Moodle@Warwick

Animation is a genre and process with its own distinctive language and characteristics. No longer viewed as simply ‘cartoons for children’, animation has become a cultural phenomenon that extends into live action cinema. The popularity of animation in popular culture is now equalled in academia where animation is a burgeoning field in film and television studies. This module will explore animation from various angles, including its history, aesthetics, and production, but, also, will examine various animation contexts, including specific processes, types of animation, and topics within animation. 

This module is organised in four parts (after an introductory week and a final week devoted to preparing for the essay plan):

I. History and Industry

II. Technologies

III. Television

IV. Anime

This module offers students the opportunity to study postcolonial film from different historical and national contexts and via a range of geopolitical and technological shifts. It will explore the changing relationship between colonialism and film through the course of the twentieth century and beyond. The module will begin by interrogating cinemas of and as Empire with an emphasis upon Anglo-American history, its ‘imperial gaze’ and neo-colonial Hollywood. It will then move on to explore various case studies of colonial, de-colonial or anti-colonial film (for example, Indian cinema or Palestinian film) and to consider key related themes such as questions of diaspora (via Accented cinema) and of the digital (via online activism).

Summary of Aims: This module explores the impact of colonialism upon national cinemas and filmmaking practices in broad terms and through detailed examples. It aims to provide a solid understanding of this well-established but still unfolding field whilst furthering students’ analytical and critical skills, allowing them to enter confidently into its debates.

Anticipated Learning Outcomes: By the end of the semester you will be able to: 

• Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of the impact of colonialism on national cinemas and filmmaking practices.

• Critically contextualise the relationship between Empire and Cinema via historical, geopolitical, technological and aesthetic concerns.

• Articulate (in verbal and written form) a critically engaged understanding of the ways in which film has reflected, reinforced, resisted or rescripted ‘Imperial’ (orientalist/racist/colonial) processes and legacies.

• Demonstrate an ability to offer nuanced and detailed analyses of film texts that enter, confidently, into postcolonial debates.

All teaching – lecture, screening and seminar – takes place in room A1.27 from 12.00-16/16.30 on Wednesdays. The one timetabled screening per week is to be supplemented by a required viewing done on the student’s own time. As well as preparing for class each week by doing the readings assigned, and trying to watch the additional films recommended, students may be asked occasionally to do some web-based informal research or ‘tasks’ for relevant sessions. All seminars (week 2-10) will include an unassessed student presentation – on the week’s topic, determined in consultation with the module leader – which will form the basis of the presenters’ first assignment, the review essay. The requirements for this will be discussed further in class. 

Please come to seminars prepared = having read and annotated assigned texts identifying any areas or ideas that were hard to follow or particularly interesting, and formulating questions in response to them and the viewings you have done, which will allow you to contribute fully to seminar discussion. 

ASSESSMENT:

One 1,000 word Review Essay – 20% Deadline:  Monday 6th April 2020

Building upon the unassessed presentation, this essay will critically evaluate the de-, post-, or anti-colonial concerns of one case study. Guidance on this provided in week 1 

One 4,000 word Essay – 80% Deadline:  Tuesday 5th May 2020

This module will examine the body in various screen examples and through a multitude of frameworks. Drawing on

areas of expertise in Film and Television, the module will explore a variety of topics from the co-convenors' research.

The body is a central yet often overlooked aspect of mise-en-scene. The centring of the body in this module will

establish its significance to textual analysis and discussions of corporeality in cinema. This detailed discussion of the

body will also enable the exploration of its relation to the politics and language of representation. The module will

consider the production, cultural, socio-political, and artistic contexts in order to understand how the body has been

represented onscreen. It will also investigate obscene, explicit, and/or censored screened material.

The module is intended to be an approachable introduction to the scope of economics. It deliberately takes an applied approach so as to demonstrate how the economist’s toolkit can be used to analyse real-world issues, including those of relevance to the world of business.

With an emphasis on the development of students’ scientific skills, this module will focus on competences such as evidence based reasoning, the application of quantitative analysis to interpret chemical data and the evaluation of experimental design. Chemistry is an evidence based science discipline and there will be a strong experimental element to this module. In this progressive module students will also look at how Chemical applications can be used to solve societal problems. Students undertaking this module will develop the academic experience required for a range of undergraduate science programmes, including chemistry and chemical engineering.