This course provides an introduction to the basic tools of film analysis. We will examine how elements like mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing and sound work together to create meaning in a range of films. We will also examine how these elements are put together in different types of films – narratives, documentaries and experimental cinema – and how films function in society to circulate ideas and ideologies.

• The ability to demonstrate a critical understanding of and appreciation for film as literature.
• The ability to understand and appreciate figurative and cinematic concepts.
• The ability to understand, appreciate, and apply knowledge of plot, character, point of view, imagery, theme, setting, irony, tone, symbols and language when reading and writing about film and/as literature.
• The ability to develop a reasonable interpretation of a cinematic and literary text and to support that interpretation with evidence.
• The ability to identify common or culturally specific themes in film by directors and writers of different backgrounds.
• The ability to identify similarities between works of literature and some other works of art or forms of communication.
• The ability to understand and appreciate a chronology of cinematic production, along with the cultural and historical events that contextualize it.
  

• Benyahia, S. Casey, Gaffney, F, and White, J. 2006. As Film Studies: The Essential Introduction. London and New York: Routledge.