Film Studies - History

History

Film studies as an academic discipline is a new concept in the twentieth century. The critic of film in an academic setting has not existed through the entire history of film. Not to be confused with the technical aspects of film creation, film studies exists only with the creation of film theory which approaches film critically as an art. Because the modern film became an invention and industry only in the late nineteenth century, a generation of simply created films by self investigative producers and directors existed significantly before the academic analysis that followed in later generations.

Early film schools focused on the production and subjective critique of film rather than on the critical approaches, history and theory used to study academically. Since the time film was created, the concept of film studies as a whole grew to analyze the formal aspects of film as they were created. Established in 1919 the Moscow Film School was the first school in the world to focus on film. In the United States the USC School of Cinematic Arts was the first cinematic based school, which was created in agreement with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. They were also the first to offer a major in film in 1932 but without the distinctions that are assumed in film studies. Universities began to implement different forms of cinema related curriculum without, however, the division between the abstract and practical approaches.

The Deutsche Filmakademie Babelsberg (i.e. German Film Academy Babelsberg) was founded in the Third Reich in 1938. Among the lecturers were e.g. Willi Forst and Heinrich George. To complete the studies at the Academy a student was expected to create his own film.

A movement away from Hollywood productions in the 1950s turned cinema into a more artistic independent endeavor. It was the creation of the auteur theory, which asserted film as the director's vision and art, that prompted film studies to become truly considered academically worldwide in the 1960s. In 1965, film critic Robin Wood, in his writings on Alfred Hitchcock, declared that Hitchcock's films contained the same complexities of Shakespeare's plays. With stable enrollment, proper budgets and interest in all humanities numerous universities contained the ability to offer distinct film studies programs.

There were no individuals that created the criteria for film studies; rather the growing community of the film industry and academics began to criticize, document and analyze films, eventually conforming the concepts of film studies that pertain to artistic academia. With the success in first half of the twentieth century, prominent persons in the film industry could become an endowment source for schools focusing primarily on film, creating the location for film studies as a discipline to form. An example is George Lucas' US$175 million donation to the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 2006.