Universität Wien

124260 KO Critical Media Analysis (2019W)

Mirror Mirror on the Screen: Introduction to Film Studies via Metafilms

6.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 30 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

Classes: Tuesday 18:00-19:30
Film screenings: Tuesday 19:30-21:30

Attendance at the screenings is not compulsory, but you are required to see the films, since we will discuss them in class. The films will also factor into the mid-term exam and your final essays.

  • Tuesday 08.10. 18:00 - 19:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 08.10. 19:30 - 21:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 15.10. 18:00 - 19:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 15.10. 19:30 - 21:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 22.10. 18:00 - 19:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 22.10. 19:30 - 21:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 29.10. 18:00 - 19:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 29.10. 19:30 - 21:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 05.11. 18:00 - 19:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 05.11. 19:30 - 21:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 12.11. 18:00 - 19:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 12.11. 19:30 - 21:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 19.11. 18:00 - 19:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 19.11. 19:30 - 21:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 26.11. 18:00 - 19:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 26.11. 19:30 - 21:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 03.12. 18:00 - 19:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 03.12. 19:30 - 21:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 10.12. 18:00 - 19:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 10.12. 19:30 - 21:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 17.12. 18:00 - 19:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 07.01. 18:00 - 19:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 07.01. 19:30 - 21:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 14.01. 18:00 - 19:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 14.01. 19:30 - 21:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 21.01. 18:00 - 19:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 21.01. 19:30 - 21:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 28.01. 18:00 - 19:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Tuesday 28.01. 19:30 - 21:30 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Already at the turn of the turn of the twentieth century, when The Countryman and the Cinematograph (1901) and The Big Swallow (1901) first raised questions about the power of the then-new cinematic medium, films exhibited a self-reflexive interest in their own conditions. Fast forward more than a century, and we can observe that this interest has by now means diminished: The Artist (2011), Hugo (2011), My Week with Marilyn (2012), Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015), La La Land (2016), … Recent years have delivered a plethora of metafilms – films about films, films about filmmaking, films about film-viewing, etc. – reflecting on various aspects of the filmic medium and cinematic institutions like Hollywood and catering to an increasingly cinema-literate audience who is familiar enough with the workings, conventions, and history of cinema to appreciate filmic references to them.

This course aims to enhance student’s literacy in cinema via metafilms, with a focus on developing their skills in describing the formal elements films. The description of filmic forms serves a crucial role in the study of film because only by honing our skills of describing of how a film is made up visually and audially we can move on to analysing and interpreting. While the first part of the course will be dedicated to the formal analysis of film, the second part will introduce students to some of the critical debates in film studies.

Assessment and permitted materials

In-class participation, mid-term test, and final essay.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

* regular attendance, active in-class participation 30%
* mid-term test 30%
* final essay 40%

Examination topics

Assessment is based on the criteria outlined above. The mid-term exam and final essay will be based on the material covered in class, assigned readings and films screened in the course.

Assigned films:
08.10.2019 The Purple Rose of Cairo (Woody Allen, 1985)
15.10.2019 Hugo (Martin Scorsese, 2011)
22.10.2019 Bamboozled (Spike Lee, 2000)
29.10.2019 My Week with Marilyn (Simon Curtis, 2011)
05.11.2019 Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950)
12.11.2019 A Star Is Born (William A. Wellman, 1937)
19.11.2019 Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann, 2001)
26.11.2019 Dead Men Don`t Wear Plaid (Carl Reiner, 1982)
03.12.2019 Berberian Sound Studio (Peter Strickland, 2012)
10.12.2019 The Prestige (Christopher Nolan, 2006)
07.01.2020 Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1960)
14.01.2020 S1m0ne (Andrew Niccol, 2002)
21.01.2020 Strange Days (Kathryn Bigelow, 1995)
28.01.2020 Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, 2015)

Reading list

Assigned readings will be provided on the Moodle platform. (Recommended purchase: Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White, The Film Experience: An Introduction, 5th edition.)

Association in the course directory

Studium: UF 344, BA 612, BEd 046/407
Code/Modul: UF 4.2.5-426, BA07.3; BEd 08a.2, BEd 08b.1
Lehrinhalt: 12-4260

Last modified: Tu 08.09.2020 13:28