Introduction to Film Studies
How films create meaning: active watching and shot logs, story and plot, narration and point of view, mise-en-scène, lighting and color, cinematography, continuity editing, montage and the long take, film sound, genre and authorship, documentary, animation and experimental film, the industry and culture of film in the United States including studios, independents and MPA ratings, and writing a film analysis essay.
FILM-101 Year 1 3 credits 12 lessons · 5 h 23 min
Offered by HSM University · Visual Media Foundations
This is the American version of this course. See the Canadian version.
What you'll learn
- Watch films actively, keep timed shot logs and distinguish referential, explicit, implicit and symptomatic meaning
- Distinguish story from plot and analyze cause and effect, order, duration, frequency, range and depth of narration and point of view
- Analyze setting, props, costume, makeup, staging and performance as elements of mise-en-scène
- Describe film lighting by quality, direction, source and color, and interpret lighting styles and color schemes
- Use the vocabulary of framing, aspect ratio, shot scale, angle, lens, depth of field and camera movement to interpret shots
- Explain continuity editing, including the 180-degree rule, shot/reverse-shot, eyeline matches, matches on action and crosscutting
- Analyze montage, rhythm, jump cuts and long takes, and calculate and interpret average shot length
- Distinguish diegetic and non-diegetic sound and analyze speech, music, effects, sound bridges and silence
- Identify genre conventions, hybrid genres and subgenres, and evaluate the auteur approach to authorship
- Analyze documentaries by mode and ethics, and describe animation techniques and experimental film forms
- Explain how production, distribution, exhibition, public policy, classification and streaming shape films in Canada and the United States
- Write a focused film analysis essay with a clear thesis, specific formal evidence, scene analysis and correct citation
Course content
12 lessons · 5 h 23 min total · final exam
- 1 What film studies is and how to watch actively 25 min · quiz
- 2 Film form and narrative 29 min · quiz
- 3 Mise-en-scène I: setting, costume, makeup, staging and performance 27 min · quiz
- 4 Mise-en-scène II: lighting and color as meaning 27 min · quiz
- 5 Cinematography: framing, shot scale, angle, lens and camera movement 27 min · quiz
- 6 Editing I: continuity editing 29 min · quiz
- 7 Editing II: montage, rhythm and alternatives to continuity 26 min · quiz
- 8 Sound: dialogue, music, effects, diegetic and non-diegetic sound, and silence 27 min · quiz
- 9 Genre and style 27 min · quiz
- 10 Documentary, animation and experimental film 27 min · quiz
- 11 Film in its industry and culture 25 min · quiz
- 12 Capstone: writing a film analysis essay 27 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Description
How films create meaning: active watching and shot logs, story and plot, narration and point of view, mise-en-scène, lighting and color, cinematography, continuity editing, montage and the long take, film sound, genre and authorship, documentary, animation and experimental film, the industry and culture of film in the United States including studios, independents and MPA ratings, and writing a film analysis essay.
Part of the Film & Photography stream, typically taken in year 1.