UGA Bulletin

Course Description

Film aesthetics and film as an art form, including critical viewing of selected films in laboratory, and papers on topics in film and audience values.

Athena Title

Introduction to Cinema

Semester Course Offered

Offered fall, spring and summer

Grading System

A - F (Traditional)

Student Learning Outcomes

By the end of the class, students should be able to offer a basic overview of film’s emergence as an industry and the workings of the studio system, including the “lifecycle” of a film (production, distribution, exhibition).
By the end of the class, students should be able to analyze the narrative structure both of conventional fiction films and unconventional works (including art cinema, documentary, avant-garde film, and animation) and identify important patterns (such as repeating motifs) within a work.
By the end of the class, students should be able to analyze how elements of narrative film style—mise-en-scène, editing, cinematography, and sound design—convey story information and emotionally move the viewer, as well as how elements of style are used in documentary, animation, and avant-garde film.
By the end of the class, students should be able to distinguish between major categories of film—including fictional film genres, documentary, avant-garde, and animation—identifying how they differ in their subject matter, means of production, intended purposes, and target audiences.
By the end of the class, students should be able to analyze how meaning is created in film both through creative decisions by directors, stars, and others, and through the process of interpretation by audiences and critics.
By the end of the class, students should be able to develop arguments involving the analysis of film style and narrative that are effectively supported with evidence and elegantly expressed using correct terminology.
By the end of the class, students should be able to identify the key narrative and stylistic characteristics of a select number of filmmaking movements (Soviet montage, German expressionism, the French New Wave) and their significance for film history as a whole.

Topical Outline

I. The Film Industry: Origins and Workings II. Structure and Story - Classical Narrative III. Alternatives to Classical Narrative – Art Cinema IV. Film Style - Editing V. Film Style - Mise-en-scène VI. Film Style - Cinematography VII. Film Style - Sound VIII. Narrative Film Genres IX. Documentary Film X. Animation and Avant-Garde Film XI. The "Director's Vision": Authorship in Cinema XII. Film Distribution and Exhibition XIII. Spectators, Stars, Fans

General Education Core

CORE IV: Humanities and the Arts

Institutional Competencies

Analytical Thinking

The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.

Critical Thinking

The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.

Syllabus

publish