Course Objective

Students learn:
1. To acquire knowledge of the historical chronology and developments of
cinema, in particular in Western Europe (including the Netherlands) and
the United States, regarding its style and its context of production,
distribution, and exhibition.
2. To acquire knowledge of the crossovers between cinema history and the
history of other media and arts, e.g. precinematic optic devices,
theatre, graphic design (posters) and television.
3. To acquire knowledge of the perspectives and historiography of
conventional vs. New Film History.
4. To be able to critically and academically situate and reflect on this
film and media history, using their respective terminologies.
5. To set a first step towards the BA thesis by training and justifying
research questions related to the course.

Course Content

Cinema will be the central focus. The literature focuses on American and
West- European cinema, but the lectures will contain extra information
on pre-cinema, cinema in the Netherlands, cinema vs. television, and
conventional vs. New Film History. Cinema developed in its first decades
from a vaudeville-like programme of attractions to a story-telling,
narrative medium; from an invention to a popular mass medium, an
industry and an art form. Technological, economic, social and
aesthetical factors played important parts. For instance: 1) the
introduction of the feature film, sound and widescreen; 2) the growth
and expansion of cinema's infrastructure such as cinema exhibition and
film distribution; 3) the rise of serious film criticism and the changes
in the audiences; 4) the role of stardom and the language of
performance; and 5) the interchange with such arts as literature, fine
arts and theatre, but also with television and new media. Therefore,
attention will also be paid to the idea of an integral or comparative
media history. All lectures will be followed by related viewings of
features or groups of shorts.

Teaching Methods

Lectures (2 hrs p/w); viewing (2 hrs p/w); series of guest lectures,
excursion and response meetings (2 hrs p/w).

Method of Assessment

Matching of course objectives and assignments:

Course objective 1, 2, 3, 4: Small assignments for all students (making
concept maps of film historical movements to train the knowledge); to be
submitted (entry requirement for the exam).
Course objective 1, 2, 3, 4: written exam (90% for regular students,
100% for exchange and elective students). The written exam is a
combination of knowledge, application and judgment questions.
Course objective 5: extra assignment regarding training set up for
academic research (only for major and premaster students) (10%). This
assignment functions as a build up to the bachelor thesis in year 3.

Entry Requirements

MKDA (Media, Art, Design, and Architecture) students must have
completed:
- 1st-year Historisch Overzicht MKDA Modern (L_AABAMKD108)
- Academic English MKDA (L_EABAALG102).
Exchange and elective students should have a good command of the English
language.

Literature

Kristin Thompson, David Bordwell, Film History: An Introduction (New
York, etc.: McGraw-Hill, 2019, fourth international edition), some
additional articles on precinema and Dutch cinema.

Target Audience

Compulsory for 2nd-year students MKDA, Specialization Media, and
premaster students Comparative Arts & Media Studies. MKDA students from
other specializations (Art, Architecture, Design) and students from the
Faculty of Humanities may also select this course as an elective. The
course is also open for 2nd and 3d year exchange students but ONLY with
a background in Media, History, or Art related bachelors within
Faculties of Arts or Humanities.

Additional Information

Lectures, viewings, and literature are all part of the materials to be
studied for the exam; study of the literature is not enough. Attendance
and correct & timely handing in of the assignments are mandatory. Not
handing in assignments may result in being expelled from the exam. By
one excursion to the EYE Library (only MKDA Media & premaster CAMS)
contact with the professional field is established. The course has an
international character, as it is regularly followed by exchange
students. Attendance of all seminar meetings is compulsory, while for
the lectures an 80% presence is compulsory. Missing the first lecture or
the first seminar session, however, may result in your expulsion from
the course. This course is a prerequisite for the 'Filmanalyse en
-theorie' course (MKDA Media, year 2, period 4), as well as for the
third year Media-track seminar.