{"id":533,"date":"2019-08-27T07:43:54","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T11:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introfilmstudies\/?page_id=533"},"modified":"2020-01-22T15:31:31","modified_gmt":"2020-01-22T20:31:31","slug":"about-4","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introfilmstudies\/about-4\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"

FMST 201\/ ENGL 220 Introduction to Film Studies<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Spring 2020<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Professor Abigail Cheever\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

acheever@richmond.edu<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sarah Brunet 115\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Office Hours: By appointment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Introduction:<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The Introduction to Film Studies explores the ways that narrative fiction film constructs meaning for an audience. Presently one of the world\u2019s most vibrant and influential cultural practices, narrative fiction films use a variety of literary and visual techniques both to create a world (the world of the film), and to use that world to comment on various aspects of human existence and experience (the world in which we live).<\/p>\n

To understand how narrative fiction film achieves these aims, Introduction to Film Studies introduces students to the methodology of contemporary film studies. Students will learn how to analyze films using both visual and literary techniques to impart meaning. They will learn how to develop those analyses into sophisticated arguments that assert a film\u2019s significance both in and of itself and as a part of a larger cultural context.<\/p>\n

The course is divided into three unequal sections. First, we explore the early history of narrative fiction film to discover how stylistic innovations\u2014such as the use of close ups to communicate a character\u2019s emotion or the deployment of cross-cutting to allow for greater narrative complexity\u2014became filmic conventions while learning the language of film analysis. We are introduced to three important early film movements\u2014the Classical Hollywood Cinema, German Expressionist Cinema, and Soviet Montage Film\u2014whose influence still reverberates through film culture.<\/p>\n

Using the genre of the Western and the films of Alfred Hitchcock as templates, the second two sections of the course examine critical approaches in film analysis: author studies, genre studies, formalist, feminist, and new historicist. In this section, we explore representative critical articles of individual films and learn to recognize not only the authors\u2019 claims for a given film (or group of films), but also the larger assumptions about film that structure those claims. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which individual films both influence and are products of particular cultural and historical moments, reflecting and commenting on the times in which they are produced and consumed.<\/p>\n

Outcomes: <\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The skills students develop in Introduction to Film Studies are important for humanities majors (such as Film Studies, English and other modern literatures, History, Art History, etc.) and crucial for any career that priorities the synthesis, interpretation, and communication of complex ideas. As importantly, this class provides an opportunity to think about the nature of human cultural production and the important questions that have challenged humans for centuries. Over the course of the semester you will:<\/p>\n