FACULTY RESOURCES - ENGLISH:
Course Outline - ENG 197
| COURSE TITLE: | Intro. To Film Studies | COURSE HOURS PER WEEK: | |
| COURSE NUMBER: | ENG 197 | Lecture: | |
| COURSE CREDITS: | 4 | Lec/Lab: | |
| COURSE PREREQUISITES: | None | Lab: |
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Recommended prerequisite: College-level reading and writing skills (a passing grade in WR 115 or placement into WR 121) are strongly recommended for success in this course.
ENG 197 is the third course of a year-long sequence focusing on the history, art, and social contexts of film as an art form. A primary objective of the course is to enhance students' enjoyment and appreciation of film by developing their cinematic literacy. Students are introduced to the basic elements of film language, including cinematography, mise en scène, editing, and sound. While American films are emphasized, the sequence also focuses at times on international cinema, looking at all films in the context of time, culture, and ideological effects. Weekly campus screenings are required, and clips of films are used in class for close analysis. A variety of assignments and activities develop and test students' "ways of seeing." ENG 197 centers on films chosen around a theme, topic, or director. Recent themes include "Film and the American Dream" or "American Independent Cinema." Providing an overview of film language, the course explores the style of the featured films and/or director and looks at their historical contexts and ideological effects relating to such contested areas of social experience as race, class, gender, sexuality, and nation.
GENERAL COURSE OUTCOMES:
| Upon completion of this course, the successful student will be able to: | These outcomes will be verified by the following assessments: |
| A. Use a historical and cultural framework and formal vocabulary for thinking, writing and talking about films. | Class discussions, quizzes, midterm and final examinations, analytical essays, formal segmentations and/or shot lists, presentations, and group work. |
| B. Develop and apply an understanding of film language and style to the analysis of films. | See above. |
| C. Recognize the narrative and stylistic conventions of the film genres studied during the quarter. | See above. |
| D. Explain the larger social-historical contexts from which the chosen films emerge and that help to shape them. | See above. |
| E. Analyze and describe the ideological implications of films in terms of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and nation. | See above. |
| F. Write meaningfully about the formal and ideological issues of the films studied during the quarter. | Academic essay(s) and/or exams. |
Course outline by major topic: (See course calendar for other examples)
- Film Form and Style: review of mise en scène, introduction to film editing, brief overview of film language and narrative structure.
- If the course focuses on a director, an overview of auteur theory is included. If the course focuses on a theme or movement, theoretical texts related to the theme or movement will be included.