Film & Media Studies

In this course, Western ocularcentrism and the modernist segmentation of our sensory functions and sensorial experiences are questioned. Philosophical, artistic, and scientific ideas that question the supremacy of the eye, the modernist hierarchy of the senses, and the division of our sensory functions are reviewed. Through lectures, guest lectures, museum visits, experiments, discussions, and the intensive study of texts participants become more attentive to how our sensorium functions. Students learn to analyze contemporary art, film, fashion, design, consumer goods, and environments from a multisensorial perspective and identify interrelations that exist between the different senses into account in their scientific work.  If there are excursions to museums, cities, or other art institutions, these may incur additional costs.

This course explores issues pertaining to inter-Korean relations through the diverse representations of Korea's national division and the Korean War within film and literature from the mid-1940s to the present. It considers how changes in geo-cultural politics at the local and transnational levels have influenced the cinematic and literary imagination of national division and the Korean War in the South, while also exploring the representation of the divided Korea in North Korea. Through the close reading of selected film and literary texts, it investigates a range of perspectives on inter-Korean relations, and study how hegemonic visions of the two Koreas are reproduced, negotiated, and challenged in these texts. Informed by secondary sources, including critical essays in such fields as film and literary criticism, cultural studies, social science, and history, the course critically interprets the discursive construction of a divided Korea in our primary sources from the perspective of political, social, and cultural history.

This course explores the ways that Hollywood has used film form to create a naturalized style and viewing experience. It studies its conventions as well as the variations and deviations that push the envelope or constitute alternative constructions of the realistic. 

This course examines cinematographic theory. It covers the antecedents of Cinema Theory and the basic notions of related theoretical backgrounds. Students carry out critical reviews of films in text and video, critical film essays and experimental films based on the theoretical concepts covered in the course.

The course introduces a wide range of issues concerning the role of cinema in the British cultural context, as distinct from and in connection with the cinemas of Hollywood and Europe. The course focuses on the following aspects: cinema as an economic system operating within an international audio-visual market; cinema and national identity, particularly representations of London as Metropolis; genre in cinema; and cinema as a formal system, considering questions of authorship, narrative and audience.

This course explores the nexus between media, culture and society in the digital age. It examines the developments in digital transformation and its implications on everyday life, with emphasis on media/cultural industries, connective media, new media art and design, civil society and public cultures. It provides an understanding of how digital media and culture are being transformed by networks, convergence and algorithms, and the training to approach and make use of digital media critically, creatively and productively.

This course examines the work of the director in film and digital media, focusing on the development of aesthetic values, cinematic languages and advanced interpretative cinematographic skills. It focuses on directorial decision-making, visual storytelling, plot development, scene continuity, dramatic interpretation and use of narrative structures. It also explores the role of the director as a team leader in pre-production, production and post-production.

This course examines East Asian Cinema in the framework of transnationality. With focus on inter/intra cultural junctures it probes thematics, stylistics, and socio-historical and political contexts of cinemas of South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan. Throughout the course, notions of national cinema and nation-bound culture are questioned and issues of gender, ethnicity, national identity, and etc. that are presented in those cinemas are addressed. Through the practice of visual and theoretical analysis, this course enables students to explore East Asian cinemas on a shifting transnational scene of media.

This course examines subtitling in the context of Hong Kong's media and entertainment industry. Students will learn about the technical and creative aspects of subtitling, as well as the ethical and cultural considerations that are involved in this field. The course also includes practical assignments and workshops that allow students to apply their knowledge and skills to real-world scenarios. With consistent case-based analysis of contemporary audiovisual contents, platforms and creators, this course will showcase the latest convergence between professional and fan-based subtitling in the age of streaming. It is designated to prepare the students for their future accreditation by the AVT Pro certificate – the first and only professional accreditation for audiovisual translation.

This course examines we human beings use on-line technology to interact with others, as well as how cognitions and behaviors are affected by this technology. It covers topics ranging from on-line relationships and how people construct their digital identities, to gaming and artificial intelligence as well as the psychological applications of virtual and augmented reality to our lives. It also aims to facilitate understanding of the field of cyberpsychology. In particular, the implications that on-line technologies can have for the subjective self and interactions with others; in addition to the wide array of practical applications of Internet-based technologies to our daily lives