Film Studies in the Denison Cinema Department

What is Film Studies?

   Film Studies is an academic discipline that involves historical, theoretical, and aesthetic inquiry into the film medium (and sometimes related media like video), film production practices, the different forms film can take (e.g. narrative film, documentary, avant-garde cinema, etc.), the activities of film audiences, and the relationship between films and their historical and cultural contexts. Film Studies courses consider film as a technology, an art form, an industry, and a cultural phenomenon, and aim to analyze and explain all these different dimensions of cinema.
    People who practice Film Studies watch a lot of films, of course, and scrutinize them in great detail. But they also examine production records, critical discourse on film, interviews with filmmakers, technological and professional publications like American Cinematographer and film industry publications like Variety, and relevant scholarly writings from a variety of other disciplines (including Art History, Literary Studies, Media and Cultural Studies, Philosophy, Psychology, and Political Science). Though Film Studies draws on these other bodies of knowledge, it is an independent academic discipline with its own object of study, its own methods, and its own history.
    Film Studies is different from more casual forms of discourse like popular film criticism and “film appreciation.” It does not evaluate films, something that critics do, nor does it seek to promote “great” films or directors. Film Studies is more objective and analytical, and its scope is not limited to individual films and filmmakers. And unlike the reviews of film critics, the explanations and arguments mounted by film scholars are not based on personal taste and/or unstated assumptions about film quality, and tend to be much more thorough and systematic.

What is the relationship between Film Studies courses and film/video production courses in the Cinema department?

    At some schools, Film Studies and production are in separate departments, but this is not the case at Denison. The Cinema major here includes both, which reflects our belief that the serious study of cinema as an art form must include technical and artistic instruction as well as intellectual investigation. The historical and aesthetic knowledge our students acquire in Film Studies courses feeds into their filmmaking; exposure to new films, different filmmaking traditions, and new ideas about cinema can be artistically inspiring, and makes for more sophisticated filmmakers. Conversely, the experience our students gain in their production courses provides them with an informed perspective on the ideas they encounter in studies classes.
    This approach to teaching film accords with the philosophy of the liberal arts education in general. A liberal arts education, unlike a technical or art school education, encourages a high degree of scholarly breadth. Students take courses in the arts, humanities, and sciences, regardless of their major(s). A major at a liberal arts school like Denison focuses your experience in studying these other subjects. Your major subject is a sort of frame through which you can understand other subjects in new and unexpected ways. Hence, a Psychology course on visual perception, a Theater class on staging and lighting, a Physics course on light and optics, a History or Polisci class on the early 20th century, or an Art History course on modern art, all gain new relevance and become more interesting in light of a Cinema major, since all these subjects are related to the study of film.
    Film Studies courses reflect this process of interdisciplinary give-and-take on a smaller scale, introducing students to an array of new ideas about film, art, perception, representation, culture, etc., which they can draw on as filmmakers.

How is studying film in the Denison Cinema department different from the study of film elsewhere?

    In the past several decades, film knowledge has become an important part of cultural literacy in general. At the same time, production and editing technologies have become much more widely available to the average person, especially with the advent of digital technology. And more and more films are available for viewing thanks to DVD, the expansion of cable TV, and the internet. As a result, film has become a very popular subject, taught in high schools, art and technical schools, and in a wide variety of college departments. At colleges and universities, you can find film courses in English, Art, Art History, Communications, History and American Studies, Media and Cultural Studies, and Modern Languages departments.
    Film is certainly relevant to these subjects, and Film Studies itself has benefited from these other disciplines, as stated above. But the study of film in the context of another discipline often uses individual films (or trends and movements in film) to illustrate non-filmic phenomena. History or Cultural Studies classes might use a film as an example of the cultural attitudes of the time and place in which it was made; Modern Language courses will show films that represent the countries or regions in which the relevant language is spoken; English courses might consider cinematic adaptations of novels, comparing aspects of character and story structure to those of the literary source.
    As this suggests, films are ultimately used to illuminate other things – the things that these disciplines study (language, literature, culture, history) – rather than being studied in their own right as films. Studying cinema in this way can involve a pretty high level of generalization: films are taken to represent large-scale cultural patterns, historical periods, or abstract ideas. And while Film Studies has adapted the ideas and approaches of other disciplines, other disciplines incorporate the contributions and methods of Film Studies much less frequently. One consequence of all this is that film aesthetics – the study of the formal structures of films as well as the specific workings of their unique stylistic features (cinematography, editing, lighting, sound/image relations) – tends to get much less attention. And film’s own history, distinct from the history of a nation or culture that a film might be used to represent, also tends to be overlooked.
    Film Studies courses in the Denison Cinema department engage in the rigorous, in-depth, and exhaustive study of all aspects of cinema. The studies professors have extensive research experience in film aesthetics, filmmaking technologies, the practices of the U.S. film industry and the film industries of other countries, and the genres, movements, and traditions that comprise the history of cinema. They also actively participate in their discipline through publishing, participating in research conferences, and doing specialized film programming.

How can I learn more?

    Begin by taking a good look at this website, which includes profiles of the Cinema faculty, course descriptions and sample syllabi, and information about what Cinema majors have done in the real world after graduation. Anyone interested in majoring in Cinema at Denison is encouraged to contact the professors and arrange to sit in on classes (this goes for the production faculty and courses as well).
    If some of the above sounds, well, “academic,” let us leave you with this thought: While Film Studies courses are very demanding, for the student who is both passionate and curious about cinema in all its forms, they are also fascinating, eye-opening, and yes, even fun!

Denison University Department of Cinema, 2007