Film & Media Studies

This course investigates how the cinematic medium represents, inspires, and shapes our understanding of presence. It examines the changing contours of the cinematic medium in the electronically networked digital mediascape of our time. Key topics include the concept of new media, artificial intelligence, robots and cyborgs, genetic engineering, XR (extended reality), and gamic media.

This is a special studies course involving an internship with a corporate, public, governmental, or private organization, arranged with the Study Center Director or Liaison Officer. Specific internships vary each term and are described on a special study project form for each student. A substantial paper or series of reports is required. Units vary depending on the contact hours and method of assessment. The internship may be taken during one or more terms but the units cannot exceed a total of 12.0 for the year.

This course examines creative content and information within digital media. It also covers transmedia narratives, drawing on a variety of different genres and media platforms.

This course addresses the effective use of cloud technology in digital cultural and creative projects including: versatile digital publishing, website design, web community development, digital imaging, animation, video and media production management. As a specific objective, we emphasize to cap off a team project more than an individual task. This course takes account of the inter-discipline of humanities and information technology through media application. The learning method focuses on problem solving oriented approach. The learning activity designates a hands-on assignment and requires a complete output in the form of publishable presentation.

This is a graduate level course that is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. This course is based on the sociological analysis of a selection of films produced in Italy from the end of World War II to the ‘80s with the aim of using Italian movies as telescopes on the past and to reflect on the present of Italian culture, from both the historical and social point of view. At the end of the course, students have knowledge about: Italian cinema from the beginning of the twentieth century to the 1980s; political and social transformations from the early 1900s to the 1980s; elements of Italian history from 1900 to post-war period; notions regarding sociological and anthropological models, necessary to interpret social transformations in Italy in the period under analysis. Some of the most important movies of Italian film history are screened such as 900, ROME OPEN CITY, LA DOLCE VITA, BREAD AND CHOCOLATE. This is a sociology course on Italian culture, in which movies are used as data as well as a stimulus for the debate. In addition, another level of analysis concerns the styles, the schools and the directors of the films selected, and the technical and social contexts that influence the different styles. In this light, students consider mass communication linguistic techniques (figures of speech, metaphors, analogies), to identify both clear and hidden messages in movies. The course includes traditional lectures, film screenings, and audiovisual materials.

At the center of this course is film as historical sources. The course presents and applies the methods for analyzing audiovisual sources, and it examines how historical events were depicted. Using the example of the history of National Socialism, students examine both documentaries and feature films with regard to their handling of National Socialism and its (audio) visual legacy.

This course introduces a broad spectrum of performance practices that may be identified as local cultural expressions found in Singapore. Such practices occur in varied spaces and mediums, and include street opera, getai [song-stage], animal performances, theatre, film, religious festivals, national day parades, YouTube video performances and mobile gaming. The course explores the rich performative histories of these practices and studies concepts of performativity, liveness, and mediation. It also covers the ways in which technology and media play a crucial part in cultural expression and identity formation. 

Contemporary Middle Eastern cinema reflects the social, political and cultural challenges in the region, while revealing the revolutionary spirit of its filmmakers and their filmic language. This course defines dominant themes such as: territory, cultural identity, memory, modernism, religion, feminism, internal conflict and socio-political violence, within both historical and present political contexts. Filmmakers include: Chahine, Saab, Kiarostami, Farhadi, Gitai, Maoz, Folman, Doueiri, Khleifi, Assad, Güney, and Ceylan, dealing with the challenges of Egypt, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, and Turkey. Basic film analysis terms and cultural theories are covered in order to study and articulate the form as well as content of these films. While addressing the larger question of the relationship between aesthetics and politics, this course encourages students to consider the analysis of film as a participant in social and political change.

This course examines the foundational principles of contemporary media production. It focuses on three areas of media production; graphic design, animation and interaction design. It also studies the applied theories and techniques involved in creating contemporary media productions and current tools and strategies for a range of media contexts.

This course examines the Australian identity through an exploration of Australian film, theater, and television traditional formats and new digital content and delivery platforms. It focuses on young Australian playwrights, performers and filmmakers, and the range of learning that takes place through young people's engagement in, and appreciation of, theater, film, television and digital content. A variety of genre, formats and delivery are critically examined against the backdrop of Australian historical and sociological perspectives. Critical analysis is undertaken, not only through deconstructing Australian films and plays, but also through constructing digital content, using smart phone video application.