in the key names and texts of French cinema, 'commercial' and art-house alike, from its origins through to the present day. At the same time it will provide a basic introduction to major concepts in film theory and to sequence analysis.

20x1-hour seminars over both semesters as scheduled in MyCampus.

This is one of the honours options in SMLC and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus

Available to all students fulfilling the requirements for Honours entry into French, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.

None

None

Report incorporating scene analysis/commentary (1,000 words) - 20%

Group presentation within which each student in the group will talk for 5 minutes (15% group mark and 15% individual mark) - 30%

Essay (2,000 words) - 50%

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course will provide the opportunity to:

■ gain insight into the research-led study of French cinema from the 20th and 21st century;

■ develop detailed knowledge of the set works in their artistic, social and cultural contexts;

■ develop transferable skills through interactive teaching;

■ apply an appropriate range of methodological and theoretical approaches to French cinema study.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ identify various strands in French cinema and their corresponding aesthetic and ideological features

■ evaluate the shaping effects of specific cultural, historical and social contexts on French cinematic production

■ apply an appropriate range of critical terminology and concepts with relevance and discrimination in written analyses and class discussion

■ assess the expressive value of cinematic techniques during production and post-production (from script to screen, and from shooting to editing and post-synchronisation)

■ Present complex arguments in written and oral form.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.