Department I – Media Studies deals with the history, analysis and theory of film and television.

History, analysis, theory – these are the fundamental elements of our discipline. Our aim is to fuel your enthusiasm for our discipline during the course of your studies.

History: During your core program, you attend four two-week lectures on film and television history. The screenings include, for example, films of German expressionism, Italian neorealism and the American New Wave. You are introduced to the works of Ernst Lubitsch, Ingmar Bergman, Ousmane Sembène, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Agnes Varda and many other directors.

Analysis: During the second semester, in our Film Analysis course, you begin by examining single shots, then sequences and finally entire films. During the first session, we deal with a painting and a still from a motion picture. Working with your group, by the final session you will be able to analyze the dramatic structure of the feature film Adaptation (2002). These skills are then refined in the “advanced courses” during the third semester. It is during these courses that you write your first individual academic paper.

Theory: In the Text Study courses, we will examine the writings of major scholars such as Siegfried Kracauer, Hugo Münsterberg, Theodor W. Adorno, Walter Benjamin, André Bazin, Gilles Deleuze, Laura Mulvey, Marshall McLuhan, Angela Keppler and Vilém Flusser, learning how they view the media film and television. Knowledge of these theories is a prerequisite for the individual research you will carry out in your final courses, during your main studies. During these courses you will write your second, more extensive academic paper.