This is a core module for students in the Digital Animation stream.

The course aims to provide students with a sound theoretical background of film history and a critical appreciation of the medium as cinematic art.  The first part introduces different film genres and serves as an overview of world cinema, from mainstream to avant-garde, silent to post-modern, art house to neo-realist, alternative to documentary.  After familiarising themselves with film theory and the key concepts and language of film, students will explore a few cinematic masterpieces, from the pioneering efforts of the film-makers of the silent era to the classic productions of our times.  The second part of the course will delve deeper into film animation from its birth up to the digital animation techniques of today.  In this context, cross-media influences will also be analysed.