2021 101 course outline for Blackboard PDF

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2021 101 course outline for Blackboard...

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UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA, FILM AND COMMUNICATION

Introduction

Moving images surround us, they are part of our daily routine and our lifetime experience, we no longer simply encounter them when we go to the cinema, instead they are on our phones and our laptops, we see them out in city streets and around airports. Nowadays, it seems, we live alongside moving images. But how do we study them? What kinds of questions should we ask about them? And what debates and discussions arise from them? MFCO 101 Screen Form and Culture is designed to help you find your way through our image-world. The course divides in two; in the first section on ‘screen form’ we think about how to analyse the power and pleasure of narrative and fictional moving images: feature and short films, experimental media, adverts and web series. Acknowledging that we live in a ‘society of the spectacle’ (Guy Debord, 1968) we consider what cinema has contributed by thinking about how films often cast themselves as ‘attractions’, like fairground attractions: constructed to take us out of the everyday and to make us forget our drab and dreary reality in favour of a ‘wow effect’ or perfect fairytale ending. In this first section we are interested in how films achieve these effects stylistically. So we interrogate how elements (sound, editing, mise-en-scène, cinematography) are put together. We also look at how systems and models such as classical narrative, the cinematic apparatus (the projector, a darkened room, seated, passive viewers) and the gaze have been theorized as constructing ideological viewing positions. Your two assignments for this section introduce you to research skills (the journal) and ask you to create an argument using audio-visual materials (the video essay). In the second section ‘screen culture’ our focus is upon social and cultural questions raised by media. We are interested in the wider permutations of screens and in particular we focus upon how relationships between youth and screens have been theorised. Thanks to a speaker from the Office of Film and Literature Classification we dive in to the complicated world of classification and censorship, tackling who gets to decide where free speech ends and objectionable or harmful images begin. Either side of this visit we consider two opposite models of youth audiences: either as impressionable and in need of protection, or as active and capable of participating in media consumption and production. Alongside journals, your main assignment for this section is an essay, which asks you to show you can use the research skills, concepts, methods and theories we’ve introduce on the course towards an analysis of a media case study of your choice.

SCREEN FORM AND CULTURE Media Film and Communication (MFCO) 101

Course Coordinator: Associate Professor Catherine Fowler

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANT INFORMATION Classes:

Lecture One Lecture Two Screening

Readings:

Available on Blackboard

Monday 1-1.50 Tuesday 1-1.50 Monday 3pm-6pm weeks 1-9

Tutorials:

Weeks 1-7 9, 10 and 12 See Blackboard for schedule

Assignment 1 Assignment 2

Journal Video essay

30% 35%

Assignment 3

Essay

30%

Yuki Watanbe

Office hours: Tuesday 1-2 in Richardson

Tutors: 5C18

MFCO 101: Screen Form and Culture

due: across the semester due: Week 7, Friday 23rd April before 5pm due: Week 13, Friday 4 th June before 5pm

Objectives The objectives of this course are: 1) To introduce research skills and theoretical approaches to the study of film and media 2) To introduce audio-visual analysis and semiotics 3) To consider the forms that big, small and mobile screens take and their cultural and social permutations 4) To begin to ask questions and create argument in a scholarly way

Taylor AdamsOffice hours: Tuesday 1-2 in Burns 3N3 Video Essay co-ordinator:

Bernard Madill

Office: Burns 1C10

1

1

Expected workload Lectures Tutorials Screenings Reading and other preparation Research for assignments TOTAL

hours 24 10 30 78 (6 hrs a week) 38 hrs 180 hrs

Important resources You may be asked to look up online resources and access files from padlet and other websites in lectures and tutorials, therefore if at all possible you will need to bring a laptop/tablet or even your phone. For the video essay assignment we recommend that you download (for free) Da Vinci Resolve editing software https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/nz/products/davinciresolve/

See Blackboard page for lecture slides, readings, assignment details and submissions.

Course assessment Assignment 1

Journal/worksheets

30%

due across the semester

Assignment 2

Video essay

35%

due: Week 7, Friday 23rd April before 5pm

Assignment 3

Essay

35%

due: Week 13, Friday 4 th June before 5pm

Turnitin Students enrolled in MFCO 101 will be required to submit Assignments electronically. Electronic copies must be submitted via Blackboard. To do this, click on the Turnitin tab and follow the instructions for uploading your assignment. Assignments submitted electronically will be checked through the software “Turnitin” for evidence of copied material. A match with other written material may be interpreted as plagiarism if it is not properly cited according to departmental bibliographical standards. Submission of an assignment requiring your student ID and password is an admission that what you have submitted is your own work.

Week Date 1 1st March

Lecture Introduction: what was cinema?

Readings Tom Gunning ‘The Cinema of Attractions’

Tutorial Tutorial One

Richard Dyer ‘Entertainment and Utopia’

Tutorial Two

2nd March Spectacle on the big screen

2

8th March

Entertainment I

9th March Entertainment II

3

15 March Spectatorship 16 March The male gaze

4

22 March Introducing video essays 23 March The male gaze

5

29 March Re-thinking the gaze I

Davis et al. ‘Interlude on film form’ Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright ‘Spectatorship, power and knowledge’

Tutorial Three

Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, US 1959) [Kanopy] [ETV] 1hr 55min

Sturken and Cartwright ‘Spectatorship, power and knowledge’

Tutorial Four

Bell Hooks ‘Black Female Spectators’

Tutorial Five

Video essay workshop – all students must attend Journal Exercises 1 & 2 Due Friday 26th March by 5pm Girlhood (Celine Sciamma, France 2012) [ETV] 1hr 53min

Steve Neale ‘Masculinity as Spectacle’

Tutorial Six

30 March Re-thinking the gaze II Mid-semester Break 5-9 April 6 12 April Theorising Masculinity on screen I 13 April

Theorising Masculinity on screen II

Screening Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, Italy 1988) [ETV} [Library Reserve, PN1997.C567] 2 hrs 4 mins Spiderman [Library Reserve, PN1997.2.S65 2002] 2hrs 1 min

L’uccello dale piume di cristallo/The Bird with the Crystal Plummage (Dario Argento, Italy 1970) [Library reserve: PN1997.U34 2000] 1hr 48min 4

Week Date

Lecture

Readings

Tutorial

Screening

7

19 April

Semiotics and Representation I

Stuart Hall ‘The Work of Representation’

Tutorial Seven

A series of Levis Advertisments

20 April

Semiotics and Representation II

26 April 27 April

No Lecture [Anzac Day] Constructing Youth

8

‘Constructing Youth: Media, Youth and the Politics of Representation’ Sharon R. Mazzarella

No Tutorial

Video Essay due Friday 23 April by 5pm No screening

Week 7 Journal due 9

3 May

Impressionable audiences I

4 May

Impressionable audiences II

10 May

Regulation: Visiting lectures from the Office of Film and Literature Regulation Active audiences I

Sean Redmond ‘Impressionable Audiences: consuming celebrity’

Tutorial Eight

Weaver, Kay. (1996). The Television and Violence Debate in New Zealand: some problems of context.

Tutorial Nine

Screening material from OFL will be available online

No Tutorial

No screening

Miley Cyrus case study clips

Week 8 Journal due 10

11 May 11

17 May 18 May

Active audiences II

12

24 May

Essay Exemplars

25 May 1 June 2 June

Essay Exemplars

13

Week 11 Journal due See extended readings

Tutorial Ten

No screening No screening Essay due Friday 5th June by 5pm

Week Two Journal – Close textual analysis and ‘Entertainment and Utopia’ Due Date: Friday 26th March 5pm (week 4)

Screen Form and Culture Assignments - Journal Exercises Journals are set for weeks one and two (both due in week four) and weeks seven, nine and eleven

Your task is to break down a sequence into its separate shots and then use Richard Dyer’s article to analyse it. There are 3 parts to this journal exercise.

The journal exercises allow you to practice key skills that will be essential for studying film and media: using internet media sites; understanding and engaging with readings; shot-byshot break down of a scene; applying theory; doing scholarly research and essay planning. These are designed as bite-sized assignments that indicate the kind of work that you should be doing across the course in order to gain experience and succeed.

Week One Journal – Streaming Scholarly Media/The Cinema of Attractions Due Date: Friday 26th March 5pm (week 4)

Your task is to find and explore the Internet Archive. There are 3 parts to this journal exercise 1. Become familiar with the kinds of content that you can find upon the Internet Archive. 2.

3.

Focusing upon the early cinema (up to 1906) collections available upon this site. View at least three examples of early cinema with Tom Gunning’s argument about the ‘cinema of attractions’ in mind. Choose one example that you think shows ‘exhibitionism’ as outlined by Gunning.

1.

Choose any of the clips from Spiderman available on Echo 360. By creating screenshots break down a sequence into its separate shots (when it comes to camera movement use several screenshots to show the different stages of how it occurs).

2.

Use your screenshots to identify (you can list them) and write about Nonrepresentational elements, as introduced by Dyer (from p.19).

3.

Write 100 words upon how the non-representational elements in your chosen clip contribute to evoking any of the ‘utopian’ categories listed by Dyer.

Marking criteria: Breaks down the sequence correctly Identifies the terms accurately Shows an understanding of how audio-visual elements create meaning Shows an understanding of Richard Dyer’s utopian categories Due Date: Friday 26 th March 5pm

Week Seven Journal – Applying theory to case studies In this worksheet you will find instructions for preparing for your tutorial in week 7. It includes ONE TABLE TO FILL IN FOR THE DISCUSSION ACTIVITY. Journal due 30 th April

Write 100 words in your online journal that describe how the effect is achieved, engaging with Gunning’s argument. You will find a template provided in Turnitin.

Marking Criteria

This assignment includes a tutorial participation element; we expect you to do the following:

Chooses an appropriate example Describes the effect accurately Shows an understanding of Tom Gunning’s key ideas

Read Stuart Hall’s chapter and engage with the lectures Watch the screening material for the week (LEVIS AD CAMPAIGN) Fill in the table below, bring it to the tutorial. Discussing your answers with your group will be your first tutorial task.  Submit your table to Turnitin by Friday 30th April. In the lectures for week 7 we give you various tools for discerning the signifier and the signified, we also demonstrate how to discuss connotation and myth-making narratives. Based upon the lectures we want you to apply these theories to a Levis advert of your choice. This task is preparing you for the kind of work you will have to do in your upcoming essay. You should fill in the following table. So, make a list of signifiers, what are the signifieds? What meanings do they denote and connote? What kinds of myth-making narratives do they evoke? Be prepared to discuss your answers in your tutorial.   

Due Date: Friday 26 th March 5pm

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Signifieryour three references (using APA style referencing) to Turnitin within 24 hours of your tutorial. So if your tutorial is Wednesday at 1pm you will need to submit your notes by 1pm Thursday. 4. Submit Signified Denotation Connotation Cut and paste the following and submit to Turnitin Myth COPY AND PASTE THIS TABLE INTO A NEW DOCUMENT AND SUBMIT IT Source material chosen: THROUGH THE ASSESSMENT TAB LABELLED: TUTORIAL PARTICIPATION Keyword chosen:

TURNITIN LINK

Three references:

Here is a list of the titles of the Levis ad’s for reference: 1. When a man loves a woman “occasionally available for women”; 2. Heard it through the grapevine “now available stonewashed”; 3. Be my baby “separates the men from the boys”; 4. Wonderful world The original shrink to fit jeans Now available pre-shrunk; 5. 20th century boy “originals stand the test of time”; 6. “Should I stay, or should I go”? “unrivalled since 1953”; 7. “the joker” “the original workwear”; 8. Mad about the boy “the more you wash them the better they get”; 9. “Piece of my heart” “no two pairs are the same”; 8. Mr Luvaluva “double stitched for extra strength”; 9. This must be underwater love “The original shrink to fit jeans”; 10. Spaceman “the only jeans cut from 01 denim; 11. Classical Handel music sample “Levis engineered jeans freedom to move”; 12. Woman at garage “the original button fly. Seen in all the wrong places.

Marking Criteria: Evidence that scholarly research has been undertaken using library resources Effective choice of keyword Accurate referencing using APA styl

Week 11 Journal – Preparing your essay In this worksheet you will find instructions for preparing for your tutorial in week 11. The worksheet includes one task which can be written up as a paragraph.

Your tutorial Participation Grade will be assessed using the following criteria: 1. Evidence of engagement with the lectures (notes submitted to Turnitin) 2. Participation in tutorial meeting discussions (note: this is not a competition; tutors will simply try to ensure that all students get to speak)

For the tutorial participation assessment we expect you to do the following:  Watch the lectures  Submit your worksheet to Turnitin within 24 hours of your tutorial. So if your tutorial is Wednesday at 1pm you will need to submit your notes by 1pm Thursday. Choose an essay question and unpack it. By ‘unpack’ it we mean write an essay breakdown of approximately a paragraph that sets out the key issues and/or sub-questions the essay raises. Your paragraph should include details about the case study you will use. At this stage we accept that you may not have finalised your essay, but give this exercise a go. Bring notes to the tutorial so that you can add to them and write them up afterwards.

If for any reason you cannot be present for your tutorial, then you must let your tutor know well in advance so that they can give you instructions as to how to fulfil the participation requirements.

Week 9 Journal – Doing Scholarly Research This week your task is to make use of databases and library searches in order to find scholarly sources. 1. Using Sean Redmond’s article ‘Impressionable Audiences: consuming celebrity culture’ choose any of the source material he cites (e.g. Uhls and Greenfield; Gill 2007; Gamson, 1994 etc.) and do a library search to locate it [if you are unable to locate it through/in the library choose a different source]. 2. Read the source you have located (if it is a book, read either the chapter in which the page numbers of the citation appear or the introduction to the book). 3. Come up with a keyword that occurs in the reading in order to undertake further research. Take the keyword as your search term and use databases such as library dictionaries and/or encyclopedias in order to find at least three more scholarly references that engage with this keyword.

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SUBMIT YOUR PARAGRAPH THROUGH THE ASSESSMENT TAB – TUTORIAL PARTICIPATION TURNITIN LINK Here’s an example from a case study I’ll be introducing to you in week twelve: QUESTION What evidence have you found that thinking about signs, media and meaning in semiotic terms has implications for the ways in which self, identity, society and reality are understood? Your answer should include evidence of independent research and a case study of your choice. Essay Breakdown:

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Issues/sub-questions: how do we think about signs, media and meaning in semiotics terms? Are there also other ways of thinking about signs, media and meaning? What does the semiotic approach have to say about self, identity, society and reality? Case study: Jacinda Ardern’s pregnancy announcement on Instagram in 2019. What kind of sign is the Instagram image? How can we use semiotics to make meaning from the image? Survey of approaches: Saussure + Peirce are needed because text and image are involved. Discussion of how a semiotic analysis of this image reveals what is at stake for Ardern, as she tries to negotiate asserting her competency and commitment as a leader of a coalition while revealing that she is pregnant. Through reference to feminist media theory (Sarah Projansky) I will argue that she uses a strategy of acknowledgement to deflect attention from herself and her identities as woman and (soon-to-be) mother in order to remain ‘in charge’.

Your Tutorial Worksheet Grade will be assessed using the following criteria: 1. Preparedness (is there evidence that key decisions have been made around a case study and suitable readings) 2. Application (have you applied yourself to this task: have you thought carefully about what the question is asking and made an effort to break it down?) If for any reason you cannot be present for your tutorial, then you must let your tutor know well in advance so that they can give you instructions as to how to fulfil the participation requirements.

Screen Form and Culture - Assignments Assignment Two: Video Essay – due Week Seven Assignment two for this course is the making of a video essay of roughly 3 minutes duration. The video essay should make an argument about any of the films screened in weeks 1-6, supported by the readings, in a creative way. It should be accompanied by an exegesis of 750 words. You will work in support groups of four making two videos in each group – i.e. with two students working together on each video. Grades will be individual, though since this is a collaborative exercise if you have worked well together then you can expect to receive the same grade.

Select a quotation from one of the articles from weeks 1-6 that can serve as an epigraph. The quotation should not be more than five sentences long. Next, select...