Course details

Summary

The Bachelor of Arts (BA) is Otago's most flexible undergraduate degree programme, enabling students to study from a selection of more than 40 arts and social science subjects, as well as papers offered elsewhere in the University. Academic breadth is complemented by in-depth knowledge gained through majoring in one or two subjects with the option of minors in one or two others.

Students are taught by research-active scholars, are expected to undertake a diverse range of learning tasks and are challenged to develop their intellectual independence. Graduates of the programme are well-informed, versatile, independent thinkers with the information literacy, communication, research and interpersonal skills necessary for a career or further academic study. The completed BA is an entry qualification for the PGDipArts in the major subject of the degree.

Film and Media Studies

Film and Media Studies focuses on the historical, aesthetic, cultural and social significance of cinema, television and new visual technologies and their interconnections. It is concerned with the teaching of visual literacy as it applies to moving images since the advent of modernity and beyond, and looks at dominant practices (Hollywood cinema, global media, mass-entertainment), and alternative practices (art-film and avant-garde, local and indigenous media).

The Bachelor of Arts (BA) programme in Film and Media Studies at Otago is designed to give students a thorough grounding in the analysis of film, television and new media. It is offered through the Department of Media, Film and Communication.

Students in Film and Media Studies develop a range of skills based on the content of the course, the development of research and presentation methodologies and multimedia literacy’s and skills. These skills will enable students to:

• Analyse individual film and media texts and present their ideas in a written or oral form
• Understand the forces at work behind the production and consumption of these texts
• Appreciate the inter-relationship between the wide variety of media which operate in the modern world
• Have the historical, cultural and theoretical knowledge necessary to engage critically with film and media texts
• Engage with students and lecturers in a variety of contexts such as lectures, tutorials, virtual classrooms.
• As such, it can be fruitfully combined with the study of a wide range of other subjects, including Communication Studies, Visual Culture, English, History, Gender Studies, Theatre Studies, Marketing and Psychology.

Programme Requirements

100-level

• MFCO 101 Screen Form and Culture
• MFCO 102 Understanding Contemporary Media

200-level

• MFCO 210 Theory of Film and Media
• Two further papers from 200-level MFCO papers, ASIA 201, CHIN 242, GEND 205

300-level

• MFCO 301 Film and Media Theory
• Three further papers from 300-level MFCO papers

Either CHIN 342 or GEND 305 may be substituted for one MFCO paper

Plus

198 further points; must include 54 points at 200-level or above.

Up to 90 points may be taken from outside Arts

Entry criteria

The minimum requirement for students is the completion of a high school qualification plus satisfactory completion of one year's study at an approved tertiary institution or successful completion New Zealand Foundation Year programme.

We also accept the following International qualifications: International Baccalaureate: IB Diploma with a minimum of 26 points; GCE Advanced Levels: minimum grade of 8.

English Language Requirements:

IELTS score of 6.0 in the academic module (with no individual band below 6.0); Internet-based TOEFL Score of 80 (writing 20); Paper-based TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score of 550 (TWE 4.5); CIE Cambridge International Examinations Grade E or better in AS English; Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) - Overall score of 176 (with no individual band below 169); Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) - Overall score of 176 (with no individual band below 169); GCE 'A' Level or 'AS' Level English Language or English Literature - grade C or higher; GCE 'AS' Level General Paper (English) - grade C or higher; APIEL (Advanced Placement International English Language) Examination - grade 3 or higher; IB International Baccalaureate - English at Higher or Standard level in Language A: literature, Language A: language and literature, or at Higher level in Language B; Pearson Test of English (PTE) Academic - Overall score of 58 with no communicative skills score below 50.