Film & Media Studies

Making Micro Documentaries immerses students with little formal filmmaking or arts backgrounds in the process of shooting short unscripted films or documentaries. It examines methodologies for devising, producing and distributing short films, and how they can be used to support and enhance the student's own academic output. The course asks participants to use their own devices for audio and video capture, editing and post-production. During the course, students will shoot a series of micro movies to explore how moving images engage with, and represent, the real world. The practice-led program will be framed by critical analysis and historical contextualization. 

This course examines digital cultures, the critical interdisciplinary field of research into the cultural and social dimensions of digital technologies. It explores the histories, imaginaries, ideas, platforms and thinkers that inform the study of digital cultures. Students will examine tools and theories that explain the interrelated processes of digital media and communications development and social change. 

This course provides an overview of contemporary popular culture in Korea, with a focus on the media’s role in expressing and shaping it. Students will learn theoretical concepts to analyze Korean popular culture from an academic perspective, covering topics such as gender, collective memory, music, Korean wave, film, broadcasting and more. The course includes group research projects and class discussions. 

This course introduces the history of German cinema, with a special focus on the crucial role of Berlin as both production site and film set. Students engage with important milestones in the history of German cinema, many of which are set in Berlin, and learn about their historical, political and aesthetic contexts. Special emphasis is placed on the so-called “Berlin School” of filmmaking, a New Wave emerging in the late 1990s, and continuing to be highly relevant today. CIEE offers the course in German and English, and this version of the course is taught in German.

This course examines the intersection of fashion, media, and cultural history from the early 20th century to the present day. This course explores the evolution of fashion within both Western and Korean fashion history in the twentieth century. Students will explore how ideals have changed over the decades and how various cultural and historical contexts have been differently addressed in various fashion styles. Students will also explore the way ideals have been portrayed through a variety of media such as fashion dolls, fashion illustrations, magazines, advertisements, photography, television shows, films, exhibitions, fashion collections, and more. 

This course prepares students for the craft of publishing peer-reviewed scholarly articles. 

Topics include defining a scientifically systematic investigation, strategies on harnessing the resources of graduate schools, conventions about the nature of evidence and clues in research, choosing a research topic, crafting a hypothesis, and the role of good sense and judicious evaluation in relation to methodologies of investigation.  

Additionally, this course discusses document-based vs experiment-based research methodologies, the use of surveys, statistical research methodologies and case studies, how to create a well written research report, nuances of the publishing process, and the role of uniqueness in scientific research projects. 

This course’s goal is to analyze how influential media outlets cover current world affairs and main issues, and what unique topic approaches and novel storytelling ways they use that can be applied to local news coverage. This course employs the English as a Medium of Instruction–Contents and Language Integrated Learning method (EMI-CLIL).

CIEE supports qualified students who wish to pursue an academically rigorous independent research project while abroad. In order to enroll, students must submit a research proposal including a clearly defined research topic,
explanation of research plans, description of preparation in the planned area of study, list of resources, tentative outline of a final paper, and suggested schedule of progress. Students complete a total of 100-120 hours of
research and meet regularly with an advisor to complete an academically rigorous, ethically sound, and culturally appropriate research project and final research paper. Approval for participation in Directed Independent Research
must be obtained from CIEE and the student's home institution prior to arrival on the program.

This is an independent research course with research arranged between the student and faculty member. The specific research topics vary each term and are described on a special project form for each student. A substantial paper is required. The number of units varies with the student’s project, contact hours, and method of assessment, as defined on the student’s special study project form.

This course covers historical and thematic aspects of popular culture studies by raising some essential questions via a deep dive into a significant popular culture sphere: popular film.  

This is a “one-film-course" centering uponThe Greatest Showman, 2017, through which ten important themes of popular culture studies are critically examined: Being popular (History); Showman (Producer); Freak (Genre;) Fake (Authenticity); Dream (Consumption); Material (Infrastructure); Conflict (Humans); Class (Relations); Diversity (Community); and Happiness (Future).