Course Syllabus

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Last updated: May 8th

CMS 301 Film and Media Studies: Analysis

Spring 2023: March 27–June 2

MW 3:30–5:20 JHN 111

(For a printer-friendly version of the syllabus, see here)

 

Course Description

Designed for CMS majors, this course introduces students to key terminologies and methods in the study of film and digital media. Building on and furthering the skills of close visual analysis that students have obtained in other CMS courses, this course offers other ways of approaching moving image analysis such as  technological, social, cultural, and gendered perspectives. Students will learn to look beyond the image and gain new insight into aesthetics, history, and theory.

 

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course student will be able to:

  • Master appropriate usage of film terminologies to conduct visual analysis
  • Locate films and film terms within the historical and cultural contexts in which they are created and received
  • Gain familiarity with different approaches to studying film and media
  • Develop their own research interests and projects

 

Instructors

Anna Parkhurst, alp1994@uw.edu. Office hours: W 2-3pm, Padelford B522, and by appointment

Yumo Yan, yy2887@uw.edu. Office hours: Th 12-1pm, Padelford B522, and by appointment

This course will be co-taught by Anna and Yumo. We will take turns lecturing: Yumo will teach this class, Anna will teach the next. Co-teaching allows us to teach the sections of the course that best align with our specialty. Although we are working in co-teaching mode, we are both responsible for and committed to your learning. If you have any questions or concerns throughout the quarter, be sure to include both of us in the correspondence!

 

Materials

You will find everything under “Modules”, including links to readings, screenings, and assignments. Students must complete the assigned readings and screenings before coming to class. Reading/screening quizzes will be distributed in the first five minutes of some classes and will count towards your participation grade. Some readings/screenings might change during the quarter, so check back on Canvas regularly.

 

Grading Overview

  • Participation (20%): Reading/Screening Quizzes (10%), in-class participation (10%)
  • 6 exercises (50%)
  • 3 projects (30%)

 

Reading/screening quizzes (10%): There is a chance that reading/screening quizzes will be distributed in person in the first five minutes of class. The reading/screening quizzes consist of two to four multiple choice questions about the assigned film and reading. These quizzes are not meant to trick you - they are to ensure that you stay on schedule and prepare for class. You should easily get full credit as long as you watch the films and do the readings carefully. There are around 10 reading/screening quizzes throughout the quarter. 

 

In-class participation (10%): This course is an in-person discussion-based course, therefore your active participation during class is essential. We recognize, however, that participation can look different for different people. As such, we will assess your participation based upon your contributions to class and small-group discussions, as well as your attentiveness in class. Make sure to speak up at least once every class to obtain full participation points.

 

Exercises (6 throughout the quarter, 50% in total): Shorter assignments, which we call “exercises,” are dispersed throughout the ten weeks. Exercises usually ask you to practice skills you learned in class that week, and they should not take more than 3 hours to complete. Exercises are usually posted on Wednesday and due at noon on Sunday. You will see which weeks have exercises in the weekly schedule below.

 

Projects (3 throughout the quarter, 30% in total): Longer and more complicated assignments are called “projects”. There will be three projects throughout the quarter: “Same Scene Twice”, “Sequence Analysis Paper”, and “Final Project Proposal”. Because they require more effort, you will be given a full week for each project. Project requirements are posted on Wednesday and are due next Wednesday at 11:59pm. See weekly schedule for details.

 

Late work policy: Unexcused late work will receive a penalty of 5% per day. If you need one, please ask for an extension before the deadline, rather than submitting late work and asking for one retroactively. Extensions will almost always be granted as long as you have good reason and ask in advance. We are here to help!

 

Grading system: All assignments (including reading/screening quizzes) will be graded on a 100 pt scale. Don’t panic if you get a 50 out of 100 in a reading/screening quiz - it translates into a 0.5 out of 1 in your total score!

 

Academic Honesty

The University takes academic integrity very seriously. Behaving with integrity is part of our responsibility to our shared learning community. Students must adhere to UW’s Community Standards and Student Conduct Code, which include the commitment to academic honesty. It is the students’ responsibility to read, review, understand, and adhere to these guidelines. For more information about academic dishonesty, please refer to Student Governance Policy, Chapter 209 Section 7.C,

The most common forms of academic dishonesty are:

  • Using others' exact words (including the words of fellow students) without quotation marks and citation
  • Using others' ideas (even paraphrased) without citation
  • Sharing answers on tests and quizzes
  • Submitting any work that is not your own
  • Submitting an assignment you have already submitted or plan to submit for credit in another class, without the explicit permission of both instructors

This list is not complete, and other forms of academic dishonesty are possible. If you are in doubt, ask us.

When students engage in plagiarism or academic misconduct, it is usually because they are overwhelmed and/or do not fully understand the course requirements. If this describes you, reach out to us immediately. We are here to help.

 

Access and Disability Resources

If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please activate your accommodations via myDRS so we can discuss how they will be implemented in this course.

If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), please contact DRS directly to set up an Access Plan at disability.uw.edu.

Accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, your instructors, and DRS. It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law.

 

Religious Accommodations

Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form.

 

Health and Safety

Students should not attend class if they are feeling ill. If students have any COVID-19 symptoms, they should avoid all public gatherings and get tested immediately. Husky Coronavirus Testing is open to all members of the campus community. Your best contact is the Environmental Health & Safety’s Covid-19 Response and Prevention Team: https://www.ehs.washington.edu/covid-19-prevention-and-response/covid-19-case-response. Do not come to class until EH&S tells you it is okay to do so. Do not come to class if you have COVID-19 symptoms. Email us and we will discuss how to make up for in-class participation in those cases.




Weekly Schedule

Week 1–Introductions

Monday, March 27: Welcome to the course

  • Before class
    • Go over Canvas site, read syllabus 

 

Wednesday, March 29: “Cinema of Attractions” and the formation of narrative

  • Before class
    • Watch: The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, Edison Co., 1903, 12min)
    • Read: Tom Gunning. “The Cinema of Attraction: Early Film, Its Spectator and the Avant-Garde.” Wide Angle 8, no. 3&4 (Fall 1986): 64-70. 
  • After class 
    • Exercise #1: Cinema of Attractions discussion post
    • Due: Sunday April 2nd, 11:59pm



Week 2 – Narrative and Classical Hollywood cinema

Monday, April 3: Classical Hollywood narration

  • Before class
    • Watch: Stella Dallas (King Vidor, 1937, 106min)
    • Read: Blake Snyder. “Let’s Beat it Out!” In Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You will Ever Need, Michael Wiese Productions, 2005, 67-96.

 

Wednesday April 5: Continuity Editing–(De)Construction of “Reality”

  • Before class
    • Watch: 1) What is Film Continuity and Does It Even Matter? (8min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly9Bg_BwhK0&ab_channel=wolfcrow

2) Strange Continuity: Why our brains don't explode at film cuts (7min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y6Bkizc46o&ab_channel=AeonVideo

  • Watch: Lost Highway (David Lynch, 1997, 135min)
  • Read: Shane Denson, excerpt from "Introduction" Discorrelated Images, Duke, 2020, 1-10.
  • After class 
    • Exercise #2: Editing breakdown
    • Due Sunday April 9th, 11:59pm



Week 3 - Editing

Monday, April 10: Montage

  • Before class
    • Watch: M (Fritz Lang, 1931, 99min)
    • Read: Sergei Eisenstein “A Dialectical Approach to Film Form (1929)” (25 pgs)

 

Wednesday April 12: Long take and deep focus

  • Before class:
    • Watch: Safe (Todd Haynes, 1995, 119min)
    • Read: Andre Bazin “The Virtues and Limitations of Montage” (12 pgs), Laura Mulvey "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (12 pgs)
  • After class: 
    • Project #1: Same Scene Twice. 
    • Due Wednesday April 19th, 11:59pm

 

 

Week 4 - Mise-en-scene

Monday, April 17: Mise-en-scene, melodrama and excess

  • Before class:
    • Watch: All that Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk, 1955, 89min)
    • Read: Thomas Elsaesser. Excerpts from “Tales of Sound and Fury: Observations on the Family Melodrama”

 

Wednesday, April 19: Media in excess – hypermediated mise-en-scene

  • Before class:
    • Watch: "How Video Games Come to Life" (Screen Rant) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB9pOOHaN3c&ab_channel=ScreenRant
    • Read: Jay Bolter and Richard Grusin. “Introduction: The Double Logic of Remediation” from Remediation (1999)  
  • After class: 
    • Exercise #3: Digital Mise-en-Scene Analysis
    • Due Sunday April 23rd, 11:59pm



Week 5 - Cinematography and lighting

Monday, April 24: Close-up, a Universal Language?

  • Before class:
    • Watch: Shen Nv (The Goddess, Wu Yongguang, 1934, 74min)
    • Read: Jean Epstein “Magnifications and other writings” (7pgs)

 

Wednesday, April 26: Camera movement and POV 

  • Before class:
    • Watch: Suzhou He (Suzhou River, Lou Ye, 2000, 83min)
    • Read: TBD
  • After class:
    • Project #2: Sequence analysis paper 
    • Due Wednesday May 3rd, 11:59pm

 

Week 6 - Materiality

Monday, May 1: Screen technologies

  • Before class:
    • Watch: How to Marry a Millionaire (William Powell, 1953, 95min)
    • Read: Sheldon Hall. "Alternative versions in the early years of CinemaScope". In John Belton, Sheldon Hall and Steve Neale (ed.). Widescreen Worldwide. John Libbey Publishing Ltd, 113-132.

 

Wednesday, May 3: Contemporary Viewership

  • Before class:
    • Watch: "CaseFilm Innovation ScreenX" (3 min) and "ScreenX Advertisement Production Technique" (4 min)
    • Read: Franco Casetti, "Relocation." (26 pgs)
  • After class: 
    • Exercise #4: Assemblage - Design your own theater!
    • Due Sunday May 7th, 11:59pm



Week 7: Mixed-Media or Hypermedia Storytelling

Monday, May 8: The Film-World Beyond the Film

  • Before class:
    • Read: “Searching for the Origami Unicorn: The Matrix and Transmedia Storytelling” (2006) Henry Jenkins
    • Watch/explore: TBD

 

Wednesday, May 10: Down the Digital Rabbit Hole, ARGs and more

 

 

Week 8 - Early cinema redux

Monday, May 15: Audiences and the Creation of a Universal Language

  • Before class:
    • Watch: Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Edwin S. Porter, 1903, 19min)
    • Read: Janet Staiger. Rethinking “Primitive” Cinema: Intertextuality, the Middle-Class Audience, and Reception Studies. In Interpreting Films: Studies in the Historical Reception of American Cinema. Princeton University Press, 1992, 101-123.

 

Wednesday, May 17: Women’s Film Culture

  • Before class:
  • After class: 
    • Exercise #6: Women’s film culture discussion board 
    • Due Sunday May 21th, 11:59pm

 

Week 9: Truth and Reality in an Algorithmic Media Landscape

Monday, May 22: Algorithmic decision-making

  • Before class:
    • Read: TBD
    • Explore: Screenshot your own recommended page on Netflix, YouTube, Spotify 

 

Wednesday, May 24: Algorithmic media-making



Week 10: Conclusions

Monday, May 29: no class, Memorial Day

 

Wednesday, May 31: Peer review session

  • Before class:
    • Work on your final project proposal, prepare to pitch it in class to a small-group!
  • After class: 
    • Project #3: Final project proposal
    • Due Wednesday June 7th, 11:59pm





Course Summary:

Date Details Due