COMM 3006 Cinema and Experience

This is an archived copy of the 2021-2022 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit https://hbook.westernsydney.edu.au.

Credit Points 10

Legacy Code 101984

Coordinator Alex Ling Opens in new window

Description Film Studies and Literary Studies share some common theoretical foundations and analytical methods. However, considered in its cultural contexts, the question of how a film is experienced by spectators becomes critical. Films engage spectators in an embodied and affective way. The unit will argue that we cannot understand how a film takes up thematic and cultural questions without exploring the dynamics of spectatorship. This unit will explore some key approaches to film spectatorship and will look at how cinematic techniques shape narrative, genre, character, and thematic and cultural questions into embodied and affective experience.

School Humanities & Comm Arts

Discipline Audio Visual Studies

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 4 10cp

Check your HECS Band contribution amount via the Fees page.

Level Undergraduate Level 3 subject

Equivalent Subjects LGYB 0027 - Film Genre and Affect LGYA 0256 - Film and Affect

Restrictions Successful completion of 60 credit points of study in currently enrolled program.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
  1. Engage in critical debates about cinema spectatorship
  2. Identify diverse historical and cultural approaches to cinematic affect
  3. Analyse the relationships between key methodologies in film studies
  4. Demonstrate skills in film analysis
  5. Critique the relationships between film techniques and cultural and thematic questions.

Subject Content

Concepts of classical narrative and their revision
Comparative methodologies in film studies
Textual analysis of film
Cinema of attractions; cinema and modernity
The role of embodiment in spectatorship
Concepts of affect and mimetic experience
Models of affect in narrative, genre, film sound, mise en scene, cinematography and performance
Case studies of diverse film cultures and movements
Function of fantasy in film production and consumption
Contemporary forms of film production and experience

Assessment

The following table summarises the standard assessment tasks for this subject. Please note this is a guide only. Assessment tasks are regularly updated, where there is a difference your Learning Guide takes precedence.

Item Length Percent Threshold Individual/Group Task
Seminar Paper 5 minutes / 500 words 15 N Individual
Close Scene Analysis and Critical Review 1000 words 35 N Individual
Final Essay 2000 words 50 N Individual

Prescribed Texts

  • Subject Reader

Teaching Periods

Structures that include subject