LANDMARKS IN THE HISTORY AND THEORY OF CINEMA
| Title | ΣΤΑΘΜΟΙ ΣΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΚΙΝΗΜΑΤΟΓΡΑΦΟΥ / LANDMARKS IN THE HISTORY AND THEORY OF CINEMA |
| Code | ΜΔΣ2-360 |
| Faculty | Philosophy |
| School | English Language and Literature |
| Cycle / Level | 1st / Undergraduate |
| Teaching Period | Winter/Spring |
| Common | No |
| Status | Active |
| Course ID | 600013413 |
Programme of Study: 2024-2025
Registered students: 1
| Orientation | Attendance Type | Semester | Year | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KORMOS | Elective Courses | Winter/Spring | - | 6 |
| Academic Year | 2024 – 2025 |
| Class Period | Spring |
| Instructors from Other Categories |
|
| Weekly Hours | 3 |
| Total Hours | 39 |
| Class ID | 600269001
|
Course Type 2021
Specific Foundation
Course Type 2011-2015
Specific Foundation / Core
Mode of Delivery
- Face to face
Digital Course Content
- e-Study Guide https://qa.auth.gr/en/class/1/600269001
- At the Website of the School: https://www.enl.auth.gr/course.asp?Id=427
- eLearning (Moodle): https://elearning.auth.gr/course/view.php?id=17084
Erasmus
The course is also offered to exchange programme students.
Language of Instruction
- English (Instruction, Examination)
Learning Outcomes
After the successful completion of the course, students will:
- have acquired concise knowledge about the main stages in the course of cinema as an art, from its creation until today, so that they can connect it with other arts or fields
- be able to relate individual films and broader styles with their historical and theoretical context
- be able to recognize creative elements (technique, themes, etc.) within the content of films, in relation to the period they belong to
- develop a personal approach to aesthetic differences among various periods and styles
General Competences
- Retrieve, analyse and synthesise data and information, with the use of necessary technologies
- Make decisions
- Work autonomously
- Work in an international context
- Work in an interdisciplinary team
- Appreciate diversity and multiculturality
- Advance free, creative and causative thinking
Course Content (Syllabus)
The course explores the development of contemporary cinema by visiting specific landmark periods in which technologies, historical circumstances and theories contributed to an understanding of moviemaking as we know it today. It aims at familiarizing students with important milestones in the history and theory of cinematography; these milestones are selected based on their overall impact to the lineage of cinema. After exploring the early origins of the cinematic medium, the course passes through pillar theories of the 20th century, reaching all the way to contemporary digital cinematography. Although some of the theories partially overlap with one another historically, the course material is arranged in chronological order so that those theories are contextualised within the era in which they were formed. This way, being more than a linear account of the cinematic medium, the course provides students with a comprehensive mural of the most important chapters in the history of cinematography, as well as the opportunity to visit them critically. During the course a number of thematically appropriate visual clips and other examples will be employed for a better consolidation of the material presented in the lectures.
Educational Material Types
- Notes
- Slide presentations
- Multimedia
Use of Information and Communication Technologies
Use of ICT
- Use of ICT in Course Teaching
- Use of ICT in Communication with Students
- Use of ICT in Student Assessment
Course Organization
| Activities | Workload | ECTS | Individual | Teamwork | Erasmus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lectures | 39 | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Reading Assigment | 81 | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Exams | 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Other / Others | 27 | ||||
| Total | 150 |
Student Assessment
Student Assessment methods
- Written Exam with Short Answer Questions (Summative)
- Written Exam with Extended Answer Questions (Summative)
- Written Assignment (Summative)
Bibliography
Additional bibliography for study
Abrams, Nathan, et al. Studying Film. Arnold, 2001.
Allen, Richard. “Psychoanalysis”. The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Film, edited by Paisley Livingstone and Carl Plantinga, Routledge, 2009, pp. 446-456.
Andrew, J. Dudley. The Major Film Theories: An Introduction. Oxford University Press, 1976.
Bordwell, David. “Cognitive Theory.” The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Film, edited by Paisley Livingston and Carl Plantinga, Routledge, 2009, pp. 356–367.
Bordwell, David. “The Idea of Montage in Soviet Art and Film.” Cinema Journal, vol. 11, no. 2, Apr. 1972, pp. 9–17.
Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. 8th ed., McGraw - Hill, 2008.
Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thomson. Film History, an Introduction. 2nd ed, McGraw-Hill, 2003.
Cook, David A. A History of Narrative Film. 5th ed., Norton, 2016.
Dixon, Wheeler Winston, and Gwendolyn Audrey Foster. A Short History of Film. Rutgers University Press, 2008.
Fabe, Marilyn. Closely Watched Films: An Introduction to the Art of Narrative Film Technique. University of California Press, 2004.
Gaut, Berys. “Digital Cinema.” The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Film, edited by Paisley Livingston and Carl Plantinga, Routledge, 2009, pp. 75–85.
Grainge, Paul, et al. Film Histories, an Introduction and Reader. Edinburgh University Press, 1989.
Horak, Jan-Christopher. "Expressionism". In The Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film, edited by Barry Keith Grant, vol. 2, Schirmer Reference, 2006, pp. 170-178.
Howells, Richard. “Louis Le Prince: The Body of Evidence.” Screen, vol. 47, no. 2, July 2006, pp. 179–200.
Kaes, Anton. Shell Shock Cinema: Weimar Culture and the Wounds of War. Princeton University Press, 2009.
Kaes, Anton. “Weimar Cinema: The Predicament of Modernity.” European Cinema, edited by Elizabeth Ezra, Oxford University Press, 2004, pp. 59-77.
Kline, T. Jefferson. “The French New Wave”. European Cinema, edited by Elizabeth Ezra, Oxford University Press, 2004, pp. 120–138.
Kokonis, Michalis. “Hollywood’s Major Crisis and the American Film ‘Renaissance’”. Gramma: Journal of Theory and Criticism, vol. 16, 2008, pp. 169–206.
Monaco, Paul. A History of American Movies: A Film-by-Film Look at the Art, Craft, and Business of Cinema. Scarecrow Press, 2010.
Thomson-Jones, Katherine. Aesthetics and Film. Continuum, 2008.
Watts, Phil. “Realism.” Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film, edited by Barry Keith Grant, vol. 3, Schirmer Reference, 2007, pp. 385–394.
Youngblood, Denise J. “Soviet Cinema: The Old and the New.” European Cinema, edited by Elizabeth Ezra, Oxford University Press, 2004, pp. 41–58.
Last Update
13-06-2025
