The study of film and television within the Department of Visual Arts is undertaken from first to third year at undergraduate level and also at Graduate Diploma, Masters and PhD levels. Courses are predominantly critical, historical and theoretical. Methodologies derived from semiotics, psychoanalysis, structuralism, poststructuralism, feminism and cultural studies may be used to analyse a range of issues such as the evolution of film form, film as a vehicle of ideology, and the construction of sexual difference through film. These courses consistently attract high student numbers. Analog videotape is used heavily as a teaching resource - for full length screenings as well as lectures and seminars.
Students also use videos as a resource for assignments and independent study.
The system was installed in the Visual Arts Library under the supervision of the Librarian. Starlight Video Server software able to support up to 10 Microsoft Windows based PC clients was used. The video server provides true video on demand. Multiple clients are able to view, pause and reposition the same video sequence concurrently. The server software runs on a 486 EISA bus PC, equipped with multiple SCSI disks.