Film and Television

Look.

Dziga Vertov, Man With A Movie Camera (Soviet Union, 1929)

Dziga Vertov's documentary of a Russian city waking, working and playing aimed to show the incredible possibilities of the "camera-eye". Though the title puts a man behind the camera, the film was edited by a woman, Yelizavela Svilova. Vertov's experimental approach inspires modules on the MA filmmaking course, and informs the research by practice of Abbe Fletcher.

Look carefully.

Alfred Hitchcock, Rear Window (USA, 1954)

Hitchcock's films often highlight the viewer's role as a voyeur, drawing attention to the guilty pleasures of surveillance: here, we spy on James Stewart as he spies on his neighbours. The BA Film Studies course at Kingston explores how Hollywood films like Hitchcock's construct their meaning through camerawork and editing.

Look closer.

Ridley Scott, Blade Runner (USA, 1982)

Scott's future noir plays with ideas of vision and identity - the "eye" and the "I". Final Year Film students are invited to undertake an intensive, in-depth study of Blade Runner and the cinematic cities that inspired it or were shaped by it in turn. "Cinema and the Postmodern City" takes fifteen students a year, and is run by Will Brooker, author of Batman Unmasked, Using the Force, Alice's Adventures, The Blade Runner Experience and the BFI Film Classics volume on Star Wars.

Look hard.

Paul Andrew Williams, London to Brighton (UK, 2006)

Paul Andrew Williams is part of a new generation of young British directors. His first feature, London to Brighton, was named the best British film of the year by The Guardian. In 2008 he joined the Film and Television team as Visiting Professor, and hosted the national premiere of his second feature, The Cottage, at the Kingston Odeon.

Look afresh.

David Simon, The Wire (USA, 2002-2008)

The Wire offered a new take on cop shows, revealing the social structures and pressures that trap police officers and criminals, politicians and teachers. Kingston's degree in TV and New Broadcasting Media looks at new drama like The Wire in its contemporary context of DVD, downloads and internet sites, but also explores the television history that led up to and enabled these fresh perspectives.

Look from a new angle.

Pedro Almodóvar, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Spain, 1988)

Almodóvar makes deliberate reference to directors such as Hitchcock and Buñuel, who explored questions of voyeurism and fetishism; however, his aim is to subvert and question traditional patterns of audience viewing. The BA in Film Studies at Kingston focuses on directors such as Almodóvar to explore how certain European directors turn the tables on Hollywood practices.

Look for yourself.

Matt Loudon, Taken (UK, 2008)

Matt Loudon's is one of our successful graduates. His final-year project for the BA Film Studies explores the different perspectives of a young boy, his mother and the woman who leads him from a shopping centre. During his third year at Kingston, Matt's short film My Darling Wife was shortlisted for a BAFTA award. Taken, and his equally-strong work on the theoretical modules, earned Matt a First Class degree. His final-year film proved a success on the festival circuit, and within months of graduating, Matt was a producer for an advertising agency.

See what we do. Show us what you can do.

• Film and Television at Kingston