Humanities and Social Science Program

Film Studies: History, Genres, and Techniques

Faculty Advisor: former Lecturer, Stanford University

Research Program Introduction

Are you a film lover? Do you like reading about film ratings and critiques? Have you ever written film reviews for fun? Are you curious about the history and development of the entertainment industry? Do you think about making your own films someday? 

This program takes students on an exciting journey through film from an advanced academic level. Students will be introduced to the history of film through the study of different genres and subgenres, such as action films (spy and espionage films, martial arts films), comic films (black comedy, slapstick comedy), horror films, science fiction films (dystopian films, AI-tech films), animation, Westerns, musicals, silent films, and historical films.

Students will explore topics related to film narrative, features of different genres, and techniques used in various genres. They will also learn film-related terminology, concepts, and the language of cinema, which will help them think critically, familiarize themselves with key scholarship on film topics, and articulate their interpretations and ideas about cinema within an academic framework.

This program will teach students how to analyze and write about films using cinema-specific terminology and language. They will also learn to appreciate film in ways that focus on techniques, genres, and socio-historical context. The program will also introduce students to academic writing and close reading of film texts through the completion of a final research paper.

Final Deliverables

Students will focus on individual topics and generate their own academic work products upon program completion. Students will also learn general and subject-specific research and academic writing methods used in universities and scholarly publications. At the end of the program, students will have the chance to submit their work for publication and win a letter of recommendation from their Faculty Advisor.

Possible Topics For Final Project:

  • If you were to direct a film, which genre of film would you choose to direct? Why would you choose this genre? 

  • What would future cinema look like? (Think about what contemporary cinema has to offer and how it could improve in the future with technological developments).

  • What role does the “Western” play in the history of film? 

  • Are films like Psycho and Frankenstein merely “horror” films?

  • How does the genre of comedy provide a critique of social norms and institutions?

  • Using two examples, discuss how the sci-fi film genre has contributed to the critique of technology.

  • Compare and contrast a film from the silent and contemporary genres, considering technique and visual quality. 

  • Choose two key genres of film and provide a comparative analysis of the two genres.

  • Other professor-approved topics in this subject area that you are interested in

Program Details

  • Cohort size: 3 to 5 students

  • Workload: Around 4 to 5 hours per week (including class and homework time)

  • Target students: 9 to 12th graders interested in film, communication, media studies, new media, literature, comparative literature, and/or social sciences.

  • Schedule: TBD. Meetings will take place for around one hour per week, with a weekly meeting day and time to be determined one week before the class start date.