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Filmmaker-in-residence, Lenny Abrahamson, on the set of Garage. The Department of Film Studies will hold a number of workshops with Lenny Abrahamson during the year.

Overview

Since 2003 Trinity College has pioneered the Republic of Ireland's first specialist undergraduate Film studies course leading to an honors degree. The four years of the course allow students to sample a wide range of film movements and film styles and to gain some experience of practical filmmaking. Through lectures, class discussions and practical courses, students will gain a wide knowledge of film as art, as industry, and as creative practice. The staff in the Department of Film Studies are experts in their fields and publish widely on areas such as European cinemas, Hollywood cinema, Irish cinema, film stardom, and film theory and history.

Is this the right course for you?

If you enjoy watching a wide range of films and if you are interested in acquiring the critical tools to analyse them in relation to questions of style, technology, society, and industry, then this is the course for you. This course will examine film styles and movements from cinema's beginnings in 1895 right up to the present day. While you will learn about practical issues involved in film production, including how to write a script and how to produce short videos, this course is primarily academic and geared toward critical engagement with film.

Course content

Film studies covers the history and critical framework of film production and consumption from the 1890s to the present day. In the Freshman (first two) years, you will be introduced to film theory and criticism and to a very broad range of American, European and world cinemas. In the Sophister (final two) years, students choose from a wide range of options. Topics may include various national cinemas, transnational cinemas, classical and contemporary Hollywood cinema, genre studies, documentary theory and practice, avant-garde, experimental, and cult cinema, film theory and criticism, cinema and censorship, and editing. In addition, Sophister students will complete modules in scriptwriting and digital video production.

The Freshman years

Courses taught during the Junior and Senior Freshman (first two) years may include:

• Film theory and criticism 1 and 2
  These modules begin by studying the evolution of film as a visual language with its own specific codes and conventions. In the second-year students will build upon the issues raised by Film theory and criticism 1 and further strengthen their engagement with the subject by examining the various approaches to reading, understanding and evaluating films that have developed over the course of film history.
  
• American cinema from the 1890s to the 1960s
  This module introduces aspects of American cinema in the first half of the 20th century by considering classical narrative structures, important industrial developments and key generic texts. The second part of this module introduces the student to influential examples of film criticism that American films from this period have generated. Film genres examined may include the Western, the melodrama, the musical, the gangster film and science fiction films of the 1950s.
  
• European and world cinemas
  These modules serve as an introduction to a variety of national cinemas from around the world. They will examine the relationship between nations and the cinemas that they produce, or through which their national identities, societies and cultures are projected. In their second year of the degree, students will be given the opportunity for a more detailed consideration of some of the issues raised.
  
• Cinema and Ireland
  This module moves from the earliest films made about Ireland, through issues of production, representation, and censorship, up to recent Irish filmmaking.
  

There are six hours of classes and six hours of screenings per week.

The Sophister years

In the final two years of the degree course students can choose from the wide range of optional modules available to them. Topics covered may include aspects of Hollywood cinema, avant-garde and experimental cinema, documentary film, European cinemas, film music, world cinemas, genre studies, gender and film, film theory and criticism, film style and performance, digital filmmaking, editing and other aspects of film practice. In addition, all Junior Sophister (third year) students are introduced to digital video production, and will participate in joint short film exercises. Students may wish to build on this process with further modules in their final year. Completed student films will shortly be made available for viewing on our website.

Assessment

Film studies is assessed by coursework and examinations. In the Freshman years, students will also be assessed on class presentations.

Career opportunities

A degree in Film studies offers career opportunities in many areas such as the film industry; television; journalism; digital media; film reviewing and criticism; arts administration; advertising; marketing. Recent graduates of Film studies at TCD have gone on to be involved in the film industry in a number of ways, from directing feature length films to editing, scriptwriting, production and administration. A number of our graduates have gone on to further study in film and associated areas. This degree also offers opportunities in the many general areas open to arts graduates, such as administration, teaching, civil and public service, etc.

Further information

www.tcd.ie/film
Tel: +353 1 896 2617
E-mail: filmstds@tcd.ie