COMM 220 - Cinema and Culture

Number of Credits: 3
Explore the history of film as a visual art, from silent movies to contemporary blockbusters. Analyze film form, composition, genre, and narrative. Interpret Hollywood, independent, and international films from aesthetic, cultural, technological, and economic perspectives. (Fall & Spring) Three hours lecture each week. Three credits. Three billable hours.

Diversity: DIVERSITY
GENERAL EDUCATION Category: Arts and Humanities

Pre-requisite(s): ENGL 101 or COMM 105 .
Course Topics:
Silent film, Hollywood studio system, American independent film, national cinemas and film movements

Filmmaking: e.g. directing, cinematography, sound design, production design

Performance: e.g. acting styles, character types, stereotypes, and personae

Genre: e.g. film noir, horror, melodrama

Film form terminology: e.g. mise-en-scene, framing, composition, camera angle, subject-camera distance, camera movement, diegesis, story and plot, montage, continuity editing, three-point lighting

Film studies: e.g. auteur theory, Kuleshov effect, Soviet montage, feminist film theory
Course Objectives: Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. Define the formal elements of film. (GE1, GE3, GE6, PG1, PG2)
2. Identify the contributions of influential films, from those produced within established studio systems to those created by independent and marginalized filmmakers. (GE1, GE6, PG1, PG2, PG4)
3. Describe film genres and movements representing different historic eras and multiple cultural perspectives. (GE1, GE3, GE6, GE8, PG1, PG2, PG4)
4. Research the cultural, social, and historical contexts of films. (GE1, GE3, GE4, GE6, GE8, PG2, PG3, PG4).
5. Analyze a film’s meaning by considering formal elements and the film’s context. (GE1, GE3, GE4, GE6, GE8, PG2, PG3, PG4)
6. Examine the role of film as a mass medium in shaping audience perceptions of race, class, gender, and sexuality (GE1, GE3, GE6, GE8, PG1, PG2, PG3)