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Professor Lisa Purse

Professor Lisa Purse

Office

Room 207

Building location

Minghella Studios

Areas of interest

My research is broadly concerned with the relationships between aesthetics and the politics of representation in cinema.

I am interested in constructions of the body and physicality in post-studio mainstream cinema, and in particular their relationship to zones of geopolitical conflict. A second key strand of my research explores popular cinema's interactions with the digital, including digital visual effects and Digital 3-D.

My monograph Contemporary Action Cinema explored issues of style, representation, and politics in action cinema of the last decade. My second monograph Digital Imaging in Popular Cinema investigated the challenges that digital elements of the film frame pose for interpretation. I am currently researching projects on cinema and the epistemology of war, and space and duration in contemporary digital cinema.

Postgraduate supervision

I welcome enquiries from prospective postgraduate students on any aspect of my research interests, including proposals for projects with a practical component. I am currently supervising theses on:

  • Creative modes of film production (co-supervisor, research by practice)
  • Animating the evacuee archive – memory and materiality (co-supervisor, research by practice)
  • Shakespeare and action cinema (co-supervisor)
  • Intermediality in '70s and '80s Japanese cinema (co-supervisor)
  • Theatre live streamed into cinemas (co-supervisor)
  • Narrative in the Star Wars films (co-supervisor)
  • Access to the film industry for filmmakers with disabilities in India (co-supervisor, research by practice).

Teaching

  • Introduction to Film (BA)
  • Critical practice modules in all years (BA, MA)
  • Cinema, Spectacle and Technology (BA)
  • Film Production (MA)
  • Film Aesthetics (MA)
  • Dissertation/advanced practical project supervision (BA and MA). 

Professional bodies/affiliations

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Member of British Film Institute
  • Member of Society for Cinema and Media Studies
  • Member of Media, Communication & Cultural Studies Association
  • Member of the Executive Committee of Centre for Film Aesthetics and Cultures (CFAC).

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