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2011/2 Provisional Module Catalogue - UNDER CONSTRUCTION & SUBJECT TO CHANGE
 Module Code: MFC3030 Module Title: DIRECTOR STUDY
Module Provider: Dance,Film & Theatre Short Name: MFC3030
Level: HE3 Module Co-ordinator: HUGHES HA Dr (Dnc Flm Thtr)
Number of credits: 15 Number of ECTS credits: 7.5
 
Module Availability
Semester 1.
Assessment Pattern

Unit(s) of Assessment (SITS MAB)

 
Weighting Towards Module Mark( %)

 

Presentation

 

30

 

Essay 3000 words

 

70

 
Module Overview
This module focuses on the work of a significant director who has made a major contribution to the history of cinema. Through the study of the oeuvre of a single filmmaker the module focuses on the nature of film authorship, and the question of the relationship between creativity and technology.
Prerequisites/Co-requisites
None.
Module Aims
  • To develop a critical understanding of film authorship and of the debates around the role of the director as the creator of a film

     

  • To use existing research methodologies to interrogate the significance of a body of work

     

  • To provide an opportunity for depth of analysis through the focus on a single director

     
Learning Outcomes

At the end of this modules students will have developed:

 

  • An comprehensive knowledge of the work of a significant director

     

  • A critical understanding of the concept of authorship

     

  • The ability to interpret the work of a director through various methodologies including: historical critical, biographical and structural approaches.

     

They will practice the skills of:

 

 

 

  • Film analysis

     

  • Interpretation

     

  • Film historiography

     

  • Verbal presentation

     

  • Academic essay writing

     

Academic research
Module Content

Taking the director Werner Herzog as an example: the module will look at the various contexts in which the director’s work can be understood:

 

 

Historical:

 

The post-war generation in Germany, the student movement in the 1960s, left-wing terrorism in the 1970s, the political move to liberal capitalism in the 1990s, the reunification of Germany in 1989, globalisation and migration in the 21st century.

 

 

Film Historical:

 

Young German cinema of the 1960s, New German cinema of the 1970s, the crisis of auteurship in the 1980s, the return of history film in the 1990s, the return of the art film in the 21st century

 

 

Interpretive:

 

Early short films, blurring documentary and fiction, the focus on the maniacal, the search for ecstatic truth.

 

 
Methods of Teaching/Learning

Lectures (11) and screenings (10)

 

Reading using lecturer’s guidance

 

Preparing presentations

 

Participating in class discussion

 

Producing a researched essay

 
Selected Texts/Journals

Films

 

Last Words (1967)

 

Signs of Life (1968)

 

Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970)

 

Land of Silence and Darkness (1971)

 

Aguirre the Wrath of God (1972)

 

Woyzeck (1979)

 

Fitzcarraldo (1982)

 

Where the Green Ants Dream (1984)

 

Lessons of Darkness (1992)

 

Julien Donkey Boy (1992)

 

My Best Fiend (1995)

 

Grizzly Man (2005)

 

 

Books

 

 

Bergfelder, Tim et al (2008) The German Cinema Book ( London : Bfi)

 

Cronin, Paul, (2003) Herzog on Herzog, ( London : Faber and Faber)

 

Hake, Sabine (2007) German National Cinema ( London, New York : Routledge)

 

Herzog, Werner, (2004/9) Conquest of the Useless, ( New York : Ecco)

 

Hoffgen, Maggie, (2010) Studying German Cinema, (London: Auteur)

 

Prager, Brad, (2007) The Cinema of Werner Herzog: Aesthetic Ecstasy and Truth, ( London : Wallflower)

 
Last Updated
11/04/11.