[EmmaRose]

I've received unconditional offers for both of the above courses, without having to attend an interview - Which has left me pretty much in the dark about each course, as I didn't get the opportunity to ask any questions to course tutors/leaders!
Does anyone have any information what so ever about either of these courses?
Thanks a lot!

[Ms. Bukowski]

Hi, I'm currently studying Film and English at QMUL, in the first year. As I'm doing a joint honours degree, I can tell you only about the core modules in Film Studies. In the first year, you have to take three compulsory modules, of whom the biggest (30 credits) is Introduction to Film. The other two are Auteurism (15 credits, Nouvelle Vague etc) in the first semester, and Stars (also 15 credits, about the structured polysemy of a star's persona) in the second semester. The ITF-course is quite fun, you watch a series of older films, as it is quite a historical approach to cinema starting in the early days (1890s). The course aims at the development of the ability to analyse a film with the use of the different key concepts in film, e.g. sound, narrative, mise-en-scéne, editing, genre etc. and you have to write 4 quite complex essays about those key concepts, each about one film from the module. The other two courses are much more aimed at encouraging you to assess films more freely. You'll have lively discussions in the seminar groups about Godard, Truffaut, Kieslowski and Jarmin as well as about stars like Rita Hayworth, Jane Fonda or Belmondo.

If you're doing a full-time Film degree, you'll also have a Screenwriting course, Film Noir and Practical Filmmaking in your first year as far as I'm concerned. In the 2nd and 3rd year you can choose freely from a long list of modules and do lots of practical filmmaking if you want. The only compulsory course in year 2 is 'What is Cinema?', as far as I know.

[Ms. Bukowski]

But, if you want to do film, i'd go for the Film course at QMUL, as Media and Communications is surely something completely different, correct me if I'm wrong! If you want to do the film course though, you'll have to be really into films as this is a very specific course, and you gotta love your film!
If you just 'want to do something in media', then you should probably go to Goldsmiths, their reputation for those courses are higher than QM's anyway, and I'm sure they'd be more practical than at QMUL. After all, Queen Mary is a public research university, and most of the course is theoretical.

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