Course Code

TR001

Duration

4 years

Description

Course Outline

The course covers the history and critical framework of film production and consumption from the 1890s to the present day. Lectures and seminars are combined with film screenings to provide the student with a starting point for further investigation. Oral presentations, essays and examinations contribute to this process. At every stage of their study students are actively encouraged to develop the skills of critical analysis, self-expression, and independent research.

In their Senior Freshman years, students will take introductory modules on screenwriting and film production.

Film Studies courses during the first two years may include:

American Cinema from the 1890s to the 1950s

This course introduces aspects of American cinema from the 1890s to the 1950s by considering classical narrative structures, industrial developments such as the Hollywood studio system and the coming of sound, key generic texts, authorship, stardom, censorship, ‘Red Scare’ film politics, and teenpics. In this way, students will experience the compelling relationship between history, context and a film’s detail.

Introduction to European and World Cinemas

This course will serve as an introduction to a variety of national cinemas from around the world. This course also examines the relationship between nations and the cinemas that they produce, or through which their national identities, societies and cultures are projected. This course then extends into the second year of the degree and here students will be given the opportunity for a more detailed consideration of some of the issues raised.

Film Theory and Criticism I and II

This module will 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 I 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.

European Cinemas

This module examines and explores the changes taking place in cinema in Europe in the latter part of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first.  This was a period that saw enormous transformation throughout the continent - both East and West – when the post World War II political dispensation collapsed and Cold War divisions crumbled.  The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent overthrow of the remaining Stalinist regimes in Eastern and Central Europe, the emergence of the European Union as a transnational political entity in 1992, and the globalisation of the world economy all impacted on the way in which films were made and the type of themes they explored and topics they tackled.

Irish Cinema

The Irish Cinema course will take a critical and historical look at Irish cinema from the 1930s to the present. While its focus will be on recent films, we will also be considering earlier works made by and about the Irish. We will be covering topics such as the relationship between Irish cinema and other modes of cultural expression, the social background to the films, issues of government policy, the representation of violence, the Troubles and contemporary Northern Ireland, history, gender and the Celtic Tiger.

Cinema and Latin America

This course considers representations of Latino culture, history and politics from within and from without Latin America, with the emphasis on the former. We will consider issues of performance, identity, genre and political filmmaking. In the case of indigenous Latin American filmmaking, the focus will be on the output of three countries: Cuba, Brazil and Mexico.

The Final Two Years:

In the final two years of the degree students can choose from the wide range of optional courses available to them in Film Studies and the Departments of Music and Drama. In addition, students develop their skills in script-writing, editing and digital video. Students may also participate in a joint film production module with other students in Music and Drama. Film Studies courses for the final two years may include: Acting and Stardom; Transnational Cinemas; Cinema, History, Politics; Holywood Cinema; Genre and Gender; Avant-Garde and Experimental Cinema; World Cinemas. Students may opt to spend all or part of their Junior Sophister years on the Erasmus programme.

Film Studies can be combined with one of the following subjects for the BA degree:

• Biblical and Theological Studies
• Drama Studies
• English Literature
• French
• Germanic Studies
• Italian
• Modern Irish
• Music
• Russian or Spanish
• Portuguese

Fees

Please check the Treasurers office for the summary of undergraduate degree fees.

Application

Details on applying to Trinity College Dublin can be found on the admissions website.

Overseas students who wish to come to Trinity College for one year or more should contact:

The International Office, East Theatre, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland; www.tcd.ie/international; E-mail: international@tcd.ie

Assessment

Oral presentation, coursework and written examination.