Film & Media Studies

Cinema has typically been conceived of as an essentially visual phenomenon – films, it is often said, are essentially moving pictures. Sound has, nevertheless, played an important role from the beginnings of cinema, a fact which has been acknowledged in the detailed historical, theoretical, and critical work on film music, and film sound more generally. This course provides an overview of this field of research, and provides students with a clearer understanding of and greater sensitivity to the soundtrack. The course begins by setting up an introductory framework for the understanding of sound, which considers the relationship between music and other aspects of film sound (speech, ambient sound, sound effects), as well as the nature of the relationship between sound and image. Subsequent sessions consider the evolution of sound technology and its impact on the aural aesthetics of film; the use of classical and popular music in film scores; the emergence of sound designers, in contemporary cinema; and the distinctive and innovative use of sound and music by a number of "sound stylists."

The Art of the Short Fiction Film begins in a basement in Paris in 1895, with the Lumiere brothers` screening of twelve short films, an evening program that heralded the advent of the modern industry of the moving picture. It concludes with the contemporary dominance of YouTube, Vimeo and Netflix, in an age in which digital filmmaking has catapulted the short film once again to international prominence. Between these two dates, the class will look at the subordinate role of the one- and two-reeler "short subjects" during the Hollywood Studio Era; analyze the role of the European and North American film schools and international film festivals in the elevation of the short film after the mid-1950s; study classical and post-classical cinematic technique; trace the reimagining of the Hollywood film studios in the digital era by examining the role of the short film, both as filmed scenario and as possible harbinger of a change or mutation in the viewing habits of its global audience.

This course guides students to conduct "inquiry learning", in order to stimulate film research interests, expand artistic knowledge, and enhance artistic aesthetic experience. Through the course, students interpret Chinese and foreign classic films and establish universal application Movie analysis mode. Starting from the language of the film, it analyzes cases of excellent Chinese and foreign films, and explains and discusses the basic aesthetic characteristics of film art. It mainly involves six aspects of Chinese and foreign film history, film theme, film plot, editing and montage, picture language and sound effect dialogue.

The course responds to key contemporary events within the creative industries. It presents cutting-edge research that analyses current issues within its specific cultural, social, and political contexts e.g. decolonization, value, entrepreneurship, digitization, labor, globalization, Brexit, and Covid. The course provides students with the building blocks to generate their critical analyses of the sector, and the capacity to apply theory to practice and real-world case studies. 

This course considers how contemporary world cinema imagines the non-human, via a focus on those uncanny figures that are disturbingly close to the human; cyborgs, vampires, people who turn into animals, and aliens who pretend to be humans. It introduces some of the critical terrain of the posthuman, and connects it to cinematic questions of identity, genre, and style. It addresses topics such as feminism and queer theory, globalization and biopolitics, technology and nature, while analyzing a range of sci-fi and horror cinema, as well as speculative and fantastical art films.