Introductory description

The focus of the module ‘Film Criticism, Film Style’ is the close observation, description, and interpretation of particular films in precise detail, as well as reflection upon the nature of style in the film medium.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Week 1: Clips

• Gibbs, John (2001) ‘The Elements of Mise-en-Scène’, from Mise-en-Scène: Film Style and Interpretation, London: Wallflower, 5-26. Online: http://bit.ly/2tMxKXU

Week 2: Film - Rope
‘How is What’ (1): Filmed drama

• Perkins, V. F. (1972) ‘How is What’, in Film as Film: Understanding and Judging Movies, London: Pelican, 116-33.

Week 3: Letter From an Unknown Woman
‘How is What’ (2): Narrative and Point of View

• Kozloff, Sarah (1989) ‘First-Person Narrators’, in Invisible Storytellers: Voice-over Narration in American Fiction Film. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 41-71. [Note: It is required only that you read pages 41 to 53.] Download: http://bit.ly/2i3xb7T
• Wilson, George M. (1986) ‘Max Ophuls’ Letter From an Unknown Woman’, in Narration in Light: Studies in Cinematic Point of View. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 103-125.

Week 4: Chocolat (1988)
‘How is What’ (3): Social Mise-en-Scène’

• Martin, Adrian. (2014). ‘Social Mise en scène’ in Mise en Scène and Film Style: From Classical Hollywood to New Media Art, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 127-54.
• Mayne, Judith (2005) ‘Border Patrols: Chocolat and No Fear, No Die’, in Claire Denis, Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 33-59.

Week 5: Before Sunset (2004)
Moments, Parts & Wholes (1)

• Keathley, Christian ‘The Cinephiliac Moment and Panoramic Perception’, Cinephelia and History, or The Wind in the Trees, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 29-53.

Week 7: Student Presentations
Moments, Parts & Wholes (2)

• Perkins, V.F. (1981) ‘Moments of Choice’, The Movie, 58, 1141–5.

Week 8: The Wire
Interpreting TV Style and Meaning (1)

• Zborowski, James (2010) ‘The Rhetoric of The Wire’, MOVIE: A Journal of Film Criticism 1, 1-6.

Week 9: Fleabag / Chewing Gum
Interpreting TV Style and Meaning (2)

• Woods, Faye (2019) ‘Too Close for Comfort: Direct Address and the Affective Pull of the Confessional Comic Woman in Chewing Gum and Fleabag’, Communication, Culture and Critique (2019), 1-19.

Week 10: Selected YouTube videos
Interpreting style and meaning on YouTube

• Luers, Will. (2007). ‘Cinema without show business: a poetics of vlogging’, Post Identity 5.1. Online: https://bit.ly/2xC4TXG

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Be familiar with some of the key features of film (and other audiovisual) style
• Understand ways in which audiovisual media synthesise stylistic possibilities of other artistic media
• Have improved your skill in textual analysis and the interpretation of style
• Have a deeper understanding of the relationship between style and meaning

Research element

6000 word essay.

Interdisciplinary

Film, TV & New Media Studies

International

To varying degrees both readings and screenings will originate from a range of national film/TV cultures.

Subject specific skills

Textual analysis and the interpretation of style; the nature of style verbally and in writing; familiarity with and ability to critically analyse film criticism

Transferable skills

Deeper understanding of the relationship between style and meaning; improved skills in preparing and delivering spoken presentations; improved skills in writing critically