Film & Media Studies

This course examines the myriad and often conflicting ways that sex and sexuality have been represented throughout the history of Western cinema, with an emphasis upon Hollywood and American independent film. It begins with early representations of sex and bodies and consider the significant impact and legacy of the Motion Picture Production Code, a ‘morality code’ that was enforced in the United States from the mid-1930s to the 1960s. It then moves on to a diverse range of films and genres including comedy, horror, the musical, exploitation film and art film. It explores ideological, social, ethical and artistic debates within film studies, while also addressing some important subgenres, historical trends, and specific films and filmmakers. 

Through this course, students gain access to research-led lectures and the latest scholarship to properly understand how digital platforms work and the roles they play in society. Students apply this knowledge to case studies to understand how platforms are shaped and where citizens might intervene in their governance. Students engage in debates to think about how to critically engage with technological power and to mitigate the social harms of platforms.

This course is a general overview of the essential basic elements of film sound from the filmmaker's perspective. It investigates and discusses topics mainly from the viewpoint of how sounds are used in film and why. From theory through practical application, all aspects and functions of sound in film are examined. The course provides a basic understanding of how to conceptualize, prepare, and create sound for a film from script through production and post-production.

This course explores the practices and techniques related to both script adaptation and original scriptwriting. Their inter-relationship is an important step for students wishing to establish their scriptwriting skills above a foundation level. Both types of scriptwriting are given equal weight as topics and assessed accordingly. Students gain the ability to adapt a pre-existing text (a prose short story) into a film script; an understanding of the practice and techniques of script adaptation; the ability to write an original script that is not based on a pre-existent script; an understanding of the skills and techniques required for original scriptwriting; and the ability to work the format and discipline of scriptwriting to a suitable level.

This course explores Spanish cinema from its origins to the present day including viewings of some of the most representative films of each era.

The course combines theoretical and empirical content in the analysis of digital campaigning. Digital campaigning is hereby understood as comprising all forms of social and political campaigning that make intense use of digital media. Theoretically it covers a number of concepts and theories that are relevant to the understanding of this issue, including social movement theory, and digital politics theory. Furthermore, it covers a number of important concepts such as the digitization of political activity, the notion of hybrid media system, the consequences of interactivity, crowd-sourcing, networking, and participatory culture for social and political campaigning. Empirically, it will draw on a number of digital campaigns, from social movements, to charity and civil society campaigns. Its geographic scope mostly focuses on the Western context, but with some attempts to explore similar developments in other word areas including India, China, and South America. 

The purpose of this course is to understand how race and gender issues have been represented in different dramatic texts since the late 19th to the early 21st century modern drama. Each week the course discusses one (or sometimes two dramatic) text(s) to examine how each playwright use different dramatic strategy, symbols, mise-en-scene, and characterization to convey his or her social and political messages. By the end of the course, students understand several playwrights' dominant aesthetics and historical contexts and the critical turning points in the history of modern and contemporary drama from 1870s to the present.

The aim of this course is two-fold: to take a retrospective view to trace the evolution of media sociology, and a prospective view to assess current challenges confronting sociological analyses of the new media paradigm – monopoly-owned and user-driven digital platforms – the business models which underpin them, including algorithmic journalism, and their perceived "surveillance" effects.

This course is to understand cultural content, find classic works that serve as the basis and source material for modern content, and analyze key elements. Based on this, we attempt to apply content suitable for modern society. To achieve this, we combine exploration of human nature, understanding of society, and knowledge of works of art and popularity. Goal is to understand cultural content and produce corresponding content; to attempt storytelling through characters and situations; and to understand and attempt mise-en-scène and storytelling methods.

As a core professional course for undergraduates majoring in journalism, New Media Creation and Operation aims to enable students to have a deep understanding of the theoretical and practical issues in the field of new media and master certain basic methods of new media operation through systematic teaching of new media development related theories and organizing students to participate in new media creation and operation practice. At the same time, new media platform operation principals of well-known mainstream media and We Media will be invited to the class to share the operation characteristics of different types of new media platforms with students through case analysis and discussion, so as to have a more intuitive and vivid understanding of the development trend of new media.