Shelley O'Brien

Principal lecturer in screen studies

I developed my love of film at a very early age, encouraged by my parents. I was finally able to study the subject seriously when I gained a place at Sheffield City Polytechnic. I graduated in 1992 with a BA (Hons) History of Art, Design and Film, and began teaching film classes in 1992. I gained an MPhil award from Sheffield Hallam in 2000, for my thesis entitled Body Horror Movies: Their Emergence and Evolution.

Although teaching was not initially my intention, I discovered that I enjoyed being able to put my passion for film to good use.

My main areas of research and interest are horror cinema, Japanese cinema, and film music. Recent conference papers have looked at the so-called 'torture-porn' cycle, and the art of sound in movies.

I have recently written a book chapter to be included in the McFarland publication, Roman Catholicism in Fantastic Film, entitled 'Killer Priests: The Last Taboo?'

Sheldon Hall

Senior lecturer

Sheldon Hall lectures on film history and criticism in the department of stage and screen. His research interests are primarily in American and British cinema, especially large-scale films of the 1950s and 1960s, but he has also been known to enjoy subtitled continental conversation pieces.

He is the author of Zulu: With Some Guts Behind It (2005), co-author of Epics, Spectacles and Blockbusters: A Hollywood History (2010) and co-editor of Widescreen Worldwide (2010), and has written numerous articles for a wide variety of books and journals.

A journalist and film reviewer in a former life, he has also recorded DVD commentaries and contributed to Channel Four documentaries. As well as leading the MA in Film Studies at Sheffield Hallam, Dr Hall organises extra-mural courses at Sheffield's Showroom Cinema and is external examiner at Kingston University.

Suzanne Speidel

Lecturer

Phone: 0114 2256222
E-mail s.speidel@shu.ac.uk

I currently teach modules on film adaptation and film narrative. I also enjoy teaching courses on British cinema and European cinemas. I am the module leader for the MA module, adaptation reloaded, which covers adaptations across film, literature, theatre, television, radio, comic book and computer game.

My teaching reflects my academic background in English literature, and my particular interest is in developing modules on the BA English and Screen Studies.

My research is interdisciplinary across film, literature and television. I am very interested in relationships and comparisons between mediums, in the ways that one narrative may influence another, and in how stories are adapted across media.

I am currently writing a book, Adapting Forster, on film adaptations of the novels of E. M. Forster, which is due to published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2011. This book is a new departure for me, in that it has a special focus on screenwriting.

Other publications include 'The Ending Is Out There,' in The X-Files and Literature, Sharon Yang (ed.) (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007), 'Film Form and Narrative,' in An Introduction to Film Studies (Fourth Edition), Jill Nelmes (ed.) (Routledge, 2007), and 'Post-impressionism and the cinema: how we are 'made to see' in Conrad's Victory' in Joseph Conrad and the Performing Arts, Katherine Baxter and Richard Hand (eds.) (Ashgate, 2009).

I can offer expertise in film adaptation, costume drama, contemporary American television and German cinema.

Phil Charles

Senior lecturer in screenwriting

I'm presently a regular writer on TV comedy drama series Shameless (Channel 4/Company Productions)) and have various original TV and film projects optioned and in development. I have also written for drama series Doctors and Murphy's Law (BBC1).

I love working with new writers, passionate about helping them develop their ideas, find their voice, and craft their screenplays until they're at an industry standard. Being a commissioned screenwriter means I have strong links with the TV and film industries. Therefore, I'm able to pass on up-to-date information to students on my screenwriting modules.

Ashley Barnes

Lecturer

E-mail ashley.barnes@shu.ac.uk
Phone 0114 225 6220

I have taught performance at Sheffield Hallam University since 2007 and formerly at the University of Leeds. However, my work firmly bridges both academia and professional practice as I am also the founder and artistic director of Dead Earnest Theatre.

Dead Earnest is an applied theatre company working with clients from across the country to use theatre techniques to engage, inspire, empower and consult. Most of Dead Earnest's work is in the fields of creative learning and health and wellbeing.

The clients I have worked with include the
• General Medical Council
• Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (CAFCASS)
• The Child Workforce Development Council
• Creative Partnerships
• hospitals and primary care trusts (PCTs)
• councils

Applied theatre is tailoring theatre interventions to specific audiences and for specific goals, and I am interested in developing the range of techniques that can be used to measure its success in achieving behaviour change.

James McNicholas

Lecturer in performance

I began teaching at Sheffield Hallam University in 2009. I have both current and past experience of performing and teaching in both the UK and also USA, crossing the areas of acting, dance choreography and music. My previous training includes being under the tutelage of some extremely experienced and energetic theatre professionals, such as Opera North Co-Founder Paul Wade and Choreographer Eddie Copp of Momentum Dance.

My teaching ranges from text-based performance, through to devised physical theatre. I expect a high level of dedication from my students, and enjoy working on poignant and dynamic performances with them. Alongside my teaching, I am also completing a PhD in theatre improvisation and intercultural theatre practice. One of my most recent research interests includes a growing relationship with emerging all-female devised theatre company; The Paper Birds. My research work also includes my teaching and performance work.

Dr Chi-Yun Shin

Senior lecturer

Since joining Sheffield Hallam in January 2003, I have taught a range of modules in the film studies group including • contemporary East Asian cinema • concepts in film theory and criticism • alternative cinemas • contemporary British cinema • Hollywood to 1950 • studying cinema • silents to sound.

My research interests are in the areas of East Asian cinema and transnational cinema, especially cinema of Diaspora. I am particularly interested in the issues of genre, gender, cross-cultural inter/exchanges as well as the reception of East Asian cinema in the West.

I am the co-editor of New Korean Cinema (Edinburgh University Press, 2005), and I have contributed to journals and anthologies including Jump Cut, Paragraph, Seoul Searching: Culture and Identity in Contemporary Korean Cinema (State University of New York Press, 2007), Horror to the Extreme: Changing Boundaries in Asian Cinema (Hong Kong University Press, 2009) and Postcolonial Media Culture in Britain (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming).

I am currently working on pan-Asian horror remakes and editing an anthology on Asian Film Noir. I am also a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema.

Jon Bridle

Senior lecturer

I am the co-course leader for the BA Scriptwriting with Screen Studies and teach a range of modules at both undergraduate and postgraduate level including • introduction to screenwriting • the screenwriter in film history • contemporary British TV • screenwriting and professional practice.

I gained a BA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Derby in 2001, an MA in Writing for Performance and Publication from the University of Leeds and a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education from Sheffield Hallam University in 2011. I am a fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

I am also a television/radio comedy writer and have written sketch and stand-up material for a range of shows such as • That Mitchell and Webb Look • That Mitchell and Webb Sound • Scallywagga • School of Comedy • Ask Rhod Gilbert • Bearded Ladies. More recently, I have successfully developed and sold a sitcom pilot, co-written a feature film treatment for Warp Films and am currently developing a sitcom with Little Comet productions.

My teaching/research interests include screenwriting and British television history and I am especially passionate about helping my screenwriting students follow their ambitions and get their work out into the ‘real world’!

Martin Carter

Principal lecturer

After a career in IT I decided to do something interesting with my life and follow my passion for film by taking a degree and masters in film studies at Sheffield Hallam.

I have been lecturing here for more than five years, specialising in • British cinema • Hollywood • documentary. I love teaching, especially encouraging students to engage with film from places and periods that are unfamiliar to them. Seeing students discover films that change their lives is an unforgettable experience, and one that we hope every student will have whilst studying here with us.

Teaching interests
• British cinema – classic and contemporary
• The history of documentary filmmaking
• Hollywood on Hollywood
• British science fiction – film and TV

I have presented numerous academic papers at conferences over recent years and am a contributor to Vertigo magazine.

Research interests
• British cinema – particularly 1930s and 1940s
• Hollywood – film noir, political cinema and independent film production
• Documentary – the work of Dziga Vertov, Humphrey Jennings, Chris Marker and Werner Herzog
• European horror cinema of the 1960s and 1970s

John Cunningham

Lecturer

I teach a number of modules in stage and screen, including European cinemas, alternative cinemasandconcepts in film theory and criticism. I also teach at postgraduate level on our MA Screen Studies.

My main interests are Eastern European, Balkan and Soviet/Russian cinema and I am the founder and principal editor of the journal Studies in Eastern European Cinema. My first book, Hungarian Cinema, from Coffee House to Multiplex, was published in 2004 and I am currently finishing a book on the work of the Hungarian film director Istvan Szabo.

Last year I organised a short season of films to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 1984-5 British miners' strike which opened with a talk by the director Ken Loach.

One of my special roles is to develop international links and I frequently give presentations abroad, often in Eastern Europe and recently I have also travelled to Turkey. In November 2009 the Hungarian Ministry of Arts and Culture gave me their Pro Cultura Hungarica award for services to Hungarian culture.