Description
This Master’s programme in Cinema and Audiovisual Media Studies includes theory-based, methodology-based and applied course units.
It draws in equal measure on research activity and experience of the professional context.
The Master’s programme is available as one of two subject pathways.
- A research pathway entitled ‘Historical and Sociocultural Approaches to Cinema and Audiovisual Media’, which draws primarily on the scientific output of the team of teaching staff and university lecturer-researchers who contribute to the programme.
- A vocationally oriented pathway entitled ‘Documentaries and Archives’, aimed at students’ direct entry into employment without the need for doctoral studies. This subject pathway brings together university learning with skills gained via experience in different artistic and socio-economic contexts.
Objectives
- The research pathway, ‘Historical and Sociocultural Approaches to Cinema and Audiovisual Media’, offers students the opportunity to conceive of and write up a research project that addresses cinema and audiovisual media within their specific sociocultural contexts, as well as their aesthetic and narratological dimensions. In addition to the seminar units offered as part of this pathway students will also be able to follow seminars from within the other Master’s programmes offered by Bordeaux Montaigne University, on the geographical and cultural areas that are of interest to them.
- The vocationally oriented pathway, ‘Documentaries and Archives’, trains students in professions related to cinema and audiovisual media, particularly the directing, writing and production of documentary films. This Master’s programme is unique in France, thanks to the focus on producing documentaries that maintain a link with history or memory via their use of image archives. Each year, 15 students bring to fruition a documentary film project that they have devised during the first and second year of the ‘Documentaries and Archives’ pathway, within the Master’s in Cinema and Audiovisual Media.
Training content
Overview of the two-years of study: Master 1 (M1) and Master 2 (M2)
The choice of specialisation between the two subject pathways takes effect from the very start of the first year of this Master’s programme. However, the two programmes of study overlap somewhat in Semesters 1, 2 and 3, with merged course units on the historical, sociocultural, narratological and aesthetic approaches to cinema and audiovisual media. A block of cross-disciplinary skills includes language course units and a seminar unit on archives, which are led by participants from the French National Audiovisual Institute (INA).
Master 1: First year of two-year Master’s programme
The research pathway offers a deeper interrogation of the different perspectives introduced in the common core curriculum and introduces students to intercultural perspectives in cinema and audiovisual media. A seminar unit on research methodologies is helpful for students as they begin to develop their research questions.
The vocationally oriented pathway offers an apprenticeship in the production of documentary films. This technical and practical training also comprises a theory-based component, focussing on the history and theory of documentary cinema as well as the concept of the ‘archive’ (questions of ethics, aesthetics, rights, institutional funding, etc.). In Master 1, students individually produce a draft film that lasts approximately 10 minutes, based on a personal project or idea.
Master 2: Second year of two-year Master’s programme
For students in Semester 3, the research pathway offers a more detailed interrogation of the different perspectives addressed in Master 1. The final semester (Semester 4) is reserved for the internship and the completion of a research-based dissertation. Students complete and conclude their study of research methodologies by participating in seminars proposed by Bordeaux Montaigne University’s working group for cross-disciplinary research on aesthetics and societies, ARTES. ARTES is run as part of Bordeaux Montaigne University’s accredited research unit, EA CLARE.
Aside from the course units on the direction and production of a documentary, the vocationally oriented pathway offers an annual master class for all Master 1 and Master 2 students, with two key objectives: the study of the work(s) of a documentary film maker who is invited to the event as guest speaker, and a discussion of the student film productions underway. In Master 2, each student produces an end-of-studies film, for evaluation by a mixed panel of judges. This panel is made up of university academics and practising professionals from the world of cinema and audiovisual media.
Access condition
Find information regarding enrolment procedures and the supporting documents to be provided, according to your profile and your level of studies :
Career pathways
The research pathway, ‘Historical and Sociocultural Approaches to Cinema and Audiovisual media’, can lead to employment opportunities in the following fields: programming of audiovisual media (cinema, television, live performance), audiovisual research and documentation, cultural coordination (for festivals, institutions, associations), teaching and research in cinema and audiovisual media.
The vocationally oriented pathway, ‘Documentaries and Archiving’, can lead to more vocational employment opportunities including as: director, production manager, programming manager, cultural coordinator, framing and montage editor, audiovisual media researcher/archivist.
