Film & Media Studies

This course adheres to the educational philosophy of "cultivating character before artistry," constructing a film curriculum system that emphasizes "ideological depth, holistic thinking, and creativity." It uses technical skills as a bridge, prioritizes human-centered values, and places artistic integrity at the forefront. Through three stages—film appreciation, film deconstruction, and film creation—the course aims to truly approach the artistic essence of cinema and immerse students in the world of film. It seeks to break conventional thinking patterns by guiding students from "theory to practice," "skills to concepts," "understanding to experience," and "appreciation to creation." The course strives to harmonize "ideological depth and artistic expression," "emotional experience and logical thinking," and "knowledge and individuality," ultimately fostering outstanding high-level innovative talents.

This course explores the transformative power of media. Through critical analysis and hands-on media design, students examine how media artifacts construct national identities, deploy soft power, challenge gender norms, and transform digital spaces into sites of justice. Bridging theory and practice, students develop ethically grounded media interventions, such as storyboards, TikTok campaigns, and justice-oriented projects, etc. that engage with the tensions between cultural specificity, global algorithms, and neoliberal platforms. 

This course considers how stories are told in an age of digital media. For the first half of the semester, we focus on key terms and concepts in narrative theory and practice, applying these terms to different narratives. We look at some good examples from various media and explore their narrative structures with each application. Additionally, we analyze how traditional narratives can be transformed into new forms suitable for digital media, where stories are increasingly told, mediated, and experienced via spaces. Traditional emphases on plot and characters are increasingly shifting toward the significance of ambience and spatial arrangements in digital and interactive media, marking a shift toward what is often called “spatial storytelling.” In the latter half of the semester, we learn about narrative genres. We explore formal patterns and storytelling strategies in each genre and observe the kinds of similar or different patterns that arise in genre-based digital stories. Eventually, we move beyond mere criticism and theoretical understanding by applying our narrative skillsets to creating actual digital content, albeit at a very basic level suitable for those inexperienced with content creation. In the process, students acquire some basic skills to work within new media technologies—especially very basic content creation skills using AI tools.

In this course, students detect and enhance the creative resources that contribute to the writing process, and acquire from the reading and writing practice, the basic methodological skills of written narration, from the short story to dramatic writing. Students link the abstract world, ideas and concepts, with concrete reality.

This course explores the role of music and sound in perhaps the dominant art form of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries: film. From the live accompaniments of early silent movies to the Oscar-winning soundtracks of today's Hollywood productions, music has been an integral part of cinema from the outset, structuring narratives and shaping audience responses. This course introduces students to key aesthetic concepts and debates surrounding film music as well as providing a historical overview of the development of film sound. 

This course embraces documentary film to approach the history of Taiwan. Due to rapidly changing regimes of rule and a contentious geopolitical status, the people living on this island continue to grapple with multiple layers of coloniality, ways of healing from historical trauma, and expressions of identity. The development of documentary film-making in Taiwan is uniquely connected with the democratic movements against authoritarianism and the ethics of representing marginal voices and suppressed memories. Moreover, many directors have utilized cross-overs of film genre and the performing arts to illuminate certain “truths” unreachable through traditional documentary evidence.  

This course focuses on the ways that documentary (and fiction) filmmakers based in Taiwan use music, sound, and the performing arts as both subject and resource to shape narratives of Taiwan. In turn, the class focuses on Taiwanese documentary film to expand their understanding of the potentials and pitfalls of documentary film in the 21st century, especially through experiencing its creative uses of sounds and performances.

This course integrates theory with practice, balancing technical skills and creative thinking, and is anchored in a problem-finding and problem-solving approach. Instructional methods include lectures, case-based research and reflection, hands-on production workshops, and interactive discussions. Core topics cover podcast recording and production, short-form video shooting and editing, the evolution of online content amid technological change, and the application of emerging technologies in the audiovisual field.

This course examines popular media texts, genres, audiences and industries and reflects on how they influence our notions of self and society. It draws on case studies from a range of popular media, from film and television to comics, games, popular music, social media and advertising. 

This course considers the sensory qualities of cinema, a subject which engages variously with the film-as-object, film form and the spectator as active participant. The first half of the course draws on the main philosophical strands used by film scholars to conceptualize the affect of cinema, and then explores the ways film theory and criticism have sought to account for the sensuous or material nature of film. With these perspectives in mind, the second half considers the materialities of film form in more detail. The course explores the topic of filmic affect through a range of case studies and will draw on a diverse mix of references, including interviews with filmmaking personnel.

This course examines the creative and conceptual foundations of animation practice. It focuses on the basic elements of animated movement, allowing students to incorporate real-world physics into their own animated sequences.