| Unit name | Introduction to French Cinema |
|---|---|
| Unit code | FREN20056 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Albertine Fox |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | Department of French |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Why is this unit important?
The unit will invite you into the world of French and Francophone cinema, with opportunities to discuss film history, aesthetics, and representational practices. It will encourage you to think in new ways by examining the production of meaning through the organisation of sounds and images. What do the images and sounds signify? What is the role of the spectator? What makes a film ‘political’? Together we will explore different periods, genres, and styles of French and Francophone cinema, such as 1920s French avant-garde cinema, Poetic Realist cinema, New Wave cinema, Beur and Banlieue cinema, Documentary and the Essay Film, and Contemporary Cinema. A broad range of cinematic approaches, concepts, and critical perspectives will be examined, with examples taken from a diverse array of French-speaking films and critical sources. Topics may include: ‘Contemporary France on Screen’, ‘The Outsider’, ‘Embodiment and the Senses’, ‘Consumer Society’, ‘Youth Culture’, and ‘Escape and the Everyday’.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
This optional second-year unit requires no prior knowledge of film studies. It builds on thematic elements of the core first-year units taught in the French Department on French history, politics, culture, and identity, while furthering your close analysis and critical skills more generally. Additionally, the completion of the summative assessment tasks will enable you to develop a range of skills such as project planning, teamwork, communicating with a non-specialist audience, and producing imaginative, digitally edited content, as well as more traditional essay writing skills. The unit also strengthens your French language skills (reading, listening, and translation) via discussion of dialogue, subtitling, and French-language publications. It complements other MODL and discipline-specific units at Y2 level and prepares you well for final-year units on audiovisual media and the creative arts.
An overview of content
This unit will introduce students to key elements in the history of French and Francophone cinema from the silent period to the present day. Students will explore significant themes, moments, and trends relating to French culture and society, and their representation on screen. Links between film language, thematic content, and production contexts will be explored in each case study, in dialogue with wider societal issues, including the relationship between cinema, politics, and power.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit?
Students will develop an understanding of the basic principles of film theory and analysis by studying a selection of innovative French-language films that rethink how stories are told and challenge audiences to perceive the world and its subjects from different perspectives (e.g. beyond Eurocentric, heteronormative, or ocularcentric paradigms). Students will be equipped intellectually to engage with film as a multisensory experience, thinking actively about knowledge production and the way meaning is produced and received.
The unit provides the chance to develop practical, critical, and digital skills conducive to future employment opportunities through the production of podcasts designed for a non-specialist audience, through the production of a podcast or video-essay analysis, and through a traditional written coursework essay. These assignments require strong teamwork skills as well as an aptitude for self-directed learning. This will enable students to further their competencies and confidence in oral communication and critical thinking, producing intellectually stimulating material for different target audiences. Secondary readings will be in English, with some set readings taken from French-language sources, and students will be expected to study a selection of French-language films.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
Learning activities: lecture-workshop (1 hour p/w) and seminar (1 hour p/w)
Workshop hour: you will attend a live 30-minute lecture each week. This will involve:
To prepare for the lecture-workshop: you will be asked to audio-view 1 set film and 1 set reading (with recommendations for further readings/audio-viewing).
Why the lecture-workshop?
Seminar hour: you will attend an in-person seminar each week. This will involve:
Why the seminar?
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
When assessment does not go to plan
When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the form or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are normally confirmed by the School shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the academic year.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. FREN20056).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
