FILM STUDIES
Introduction - Why ANU? - Undergraduates - Honours - Postgraduates
Introduction
In the century since it first appeared, cinema has developed into both a leading form of entertainment and a major source of communication, information, culture and ideas. Everyone watches films but how do we “read” films? What expectations do we bring to films that belong to a particular genre? What do we really mean when we talk about a “documentary film”? What characterises different national cinemas? How do films reflect their political and social contexts? How do film adaptations of novels or plays differ from films written directly for the screen? And how is cinema evolving and conditioning the new screen spaces of digital media? These and other questions are among the many you’ll explore in doing film studies at the ANU.
Why ANU?
Students choosing to do film studies at the ANU have available a wide range of courses taught by first-rate teachers with a strong background in research and scholarship in their respective fields. Located in the School of Humanities with in the College of Arts and the Social Sciences, the ANU Film Studies Program has been designed to provide students with a thorough academic grounding in all the major aspects of film culture. This is achieved through both designated courses on specific aspects of cinema taught within the Program and by the bringing together of a wide variety of different perspectives on film offered by a range of courses in other disciplines and programs throughout the university.
The proximity of the ANU to national institutions such as the National Film and Sound Archive provides students with the opportunity to include internships with other institutions as part of their film studies major.
While our courses do not teach students to make films as such, many of our students have gone on to make award-winning short films while others have found positions at institutions such as the AFI and the NFSA.
Undergraduates
At an undergraduate level students normally complete afilm studies major as part of their Bachelor of Arts degree. The two core courses of the Program, FILM1002 and FILM1003, usually taken in first year, are designed to provide students with all the fundamentals of film history, film theory and film analysis while also opening up the many interdisciplinary issues which underpin film scholarship. In subsequent years students choose a further five courses from a range of offerings that cover everything from classical Hollywood to early Australian cinema, from music in cinema to anthropological documentary . The film studies major also feeds strongly into the new Cinemedia major in the BA (New Media Arts), and film studies courses are also an important pool of electives for the BA (NMA).
A summary of undergraduate courses offered for 2010 can be found at Study@ANU
For any further information students should contact the convenors of the Program, Dr Roger Hillman (Roger.Hillman@anu.edu.au) or Dr. Gino Moliterno (Gino.Moliterno@anu.edu.au).
Honours
Students with a real passion for film can choose to increase their expertise in film studies by completing an Honours year as part of their undergraduate degree. In order to qualify to do Honours students will need to have completed at least ten courses in film studies in their first three years and achieved a high credit average and at least two distinctions.
For information on Honours entry requirements and applications, as well as rules and guidelines see the College of Arts and Social Sciences information for prospective students and current students.
Honours Application
For further information contact the Honours Convenor, Dr Catherine Summerhayes (Catherine.Summerhayes@anu.edu.au).
Postgraduates
Suitably qualified candidates are able to undertake research Masters or Doctoral degrees in Film Studies at the ANU. Current and recently completed student research has ranged from the German Bergfilm and Iranian cinema to documentary film and the representation of gender in film.
For further information contact the Graduate Convenor, Dr. Catherine Summerhayes (Catherine.Summerhayes@anu.edu.au).
BACHELOR OF ART NEW MEDIA ARTS
Introduction - Undergraduate - Honours - Postgraduate
Introduction
The Bachelor of Arts in New Media Arts is designed to prepare graduates for careers in the burgeoning field of digital media arts and performance, media research and practice and teaching within the humanities. What is unique about this offering is the breadth and integrated nature of its offerings: from Interactive Digital Media to Documentary Film; from Directing for the Camera to Scenery Design.
While the degree is based within the discipline of the Humanities, it is founded upon a marriage of the arts with design, application and performance. It also draws upon a firm technological base, with students able to enter practice based courses offered by the School of Art especially designed for this degree. Throughout, the BA (NMA) emphasizes creativity and professional application and cuts across many disciplines which are often segregated in separate faculties. It is a degree that allows the student to include many electives and/or a major from another area in the University. The BA(NMA) provides a strong foundation for further study in the humanities and practice based new media arts – it also empowers you to negotiate the diverse and always changing options currently available in the career marketplace. Your Bachelor of Arts in New Media Arts will provide you with a qualification which is both flexible in its application and yet focused on current trends in digital technologies and their use in society.
Undergraduate
For information on majors and courses offered in the BA (NMA) visit Study@anu.
Honours
For information on Honours entry requirements and applications, as well as rules and guidelines see the College of Arts and Social Sciences information for prospective students and current students.
Honours Application
For further information of BA (NMA) contact Dr Catherine Summerhayes (Catherine.Summerhayes@anu.edu.au).
Postgraduate Studies
Students with suitable qualifications may be admitted into the New Media Arts Graduate Program. For more information
contact (Catherine.Summerhayes@anu.edu.au)
