Unit information: Cinema Exhibition and the Creative Industries in the UK in 2009/10

Unit name	Cinema Exhibition and the Creative Industries in the UK
Unit code	DRAMM3009
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Professor. Maingard
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Drama: Theatre, Film, Television
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit explores the British film industry by examining issues such as its economic dimensions, competition from Hollywood, its genres and styles, and their relationship to the structure of the industry. Case studies may be drawn from different periods of British cinema history, from the late 19th century to the present day, in order to examine key aspects of and participants in the Bristish film industry, as well as interrogating their aims and agendas. In particular, the unit offers a detailed case study of cinema exhibition, distribuion and funding through an examination of specialised, independent cinema exhibition in the UK, the current climate of financial provision for independent cinema exhibition, and cinema's place in the develoment of the UK Creative Economy. It also considers the place of independent exhibition in relation to wider financial structures in the contemporary film industry. It provides an insight into the workings of independent cinemas and their relation to wider regional, national and international arts policies and practices, including the impact of new media technologies. It relates the contemporary experience of mainstream and independent cinema exhibition to the contemporary film industry and its relation to global entertainment networks.

Aims:

• To provide an understanding of the historical background to the British film industry

• To provide awareness of key themes and issues for the UK film industry

• To examine UK film financing, distribution and exhibition

• To consider contemporary practices in relation to historic trends

• To consider exhibition in relation to audiences

• To provide an overall context for the relation of cinema to the UK Creative Economy and to contemporary economic and global structures

• To provide a history of specialised exhibition in relation to the film market.

Intended Learning Outcomes

• To develop an understanding of the historical background to the British film industry

• To gain awareness of key themes and issues for the UK film industry

• To develop an understanding of UK film financing, distribution and exhibition

• To gain an understanding of the issues involved in programming, marketing, audience development and engagement activity in the specialised exhibition sector

• To engage with concerns about funding and subsidy experienced by cinemas in the specialised exhibition sector

• To apply knowledge of the specialised cinema exhibition sector to current debates about the future of the film industry

• To acquire an awareness of diverse marketing strategies for a range of films

• To understand how programming operates in the independent exhibition sector.

Teaching Information

Lectures, seminars, programming exercise, research visits, screenings.

Assessment Information

1 x 2,700 word essay/critical analysis (90%) + presentation (10%).

Reading and References

1. Justine Ashby and Andrew Higson (eds), British Cinema, Past and Present (Routledge, 2000)

2. Pierre Bourdieu, The Field of Cultural Production (Polity Press, 1993)

3. Margaret Dickinson and Sarah Street, Cinema and State: The Film Industry and the British Government, 1927-84 (British Film Institute, 1985)

4. Robert Murphy (ed), British Cinema in the 1990s (BFI, 2000)

5. Sarah Street, British National Cinema (Routledge, 2nd edition,2008)

6. Stuart Hanson, From Silent Screen to multiscreen: a history of cinema exhibition in Britain since 1896 (Manchester University Press, 2007).